ORIE's first Ph.D. Recipient is Honored as Loyal Alum by His Grandson, a 2010 Graduate

Richard W. Conway BME '54 received ORIE's first Ph.D. in 1958 and became a faculty member in ORIE, Computer Science, and later the Johnson Graduate School of Management.  At the 2010 ORIE graduation ceremony, master of ceremonies Professor Robert G. Bland called Conway's grandson, a graduating senior and member of the current M.Eng. class, to the stage to present Conway with a "loyal alum" award.  

With William Maxwell and Louis Miller, Conway united computing with a mathematically rigorous approach to solving production planning problems in the landmark 1967 book, Theory of Scheduling.  The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) lists the book as a landmark in the timeline of Operations Research.   According to Prof. Bland, "it placed on a formal foundation the study of the entire area of production scheduling."  

Conway, Cornell's Emerson Electric Company Professor of Manufacturing Management, Emeritus, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.  He and his wife Edythe currently spend summers in Lansing, NY and winters in South Carolina.  Their daughter, Kathryn Dimiduk '79, is the first director of the Teaching Excellence Institute in the College of Engineering.   

At the 2009 ORIE graduation ceremony, three ORIE alums received honors as loyal alums, presented by their newly graduated offspring.  At this year's ceremony, Bland noted that Conway "brought much to our school, including his grandson, Jeff Dimiduk, ORIE class of 2010."  Jeff's mother Kathryn was present to see her son present her father with a gift in recognition of the loyal alumnus award.  Jeff is now pursuing his M.Eng. degree in ORIE.