Ben Hobbs awarded 2021 Harold Hotelling Medal

The Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) has honored Ben Hobbs with the Harold Hotelling Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment (ENRE). 

Hobbs was recognized "for contributions to the understanding of the theoretical properties of complementarity-based multi-level models and for enthusiastic support of young researchers." 

Hobbs, who is the Theodore M. and Kay W. Schad Professor of Environmental Management, focuses on systems analysis and economics to improve electric utility planning, operations and policy, as well as management of environmental and water resources systems. He was founding director of the Johns Hopkins Environment, Energy, Sustainability & Health Institute (E²SHI), whose mission was to position Johns Hopkins University as a leader in integrative approaches to global environmental change, sustainability, and their related health challenges. He serves as co-chair of the JHU Sustainability Leadership Council Research Committee and the Leadership Council of the JHU Robert O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI).  He is also a research associate of the Cambridge University Energy Policy Research Group and is a fellow of INFORMS and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE.  His public service includes membership on the Maryland Climate Change Commission’s Mitigation Work Group. He chairs the market surveillance committee for California’s power system. He holds a joint appointment in the Department of Applied Mathematics & Statistics.    

The Hotelling Medal is a competitive award that recognizes the lifetime achievements of INFORMS scholars who have made sustained and exceptional contributions to the major areas spanned by ENRE. The name honors the legacy of Harold Hotelling, who made extensive theoretical contributions to the fields of economics and statistics and applied optimization methods to various practical and important problems in economics, most notably to spatial economics and optimum management of natural resources.