Thomas J. Schriber, Ph.D.
This interview took place on the campus of the National Institute of Health (NIH).
Interviewer: Robert G. Sargent
Interview place: Bethesda, Maryland
Interview date: 2013-05-20
Thomas J. Schriber, Ph.D.
Thomas J. Schriber is a professor of Technology and Operations in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He earned his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at the University of Notre Dame (1957, Magna Cum Laude) and his M.S.E., M.A., and Ph.D. at the University of Michigan (1958, 1959, 1964). He has been a visiting scholar at the National University of Singapore (1995), the Swiss Federal Technical University (ETH Zurich, 1987), and Stanford University (1972-1973). He was a National Science Foundation Fellow from 1957 to 1960 and is now a Fellow and charter member of the Decision Sciences Institute and a member of ASIM (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Simulation, the German-language simulation society), the Institute of Industrial Engineers, and INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and Management Science).
Schriber received the INFORMS College on Simulation’s Lifetime Professional Achievement Award in 2001, the INFORMS Simulation Society’s Distinguished Service Award in 1996, the Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) Board of Directors’ Award for Distinguished Service in 2007, and a 40th Anniversary WSC Landmark Paper Award in 2007. He is well-known for his love of teaching, and in 2013 received the Victor L. Bernard Faculty Award for Leadership in Teaching. Since 1967 Schriber has educated many people in the General Purpose Simulation System (GPSS) in various courses and through his widely used “Red Book,” titled Simulation Using GPSS. His numerous professional service contributions including being Program Chair of the 1976 WSC, member (1978-1986) and chair (1982-1983) of the WSC Board of Directors, President of the WSC Foundation in 2007, and editorial service. His research focuses on discrete-event simulation (DES) and includes the logical foundations of DES software, design of DES experiments, analysis of DES output, and the use of DES for decision support.
