Award in Honour of Professor Thomas L. Vincent, PhD

Award Name

The Thomas (Tom) L. Vincent Best Paper Award

Biographical Sketch of Professor Vincent

Thomas L. Vincent is a game theorist worthy of special accolades. Tom was always a gentle, accessible, and compassionate human being. As a scientist, he was open-minded, fearless, careful, and humble - an unusual combination of strategies. Tom cultivated teams and collegiality; he organized and hosted many meetings among participants spanning diverse disciplines, career levels, and backgrounds. Sharing, networking and scientific selflessness was his hallmark. Tom had the mind of an engineer: careful, inquisitive, organized, curious, and eager to solve problems. He was also an idealist, and a naturalist, a lover of nature who thrived on outdoor activities. It was natural for Tom to apply control theory to diverse aspects of engineering and then see many of the same applications when he first took up questions in ecology. His very first peer-reviewed publication in 1961 was ‘Satellite life duration’. By 1974, both aerospace and ecology inspired his work, with papers such as ‘Some aspects of collision avoidance’ and ‘Optimal control of a predator-prey system’. Ron Pulliam, Bean San Goh, George Leitmann, and others shared in a series of good ideas and applications. From the 1980s onward, Tom devoted much of his energy to expanding, refining, and understanding evolutionary games. Most recently, in collaboration with Robert Gatenby and others, Tom devoted his expertise in game theory to placing cancer within an evolutionary ecology framework. As if anticipating the need to apply his talents to this scourge, Tom wrote a paper in 1977 entitled ‘Optimal control analysis in the chemotherapy of IgG multiple myeloma’.

Tom’s open-mindedness and fearlessness not only allowed him to cross disciplines in search of solutions to interesting problems; it allowed him to cross cultures. From the ‘Iron Curtain’ to the ‘Bamboo Curtain’, the Middle East to western Australia to southern Africa, Tom’s quest for people with stimulating ideas was never stopped by cultural differences or even FBI ‘debriefings’. He also had no fear of making somewhat obscure jokes and you may find a few if you read his books. Tom was also very careful, a good trait if you aim to combine open-mindedness with being a good mathematician. Finally, Tom was also humble. He collaborated successfully with all manner of personalities. Most of his professional publications have been collaborations, and not with just a few people. His collaborators number some 40 people, most of whom became close friends. Tom expressed his indebtedness to his co-authors of many publications, and noted that these individuals made his professional life fun and interesting. Tom’s special mix of strategies brought him a great deal of renown, respect, and regard among those who knew him.

Purpose of the Award

To promote research in the field of evolutionary game theory. In particular the awards will recognize outstanding contributions to the theory of evolutionary games.

Award Value

The author or an author of the winning paper will be invited to present the winning research at the corresponding Symposium on Dynamic Games, for which the registration fee will be waived. In exceptional circumstances, some of the travel expenses for the presenting author may be waived.

Eligibility:

All unpublished papers are eligible for the award. A paper may be submitted for consideration for the Award only once. To be considered for the award, a paper should be in the area of evolutionary game theory. The paper must be submitted to the International Society of Dynamic Games at least one month prior to the Symposium for consideration for The Tom Vincent Best Paper Award according to the guidelines provided in the Call for Submissions.

Selection Criteria:

The primary criterion is the scientific excellence of the considered paper in the area of evolutionary game theory. The jury may come to the conclusion that no paper deserves the award. In that case, no winner will be declared.

Selection Committee:

There shall be three members of the Selection Committee. Membership of the Committee will be determined by the Executive Board of the ISDG.

Presentation of the Award:

The award will be presented by the President of the International Society of Dynamic Games (or in exceptional circumstances a delegate) at the corresponding International Symposium on Dynamic Games. It is a condition of the award that the author or an author of the winning paper be present to receive the award and present the paper.

Call for Submissions

The International Society of Dynamic Games (ISDG) has established The Thomas L. Vincent Best Paper Award to be presented for the second time at the 20th International Symposium on Dynamic Games and Applications to be held in Valladolid, Spain on July 9-12, 2024.

The purpose of this Award is to promote research in the field of evolutionary game theory and to honour Thomas (Tom) L. Vincent.

All unpublished papers in evolutionary games are eligible for this Award. To be considered for the Award, the author or an author of the paper must.

send the complete version of their paper to Mark Broom (Mark.Broom.1@city.ac.uk) before June 8. Abstracts or extended abstracts will not be taken into consideration.
if successful, present the paper at the Symposium in person.

The ISDG Executive Board will appoint a jury of three persons. The jury determines the Award winner(s) on the basis on the quality of the paper. As it is a condition of the award that the author or an author of the winning paper attends the Symposium, the jury should also choose at least one reserve if possible.

The author(s) will be presented with a certificate and the registration fee of the Symposium will be waived or refunded for the author who presents the paper at the Symposium.

The jury may come to the conclusion that no paper deserves the award. In that case, no winner will be declared.