John D. Sterman

John Sterman (Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management and Professor of System Dynamics) and Bobby Milstein (MIT Sloan Visiting Scientist; ReThink Health and Rippel Foundation), along with the rest of the team behind the nonprofit ReThink Health initiative, have won the 2023 System Dynamics Applications Award from the System Dynamics Society. This honor recognizes the best real-world application of System Dynamics, based primarily on demonstrated measurable benefit through the use of System Dynamics within the past decade.

ReThink Health, an initiative of the Rippel Foundation, works "with national and regional stewards to discover what it takes to design and execute transformative change and produce better health and well-being for all.” ReThink Health uses system dynamics models and interactive management flight simulators to enable community leaders at all scales and from every part of society to design high-leverage policies that can help all people thrive, beginning with those who are struggling and suffering. The broad application impact spanning health care, philanthropy, government, business, and academia has ranged from local (e.g., 18 initiatives launched involving over 2,500 individuals to enhance health and well-being across Atlanta) to national (e.g., 52 federal agencies collaborating on long-term plans for equitable recovery and resilience).

The winning team, many of whom have strong MIT Sloan connections (degrees listed are for MIT Sloan alumni who studied system dynamics), consists of Milstein, Sterman, Jack Homer (Homer Consulting; PhD ’83), Gary Hirsch (independent consultant; SB ’69 & SM ’71), Dr. Elliott Fisher (Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine), Rebecca Niles (Iceberg Partners, SB ’93 & MBA ’93), Kris Wile (Systems Thinking Collaborative, SM ’94), and Chris Soderquist (Pontifex Consulting).

The award was announced at the 2023 International System Dynamics Conference (annual conference of the System Dynamics Society) in late July in Chicago. A photo is online at the conference awards blog post, and the award presentation video contains more details in remarks and a slide presentation about the winning work and the many contributions and extensive real-world impact of ReThink Health.  A transcript is also available at the video page.

John Sterman has received the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability (ARCS) Conference People’s Choice Award for high-impact work at the 9th Annual ARCS Research conference held in June at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. This award is based on a vote of conference attendees for the best paper at the conference. Sterman’s winning paper, co-authored with Juliette Rooney-Varga (UMass Lowell), Eduardo Fracassi (Instituto Tecnologico de Buenos Aires), Travis Franck (Climate Interactive), Florian Kapmeier (ESB Business School, Reutlingen University, Germany), Victoria Kurker (UMass Lowell), Ellie Johnston (Climate Interactive), Andrew Jones (Climate Interactive), and Kenneth Rath (SageFox Consulting Group), is entitled “Can role-play with interactive models enhance climate knowledge, affect and intent to act?”

John Sterman has won the System Dynamics Society Outstanding Service Award. This award recognizes individuals who have made exceptional contributions to the society over an extended period of time, on a volunteer basis, in a way that benefits the development and advancement of system dynamics, helps the society achieve its goals, and sets a standard to inspire others.  Professor Peter Milling, chair of the award committee, noted that awardees are “individuals who besides having exhibited the highest standards of service excellence, dedication, and accomplishment … also have taken initiatives to move the society forward and created positive results for society members and the larger community of people interested in System Dynamics.” He highlighted Sterman’s service in leadership roles on the society’s policy council, as conference program chair, as editor of the System Dynamics Review, and as creator of numerous society initiatives.

John Sterman has won the 2016 Samuel E. Seegal Faculty Prize, in recognition of his having inspired students in pursuing and achieving excellence. The prize is awarded to a faculty member for “pursuing excellence” at either MIT Sloan or the MIT School of Engineering every other year.

John Sterman has been elected as a Fellow of the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science). AAAS Fellows are elected by their peers in recognition of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science. Sterman in particular was recognized for his “distinguished contributions to improving decision-making in complex systems, including corporate strategy and operations, energy policy, public health, environmental sustainability, and climate change.” The 2017 AAAS Fellows were formally announced recently in the AAAS News and Notes section of Science and will be honored at a ceremony in February 2018 at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas.