ASysT Awards
The ASysT Institute is committed to advancing the application of systems thinking principles in the fields of national security, homeland security, intelligence, energy, environment, education, and healthcare. The ASysT (Applied Systems Thinking) Awards program is designed to acknowledge accomplishments in this arena. There are 2 awards programs: the ASysT Prize and the ASysT Case Study Competition.
What is Systems Thinking?
Systems Thinking is a discipline for identifying the underlying structures in complex situations and for discerning high leverage points. Systems Thinking is also an analytical approach that addresses a system and its associated external context as a whole that cannot be analyzed solely through reduction of the system to its component parts. In addition, Systems Thinking acknowledges the strong interactions between the system components, and the emergent behaviors and unintended consequences that may result through these interactions. Applied Systems thinking tools and concepts operate at the intersection of traditional “hard” Systems Engineering and “softer” Systems Management disciplines, and embrace elements of both.
The ASysT Applied Systems Thinking Prize is a $20,000 prize awarded annually for a significant accomplishment achieved through the application of systems thinking to a problem of US national significance in the area of national security, homeland security, energy, environment, health care, or education.
The Competition recognizes the application of systems thinking to a specific problem situation or project in the ASysT areas of interest. The case study analysis may be current or historical and must demonstrate
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How systems thinking was applied to improve understanding of the problem and/or development of a solution; or
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How the application of systems thinking could have improved the problem analysis and/or solution.
For 2009, the Case Study competition will specifically focus on problems in the area of National Security.
The top three case studies are selected and awarded Gold, Silver, and Bronze recognition. A monetary award is presented to the authors of the three case studies in the amounts of $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000, respectively.
For questions regarding the ASysT Awards, please contact ASysT at prize@asysti.org.