Dr. Cynthia Barnhart

Professor

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Biography

Cynthia Barnhart is the Abraham J. Siegel Professor of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management, and she has a distinguished record of service to students and the community. In addition to her role as a professor, she served as the Chancellor of MIT from 2014 to 2021. Barnhart's teaching and research focus on large-scale optimization and analytics, particularly in the applications of transportation logistics systems. She has supervised numerous graduate and undergraduate theses across various disciplines and has published extensively in premier journals in her field. After joining MIT in 1984 to pursue a graduate degree in transportation operations research, she earned her master's degree in 1985 and her PhD in 1988. An elected Fellow of INFORMS, Barnhart is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. She has received honorary doctorates from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 2014 and the University of Toronto in 2016, and she was awarded the 2021 George E. Kimball Medal by INFORMS for her distinguished service to the profession of operations research and management sciences.

Research Interests

Experience

Abraham J. Siegel Professor of Management

1992-01-01 — Present

Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, MA

Holding a distinguished role in the field of Management and Operations Research.

Chancellor

2014-01-01 — 2021-01-01

Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, MA

Served as Chancellor, overseeing the academic and operational functions of the university.

Associate Acting Dean

— Present

Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Cambridge, MA

Contributed to the administration of the School of Engineering.