Amedeo R. Odoni

Biography

Amedeo Rodolfo Odoni is the T. Wilson Professor Emeritus in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. He specializes in Operations Research with research interests in applied probability theory, stochastic processes and decision-making under uncertainty. His principal application domains are airport planning and operations, air traffic management, urban service systems, and urban transportation. He has served in many leadership positions including: Co-Director of MIT’s Operations Research Center (1985-91); Head, Systems Division, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1992-95); National Co-Director of NEXTOR, the FAA’s National Center of Excellence in Aviation Operations Research (1996-2002); Co-Director of the Global Airline Industry Center at MIT (1999-2009); and Lead Principal Investigator and Principal Investigator of the Future Urban Mobility Program under SMART, the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (2009-15).

Professor Odoni is co-author and/or co-editor of twelve books, three of which are leading international textbooks, and author or co-author of more than 100 professional publications. He served as editor-in-chief of Transportation Science from 1985 to 1991, and is a current or past member of the editorial boards of many professional journals.

His distinctions and honors include: elected Member, U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), “for contributions and global leadership in air traffic control and airport systems” [2011]; Fellow, Inst. for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS) [2004]; Robert F. Herman Lifetime Achievement Award, “for contributions to Transportation Science”, INFORMS [2001]; Robert Horonjeff Award, “for contributions to Air Transport Engineering”, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) [2017]; T. Wilson Chair Professor, MIT [1996]; Honorary Dean, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics [2017]; Honorary Ph.D. (Doctorate honoris causa), Athens University of Economics and Business [2006]; U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, National Award for Excellence in Aviation Education [1995]; Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising, MIT School of Engineering [2007]; Maseeh Excellence-in-Teaching Award, MIT Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering [2007]; Best Published Paper (2014-2016) Award, Transportation and Logistics Section of INFORMS (with A. Jacquillat) [2017]; Best Published Paper (2011-2013) Award, Transportation and Logistics Section of INFORMS (with D. Bertsimas and G. Lulli) [2014]; Martin Kunz Lecturer, European Aviation Conference [2017]; MIT Graduate Student Council Award for Excellence in Teaching [1985, 1996]; Member, National Council for Research and Technology of Greece [2011-2014]; Honorary Member of AGIFORS (one of four inaugural Honorary Members) [1991]; Fulbright Scholar [1972].

He has supervised 43 Ph.D. students and has been a member of the Ph.D. thesis committees of about 100 others. The PhD students he has supervised have won major prizes for their research and dissertations including: the INFORMS George B. Dantzig Best Dissertation Award [2015]; the Dissertation Award of the Transportation Science and Logistics Section of INFORMS [1976, 1978, 1984, 1988, 2015], as well as two honorable mentions [1999, 2005]; the US DOT Student of the Year Award [1999]; and the Council of University Transportation Centers Milton Pikarsky Award in Science & Technology [2015].

Dr. Odoni has served as consultant to many national and international organizations, including a large number of the busiest airports in the world, on projects related to practically every aspect of airport planning and design, and to air traffic management.

Academic Degrees

S.B., Electrical Eng’ng, 1965, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; S.M., EECS,1967, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Ph.D., Operations Research, 1969, Massachusetts Institute of Technology