Cynthia Barnhart | |
|---|---|
| 13thProvost of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| Assumed office March 7, 2022 | |
| Preceded by | Martin A. Schmidt |
| 6thChancellor of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| In office 2014–2021 | |
| Preceded by | W. Eric Grimson |
| Succeeded by | Melissa Nobles |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1959 (age 65–66) Barre,Vermont, U.S. |
| Spouse | Mark Baribeau |
| Education | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Civil engineering |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | A network-based primal-dual solution methodology for the multi-commodity network flow problem (1988) |
Cynthia Barnhart (born 1959) is an Americancivil engineer and academic who has been serving asprovost of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology since March 2022. She previously served as the Institute'schancellor from 2014 to 2021.
Barnhart's academic work focuses on transportation and operations research, specifically specializing in developing models, optimization methods and decision support systems for large-scale transportation problems. She also is a professor in MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and was an associate dean of theMIT School of Engineering, serving a brief tenure as interim dean of engineering from 2010 to 2011.[1]
Barnhart became a member of theNational Academy of Engineering in 2010 for professional leadership and contributions to optimization and transportation models, algorithms, and applications.
Barnhart was born in Barre, Vermont. She received a Bachelor of Science incivil engineering from theUniversity of Vermont in 1981.[2] From the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she received a Master of Science in transportation in 1985 and a Doctor of Philosophy in civil engineering in 1988.[1][3][4]
She spent two years working atBechtel, a firm in Washington, D.C., as a planning engineer for the city's subway system.
After graduation, Barnhart worked as an assistant professor at the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering atGeorgia Institute of Technology before returning to MIT as an assistant professor in 1992, eventually becoming a full professor in 2002.[1] At MIT she has served as co-director of the Center for Transportation and Logistics, co-director of the Operations Research Center, and director of Transportation@MIT.
She is theFord Foundation Professor of Engineering at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, with a join appointment at the Engineering Systems Division.
Barnhart was president of theInstitute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences for the 2008 term.[5] She was appointed as the 6th[6] Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2014, succeeding W. Eric Grimson, a professor of Computer Science and Engineering.
On May 3, 2021, it was announced that Barnhart will step down from her role as Chancellor on July 1, 2021, at which time she will return to research and teaching activities as a faculty member.[7]
On February 10, 2022, MIT announced that Barnhart will become MIT's nextProvost, effective March 7.[8]
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | 6th Chancellor of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology 2014 – 2021 | Succeeded by |
