Student in lab working with vials
student working on autonomous airplane

Kathryn Caggiano

Associate Dean for M/Eng. Programs and Professor of Practice
Operations Research and Information Engineering

Biography

Kathryn Caggiano received a B.S. in Mathematics from the College of William and Mary in 1990 and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from Cornell University in 1998. Prior to returning to Cornell in 2007, Kathryn was an Assistant Professor of Operations and Information Management in the School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Outside of academia, she worked for several years in technology and supply chain consulting with Price Waterhouse and PeopleSoft Supply Chain Solutions. In her current role as Director of Master of Engineering Studies she is actively involved in the professional preparation and development of ORIE students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Under her leadership, the ORIE MEng program was selected as a Finalist for the 2012 UPS George D. Smith Prize, INFORMS’ flagship award for outstanding practical preparation of OR students.

Research Interests

Kathryn’s interests focus on developing practical mathematical models and solution approaches to enable better decision making in large-scale production and distribution systems. Companies she has worked with include Verizon Wireless, Cisco, Xelus, and NASA.

Teaching Interests

Kathryn’s teaching aims to prepare students for the professional arena by placing a heavy emphasis on developing and implementing practical models, and communicating solutions in a concise, effective manner. Her senior-level course ORIE 4820: Spreadsheet-Based Modeling and Data Analysis enables students to function quickly and effectively in a data-driven business environment using spreadsheet technology. All topics are introduced in the context of solving business problems, with particular attention paid to decision making in the presence of uncertainty. ORIE 5110: Case Studies, her fall semester short course, prepares ORIE MEng students for their subsequent capstone projects by engaging them in team-based project work to develop and communicate a practical solution to a complex business problem.

Service Interests

Kathryn is a member of INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) and MSOM (Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Society). She served on the Editorial Review Board for Decision Sciences from 2004-2006 and as a judge for the M&SOM Student Paper Competition in 2006. She has reviewed articles for a number of professional journals, including Management Science, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Naval Research Logistics, Operations Research, and Production and Operations Management. At Cornell, she serves on numerous committees for ORIE and for the College. She has chaired the College’s Master of Engineering Committee since December 2008, and she has been a member of the Cornell Engineering Alumni Association Board of Directors since April 2009. She also serves on the Graduate Studies Advisory Board in Arts & Sciences at the College of William and Mary, where she chairs the student professional development committee.

Selected Publications

  • Caggiano, Kathryn, J.A. Muckstadt, J.A. Rappold. 2006.“Integrated Real-time Capacity and Inventory Allocation for Reparable Service Parts in a Two-Echelon Supply System.”Manufacturing & Service Operations Management8(3): 292-319.
  • Caggiano, Kathryn, P.L. Jackson, J.A. Muckstadt, J.A. Rappold. 2007.“Optimizing Service Parts Inventory in a Multi-Echelon, Multi-Item Supply Chain with Time-Based Customer Service Level Agreements.”Operations Research55(2): 303-318.
  • Caggiano, Kathryn, P.L. Jackson. 2008.“Finding Minimum Flow Time Cyclic Schedules for Non-Identical, Multistage Jobs.”IIE Transactions40(1): 45-65.
  • Caggiano, Kathryn, P.L. Jackson, J.A. Muckstadt, J.A. Rappold. 2009.“Efficient Computation of Time-Based Customer Service Levels in a Multi-Item, Multi-Echelon Supply Chain: A Practical Approach for Inventory Optimization.”European Journal of Operational Research199(3): 744-749.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Sonny Yau (’72) Excellence in Teaching (College of Engineering, Cornell University) 2010 &2013
  • Professor with the Best in Class Presentation(Graduate Business Association, University of Wisconsin-Madison)2007
  • AIIE Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching(School or ORIE, Cornell University)2000
  • AIIE Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award(School of ORIE, Cornell University)1997
  • AIIE Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award(School of ORIE, Cornell University)1995

Education

  • B.S. (Mathematics), College of William and Mary, School of Arts and Sciences, 1990
  • M.S. (Operations Research), Cornell University, School of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, 1997
  • Ph.D. (Operations Research), Cornell University, School of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering, 1998