About Me

I am a tenured Associate Professor in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and hold a MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, as well as a "diplome d'ingenieur" from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Paris in France. More about me at http://www.lehigh.edu/~aut204

I blog on business, engineering and higher education. While at MIT, I co-founded of GW6, the Graduate Women Group in Course 6 (MIT-speak for Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and was a co-chair of the Academics, Research and Careers Committee of the Graduate Student Council. I am committed to encouraging more students, in particular girls, to pursue engineering and science careers, and serve as a judge for the Lehigh Valley Science and Engineering Fair and Lehigh University's CHOICES day, an engineering program directed at girls in middle school.

I strongly believe in the power of education to change people's lives for the better, because education is what allowed my grandparents to rebuild their lives from scratch when they were uprooted by war and genocide. My parents lifted themselves out of poverty through relentless hard work and I wish more people from low-income families were given the same opportunity. I often blog on the inequalities in the educational system and am a fervent supporter of "First Book", a charity that distributes books to underprivileged children.

Recently, I became the chairwoman of the Public Information Committee of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences (INFORMS), which aims to improve the visibility, understanding and support of operations research by the general public. I also serve as the Junior VP of Communication for the Forum on Women in OR/MS, also at INFORMS. You can reach me at: aurelie at aureliethiele dot com.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed here are those of the author only and do not necessarily represent the opinions of her employer, the National Science Foundation, or any other funding source.