CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — MIT has awarded Dimitris Bertsimas, a pioneer in operations research, its 2025-26 James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award for his transformative contributions, including those in transportation optimization. It is the highest honor the MIT faculty grants to its own professors.
“To be recognized among the Killian Award winners is humbling,” said Bertsimas. “I focus on solving problems that drive real change—not in 50 years, but in two.” In addition to serving as MIT Sloan’s Associate Dean of Business Analytics, Boeing Professor of Operations Research, and faculty director of the Master of Business Analytics program, Bertsimas co-founded AlphaRoute, a fleet management software company that helps school districts and transit agencies cut costs and optimize transportation. His collaboration with fellow co-founder John Hanlon, former COO of Boston Public Schools (BPS), led to an algorithm that eliminated 50 buses from BPS’s fleet, saving $5 million. Today, AlphaRoute enables districts nationwide to reduce transportation expenses by up to 30%.
The School District of Manatee County, Florida successfully partnered with AlphaRoute to drive down their route count from 106 to 94—an incredible impact during this time of driver shortages. “From the beginning, AlphaRoute was transparent as to their ability, set the expectations, and then executed those expectations without fail. Additionally, the AlphaRoute team went beyond the scope of work they were contracted for! We are so thankful for their assistance with this project and their post-project support!” says Jamie Warrington, Director of Transportation and Vehicle Maintenance.
Daniel Kang, Director of Transportation at LA Unified, added, “AlphaRoute has expanded our capacity and improved efficiency, delivering safe, reliable service for our students. The AlphaRoute team’s expertise in both public and private sectors allows for practical, innovative solutions.”
As part of the Killian Award tradition, Bertsimas will deliver a lecture in spring 2026, discussing insights on the future of artificial intelligence in transportation optimization as well as its impact on the healthcare and finance industries.
Bertsimas’ achievements have earned widespread recognition. In 2019, he received the John von Neumann Theory Prize from INFORMS for his contributions to the theory of operations research and the management sciences. That same year, he was awarded the INFORMS President’s Award for his contributions to societal welfare. He was also elected to the National Academy of Engineering at age 43.
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