Elioth Sanabria

Hi, my name is Elioth. I serve as a Teaching Assistant Professor and Assistant Director for Industry Engagement in the Department of Decision and Technology Analytics (DATA), College of Business, Lehigh University, where I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Supply Chain Management and Business Analytics, with a strong focus on creating practical learning experiences leveraging Generative AI.

I hold a PhD in Operations Research from Columbia University IEOR Department, where I previously served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor. Currently, I’m working on multiple projects applying Operations Research to solve real world problems with state-of-the-art solutions. I founded Staffing Analytics, created the retail analytics platform Predictheus.

Before this, I served in the NYC Government as Assistant Commissioner of Operations Research and Chief Efficiency Officer for the NYC Department of Correction solving a lot of logistical optimization problems (including supply chain problems, transportation optimization, staff scheduling using Stochastic Discrete Optimization, and human tracking via Computer Vision). I also served as Deputy Director of Operations Research for the Fire Department of New York City (FDNY), working on ambulance scheduling and call center staffing to minimize response times. This work was derived from my PhD thesis advised by Professors David D. Yao and Henry Lam.

While I have eclectic research interests spanning Applied Probability, Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning, and Compressive Sensing, the common thread is a deep emphasis on technical correctness, practical applications, and maximizing the positive impact for society by applying Operations Research. My work has been recognized as a finalist in the INFORMS Doing Good with Good OR Paper Competition and the U.S. Army xTechLive Competition, and I am the author of the text Supply Chain Analytics: A Data-driven Approach (2026).