Introducing New Members of the Faculty

To help introduce to the Cornell community the new members of the university's faculty the Cornell Chronicle is publishing brief new-faculty profiles through December.

Farahat

Gavirneni

Hockett

Njardarson

Pearo

Amr Farahat

Assistant professor, operations management
College: Johnson Graduate School of Management
Academic focus: Farahat specializes in building decision models that help yield insight into management problems and in applying optimization methods to solve them. His research focuses on the design of large-scale networks and economic mechanisms arising in supply chains and telecommunications. He also is interested in logistics and transportation management -- airlines in particular. His teaching interests are in quantitative modeling, operations management, dynamic pricing and statistics.
Previous position: Teaching instructor, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Academic background: B.Sc., mechanical engineering, 1994, and graduate diploma, industrial engineering, 1995, American University in Cairo; M.Sc., operational research, Lancaster University, 1996; Ph.D., operations research, MIT, 2004.
Last book read: The Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran.

Srinagesh Gavirneni

Assistant professor, operations management
College: Johnson Graduate School of Management
Academic focus: Research interests are in the areas of supply-chain management, inventory control, production scheduling, simulation and optimization.
Previous position: Assistant professor, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, 2002-04.
Academic background: Bachelor of technology, mechanical engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, 1989; M.S., industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, Iowa State University, 1993; Ph.D., manufacturing and operations systems, Carnegie Mellon University, 1997.
Last book read: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.

Robert C. Hockett

Assistant professor, law
College: Cornell Law School
Academic focus: His principal research and teaching interests are in the fields of organizational and financial law and economics, particularly as these bear upon and are borne upon by economic globalization and distributive justice concerns.
Previous position: Consultant, International Monetary Fund.
Academic background: B.A. , philosophy and economics, Rhodes Scholar, 1986, and M.A., philosophy and mathematical logic, 1994, Oxford University; J.D., 1999, University of Kansas School of Law; L.L.M., 2003, and J.S.D. (to be conferred), 2004,Yale Law School.
Last book read: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

Jon Tryggvi Njardarson

Assistant professor, chemistry and chemical biology
College: Arts and Sciences
Academic focus: The main focus of Njardarson's research group is the development of new synthetic methods and synthesis of intriguing natural products with promising biological profiles. These methods, to be used by molecular architects, need to be general, predictable, economical and efficient for assembling desired molecular frameworks. Natural products, in addition to being excellent lead structures for the development of new biological probes and therapeutic agents, serve as an ideal training ground for tomorrow's molecular architects.
Previous position: Research fellow, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 2001-04.
Academic background: B.S., chemistry, University of Iceland, 1993; Ph.D., chemistry, Yale University, 2001.
Last book read: Skugga-Baldur by Sjón.

Lisa Klein Pearo

Assistant professor, marketing
College: School of Hotel Administration
Academic focus: Klein Pearo is interested in consumer behavior, with a focus on understanding consumer information search, learning and decision making in interactive environments. She has written cases with Virtual Vineyards and Dewar's Scotch on the marketing of liquor on the Internet and has conducted market research and developed Internet marketing strategies for numerous start-up companies.
Previous position: Assistant professor of marketing, Rice University.
Academic background: B.A., economics, Yale University, 1987; MBA, 1991, and D.B.A., marketing, 1999, Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Last book read: Customer Experience Management: A Revolutionary Approach to Connecting With Your Customers by Bernd H. Schmitt.

October 7, 2004