Pablo Durango Cohen

Pablo Durango Cohen is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University's McCormick School of Engineering. He has been at NU since 2002, following his PhD from UC Berkeley. His research focuses on optimizing transportation systems, infrastructure management, environmental design, and policy. He teaches courses in systems engineering, finance, and statics/dynamics, emphasizing quantitative modeling for large-scale systems. His work includes developing frameworks for infrastructure health monitoring and auction mechanisms for road concessions.

Education:

• Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering (University of Southern California)
• Master of Science and PhD in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (UC Berkeley)

Research Interests:

Dr. Cohen’s research integrates optimization and statistical models to enhance transportation systems' efficiency and sustainability. Key areas include infrastructure health monitoring, freight rail decarbonization, autonomous delivery systems, and lifecycle assessment of transit systems. He collaborates with institutions like NU’s Infrastructure Technology Institute to translate data into actionable insights for policymakers and engineers.

Key Achievements:

• Recipient of the Matthew G. Karlaftis Best Paper Award (2025, 2024, 2023, 2021, 2020)
• Pioneered frameworks for detecting unusual infrastructure measurements and forecasting deterioration
• Developed optimization models for transit bus fleets balancing economic, environmental, and social impacts

Teaching and Mentoring:

In addition to teaching undergraduate/graduate courses, Dr. Cohen supervises PhD students who have excelled in academia, government, and industry. He emphasizes experiential learning, such as using Divvy bike-sharing data to optimize Evanston’s bike rebalancing strategies.

Labs/Teams:

Collaborates with the Infrastructure Technology Institute (ITI) and leads interdisciplinary teams in transportation systems and sustainable engineering.