Hi, I'm Dr. Aliaa Alnaggar

I'm an Assistant Professor in Industrial Engineering at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and an affiliate of the Data Science and Analytics Program. I hold a Ph.D. and MASc in Management Sciences from the University of Waterloo, where I was co-supervised by Prof. Fatma Gzara and Prof. Jim Bookbinder. Prior to my current role, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Operations Management at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, where I collaborated with Prof. Andre Cire and Prof. Adam Diamant and was awarded the NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship.

My research focuses on leveraging operations research and analytics techniques to optimize service design and operations in uncertain environments, with particular emphasis on last-mile delivery, the sharing economy, and healthcare systems. Additionally, my work explores developing innovative methodologies for modeling and solving complex optimization problems under uncertainty, that are applicable to a wide-range of practical problems. My methodological expertise includes distributionally robust optimization, stochastic programming, Markov decision processes, and machine learning integration into optimization frameworks.

Welcome to my website!

Connect with me

MIME department webpage, Google Scholar, LinkedIn

Email: aliaa [dot] alnaggar [at] torontomu [dot] ca

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada

Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Jan 2023 - Present

University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Management Science and Engineering Nov 2023 - Present

University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Postdoctoral Fellow, Rotman School of Management Sep 2021 - Dec 2022

EDUCATION

University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

PhD, Management Sciences. Aug 2021

Dissertation: Optimization under Uncertainty for E-retail Distribution: From Suppliers to the Last-Mile.

University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada

MASc, Management Sciences. Aug 2017

Dissertation: Distribution Planning with Consolidation – a Two-Stage Stochastic Programming Approach.

Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait

Bachelor of Science, Industrial Engineering Aug 2010

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Methodology: optimization, stochastic optimization, robust optimization, distributionally robust optimization, dynamic programming, Markov decision processes, integer programming.

Application: crowdsourced delivery, sharing economy platforms, smart-city logistics, transportation and logistics, healthcare operations management, supply chain management.

JOURNAL PAPERS

A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. H. Bookbinder (2024) “Heatmap Design for Probabilistic Driver Repositioning Crowdsourced Delivery”. Forthcoming at Transportation Science.
A. Alnaggar, F. Farrukh “Distributionally Robust Hospital Capacity Expansion Planning under Stochastic and Correlated Patient Demand”. Forthcoming at Computers & Operations Research, 106887.
S. Rafayal*, A. Alnaggar (2025) “Optimal Scheduling of Battery Energy Storage System Operations under Load Uncertainty”. Forthcoming at Applied Mathematical Modelling, 138, 115756.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. H. Bookbinder (2024) “Compensation Guarantees in Crowdsourced Delivery: Impact on Platform and Driver Welfare”. Omega, 122, 102965.
M. Cobbinah*, A. Alnaggar (2024) “An Attention Encoder-Decoder Model with the Teacher Forcing Technique for Predicting Consumer Price Index”. Journal of Data, Information, and Management, 1-19.
S. Rafayal*, A. Alnaggar, M. Cevik (2024) “ Optimizing electricity peak shaving through stochastic programming and probabilistic time series forecasting”. Journal of Building Engineering, 88, 109163.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. H. Bookbinder (2021) “Crowdsourced Delivery: A Review of Platforms and Academic Literature”. Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, 102-139.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. H. Bookbinder (2020) “Distribution Planning with Random Demand and Recourse in a Transshipment Network”. EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, 9 (1).

*Student coauthor

WORKING PAPERS

A. Alnaggar, A. Cire, A. Diamant “Two-stage Distributionally Robust Optimization for Network Rebalancing".
J. Nicholson*, F. Gzara, A. Alnaggar “Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Traffic Network Design with Risk Mitigation”.
A. Alnaggar, S Bhatt* “Fleet Size Planning in Crowdsourced Delivery: Balancing Service Level and Driver Utilization”.
A. Alnaggar, M. Bodur “Reformulation Linearization-based Solution Approaches for Solving Two-Stage Distributionally Robust Optimization Problems”.
A. Alnaggar, G. Baloch, C. Kouki “Optimization of Two-Echelon Perishable Inventory Systems under Uncertainty”.
A. Tortola* and A. Alnaggar “A Predict-then-Optimize Approach for Ambulance Dispatch Centre Expansion Planning Considering Response Time Uncertainty and Incident Priority”
S. Helyar* and A. Alnaggar “Air Quality Monitoring and Mitigation through Machine Learning-Based Time-Series Forecasting and Stochastic Optimization”.
Bhatt, S.*, Alnaggar, A. “Stochastic Optimization Approaches for Dynamic Matching In Crowdsourced Delivery Considering Matching Fairness And Driver Preference”.
A. Alnaggar, G. Baloch and G. Taherkhani “Stochastic Last-mile Delivery with Heterogeneous Crowdsourced Capacity”.

*Student coauthor

INDUSTRY TECHNICAL REPORTS

Alnaggar, A., Bookbinder, J. H. (2019) “Improving Vehicle Utilization in Truckload Transportation with Driver Regulatory Constraints”. A report to Challenger Motor Freight, NSERC Engage Project.
Pourhossein, F., Alnaggar, A., Bookbinder, J. H. (2017) “Evaluating the Use of Cross-docks for Optimized Deliveries to Loblaw Stores”. A report to Loblaws, NSERC Engage Project.
Alnaggar, A., Pourhossein, F., Bookbinder, J. H. (2016) “A Risk Evaluation Model for Network Design Modifications: An Inverse Optimization Technique”. A report to Canadian Tire, NSERC Engage Project.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Instructor, Toronto Metropolitan University
- IND 604: Operations Research II Winter 2023, Winter 2024, Winter 2025
- IND405: Introduction to Data Science and Analytics Fall 2023, Fall 2024
- IND816: Service Operations Management Winter 2024, Winter 2025
Co-Instructor, University of Waterloo
- MSCI 434: Supply Chain Management Spring 2019
Teaching Assistant, University of Waterloo 2015 - 2019

MSCI 331: Introduction to Optimization, MSCI 431: Stochastic Models and Methods,

MSCI 434: Supply Chain Management, MSCI 603: Principles of Operations Research.

GRANTS, HONORS AND AWARDS

NSERC Discovery Grant 2024 - 2029
NSERC Discovery Launch Supplement for Early Career Researchers 2024
TMU Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science (FEAS) Startup Research Fund 2023 - 2028
Mitacs Business Strategy Internship Grant Program (Faculty supervisor) 2025
TMU FEAS Dean Research Fund - Travel 2023, 2024
NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship 2022
UTSC Postdoctoral Fellowship (declined) 2021
CORS Student Paper Competition (2nd Place) 2021
NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship, Doctoral 2019 – 2021
Management Sciences Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award 2019
Ontario Graduate Scholarship 2018 – 2019

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Institute of Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS)
Women in Operations Research and the Management Sciences (WORMS)
Mathematical Optimization Society (MOS)

SERVICES AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Editorial and Conference Activities

Panelist in “Mobilizing Justice: Supply Side Equity for Rideshare Drivers” panel discussion webinar hosted by Mobilizing Justice, Canada.
Panelist in “Preparing for Your First Teaching Role” panel discussion at CORS 2023 conference, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Guest Editor of the special issue on “Analytics for Sustainable Logistics, Transportation and Technologies” for the journal Sustainability Analytics and Modeling.
Organizer and chair of “Network Optimization Problems Under Uncertainty” session at INFORMS 2022 conference, Indianapolis, IND.
Organizer and chair of “Transportation in the Gig Economy” session at INFORMS 2021 conference, Anaheim, CA.
Ad-hoc Reviewer for:
- Transportation Science
- European Journal of Operational Research
- Service Science
- Transportation Research Part B
- Transportation Research Part C
- Transportation Research Part E
- Omega: International Journal of Management Science
- Computers & Operations Research
- EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics
- Computers & Industrial Engineering
- INFOR: Information Systems and Operational Research
- Constraint Programming, Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research Conference.
Judge for student paper competitions:
- CORS Student Paper competition: Open Category (2023)
- CORS Healthcare Operational Research SIG Student Paper competition (2023)
- CORS Student Paper competition: Undergraduate Category (2024)

CORS 2021 Annual Meeting Waterloo Student Head Volunteer.

TMU and Department Service Activities

Panelist in “Design Programs” panel discussion TMU webinar, Nov 2023.
Department representative at Toronto Metropolitan University Faculty Association (TFA) Representatives Council
Banting postdoctoral fellowships review committee member at TMU (2023-2024).
MIE graduate scholarship and award committee member (2023-2024).
Member of the Faculty of Engineering and Architectural Science Website Redesign Audit Group (2023-2024)

Community and Outreach Activities

CORS Waterloo Student Chapter President.
The Operations Research Challenge (TORCH) Waterloo Outreach Lead (2017-2020).

STUDENT SUPERVISION

PhD Students

- Sahil Bhatt (expected completion date: Aug 2028)

MASc Students

- Thesan Ramanan (expected completion date: Aug 2025)
- Ananya Riddha (co-supervised with Prof. Wahab Ismail, expected completion date: Aug 2026)
- Sahil Bhatt (graduated in Aug 2024)
- Alice Yang (co-supervised with Prof. Mucahit Cevik, graduated in Sept 2024)

MEng Students

In-progress

- David Giuggio (expected completion date: Jan 2025)
- Sheritz Sogbesan (expected completion date: Dec 2024)

Completed

- Simon Helyar (2024)
- Anthony Tortola (2024)
- Maame Cobbinah (2023)
- Faiza Farrukh (2023)
- Faiza Noor (2023)
- Rupinder Singh (2023)

Undergraduate Research Assistants

- Jude Abu Khajil (W2024)

Capstone Project Supervision

- To be updated

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

A. Alnaggar, M. Bodur "Two-Stage Distributionally Robust Optimization for Service Region Design in Crowdsourced Delivery". Invited talk, INFORMS Annual Meeting, Oct. 2024, Seattle, WA, USA.
A. Alnaggar, M. Bodur “Two-Stage Distributionally Robust Optimization for Service Region Design in Crowdsourced Delivery”. Invited talk, International Symposium on Mathematical Programming, Jul. 2024, Montreal, Canada.
S. Bhatt*, A. Alnaggar “Worker Pool Size Planning in Crowdsourced Delivery: Balancing Service Level and Driver Compensation Standards”. Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) Annual Meeting, Jun. 2024, London, Canada.
A. Alnaggar, A. Cire, A. Diamant “Two-stage Distributionally Robust Optimization for Network Balancing Problems”. Invited talk, Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) Annual Meeting, Jun. 2024, London, Canada.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. Bookbinder “Heatmap design for probabilistic driver repositioning in crowdsourced delivery”. INFORMS Transportation Science and Logistics, Jul. 2023, Chicago, IL.
A. Alnaggar, A. Cire, A. Diamant “Two-stage Distributionally Robust Optimization for Scarce Resource Allocation”. Invited talk, INFORMS Healthcare, Jul. 2023, Toronto, ON.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. Bookbinder “Dynamic Matching with Driver Compensation Guarantees in Crowdsourced Delivery”. INFORMS Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Jun. 2023, Montreal, Canada.
A. Alnaggar “Two-Stage Distributionally Robust Optimization for Service Region Design in Crowdsourced Delivery”. Invited talk, Sustainable and Emerging Supply Chain and Logistics Seminar – Defence Research and Development Canada, June 2023, Toronto, Canada.
A. Alnaggar, G. Baloch “Two-Stage Distributionally Robust Optimization for Service Region Design in Crowdsourced Delivery”. Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) Annual Meeting, May 2023, Montreal, Canada.
A. Alnaggar, A. Cire, A. Diamant “Two-stage Distributionally Robust Optimization for Network Balancing Problems”. INFORMS Annual Meeting, Oct. 2022, Indianapolis, IND.
A. Alnaggar, A. Cire, A. Diamant “Two-stage Distributionally Robust Optimization for Network Balancing Problems”. Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) Annual Meeting, Jun. 2022, Vancouver, Canada.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. Bookbinder “Dynamic Matching with Driver Compensation Guarantees in Crowdsourced Delivery”. INFORMS Annual Meeting, Oct. 2021, Anaheim, CA.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. Bookbinder “Dynamic Matching with Driver Welfare Considerations in Crowdsourced Delivery”. Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) Annual Meeting, Jun. 2021, Virtual Conference.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. Bookbinder “Balancing Supply and Demand in a Crowdsourced Delivery System”. INFORMS Annual Meeting, Nov. 2020, Virtual Conference.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. Bookbinder “Crowdsourced Delivery: State-of-the-art with Applications to Omni-channel Supply Chains”. INFORMS Annual Meeting, Oct. 2019, Seattle, WA.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. Bookbinder “Distribution Planning with Random Demand and Recourse in a Transshipment Network”. Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) Annual Meeting, May 2019, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.
A. Alnaggar, F. Gzara, J. Bookbinder “Distribution Planning with Consolidation - A Two-Stage Stochastic Programming Approach”. 7th Odysseus workshop on Freight Transportation and Logistics, June 2018, Cagliari, Italy.

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