Elisabeth Paté-Cornell

Dr. M. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell

Professor and Founding Chair
Department of Management Science and Engineering
Stanford University

Dr. Marie-Elisabeth Paté-Cornell is the Burt and Deedee McMurtry Professor in the School of Engineering, and was the founding chair of the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University (2000-2011). She is also a Senior Fellow (by courtesy) of the Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Her specialty is engineering risk analysis, with applications to complex systems (space, medical, offshore oil platforms, etc.). Her research has focused on the optimization of warning systems and on the inclusion of human and organizational factors in the analysis of systems’ failure risks. Her recent work is on the use of game theory in risk analysis, with applications that include counter-terrorism, nuclear counter-proliferation and cyber security. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the French Académie des Technologies, InQtel Board of Trustees, the Naval Post-Graduate School Advisory Board, the NASA Advisory Council, and Draper Laboratory Corporation.

Dr. Paté-Cornell was a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from December 2001 to 2008 and of the State Department International Security Advisory Board in 2008. She is a Fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis, of which she was the President in 1995-1996. She received the Ramsey Medal of the Decision Analysis Society in 2010, the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Society for Risk Analysis in 2002, and the Best Paper Award in Military Operations Research also in 2002. She is a Chevalier dans L’Ordre National du Mérite (France), a member of several editorial boards and an author or co-author of more than 150 publications.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and physics, Marseille (France), an Engineering degree (Applied Math/CS) from the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble (France), a Master of Science in operations research and a PhD in engineering-economic eystems, both from Stanford University. She was an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at MIT (1978-1981), a faculty member then Chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at Stanford University, before chairing the new Department of Management Science and Engineering.

She and her late husband, Dr. Allin Cornell had two children, Philip Cornell (born 1981) and Ariane Cornell (1984). Dr. Paté-Cornell is married to Admiral James O. Ellis, U.S. Navy, (Ret.).