Hazhir Rahmandad

Hazhir Rahmandad is a visiting Associate Professor in the System Dynamics group at MIT Sloan. He is also an Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech.

Hazhir's research applies dynamic modeling to complex organizational problems. He has analyzed how organizations learn in the presence of delays between taking action and observing the results, and has shown through empirical data and simulations the learning challenges in such contexts. His strategy research has explored capability development tradeoffs under competition and erosion of organizational capabilities through adaptation traps. In another stream of work he has studied public health problems, including obesity dynamics, comparing different modeling methodologies in application to epidemics, and agent-based modeling of polio transmission dynamics.

Hazhir also contributes to expanding the system dynamics modeling toolbox through advancing parameter estimation and validation methods for dynamic models. He has published in diverse journals including Management Science, Organization Science, Epidemiology and Infection, International Journal of Obesity, and System Dynamics Review among others. He has been a reviewer for over 20 NIH and NSF panels and over a dozen different journals, and his research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and multiple private sector firms, among others.

Hazhir received a BS from Sharif University of Technology and a PhD from MIT.