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Administrative data

Michel Bierlaire

michel.bierlaire@epfl.ch http://transp-or.epfl.ch/personnal.php?Person=BIERLAIRE

Nationality: Belgium & Switzerland

EPFL ENAC IIC TRANSP-OR
GC B2 386 (Bâtiment GC)
Station 18
1015 Lausanne

Expertise

Transportation systems analysis
Travel demand models
Operations Research
Discrete choice models
Optimization
Michel Bierlaire is Full Professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), where he directs the Transport and Mobility Laboratory. He received his PhD in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Namur, Belgium. After serving as Research Associate and Project Manager in the Intelligent Transportation Systems Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1995 to 1998, he joined EPFL in 1998 as junior faculty in the Operations Research Group. He was appointed Associate Professor in 2006 and Full Professor in 2012.

Throughout his career at EPFL, he has held several major academic leadership positions, including Director of the Transport and Mobility Laboratory, Director of the Transportation Center (TraCE), Director of the Doctoral Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Head of the Civil Engineering Institute.

His research focuses on the development of mathematical models and optimization algorithms for the analysis, design, and management of transportation systems. His work spans travel demand analysis, discrete choice modelling, activity-based modelling, origin–destination estimation, transportation optimization, and intelligent transportation systems. He is also the principal developer of the open-source software package Biogeme for the estimation of discrete choice models.

He has authored more than 150 journal articles, four books, numerous book chapters, and hundreds of conference publications. His work has received broad international recognition, including an ERC Advanced Grant (COBRA: Combinatorial Optimization for Behavioral Response Analysis, 2026). An up-to-date list of publications and citation metrics is available through his Google Scholar profile.

Professor Bierlaire founded the EPFL Advanced Continuing Education course Discrete Choice Analysis: Predicting Individual Behavior and Market Demand, which has become one of the leading international training programs in the field. He is also the founder of hEART (the European Association for Research in Transportation).

Professionals experiences

Full Professor

2012–2012

School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Links

  • Wikipedia
  • List of publications and activities of Michel Bierlaire
  • List of publications of the Transport and Mobility Laboratory
  • Google Scholar citations

Miscellaneous responsibilities

as of August 2021
  • Member of the Editorial Board, Transportation Research Part B, (since Dec 01, 2018)
  • Associate Editor, Transport Findings (since Oct 01, 2018)
  • Associate Editor, Operations Research (since Jan 01, 2012)
  • Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research (since Nov 08, 2011)
  • Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Transportation Research Part C (since Jan 01, 2006)
  • Member of the Editorial Advisory Board, Transportation Research Part B (since Jan 01, 1995)
  • Member of the Academic Promotion Committee, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland (since Apr 01, 2015)
  • Director, Transportation Center, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland (since May 06, 2009)
  • Director of the Transport and Mobility Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland (since Jul 01, 2006)
  • Member of the International Scientific Advisory Board , Transportation Research Center, Kumasi, Kumasi, Ghana (since Nov 01, 2018)
  • Member of the scientific advisory board, CIRRELT (Interuniversity Research Center on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation, Québec, Canada (since Jan 01, 2016)
  • Founder, member of the steering committee, European Association for Research in Transportation (since Sep 09, 2015)
  • Member of the research council, Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), Bern, Switzerland (since Jan 01, 2015)

Awards

Zephyr Foundation Impactful Research Award 2020

2021

Selected publications

Discrete choice models

Bierlaire, M.
Published in M. Labbé, G. Laporte, K. Tanczos and Ph. Toint (eds), Operations Research and Decision Aid Methodologies in Traffic and Transportation Management, Vol. 166 of NATO ASI Series, Series F: Computer and Systems Sciences, Springer Verlag in

A theoretical analysis of the cross-nested logit model

Bierlaire, M.
Published in Annals of Operations Research , to appear in

Investigation of route guidance generation issues by simulation with DynaMIT

Bottom, J., Ben-Akiva, M., Bierlaire, M., Chabini, I., Koutsopoulos, H. and Yang, Q.
Published in A. Ceder (ed.), Transportation and Traffic Theory. Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Transportation and Traffic Theory, Pergamon, 1999 in

Discrete choice methods and their applications to short-term travel decisions

Ben-Akiva, M. and Bierlaire, M.
Published in R. Hall (ed.), Handbook of Transportation Science, International Series in Operations Research and Management Science, Vol. 23 Kluwer in

An efficient algorithm for real-time estimation and prediction of dynamic OD table

Bierlaire, M. and Crittin, F.
Published in Operations Research , 52(1), 2004 in

Real-time simulation of traffic demand-supply interactions within DynaMIT

Ben-Akiva, M., Bierlaire, M., Koutsopoulos, H. N. and Mishalani, R.
Published in M. Gendreau and P. Marcotte (eds), Transportation and network analysis: current trends. Miscellenea in honor of Michael Florian, 2002 in

On iterative algorithms for linear least squares problems with bound constraints,

Bierlaire, M., Toint, P. L. and Tuyttens, D.
Published in Linear Algebra and its Applications, 143: 111-143, 1991 in

Network state estimation and prediction for real-time transportation management applications.

Ben-Akiva, M., Bierlaire, M., Burton, D., Koutsopoulos, H. and Mishalani, R.
Published in Networks and Spatial Economics, 1(3/4)., 2001 in

Modeling and simulation in logistics

Liebling, Th. M., Bierlaire, M., Crittin, F., Hêche, J.-F., Thi�mard, E., Stagno, A. and Righetti, F.
Published in F.-L. Perret and C. Jaffeux (eds), The Essentials of Logistics and Management, EPFL Press, 2002 in

Hybrid choice models: Progress and challenges

Ben-Akiva, M., McFadden, D., Train, K., Walker, J., Bhat, C., Bierlaire, M., Bolduc, D., Boersch-Supan, A., Brownstone, D., Bunch, D., Daly, A., de Palma, A., Gopinath, D., Karlstrom, A. and Munizaga, M. A.
Published in Marketing Letters , 13(3), 2002 in

On the overspecification of multinomial and nested logit models due to alternative specific constants

Bierlaire, M., Lotan, T. and Toint, P. L.
Published in Transportation Science, 31(4): 363-371., 1997 in

The total demand scale: A new measure of quality for static and dynamic origin-destination trip tables.

Bierlaire, M.
Published in Transportation Research B, 36(9): 837-850, 2002 in

Discrete choice models with applications to departure time and route choice

Ben-Akiva, M. and Bierlaire, M.
Published in R. Hall (ed.), Handbook of Transportation Science, 2nd edition, Kluwer , 2003 in

Decision-aid methodology for the school bus routing and scheduling problem

Spada, M., Bierlaire, M. and Liebling, Th. M.
Published in Transportation Science, to appear in

MEUSE: an origin-destination estimator that exploits structure

Bierlaire, M. and Toint, Ph. L.
Published in Transportation Research B, 29(1): 47-60 in

Investigating consumers' tendency to combine multiple shopping purposes and destinations

Dellaert, B., Arentze, T., Bierlaire, M., Borgers, A. and Timmermans, H.
Published in Journal of Marketing Research, 35(2), 1998 in

Infoscience

Teaching & PhD

PhD Students

Candice Baud, Barbara Anna Christina Tomarchio, Louise Françoise Pauline Lallemand, Anne-Valérie Preto, Prunelle Vogler

Past EPFL PhD Students

Frank Crittin (2003), Rodrigue Oeuvray (2005), Michaël Thémans (2007), Emma Johanna Robert Frejinger (2008), Niklaus Eggenberg (2009), Carolina Osorio Pizano (2010), Thomas Robin (2011), Javier Cruz Mota (2011), Ilaria Vacca (2011), Ricardo Daniel Hurtubia González (2012), Jingmin Chen (2013), Bilge Atasoy (2013), Aurélie Glerum (2014), Nitish Umang (2014), Antonin Danalet (2015), Flurin Silvan Hänseler (2016), Tomas Robenek (2016), Marija Nikolic (2017), Evanthia Kazagli (2017), Iliya Dimitrov Markov (2017), Stefan Binder (2018), Anna Fernández Antolín (2018), Meritxell Pacheco Paneque (2020), Nicholas Alan Molyneaux (2021), Gael Lederrey (2022), Stefano Bortolomiol (2022), Selin Ataç (2023), Janody Pougala (2024), Nicola Marco Ortelli (2024), Cloe Cortes Balcells (2025), Tom Häring (2025), Negar Rezvany (2025), Marija Kukic (2026), Antonina Hochuli (2026)

Past EPFL PhD Students as codirector

Gianluca Antonini (2005), Ivan Spassov (2007), Stefano Moret (2017), Alexis Gumy (2023)

Courses

Chantier urbain : perception, gouvernance, usages

PENS-216

This week ENAC aims to apprehend urban construction sites as key moments in the territorial fabric, in the articulation between urban planning and the effective implementation of a vision for the territory.

Decision-aid methodologies in transportation

CIVIL-557

The course has two modules, the first Operations Research (OR), and the second is statistical modeling of transportation systems. Students will be modeling applied problems and developing solution methods and modelling of driver behavior for decision support in transportation.

Introduction to optimization and operations research

MATH-265

Introduction to major operations research models and optimization algorithms

Introduction to transportation systems

CIVIL-355

The course provides an introduction to the design and analysis of transportation systems for the mobility of people and goods.

Mathematical modelling of behavior

MATH-463

Discrete choice models allow for the analysis and prediction of individuals' choice behavior. The objective of the course is to introduce both methodological and applied aspects, in the field of marketing, transportation, and finance.

Optimization and simulation

MATH-600

Master state-of-the art methods in optimization with heuristics and simulation. Work involves: - reading the material beforehand - class hours to discuss the material and solve problems - homework

Winter School on Optimization and Operations Research (I)

MATH-801(1)

The objective of the Winter School is to expose the audience to modern topics on Optimization and Operations Research. Every year, two prominent researchers are invited to provide tutorials on selected topics, and to discuss some of their recent research with the students.

Winter School on Optimization and Operations Research (II)

MATH-801(2)

The objective of the Winter School is to expose the audience to modern topics on Optimization and Operations Research. Every year, two prominent researchers are invited to provide tutorials on selected topics, and to discuss some of their recent research with the students.