Fazel-Zarandi and Barnett win best paper award
December 18, 2024
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Arnold I. Barnett
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Arnold Barnett is the George Eastman Professor of Management Science and a Professor of Statistics at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
His research specialty is applied mathematical modeling with a focus on problems of health and safety. Barnett’s early work on homicide was presented to President Gerald Ford at the White House, and his analysis of U.S. casualties in Vietnam was the subject of a column by William F. Buckley.
Barnett has written op-ed pieces for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, CNN Opinion, the Charlotte Observer, and USA Today. He received the President’s Award and the Expository Writing Award from INFORMS in 1996 and in 2001, and is a Fellow of INFORMS. Cited as “the nation’s leading expert on aviation safety,” Barnett was recognized with the 2002 President’s Citation from the Flight Safety Foundation for “truly outstanding contributions on behalf of safety.” MIT Sloan students have honored him on 14 occasions for outstanding teaching.
Barnett holds a BA in mathematics from Columbia College and a PhD in mathematics from MIT.
Honors
Barnett wins Jamieson Prize
May 9, 2016
Publications
"Airline safety: Still getting better?"
Barnett, Arnold and Jan Reig Torra. Journal of Air Transport Management Vol. 119, (2024): 102641.
"Why Did US Urban Homicide Spike in 2020? A Cross-Sectional Data Analysis for the Largest American Cities."
Fazel-Zarandi, Mohammad M. and Arnold Barnett. Risk Analysis Vol. 44, No. 7 (2024): 1616-1629.
"After 2016 and 2020, Can We Still Trust the Polls?"
Barnett, Arnold I., and Arnaud Sarfati. The Hill, October 12, 2023.
"The Polls and the Presidential Election in 2020...And 2024."
Barnett, Arnold I., and Arnaud Sarfari. Statistics and Public Policy Vol. 10, No. 1 (2023): 2199809.
"A Simple Fix for Gerrymandering?"
Barnett, Arnold, Pengchen Han, and Gege Zhang. Chance, February 2022.
"Covid-19 Infection Risk on US Domestic Airlines."
Barnett, Arnold and Keith Fleming. Health Care Management Science No. 25 (2022): 347–362.
Recent Insights
Alumni
Using Statistical Modeling to Predict Election Outcomes
In his presentation during the October MIT Sloan Alumni Online series, George Eastman Professor Arnold Barnett, PhD ’73, used his understanding of statistical sampling to discuss the United States political system and the standards and biases in polling methodology.
Dec 12, 2024
Alumni
Highlights from MIT Sloan Reunion 2023
Over 1,300 Sloanies and their guests returned to campus in early June to attend MIT Sloan Reunion 2023.
Jun 14, 2023
Media Highlights
Press
Source:
Simple Flying
Examined: How & why flying is only getting safer
"The chance of dying during an air journey keeps dropping by about 7 percent annually, and continues to go down by a factor of two every decade."
Press
Source:
Bloomberg
32 rules for flying now
"The events we fear have become extraordinarily rare. But generally, as soon as they happen, the pilots know what to do and bring the plane back.
Press
Source:
CNBC
Has Boeing shaken your confidence to fly? A new MIT study could restore ...
"The Alaska Airlines incident shows that, even when things go terribly wrong, other elements of the air-safety system typically avert disaster."
Press
Source:
Barron's
Flying's never been safer, says MIT study
Aviation safety continues to get better. The chance of dying continues to go down by a factor of two every decade.