Prof. Nicole Adler

Nicole Adler is a Full Professor of Operations Research at the Hebrew University Business School and served as Dean (2020–2024).

Her research interests include game engineering and productivity modeling. Incorporating optimization with micro-economic concepts, cost-benefit assessments, geographical spatial analyses, data envelopment analysis, and stochastic directional distance functions into the field of transport has led to creative new ways of understanding transport markets’ development and potential transformation. Her research is truly multi-disciplinary, and she has been fortunate to work with students and faculty in the fields of economics, industrial and civil engineering, business, mathematics, geography, public policy, and even physics.

Prof. Adler has served as Visiting Professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, University of British Columbia, and the University of Bergamo. She has published her works in Management Science, the European Journal of Operational Research, Annals of Operations Research, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Omega, Transportation Science, Transportation Research part A: Policy and Practice, Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Transportation Research part E: Logistics, Economics of Transportation, Global Strategy Journal, and the Journal of International Business Studies, among others.

She is Associate Editor of Transportation Research part B: Methodological, and a member of the Editorial Review Boards of the Journal of Air Transport Management, the DEA Journal, and in the past, Omega. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Aviation Conference, the ATRS Airport Benchmarking Group, and the Operations Research Societies of Israel (ORSIS), Europe (EURO), and the US (INFORMS). As part of a European Union-funded COST Action consortium on the topic of Air Transport and Regional Development (ATARD), Adler has helped edit three books, published by Routledge. In addition, she has worked with many regulators around the world, including the European Union, the Israeli Competition Authority, the Israeli Civil Aviation Authority, the Japanese Shinkansen High-Speed Rail Company, the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, the OECD International Transport Forum, and the Single European Sky Air Traffic Management regulator, known as SESAR.

Prof. Adler earned her Ph.D. in Operations Research from Tel Aviv University’s Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration. She holds an M.Sc. in Operations Research from the London School of Economics, and a B.Sc. in Economics and Accounting from the University of Ulster. She was also a Kreitman Foundation Fellow at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where she did her post-doc. She teaches courses in big-data analytics, operations research, and productivity management and operations management. Adler’s past doctoral students include Ekaterina Yazhemsky, Mali Sher, and Nicola Volta. She is currently advising Amir Brudner, Adit Kivel, Shravana Kumar, Yifan Xu, and Gianmarco Andreana. Gerben de Jong will be a visiting post-doc in Adler’s research group over the next year and a half.

Research Summary

Professor Adler’s research investigates the effect of regulation on infrastructure-based markets, the topic of an ongoing debate that has drawn considerable interest. Her modeling approaches span the fields of operations research and management, game theory, and economics in order to create formulations that analyze regulatory requirements in network-based industries. Adler’s models could be applied to multiple sectors, including transportation systems, energy, telecommunications, emergency services, and public utilities, in order to assess appropriate roles for the government in encouraging both cost efficiency and reasonable service levels. Moreover, many thin markets and congested markets require substantial public investment, hence the ability to analyze such situations from multiple stakeholder perspectives is critical to reasonable public decision making. Specific research has covered airline networks, airport management and performance, and air traffic control cost efficiency and technology adoption. New work on automated vehicle market adoption is in the works, alongside environmental impacts of aviation. Spanning network optimization, scheduling, cooperative and competitive game theoretic concepts, social welfare estimations based on discrete choice theory and performance measurement have generated new methodologies for analyzing such questions. Due to the impact of Adler’s research, many of her studies have been funded by competitive research funds, including the European Union frameworks, the Israel Science Foundation, and government agencies.

Publications

Articles

Adler N., Olesen O. and Volta N. (2024). Identifying Merger Opportunities: The Case of Air Traffic Control. Operations Research, 72 (1), 389-409. Xu Y., Adler N., Sun X. and Wandelt S. (2024). The competitive integrated airline schedule design and fleet assignment problem. European Journal of Operational Research,  314 (1), 32-50. Adler N. and Andreana G. (2024). Aiding airlines for the benefit of whom? An applied game-theoretic approach. European Journal of Operational Research, 314 (2), 552-564. *Paper won Best Student Paper Award from the International Transport Economics Association (ITEA 2022) 

Chapters in Collections

Adler N. and Kumar S. (2023). Efficiency assessment of airports and the impact of market structures and regulation on performance. Forsyth P., Niemeier H-M., Pels E., (eds): Economic Regulation of Urban and Regional Airports. Springer: New York. Adler N. (2020). Applying game theory to analyse aviation markets and their impact on regional development with a case study of the EU-Israel aviation agreement. Adler N., Niemeier H-M., (eds): Air Transport and Regional Development: Methodological. Routledge: Oxford. Adler N. and Volta N., (2019). Ranking Methods within Data Envelopment Analysis. Greene W. and Raa T.T. (eds): Handbook of Economic Performance Analysis, Palgrave, Chapter 12. Adler N. and Golany B., (2009). Data reduction through principal component analysis (DEA-PCA). Cook W. and Zhu J. (eds): Modeling Problem Structure and Data Varieties using Data Envelopment Analysis: A Problem-Solving Handbook, Springer: New York, 139-154. Adler N., Raveh A., and Yazhemsky E., (2009). Presenting DEA graphically using multi-dimensional scaling. Cook W. and Zhu J. (eds): Modeling Problem Structure and data varieties using data envelopment analysis: A Problem-Solving Handbook, Springer: New York, 171-188. Adler N. (2008). Air versus high-speed rail in Europe. De Jong D., Kaashoek B. and Zondag W-J. (eds): Blue Skies or Storm Clouds: Essays on Public Policy and Air Transport, ScienceGuide: Amsterdam, 146-157. Adler N., Nash C. and Niskanen E., (2005). Efficient Cost Pricing of Rail, Air and Water Transport in Europe. de Palma A. and Quinet E. (eds): La Tarification Des Transports: Enjeux et defis, ECONOMICA: Paris, 319-334.

• Adler N., Brudner A., Galotti R. and Ramasco J.J. (2022). Does big data help answer big questions? The case of airport catchment areas & competition. Transportation Research part B: Methodological, 166, 444-467.
• Adler N., Hanany E. and Proost S. (2022). Competition in Congested Service Networks with Application to Air Traffic Control Provision in Europe.Management Science, 68 (4), 2751-2784.
• Kinene A., Andersson Granberg T., Birolini S., Adler N., Polishchuk V. and Skoglund JM. (2022). An auction framework for assessing the tendering of subsidised routes in air transportation. Transportation Research part A, 159, 320-337.
• Kumar S., Adler N., Hirte, G. and Niemeier H-M. (2021). What impacts the productivity of Indian seaports? Maritime Economics and Logistics, 1-30.
• Adler N., Brudner A. and Proost S. (2021). Review of transport market modeling using game theory. Invited review for the European Journal of Operational Research, forthcoming.
• Adler N., Delhaye E., Kivel A. and Proost S. (2020). Motivating air navigation service provider performance Policy & Practice, 132, 1053-1069.
• Hashai N. and Adler N. (2018). Internalization Choices under Competition – A Game Theoretic Approach. Global Strategy Journal, 1-14.
• Adler N., Njoya E. and Volta N. (2018). The multi-airline p-hub median problem applied to the African aviation market. Transportation Research part A: Policy & Practice, 107, 187-202.
• Adler N. and Yazhemsky K. (2018). The value of a marginal change in capacity at congested airports. Transportation Research part A: Policy & Practice, 114, 154-167. *A shortened version was published in the International Transport Forum book on Capacity Building Through Efficient Use of Existing Airport Infrastructure, OECD, entitled: To Allocate Slots or Not: That is the Question.
• Adler N. and Hanany E. (2016). Regulating inter-firm agreements: The case of airline codesharing in parallel networks. Transportation Research part B: Methodological, 84, 31-54.
• Blondiau T., Delhaye E., Proost S. and Adler N. (2016). ACCHANGE: Building economic models to analyse the performance of Air Navigation Service Providers. Journal of Air Transport Management, 56, 19-27.
• Adler N. and Volta N. (2016). Accounting for externalities and disposability: A directional economic environmental distance function. European Journal of Operational Research, 250, 314-327.
• Hasheminia H., Hermel D., Adler N. and Fry M. (2016). A Solution Framework for the Multi-Mode Resource-Constrained Cross-Dock Scheduling Problem. Omega, 59, 157-170.
• Adler N. and Mantin B. (2015). Government and company contracts: The effect on service and prices in international airline markets. Economics of Transportation, 4 (3), 166-177.
• Adler N. and Hashai N. (2015). The Impact of Competition and Consumer Preferences on the Location Choices of Multinational Enterprises. Global Strategy Journal, 5 (4), 278-302.
• Adler N., Forsyth P., Mueller J. and Niemeier H.M. (2015). An Economic Assessment of Airport Incentive Regulation. Transport Policy, 41, 5-15.
• Adler N., Hakkert S., Raviv T. and Sher M. (2014). The traffic police location and schedule assignment problem. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, 21(5-6), 315-333.
• Adler N. and Liebert V. (2014). Joint Impact of Competition, Ownership Form and Economic Regulation on Airport Performance and Pricing. Transportation Research part A: Policy & Practice, 64, 92-109.
• Adler N., Fu X., Oum T.H. and Yu C. (2014). Air Transport Liberalization and Airport Slot Allocation: The case of the Northeast Asian Transport Market. Transportation Research part A: Policy & Practice, 62, 3-19.
• Pita J., Adler N. and Antunes A. (2014). Socially-oriented Flight Scheduling and Fleet Assignment Model with an Application to Norway. Transportation Research part B: Methodological, 61, 17-32.
• Proost S., Dunkerley F., Van der Loo S., Adler N., Brocker J. and Korzhenevych A. (2014). Is the Selection of European Transport Investments Economically Efficient? Transportation, 41, 107-132.
• Adler N., Hakkert S., Kornbluth J., Raviv T. and Sher M. (2014). Location-Allocation Models for the Traffic- Police Routine Patrol Vehicles on an Interurban Network. Annals of Operations Research, 221 (1), 9-31.
• Adler N., Ulku T. and Yazhemsky E. (2013). Small Regional Airport Sustainability: Lessons from Benchmarking. Journal of Air Transport Management, 33, 22-31. Special Issue in honor of Cristina Barbot.
• Adler N., Martini G. and Volta N. (2013). The Environmental Benchmarking of Aircraft. Transportation Research part B: Methodological, 53, 82-100.
• Adler N., Liebert, V., Yazhemsky E. (2013). Airport Benchmarking from a Managerial Perspective. Omega, 41 (2), 442-458.
• Adler N., Hakkert S., Kornbluth J. and Sher M. (2012). Lean Management for Traffic- Police Enforcement Planning. Policing: an International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 35 (4).
• Re-printed in "Policing in Israel: Studying Crime Control, Community and Counterterrorism", Editors: Tal Jonathan-Zamir, David Weisburd and Badi Hasisi, Taylor & Francis, 2015.
• Adler N. and Gellman A. (2011). Strategies for Aviation in a New Era of Risk. Journal of Air Transport Management, 21, 24-35.
• Adler N. and Proost S. (2010). Introduction to special issue of Transportation Research part B: Modelling non-urban transport investment and pricing. Transportation Research part B: Methodological, 44 (7), 791-794.
• Adler N., Nash C. and Pels E. (2010). High-Speed Rail & Air Transport Competition: Game Engineering as Tool for Cost-Benefit Analysis. Transportation Research part B: Methodological, 44 (7), 812-833.
• Adler N., Tarvedyan R. and Yazhemsky E. (2010). Measuring the Relative Socio-Economic Performance of Developing Countries. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 44 (2), 73-88.
• Adler N. and Yazhemsky E. (2010). Improving Discrimination in Data Envelopment Analysis: Aggregation versus Reduction. European Journal of Operational Research, 202 (1), 273-284.
• Adler N., Oum T.H. and Yu C. (2008). A response to ‘understanding the complexities and challenges of airport performance benchmarking’. Journal of Airport Management, 3(2).
• Adler N. and Raveh A. (2008). Presenting DEA graphically. Omega, 36, 715-729.
• Adler N. and Hashai N., (2007). Knowledge flows and the modeling of the multinational enterprise. The Journal of International Business Studies, 38, 639-657.
• Adler N. and Smilowitz K. (2007). Hub-and-spoke network alliances and mergers: Price-location competition in the airline industry. Transportation Research part B: Methodological, 41, 394-409. 
• Oum T.H., Adler N. and Yu C. (2006). Privatization, corporatization, ownership forms and their effects on the performance of the world’s major airports. Journal of Air Transport Management, 12 (3), 109-121.
• Swan W. and Adler N. (2006). Aircraft trip cost parameters: A function of stage length and seat capacity. Transportation Research part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 42 (2), 105-115.
• Adler N. and Hashai N. (2005). Effect of open skies in the Middle Eastern region. Transportation Research part A: Policy & Practice, 39 (10), 878-894. Published in Hebrew by The University Institute for Diplomacy and Regional Cooperation at Tel Aviv University: www.tau.ac.il/institutes/diplomacy/research.html
• Adler N. (2005). The Effect of Competition on the Choice of an Optimal Network in a Liberalized Aviation Market with an Application to Western Europe, Transportation Science, 39 (1), 58-72.
• Adler N. and Golany B. (2002). Including Principal Component Weights to improve discrimination in Data Envelopment Analysis, Journal of the Operational Research Society, 53 (9), 985-991.
• Adler N., Friedman L. and Sinuany-Stern Z. (2002). Review of Ranking Methods in the Data Envelopment Analysis Context, European Journal of Operational Research, 140 (2), 249-265. Invited Review.
• Adler N., (2001). Competition in a Deregulated Air Transportation Market, European Journal of Operational Research, 129 (2), 337-345.
• Adler N. and Golany B. (2001). Evaluation of deregulated airline networks using data envelopment analysis combined with principal component analysis with an application to Western Europe, European Journal of Operational Research, 132 (2), 260-73.
• Adler N. and Berechman J. (2001). Evaluating Optimal Multi-Hub Networks in a Deregulated Aviation Market with an Application to Western Europe, Transportation Research part A: Policy & Practice, 35 (5), 373-390.
• Adler N. and Berechman J. (2001). Measuring airport quality from the airlines' viewpoint: An application of data envelopment analysis, Transport Policy, 8 (3), 171-81.
• Israeli A.A., Adler N., Mehrez A. and Sundali J.A. (2000). Investigating the Use of Advertising for Communicating Hotels' Strategic Assets, Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 7 (3), 23-37.

Awards & Honors

Academic Awards and Fellowships

2023	ORSIS Award in the name of Uri Rothblum for Excellent Work in Operations Research
2022-	Elected to Executive Committee, International Transport Economics Association (ITEA)
2022-	Elected Fellow of the Air Transport Research Society (ATRS)
2015	Best Paper Award in Finance and Policy Track of 11th USA/Europe Air Traffic Management Research and Development Seminar
2001-02	Lady Davis Fellowship Fund, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
1999-00	Kreitman Post-Doctoral Fellow, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
1998-99	Pearl Resnick Scholarship for Post-Doctoral Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
1997-98	American Express Fellowship Endowment Fund for Ph.D. Studies, Tel Aviv University
1996-97	Mya Fisher David Scholarship for Ph.D. Studies in Management, Tel Aviv University
1996	El-Al Prize for Research in Air Transportation, Transport Research Center, Tel Aviv University in the name of Mordechai Ben-Arie
1994-96	American Express Fellowship Endowment Fund for Ph.D. Studies, Tel Aviv University
1990-91	Science and Education Research Council Scholarship for Masters Studies, England
1987-88	Faculty Honors List, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland

Research Grants

2022-25	Ministry of Science, Technology and Space – with Dr. Resheff | Title: Preventing the Next Road Accident in Israel using Artificial Intelligence | Budget: 350,000 ₪
2021-24	Israel Science Foundation | Title: Environmental policies and their impact on competitive aviation markets | Budget: 450,000 ₪
2021-22	Israeli Smart Transportation Research Center (ISTRC) | Title: Adopting Automated Vehicles and Creating Equitable Transport Markets | Budget: 100,000 ₪
2016-18	European Union Horizon 2020 Project – consortium of 5 partners | Title: Applying Big Data for use in Air Traffic Management (BigData4ATM) | Budget: €50,000 (out of €600,000)
2016-18	European Union Horizon 2020 Project – consortium of 4 partners | Title: Introducing Competition into Air Traffic Management (COMPAIR) | Budget: €124,000 (out of €600,000)
2015-19	European Union funded COST Action | Title: Air Transport and Regional Development (ATARD) | Head of working group entitled ‘Methodology’ & member of core group
2013-15	European Union 7th Framework Project – consortium of 4 partners Specific Program: SESAR WP-E Long Term & Innovative Research Program | Title: Accelerating change by regional forerunners (ACCHANGE) | Budget: €120,000 (out of €600,000)
2013-15	Judith Teller Foundation  | Title: Examining safe airport capacity at the margin | Budget: $62,000
2011-12	Israeli Civil Aviation Authority | Title: Optimal Aviation Policy for Israel for the next 20 years | Budget: 1.1 million ₪
2011-12	Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications | Title: Benchmarking Norwegian Airports | Budget: $250,000
2010-11	Pinhas Sapir Economic Policy Forum | Title: Multimarket Contact and Concentration in Network-Based Markets | Budget: 50,000 ₪
2010-11	National Research Council of Canada: Industrial Research Assistance Program | Title: Connecting Gateways through the Multi-Mode Resource Constrained Cross-Dock Scheduling Problem | Budget: $50,000
2010-11	Israeli Civil Aviation Authority | Title: Trends in Air Transport Management applied to Israel | Budget: 35,000 ₪
2009-11	Israel Science Foundation | Title: The Effect of Airline-to-Airline Agreements | Budget: 242,000 ₪
2008-09	Nanzan University, Japan | Title: Open Skies in North-East Asia | Budget: $30,000
2007-08	Anti-Trust Authority of Israel | Title: Economic Effects of Codesharing | Budget: 250,000 ₪
2005-07	European Union 6th Framework Project – consortium of 12 partners Specific program: Sustainable surface transport | Title: Funding Infrastructure: Guidelines for Europe (FUNDING) | Budget: €80,000 (out of €1.2 million)
2005-06	Fund for Research with Belgian Partner, Hebrew University | Title: Transportation Competition between Modes | Budget:  €800
2004-06	Israel Science Foundation  | Title: Competition in Deregulated, Global Environments | Budget: 256,000₪
2003-04	University Institute for Diplomacy, Tel Aviv University | Title: Effect of Open Skies in the Middle East | Budget: $5,000 (joint with Dr. Niron Hashai)
2001-03	European Union 5th Framework Project – consortium of 15 partners Specific program: Promoting competitive and sustainable growth | Title: Implementation of Marginal Cost Pricing in Transport-Integrated Conceptual and Applied Model Analysis (MC-ICAM) | Budget: €37,000 (out of €1.5 million)
2002-03	Hebrew University Research Fund | Title: Solving Multiple Allocation, p-Hub Median Problem | Budget: $3,333
2000-	Air Transport Research Group - European Team | Title: Benchmarking Worldwide Airports
1993-99	Israel Institute of Business Research  | Airport and Economics Research Section, Dutch Government | Transportation Modeling

In the News

Short Commentary on the 8th Florence Air Forum for the Transport Regulation Observer (2016) on the topic of Disruptive Technologies in Air Traffic Management: (for the complete version of the Observer: http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/44404/FSR_Transport_Observer_2016_03.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y)

2. London School of Economics website (2016) on the topic of The Impact of Competition and Consumer Preferences on the Location Choices of Multinational Enterprises: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/businessreview

26/5/20	Article “With El Al's fate in gov't hands, airline braces for crash landing”. By Tara Kavaler in Jerusalem Post.
7/11/17	Interview on Reshet Bet (צבע הכסף) on automated vehicle technology and the need to advance regulation
28/12/16	Interview on Channel 10 news with Barcode: Noga Nir Ne’eman מסביב לעולם ב-80 דולר: כיצד מתמודדות חברות התעופה הישראליות עם התחרות?
31/01/16	Interview with Walla News South on why Israel needs a competing airport in central Israel רעיון בוואלה ניוז דרום על הצורך בנמל תעופה מתחרה במרכז הארץ באופן דחוף
12/2013	Panel on Productivity, Regulation & Transportation with Prof. Eitan Shishinski, Prof. David Gilo, Mr.  Shaul Meridor, Prof Avishay Braverman and Prof. Rajiv Banker. I discussed “Benchmarking as a Form of Regulation: the Case of Aviation” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z7YfpXn-4k Globes: http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000906130 Galei Zahal:  גלי צהל – בוקר טוב ישראל
11/2013	6th Annual Civil Aviation Conference, The Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, Herzliya, Israel on ‘How Accelerated Economic Changes Affect Aviation’
5/2013	International Transport Policy Research Unit, University of Tokyo, Japan on ‘Regulation & the Performance of Airports’ http://www.pp.u-tokyo.ac.jp/ITPU/news/2013/news20130422.htm
3/2011	Hillel House, University of British Columbia on ‘Transportation and Game Theory’ http://cc.cfhu.org/docs/Connecting/Connecting_Spring2011.pdf http://blog.newvoices.org/?p=7276
5/2010	American Friends of Hebrew University, Chicago, United States on ‘Competition between High Speed Rail and Air Transport’
7/2007	Israel Society of Transport Research, Tel Aviv, Israel commenting on the Israeli Government’s ‘Open Skies’ policy statement
11/2005	Organized Colloquium entitled ‘Mergers and Competition in the Airline Industry: Open Skies Policies’ which included a lecture session (with Prof. William Swan of Boeing, Dani Morag of the Israeli CAA and myself) and a panel session with Israeli executives in the field (Miky Gat, Tourism Ministry; Yael Katan, British Airways; Avner Gordon, Swiss; Sabina Biran, Israir; Yoav Levy, El Al). Concluded in media reports in Globes, The Marker, Jerusalem Post and Makor Rishon.