Bio

Angela Acocella is a Researcher in Transportation, Logistics, and Operations Management at the School of Economics and Management of Tilburg University. She incorporates market dynamics into empirical behavioral models to help companies improve freight transportation procurement strategies and contracting decisions. She applies data analytics and machine learning methods to large-scale data in collaboration with industry partners.

Dr. Acocella earned her PhD at the Center for Transportation & Logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She earned her MSc in Technology & Policy and Engineering Systems at MIT and her BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Prior to her PhD, Dr. Acocella worked as a Research Associate and Case Writer at Harvard Business School.

Expertise

Dr. Acocella conducts quantitative empirical research primarily on freight transportation strategy. Previous and current research has focused on incorporating uncertainty into strategic freight procurement decisions, contracting, and the digitization of freight matching. Her main methodologies lie in data science and machine learning to model complex decisions under uncertainty.

Her postdoctoral research is supported by Dinalog, the Dutch Institute for Advanced Logistics, and and the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Her PhD work was supported by the United ParcelService (UPS) Doctoral Fellowship and the MIT SCALE Network Doctoral Fellowship.

Teaching

At MIT, Dr. Acocella taught at the graduate level on topics including freight transportation systems, supply chain planning, data analyics, Python coding, and leadership and advised MIT Master's theses.

Courses

Collaboration

Industry input is a critical piece of Dr. Acocella's research; she works directly with companies to support her projects. Such companies include C.H. Robinson, the largest multimodal transportation services and third-party logistics in the US, large retaliers, consumer packaged goods manufacturers, and food and beverage distributors.

In addition to specific project support, industry partnerships also include formal and informal workshops, forums, and seminars. Moreover, Dr. Acocella engages on select consulting projects.

Highlights

Dr. Acocella is a Research Affiliate with the Center for Transportation & Logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Recent publications

  1. Warehousification: Aanbevelingen voor de Toekomst van Grote Distribut…

    Acocella, A., Cruijssen, F., & Fransoo, J. C. (2024). Warehousification: Aanbevelingen voor de Toekomst van Grote Distributiecentra in Nederland. Tilburg University.
  2. Warehousification: Recommendations for the Future of Big Box Warehous…

    Acocella, A., Cruijssen, F., & Fransoo, J. C. (2024). Warehousification: Recommendations for the Future of Big Box Warehouses in the Netherlands. Tilburg University.
  3. Platforms and digital transformation in logistics (PLATO) - TNO 2024-…

    van Meijeren, J., van Adrichem, M., Acocella, A., Fransoo, J. C., Wibowo, B. S., & Zuidwijk, R. (2024). Platforms and digital transformation in logistics (PLATO): TNO 2024-R10279 // 11206387-002-GEO-0002. SmartPort.
  4. Expanding the Freight Contract Portfolio: Index-Based Freight Contrac…

    Acocella, A., Caplice, C., & Sheffi, Y. (2022). Expanding the Freight Contract Portfolio: Index-Based Freight Contract Design Under Uncertainty.
  5. The end of ‘set it and forget it’ pricing? Opportunities for market-b…

    Acocella, A., Caplice, C., & Sheffi, Y. (2022). The end of ‘set it and forget it’ pricing? Opportunities for market-based freight contracts.

Find an expert or expertise