Soulaymane Kachani

As Dean of Academic Affairs and Global Partnerships, Professor Kachani oversees key academic priorities, including the development of new academic programs, innovative teaching and learning strategies, and the expansion of executive education and online offerings. He also leads efforts to build and cultivate partnerships with leading universities in the United States and around the world and to strengthen collaborations with industry and technology partners, enhancing academic programs, expanding opportunities for students and faculty, and broadening institutional impact.

Professor Kachani serves on the board of the Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (ReCAP). He also coordinates efforts to enable excellence in all that the University does for its student and postdoctoral/associate research scientist employees.

Prior to this role, between 2014 and 2026, Professor Kachani served as Vice Provost for Teaching, Learning, and Innovation and then as Senior Vice Provost. He oversaw the development of Columbia University’s teaching, learning, and innovation strategies, supporting schools, colleges, and departments. He spearheaded initiatives to enable the University to accelerate the expansion of its innovation in online and hybrid offerings. He led the establishment of Columbia's Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) in 2015. The CTL played a key role in the University’s transition to online and HyFlex teaching during the pandemic, and is now an essential resource for faculty and graduate instructors across Columbia. The Provost’s Teaching and Learning Grants program has enabled hundreds of faculty from all schools to fold new educational methods and technologies into their classrooms and learning environments, and the Science of Learning Research (SOLER) Initiative has developed a vibrant hub for cross-disciplinary research that advances the scholarship of teaching and learning. Professor Kachani also led the establishment of Columbia+, Columbia University’s online platform to engage alumni and learners from around the world through non-degree non-credit courses, events (live-streamed and recorded), and podcasts. He chaired the Provost’s Working Group on Generative AI, tasked with developing guidelines on the use (and procurement) of generative artificial intelligence tools by Columbia students, faculty, researchers and staff. He also focused on propelling Columbia’s excellence as a global university, and worked to enhance existing international academic partnerships and develop new ones, and to make its campuses ever more welcoming to students and scholars from around the world.  

Professor Kachani also served as the Senior Vice Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science and for over a decade oversaw undergraduate, graduate, executive and online programs across Columbia Engineering. He led the establishment of dozens of dual degree collaborations with leading international universities in Asia, Europe and South America, and developed flagship Master of Science degree programs in partnership with other Columbia schools including, Columbia Business School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. 

Prior to joining Columbia in 2003, Professor Kachani was a senior consultant at McKinsey & Company. He has continued to consult to McKinsey, large corporations and startups in the areas of pricing, supply chain management, operations, asset management, and corporate finance.

Professor Kachani conducts research in the fields of dynamic pricing, revenue management, machine learning, logistics, supply chain management, algorithmic trading, statistical arbitrage, traffic flow modeling, and transportation analysis. He is an affiliated member of two centers of the Columbia Data Science Institute: The Financial and Business Analytics Center and the Foundations of Data Science Center. He is also an affiliated member of the Columbia Center for Financial Engineering and the Computational Optimization Research Center. He teaches courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the areas of quantitative corporate finance, industrial economics, operations consulting, logistics, pricing, and production and inventory planning.

His book (with Bill Eimicke and Adam Stepan) Leveling the Learning Curve: Creating a More Inclusive and Connected University, published in October 2023, is an exploration of the digital higher education landscape in the post-pandemic era.

Professor Kachani received a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds a Master of Science in Operations Research from MIT and a Diplôme d’Ingénieur in Applied Mathematics from École Centrale Paris.

At Class Day Ceremonies, Professor Kachani was honored with the Columbia Engineering School Alumni Association 2005 Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award for excellence in teaching and devotion to mentoring students, the 2007 Edward and Carole Kim Award for Faculty Involvement for going above and beyond the call of duty to foster student success, and the 2010 Janette and Armen Avanessians Diversity Award for outstanding performance in enhancing diversity in departmental, school and university programs at Columbia. He was the recipient of the 2012 Egleston Distinguished Service Award for exceptional achievement, leadership and contributions to the excellence of Columbia University. He was also the recipient of the Karl Taylor Compton Prize, MIT's highest honor awarded to students. In 2025, he was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor, France's highest national distinction, in recognition of his contributions to global higher education.

Research Areas

• Business Analytics
• Decision Analysis
• Economics & Computation
• Financial Engineering
• Game Theory
• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
• Manufacturing Systems
• Optimization
• Real Estate Technology
• Resource Allocation
• Supply Chain Management

• Transportation and Logistics