Dr Ximena Cordova

Ximena Córdova obtained her Mathematics degree at the Escuela Politécnica Nacional, from Quito-Ecuador, being the first woman to graduate of this academic program. She complemented her postgraduate studies with a Master’s Degree in Quality, Management and Productivity; as well as a Master in Actuarial Science at the Iowa State University, Iowa, USA. She is a PhD in Industrial Engineering from Wichita State University, USA.

She is a Professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) in the Department of Industrial Engineering, IIN – Faculty of Sciences and Engineering. She also served as Vice Chancellor of the San Francisco de Quito University, being the first woman to hold this position at USFQ.

In 2015, coupled with a group of university professors, she created the “Women in Science and Engineering project” (WISE), to encourage more women to study in the fields of science and engineering. From her experience, she positively influenced several alumni to obtain their PhD in Engineering and for many graduates to continue their fourth level studies.

She has been part of many international collaborations such as her stay at MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT-CTL) as a visiting professor collaborating on issues related to CO2 measurements in vulnerable environments such as the Galapagos Islands. She was part of continuous faculty exchanges with Jonköping International Business School in Sweden through the Linnaeus-Palme program. She is an enthusiast of the International Collaborative Online Learning program (COIL).

She is an editor of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Review (ISER). For several years she has been a member of many executive boards organizations, as “Mujeres por Mujeres”; “Transfer and Technology Center”, “CTT-USFQ”; “Techniseguros”; “ACTUARY”; and “WISE”.