Robert Lincoln Nydick is an American university educator and operations-research scholar whose career has been centered at Villanova University since 1987. His work addresses management science, decision support, analytics, and analytic hierarchy process applications, including medical decision-making and homeland security. He has also combined teaching with community service and educational philanthropy.
Background
Robert Lincoln Nydick was born on March 28, 1957, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Robert Lincoln Nydick and Christine Papiro Nydick. His family background and education were rooted in the Philadelphia region, where he later studied operations research and began his academic career.
His professional formation developed during a period when operations research was expanding beyond military and industrial planning into management, information systems, health care, and public-sector decision-making. That applied orientation remained visible in his later research and teaching.
Education
Nydick received a Bachelor of Science degree in operations research from the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science in 1978. The institution, founded as the Philadelphia Textile School and later renamed Philadelphia University, combined scientific and technical education with preparation for industry in the Philadelphia region.
He earned a Master of Science degree in operations research from the University of Pennsylvania in 1980, through the Wharton School. The University of Pennsylvania, founded in Philadelphia in the eighteenth century, is a major research university, while Wharton has long specialized in business education and applied economic analysis.
Nydick received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Temple University in 1985. Temple's urban research-university setting in Philadelphia supported his development in quantitative analysis and management science before he moved into a long academic career at Villanova University.
Career
Nydick began his academic career at the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, where he served as an assistant professor of operations research from 1980 to 1987. He also directed the Master of Business Administration program from 1986 to 1987. The college's technical and industrial orientation provided a setting for applied quantitative education.
Alongside his academic work, he served as a consultant to the Fraternal Order of Police in Philadelphia in 1981, M. M. Reif & Company in Ivyland, Pennsylvania, in 1983, and Quaker Construction Company in Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, from 1983 to 1986. These assignments connected his academic training with organizational and operational problems outside the university.
Nydick joined Villanova University in 1987. He progressed through academic roles in management, decision and information technologies, and management and operations, becoming a professor and serving as chair of the Department of Decision and Information Technologies. Villanova, founded in 1842, is an Augustinian Catholic research university whose School of Business has developed programs in management, analytics, and decision-making.
His scholarship has addressed heuristics, decision support, management-science education, supplier selection, forecasting, homeland security, and the analytic hierarchy process. His research on the analytic hierarchy process examined applications in medical and health-care decision-making, while other work addressed prostate-cancer screening, clinical technology assessment, and emergency-preparedness problems.
Nydick also integrated service learning into business education. Beginning in 2005, he incorporated disaster-recovery trips into a Business Decision Making course, with students assisting Gulf Coast recovery efforts for twelve consecutive semesters and participating in Habitat for Humanity construction projects. Villanova recognized his teaching with the Lindback Award for Teaching Excellence and the John Tonkinson Teaching Innovation Award.
Achievements
Nydick has published scholarly work on operations research, management science education, decision support, analytics, and the analytic hierarchy process, including applications in health care, public safety, and organizational decision-making.
He developed a sustained service-learning component in Villanova University's Business Decision Making course, taking students to Gulf Coast communities for disaster-recovery work for twelve consecutive semesters and participating in Habitat for Humanity construction projects.
His academic and teaching contributions at Villanova University included recognition through the Lindback Award for Teaching Excellence and the John Tonkinson Teaching Innovation Award.
His research and educational work contributed to the development of analytics education at Villanova University's School of Business, including support for an analytics-focused academic program and student commons through the Nydick Family Business Analytics Fund.
(Co-authored with Howard J. Weiss; the article examined ho...)
1989
Religion
Nydick is Presbyterian. Presbyterianism developed from the Reformed tradition of the Protestant Reformation and emphasizes the authority of Scripture, the sovereignty of God, representative church governance, and disciplined communal life.
His documented religious affiliation belongs to the wider Christian tradition, whose American institutions have included congregations, schools, and charitable organizations alongside worship and theological education.
Views
Nydick's documented academic and teaching work reflects an applied view of management science: quantitative methods are most valuable when they help organizations make decisions, evaluate alternatives, and address practical problems. His service-learning initiatives similarly connect business education with civic responsibility and collaborative problem-solving.
Membership
Nydick participated in professional and civic organizations connected with management science, operations research, youth leadership, and community service. His documented affiliations included the Institute of Management Sciences, the Operations Research Society of America, Planning Forum, and the Boy Scouts of America.
The Institute of Management Sciences and the Operations Research Society of America were major professional bodies for the development and exchange of management-science and operations-research methods; they later contributed to the institutional history of INFORMS. His Planning Forum participation included service as vice president for the 1986–1987 edition, while his Boy Scouts involvement included leadership of an Explorer group in Philadelphia.
Led an Explorer group in Philadelphia.
Boy Scouts of America
,
United States
1985 - 1986
Institute of Management Sciences
,
United States
Operations Research Society of America
,
United States
Served as vice president for the 1986–1987 edition.
Planning Forum
,
United States
1986 - 1987
Personality
Nydick has described his community-service teaching projects in terms of paying forward assistance and has emphasized teamwork and practical student involvement. These statements document a public commitment to service-oriented teaching without establishing broader personal characteristics.
Quotes from others about the person
Nydick has been described by Villanova University as a professor whose teaching, service, and scholarly contributions have had a continuing effect on students. He has also characterized his disaster-recovery projects as a way for successive classes to help communities and decide how to direct their fundraising.
Interests
Community service and service-learning projects
Sport & Clubs
Softball
Connections
Nydick is married to Susan Marie Karr. They have two sons, Robert Lincoln Nydick and Gregory Streeper Nydick. His family has also been associated with Villanova University through the education of both sons and through a family gift supporting business analytics and the Nydick Family Commons in Bartley Hall.
Father:
Robert Lincoln Nydick
Mother:
Christine Papiro Nydick
Wife:
Susan Marie Karr
Son:
Robert Lincoln Nydick
Son:
Gregory Streeper Nydick
References
Villanova University Catalog, 2011–2013
Documents Nydick's 1987 appointment at Villanova University, his degrees from the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, the University of Pennsylvania, and Temple University, and his professorship in Management and Operations.
2011
Cementing a Legacy
Describes Nydick's Villanova teaching, service-learning projects, teaching awards, family philanthropy, and role in supporting business analytics.
