Dr. Burcu Keskin, Professor of Operations Management at The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Business, passed away Friday, November 29, 2024. Beloved by her colleagues and collaborators, Dr. Keskin was a researcher with a talent for finding practical solutions to challenging real-world problems.
Her areas of expertise spanned several areas, including supply chain management, inventory theory, facility location, production distribution system design, multi-modal transportation, and human trafficking, with a particular emphasis on applied optimization.
Her research was published in many of our discipline’s top journals, including the Journal of the Operational Research Society, European Journal of Operational Research, Computers & Operations Research, Omega, Operations Research Letters, INFORMS Transactions on Education, Interfaces/INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, and Production and Operations Management.
She also contributed to research published by the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Journal of Data, Information and Management, Networks and Spatial Economics, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, IIIE Transactions, International Journal of Production Economics, Optimal Traffic Resource Allocation and Management, IIE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Significance, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Furthermore, she served on the editorial boards of Interfaces/INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, Computers and Operations Research, Omega, and the International Journal of Operations Research and Information Systems.
Dr. Keskin was an accomplished educator who was revered and respected by her students. Poets & Quants named her one of the 2015 Best 40 Under 40 Professors: Burcu Keskin, Culverhouse College, and the University of Alabama Executive MBA Tuscaloosa Class of 2021 awarded her its Executive MBA Outstanding Faculty Award by the University of Alabama Executive MBA Tuscaloosa Class of 2021. She was recognized by INFORMS in 2022 for her efforts as an instructor with the organization’s Prize for the Teaching of OR/MS Practice, which is awarded annually to an educator to recognize excellence in teaching the practice of operations research and management sciences, highlighting those who have succeeded in helping students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to be effective practitioners of the field. An excerpt of her award citation reads: “Her teaching approach – described by former students as ‘inspirational, empowering, and providing superior mentorship’ – has benefited a constant stream of successful practitioners.” One may see the speech she gave in accepting this award here.
Dr. Keskin also received the Judith Liebman Award and the Moving Spirit Award for Forums. She was a contributor to a research team selected as a finalist at second place for the 2023 Innovative Applications in Analytics Award for the work entitled “Analytical Pipeline for Identifying Potential Sex Trafficking Victims in Commercial Sex Ad Data.
She also contributed to teams selected as Wagner Prize finalists on three separate occasions: “An Integrated Outbound Logistics Model for Frito-Lay: Coordinating Aggregate Level Production and Distribution Decisions“ (2008), “An Integrated Load Planning Algorithm for Outbound Logistics Optimization” (2013), and “Collaborating with Local and Federal Law Enforcement for Disrupting Sex Trafficking Networks” (2021).
In 2023, she received The University of Alabama’s Blackmon Moody Outstanding Professor Award for her work in disrupting illicit supply chains; this is one of the most prestigious awards given by the University of Alabama and “recognizes singular, exceptional, or timely work in the form of: research, product, program, or published material.”
At The University of Alabama, Dr. Keskin served as associate department head for the Information Systems, Statistics, and Management Science department, operations management doctoral program coordinator, and faculty advisor of the MBA program SCOM concentration and the UA chapter of Women MBA International.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree and her Master of Science degree, both in Industrial Engineering, from Boğaziçi University in 2001 and 2002, respectively, and her PhD in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2007. She then joined the faculty at The University of Alabama, where she stayed throughout her career.
One can see her appearance on the What’s Your StORy podcast here, her interview on informs.tv here, and her presentation in one of the Wagner Prize competitions here.
Dr. Keskin is survived by her husband, Sharif Melouk, two children, her parents, and her sister.
Remembering Dr. Burcu Keskin
A fund has been set up in memory of Dr. Keskin to support students at Culverhouse. Make a contribution to the fund here.