In Memoriam: Burcu Keskin, 1979–2024
It is with great sadness that Informs Journal on Applied Analytics notes the death of Burcu Keskin, Professor of Operations Management at the University of Alabama, on November 29, 2024. Burcu was a terrific colleague, collaborator, coauthor, and friend. She earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science degrees in Industrial Engineering from Boğaziçi Üniversitesi 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 had held the position of Reese Pfifer Fellow for excellence in research since 2016; she had been promoted to full professor at the time of her passing.
Burcu was a resourceful researcher with a knack for finding practical solutions to challenging real-world problems. Her research spanned several areas, including supply chain management, inventory theory, facility location, production distribution system design, multimodal transportation, and human trafficking, with a particular emphasis on applied optimization.
She 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, INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics (Interfaces), 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, IISE 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. 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.
Burcu was an accomplished educator who was revered and respected by her students. 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.”
Burcu also received the Judith Liebman Award and the Moving Spirit Award for Forums. She was a contributor to a research team that was selected as a finalist (second place) for the 2023 Innovative Applications in Analytics Award for their 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, Burcu served as Associate Department Head for the Information Systems, Statistics, and Management Science Department, OM Doctoral Program Coordinator, and faculty advisor of the MBA program Supply Chain and Operations Management concentration and the UA chapter of Women MBA International.
Burcu is survived by her husband, Sharif Melouk, two children, her parents, and her sister. She was smart, funny, kind, and thoughtful.
