Dr. Burcu Balçık is a Professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Özyeğin University, where she also serves as the Academic Director of the OzU Sustainability Platform. With a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Washington (2008) and degrees from Middle East Technical University, she has established herself as a leading expert in humanitarian logistics and disaster management. Her work bridges theoretical operations research with practical applications to improve disaster preparedness and response systems. Dr. Balçık's educational background includes: PhD in Industrial Engineering, University of Washington Seattle, 2008 Master's in Industrial Engineering, Middle East Technical University, 2003 Bachelor's in Industrial Engineering, Middle East Technical University, 2001 She also completed postdoctoral research at Northwestern University (2008-2009) and has been a visiting researcher at the HUMLOG Institute, HEC Montreal (2017-2018), and the Zero Hunger Lab at Tilburg University (2024-2025). Dr. Balçık's research focuses on humanitarian supply chains and disaster management, where she develops data-driven analytical approaches—including optimization, mathematical modeling, simulation, and heuristics—to improve decision-making for better disaster preparedness and response. Her work addresses critical challenges in healthcare planning and food insecurity during crises, with strong emphasis on practical implementation through collaboration with governmental and non-governmental organizations. She has pioneered methodologies for equitable resource allocation, rapid needs assessment, and collaborative prepositioning strategies in humanitarian contexts. Her publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on applying operations research to humanitarian challenges, with recent work emphasizing drone technology for post-disaster assessment, mathematical modeling for equitable vaccine distribution during pandemics, and innovative approaches to managing healthcare systems during disasters. Her research shows an evolution from foundational work on facility location and last-mile distribution to more complex systems addressing interdependent infrastructure networks, multi-country collaborations, and machine learning applications for handling ambiguity in humanitarian decision-making. Dr. Balçık's contributions have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards: Young Scientist Award from the Turkish Science Academy (2014) Best Paper Award from the College of Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management (HOCM) for POMS (2019) Best Paper Award from SEIO-BBVA Foundation (2023) for the best applied paper in operations research Luk Van Wassenhove Career Award from EURO-HOpe (2023) Member of Science Academy of Turkey (December 2024 -) She also serves as an Associate Editor for Transportation Science and IISE Transactions, and on editorial boards of several leading journals in her field. Dr. Balçık has mentored numerous graduate students through PhD dissertations and M.S. theses, with many of her former students pursuing doctoral studies at prestigious institutions or successful careers in industry. Her research has been supported by significant grants from TUBITAK (multiple projects including 1001, 1002, 2219, and 3501 programs), the Norwegian Research Council, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation of Quebec, and IVADO. She has served as Principal Investigator (PI) for projects on resource planning for chronic dialysis patients after disasters, modeling stock-sharing strategies in humanitarian networks, and designing global humanitarian relief networks through local partnerships. As Academic Director of the OzU Sustainability Platform, Dr. Balçık leads interdisciplinary initiatives addressing sustainability challenges. She is actively involved in professional societies including INFORMS Public Sector Operations Research (PSOR) and the EURO Working Group on Humanitarian Operations (EURO-HOpe), where she has held leadership roles. She serves on the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's Earthquake Science Council (February 2023 – ) and collaborates with international organizations to translate research into practical disaster management solutions.
