Professor Burcu Keskin passed away on November 29, 2024, at the very young age of 45. As a professor at the University of Alabama, she was an exceptional operations researcher, accomplished scholar, and outstanding instructor. She also served INFORMS in many capacities, including as an associate editor of INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics.
Her legacy will live on through the countless students she educated, colleagues she inspired and papers she published in renowned journals. Her research primarily focused on supply chain optimization. Throughout her career, she contributed to a vast array of fields including, inter alia, emergency medical services, law enforcement, interruption of illicit networks, location of alternative fuel stations, sports management, and artificial intelligence. This special issue (guest edited by James Cochran, Nickolas Freeman, and Mesut Yavuz) is dedicated to highlighting the expansiveness of her research by publishing papers that are based directly or indirectly on her published works. Possible topics include, but are not limited to
- Supply chain network design
- Location selection
- Sourcing and supplier selection
- Inventory management
- Vehicle routing
- Integrated production and distribution planning
- Omnichannel retail operations
- Emergency medical services
- Patrol routing
- Alternative fuel station location
- Disrupting sex trafficking or other illicit networks
- Papers may provide a tutorial, present a literature review on the topics mentioned above , or be based on typical case studies with a verification letter.
Examples of Professor Keskin's work published in Interfaces/IJAA follow:
- Çetinkaya, S., Üster, H., Easwaran, G. and Keskin, B.B., 2009. An integrated outbound logistics model for Frito-Lay: Coordinating aggregate-level production and distribution decisions. Interfaces, 39(5), pp.460-475.
- Keskin, B.B., Çapar, İ., Sox, C.R. and Freeman, N.K., 2014. An integrated load-planning algorithm for outbound logistics at Webb Wheel. Interfaces, 44(5), pp.480-497.
- Keskin, B.B. and Harsha, P. eds., 2019. Special Issue of INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics-Analytics Behind Designing and Managing Omni-channel Supply Chains. INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, 49(3), pp.233-234.
- Freeman, N.K., Keskin, B.B. and McCullough, C., 2020. IJAA: Past, present, and future. INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, 50(6), pp.355-372.
- Freeman, N.K., Keskin, B.B. and Bott, G.J., 2022. Collaborating with local and federal law enforcement for disrupting sex trafficking networks. INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics, 52(5), pp.446-459.
Papers should subscribe to the usual guide for authors, found at https://pubsonline.informs.org/page/inte/submission-guidelines
Deadlines for this special issue are:
- Submission deadline: December 2025 for primary consideration
- Deadline for initial decision: May 2026
- Deadline for first-round revisions returned to authors: December 2026
- Deadline for final files: September 2027
- Deadline publication (estimate): October 2027
- Print publication (estimate): November 2027
Please contact the guest editors (James Cochran at jjcochran@ua.edu, Nickolas Freeman at freem028@ua.edu, or Mesut Yavuz at myavuz@ua.edu) with questions about this special issue of INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics.
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James J. Cochran
Professor and Mike & Kathy Mouron Research Chair
The University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa AL
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