Ozlem Ergun
Core Faculty
Dr. Erg focuses on design and management of large-scale and decentralized networks. Her work is applied to network design, management, and resilience to problems arising in many critical systems including transportation, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare, working with organizations that respond to emergencies and humanitarian crises around the world, including USAID, UNWFP, UNHCR, IFRC, OXFAM America, CARE USA, FEMA, USACE, and CDC.
Dr. Ergun's work and leadership in resilient supply chains, and humanitarian and emergency response have been recognized nationally and internationally. She served as a member of the National Academies Committee on Building Adaptable and Resilient Supply Chains after Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria and is currently serving in the Committee on Security of America's Medical Product Supply Chain. She partnered with the Massachusetts’ Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA) to help match qualified medical professionals to Long Term Care facilities with open positions around the state as part of the state’s response efforts to COVID19. She currently serve as the Area Editor at the Operations Research journal for Policy Modeling and the Public Sector Area and the Department Editor at MSOM journal for Environment, Health and Society Department. She is also a founding co-chair of the annual Health and Humanitarian Logistics Conference, held annually since 2009. In addition, she was the President of INFORMS Section on Public Programs, Service and Needs in 2013 and the Vice President of Membership and Professional Recognition on the INFORMS Board of Directors, 2011 - 2015. Most recently, She won the INFORMS Franz Edelman award with United Nations World Food Programme becoming an Edelman Laurate, for best applied analytics work globally.
Dr. Ergun also leads the interdisciplinary PLATFORMS FOR EXCHANGE AND ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES (PEAR) initiative on campus. Digital platforms enable the exchange and allocation of resources between suppliers and consumers in a seamless manner with low transaction costs. Withe the core belief that engineers, computer scientists, social scientists and regulators have to engage in convergent, transdisciplinary research to understand, predict, design, optimize, manage, regulate, and govern the digital platforms.