Ozlem Ergun, Ph.D.

Dr. Özlem Ergun is a professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at Northeastern University. Dr. Ergun’s research focuses on design and management of large-scale and decentralized networks. She has applied her work on network design, management, and resilience to problems arising in many critical systems including transportation, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare.  She has worked with organizations that respond to emergencies and humanitarian crises around the world, including USAID, UN WFP, UNHCR, IFRC, OXFAM America, CARE USA, FEMA, USACE, CDC, AFCEMA, and MedShare International. Dr. Ergun contributes regularly to Auribus Consulting, a Boston-based management consulting firm, as a logistics and analytics expert.

Currently Dr. Ergun is partnering 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. Also, Dr. Ergun recently 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 as a member of the National Academies Committee on Security of America’s Medical Supply Chain.

Within INFORMS, Dr. Ergun has been a leader in establishing a strong community of OR/MS professionals with an interest in public programs.  She was the President of INFORMS Section on Public Programs, Service and Needs in 2013. She currently serves as the Area Editor at the Operations Research journal for Policy Modeling and the Public Sector Area. Dr. Ergun is also a founding co-chair of the annual Health and Humanitarian Logistics Conference, held annually since 2009. In addition, Dr. Ergun was the Vice President of Membership and Professional Recognition on the INFORMS Board of Directors, 2011 - 2015. 

Prior to joining Northeastern Dr. Ergun was the Coca-Cola Associate Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, where she also co-founded and co-directed the Health and Humanitarian Systems Research Center at the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute.  She received a B.S. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University in 1996 and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001.