Fatma Kılınç-Karzan

I am an Associate Professor of Operations Research at Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University. I hold the Frank A. and Helen E. Risch Faculty Development Chair. I am also an Associate Professor of Computer Science (by courtesy) at the Department of Computer Science, and affiliated with the Algorithms Combinatorics and Optimization (ACO) PhD Program as well. I was a long-term visitor in the semester-long program on Bridging Continuous and Discrete Optimization organized by the Berkeley's Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing in Fall 2017.

I did my PhD under the supervision of Prof. Arkadi Nemirovski in H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering Department with a minor in Mathematics at Georgia Institute of Technology. I obtained my B.S. and M.S. degrees from Industrial Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University with a minor in Information Systems.

My research interests are broadly in Operations Research, Analytics, and Machine Learning. I am currently working on developing foundational theory and algorithms for convex optimization and structured nonconvex optimization, and their applications in optimization under uncertainty (robust optimization, chance constraints and distributionally robust optimization), machine learning (preference learning from limited data) and business analytics. My work has won the 2015 INFORMS Optimization Society Prize for Young Researchers and the 2014 INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG) Best Paper Award.

My current research is supported by generous grants including an NSF CAREER Award and an ONR grant (with S. Küçükyavuz).

Recent News and Events

Last updated January 2021

Research Interests and Collaborators

My research involves the development of new theory and algorithms for solving problems in large-scale convex optimization as well as structured nonconvex optimization. It is mainly motivated by applications in decision making under uncertainty, machine learning and high dimensional statistical inference domains. My current research is supported by an NSF CAREER Award and an ONR grant (with S. Küçükyavuz).

My work has won the 2015 INFORMS Optimization Society Prize for Young Researchers and the 2014 INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group (JFIG) Best Paper Award. I was very lucky to advise excellent students who received wonderful recognitions, including the 2018 INFORMS Optimization Society Best Student Paper (honorable mention), the 2017 INFORMS Computing Society Best Student Paper Prize (runner up), ant the 2014 INFORMS Data Mining Best Student Paper Award (finalist).

You can find my publications under the related section.

Students

I have been very fortunate to advise the following students: In addition, I have had wonderful opportunities to collaborate with the PhD students (some current and some former):
Last updated January 2021

Preprints

Journal Articles

Articles in Refereed Conference Proceedings

Other

  • Disjunctive conic sets, conic minimal inequalities, and cut-generating functions
    F. Kılınç-Karzan (2016), INFORMS Optimization Society Newsletter.
    [PDF]
  • Scheduling time-critical flowshops: An example from the steel industry
    F. Kılınç-Karzan, J.R. Kalagnanam, A.J. Davenport, S. Siegel, C. Reddy (2008), IBM Technical Report.

Thesis

  • *Student co-author
  • **Post-doctoral researcher co-author
Last updated January 2021

Presentations

Invited Seminars at Academic Institutions

  • Rutgers University (Business School), New Brunswick, NJ, Virtual Seminar, December 2020
  • Northwestern University (Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences), Evanston, IL, Virtual Seminar, November 2020
  • Princeton University (Operations Research and Financial Engineering Department), Princeton, NJ, Virtual Seminar, November 2020
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Data Science Lab), Cambridge, MA, Virtual Seminar, August 2020
  • McGill University (Desautels Faculty of Management), Montreal, Canada, October 2019
  • Ecole Polytechnic Federale de Lausanne (College of Management of Technology), Lausanne, Switzerland, May 2019
  • University of California, Berkeley (Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research), Berkeley, CA, November 2017
  • IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, April 2017
  • Carnegie Mellon University (Chemical Engineering Department, PSE Seminars), Pittsburgh, PA, September 2016
  • Stanford University (Graduate School of Business), Stanford, CA, March 2015
  • University of California, Berkeley (Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research), Berkeley, CA, March 2015
  • University of Chicago (Department of Statistics), Chicago, IL, February 2015
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Operations Research Center), Cambridge, MA, November 2014
  • University of Waterloo (Tutte Seminar), Waterloo, Canada, July 2014
  • Lehigh University (Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering), Bethlehem, PA, April 2014
  • Argonne National Laboratories, Chicago, IL, October 2013
  • Northwestern University (Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences), Evanston, IL, October 2013
  • University of Waterloo (Tutte Seminar), Waterloo, Canada, February 2013
  • Carnegie Mellon University (Machine Learning Department), Pittsburgh, PA, November 2012
  • University of Pittsburgh (Industrial Engineering Department), Pittsburgh, PA, November 2011
  • Georgia Institute of Technology (EE Seminars on Signal Processing), Atlanta, GA, April 2011
  • Columbia University (Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department), New York, NY, March 2011
  • Johns Hopkins University (Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics), Baltimore, MD, February 2011
  • University of Chicago (Booth School of Business), Chicago IL, February 2011
  • Princeton University (Operations Research and Financial Engineering Department), Princeton, NJ, February 2011
  • Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper School of Business), Pittsburgh, PA, February 2011
  • University of Michigan (Industrial and Operations Engineering Department), Ann Arbor, MI, January 2011
  • Pennsylvania State University (Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department), State College, PA, January 2011
  • Zuse Institute Berlin (Mathematical Optimization Department), Berlin, Germany, October 2009
  • Georgia Institute of Technology (ISyE DOS Optimization Seminars), Atlanta, GA, November 2007
  • IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, August 2007

Invited Presentations at Conferences/Workshops/Symposiums

  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Invited Tutorial Speaker, Anaheim, CA, October 2021
  • Workshop on Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming, London, England, June 2020 (re-scheduled due to COVID)
  • Workshop on Mixed Integer Programming (MIP/DANFest), Rutgers, NY, May 2020 (re-scheduled due to COVID)
  • INFORMS Optimization Society Conference, Clemson, SC, March 2020 (re-scheduled due to COVID)
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Virtual, November 2020
  • Aussois Combinatorial Optimization Workshop, Aussois, France, January 2020
  • Fields Institute--Conference on Optimization (Fields CQAM Focus Program on Data Science and Optimization), Toronto, Canada, November 2019
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, October 2019
  • CRM/DIMACS Workshop on Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming, Montreal, Canada, October 2019
  • ICCOPT 2019, Berlin, Germany, August 2019
  • Machine Learning in Science and Engineering (MLSE) Conference, Atlanta, GA, June 2019
  • BIRS Workshop on Models and Algorithms for Sequential Decision Problems under Uncertainty, Banff, Alberta, Canada, January 2019
  • Foundations of Computational Mathematics (FoCM 2017) Conference: Continuous Optimization Workshop, Barcelona, Spain, July 2017
  • Fields Institute--Workshop on Modern Convex Optimization and Applications: AN70, Toronto, Canada, July 2017
  • Workshop on Marketplace Innovation, Stanford, CA, June 2017
  • SIAM Conference on Optimization, Vancouver, Canada, May 2017
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, November 2016
  • MOPTA Conference, Bethlehem, PA, August 2016
  • Workshop on Advances in Optimization, Tokyo, Japan, August 2016
  • ICCOPT 2016, Tokyo, Japan, August 2016
  • INFORMS Optimization Society Conference, Princeton, NJ, March 2016
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, November 2015
  • ISMP Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, July 2015
  • Workshop on Mixed Integer Programming, Chicago, IL, June 2015
  • IMA Annual Program Year Workshop: Convexity and Optimization: Theory and Applications, Minneapolis, MN, February 2015
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, November 2014
  • MOPTA Conference, Bethlehem, PA, August 2014
  • Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming Workshop, Pittsburgh, PA, June 2014
  • SIAM Conference on Optimization, San Diego, CA, May 2014
  • AMS Spring Eastern Sectional Meeting, Maryland, DC, March 2014
  • INFORMS Optimization Society Conference, Houston, TX, March 2014
  • Aussois Combinatorial Optimization Workshop, Aussois, France, January 2014
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, October 2013
  • ICCOPT 2013, Lisbon, Portugal, August 2013
  • Workshop on Mixed Integer Programming, Davis, CA, July 2012
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, October 2012
  • ISMP Meeting, Berlin, Germany, August 2012
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Charlotte, NC, November 2011
  • AMS 2011 Spring Southeastern Section Meeting (Special session in honor of Florian Potra’s 60th birthday) Statesboro, GA, March 2011
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Austin, TX, November 2010
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, October 2009
  • ISMP Meeting, Chicago, IL, August 2009
  • INFORMS Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, October 2008
  • Workshop on Mixed Integer Programming (poster presentation), New York, NY, August 2008
  • INFORMS Optimization Society Conference, Atlanta, GA, March 2008
Last updated January 2021

Teaching

Spring 2021
  • Optimization (Tepper 45-851, MBA core, Sections A, B, C, D, E)
Spring 2020
  • Modern Convex Optimization (Tepper 47-851, PhD core)
Fall 2019
  • Linear Programming (Tepper 47-834, PhD core)
  • Optimization (Tepper 45-851, MBA core, Sections A, B, C)
Spring 2019
  • Modern Convex Optimization (Tepper 47-851, PhD core)
Fall 2018
  • Linear Programming (Tepper 47-834, PhD core)
  • Optimization (Tepper 45-851, MBA core, Sections A, B, C)
Summer 2018
  • Optimization (Tepper 45-751, MBA core)
Summer 2017
  • Optimization Models for Operations (Tepper 45-854, MBA elective)
Spring 2017
  • Optimization (Tepper 45-751, MBA core)
Fall 2016
  • Applications of Operations Research (Tepper 45-850, MBA elective, Sections A, E)
  • Linear Programming (Tepper 47-834, PhD core)
Spring 2016
  • Business Analytics Capstone (Tepper 45-959, MBA elective)
Fall 2015
  • Applications of Operations Research (Tepper 45-850, MBA elective, Sections A, E)
  • Optimization Models for Operations (Tepper 45-854, MBA elective)
  • Mathematical Models for Consulting (Tepper 70-460, Undergraduate elective)
Fall 2014
  • Applications of Operations Research (Tepper 45-850, MBA elective, Sections A, E)
  • Linear Programming (Tepper 47-834, PhD core)
  • Modern Convex Optimization (Tepper 47-851, PhD core)
Spring 2014
  • Optimization Models for Operations (Tepper 45-854, MBA elective)
  • Convex Analysis (Tepper 47-860, PhD elective)
Fall 2013
  • Applications of Operations Research (Tepper 45-850, MBA elective, Sections A, E)
Spring 2013
  • Business Analytics Capstone (Tepper 45-959, MBA elective)
Fall 2012
  • Linear Programming (Tepper 47-834, PhD core)
  • Mathematical Models for Consulting (Tepper 70-460, Undergraduate elective)
Spring 2012
  • Optimization Models for Operations (Tepper 45-862, MBA elective)
  • Mathematical Models for Consulting (Tepper 70-460, Undergraduate elective)
  • Independent Study in Management (Tepper 70-502, Undergraduate elective)
Fall 2011
  • Convex Analysis (Tepper 47-860, PhD elective)
Fall 2008
  • Engineering Optimization (ISyE 3133, Undergraduate core, Georgia Institute of Technology)
Last updated January 2021

Selected Professional Service

Current Editorship

Recent Review Committees

Administrative Service

Recent Conference Leadership

Conference Related

  • Mini-symposium Organizer
    • ISMP 2018
    • SIAM Conference on Optimization (SIOPT) 2017, 2020
  • Conference Session Chair
    • ICCOPT 2016, 2019
    • INFORMS Annual Meeting 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020
    • INFORMS Optimization Society Conference 2014, 2016, 2020
    • ISMP 2015, 2018
    • MOPTA 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018

Society Membership

Last updated January 2021

Contact

  • Email: fkilinc @ andrew . cmu . edu
  • Mail:
    Tepper School of Business
    Carnegie Mellon University
    5000 Forbes Avenue
    Pittsburgh, PA 15213
  • Office: TQ 4229
Last updated January 2021