Sibel Alumur Alev

Dr. Alumur Alev is a tenured full Professor in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at the University of Waterloo. She received her Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering from Bilkent University in 2009 and subsequently served as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Operations Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. Before joining the University of Waterloo in 2014, she worked as an Assistant Professor at TOBB University of Economics and Technology in Ankara. In 2017, she received the Chuck ReVelle Rising Star Award from the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) in recognition of her research accomplishments in Location Analysis. She received an Outstanding Performance Award from the University of Waterloo in both 2020 and 2025, and in 2023, she was awarded the Engineering Research Excellence Award for her outstanding research contributions in the Faculty of Engineering. She served as a Board Member of the EURO Working Group on Locational Analysis (EWGLA) and as the President of the INFORMS Section on Location Analysis (SOLA). She is the Founding President of the Transportation & Logistics Special Interest Group of the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) and also served as a Councillor for CORS. She currently serves as Vice-President of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS), representing North American Operations Research Societies, and as Editor-in-Chief of the IFORS Newsletter. She is also the Senior Associate Editor for the journal Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, an Associate Editor for Transportation Science and Service Science, and an Editorial Board Editor for Transportation Research Part B. To date, she has guest-edited four special journal issues and has organized clusters, streams, and sessions at several international conferences. Her research interests focus on optimizing facility locations and logistics operations, particularly in hub location, hub network design, and supply chain and reverse logistics network design.

Google Scholar profile: http://scholar.google.com.tr/citations?user=8Li0OdIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

• Hub Location and Hub Network Design

• Supply Chain and Logistics Optimization

• Location Modeling

• 2009, Doctorate, Industrial Engineering, Bilkent University, Turkey

• 2004, Master of Science, Industrial Engineering, Bilkent University, Turkey

• 2001, Bachelor of Science, Environmental Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Turkey

• Outstanding Performance Award, Awarded by the University of Waterloo in 2025 and 2020.

• Distinguished Performance Award, Awarded by the Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo in 2024.

• Engineering Research Excellence Award, Awarded by the Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo in 2023.

• Chuck ReVelle Rising Star Award, Awarded by INFORMS Section on Location Analysis in 2017.

• POMS College of Healthcare Operations Management Best Paper Competition, Honorable mention, 2025.

• CORS Health Care Operational Research SIG Student Paper Competition, Runner-up, 2025.

• Transportation Science Best Paper Award Winner, 2024.

• Fraser Best Graduate Student Paper Award Winner, 2024.

• INFORMS Section on Location Analysis Best Student Paper Competition, Runner-up, 2023.

• Supply Chain and Logistics Management Best Student Research Competition, 3rd place, 2022.

• INFORMS Section on Location Analysis Best Student Paper Competition, 2nd place, 2021.

• INFORMS Section on Location Analysis Best Student Paper Competition, 2nd place, 2019.

• Associate Chair for Graduate Studies

• Editor-in-Chief, International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) Newsletter, January 2025 – present.

• Senior Associate Editor, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, August 2021 – present.

• Associate Editor, Transportation Science, October 2023 – present.

• Associate Editor, Service Science, January 2023 – present.

• Editorial Board Editor (same responsibility as Associate Editor), Transportation Research Part B, May 2021 – present.

• Guest Editor, Special Issue on TSL 2023 Conference, Transportation Science, July 2023 – present. (co-edited with M. Hewitt)

• Guest Editor, Special Issue on Emerging Topics in Transportation and Logistics. INFOR: Information Systems and Operational Research, May 2023 – present. (co-edited with O. Arslan and M. Schiffer)

• Guest Editor, Special Issue: Recent Advances in Hub Location, Computers & Operations Research 104, 2019. (co-edited with J. F. Campbell)

• Guest Editor, Special Issue: Recent Advances in Location Analysis, Computers & Operations Research 62, October 2015. (co-edited with B. Y. Kara)

• Editorial Board Member, Computers & Operations Research, July 2016 – January 2024.

• Vice-President, International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS), January 2025 – present.

• Founding President, Transportation & Logistics Special Interest Group of the Canadian Operational Research Society, October 2022 – present.

• Senior Member, Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), March 2024 – present.

• Chair, Gilbert Laporte Student Paper Competition Committee, February 2024 – June 2024.

• Councilor, Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS), June 2022 – June 2024.

• President, INFORMS Section on Location Analysis, October 2019 – October 2021.

• Vice-President, INFORMS Section on Location Analysis, October 2017 – October 2019.

• MSCI 131 - Work Design and Facilities Planning
  • Taught in 2020
• MSCI 331 - Introduction to Optimization
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
• MSCI 434 - Supply Chain Management
  • Taught in 2021, 2022
• MSE 331 - Introduction to Optimization
  • Taught in 2025
• MSE 700 - Topics in Operations Research and Management
  • Taught in 2025

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Taherkhani, G.*, Ghaddar, B., Alumur, S.A., Hsu, T. (2025). Hub network design for strategic shuttle deployment. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS, in press, doi:10.1109/TITS.2025.3574530.

• Li, H.*, Taherkhani, G.*, Alumur, S.A., Hewitt, M. (2025). Strategic expansion of freight transportation hub networks under uncertainty. OMEGA, 131, 103196.

• Unsal, E.B.*, Alumur, S.A. (2025). Data-driven analysis of optimal repositioning policy in bike sharing systems. INFOR: INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND OPERATIONAL RESEARCH, 63 (1), 123–152.

• Taherkhani, G.*, Hosseini, S.M., Alumur, S.A. (2024). Sustainable hub location under uncertainty. TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART B, 187, 103040.

• Kinay, O.B.*, Gzara, F., Alumur, S.A. (2023). Charging station location and sizing for electric vehicles considering user behavior and congestion. TRANSPORTATION SCIENCE, 57 (6), 1433–1451.

• Janschekowitz, M.*, Taherkhani, G.*, Alumur, S.A., Nickel, S. (2023). An alternative approach to address uncertainty in hub location. OR SPECTRUM, 45(2), 359–393.

• Taherkhani, G.*, Alumur, S.A., Hosseini, S.M. (2021). Robust-stochastic models for profit-maximizing hub location problems. TRANSPORTATION SCIENCE, 55(6), 1322–1350.

• Kinay, O.B.*, Gzara, F., Alumur, S.A. (2021). Full cover charging station location problem with routing. TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH PART B, 144, 1–22.

• Alumur, S.A., Campbell, J.F., Contreras, I., Kara, B.Y., Marianov, V., O’Kelly, M.E. (2021). Perspectives on modeling hub location problems. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF OPERATIONAL RESEARCH, 291(1), 1–17.

• Taherkhani, G.*, Alumur, S.A., Hosseini, S.M. (2020). Benders decomposition for profit maximizing capacitated hub location problem with multiple demand classes. TRANSPORTATION SCIENCE, 54(6), 1446–1470.