Kurt Receives IIE's Pritsker Best Doctoral Dissertation Award

Murat Kurt received the 2014 Pritsker Best Doctoral Dissertation Award from the Institute of Industrial Engineers. Kurt's dissertation, "Dynamic Decision Models for Managing the Major Complications of Diabetes" addresses a significant national and international health problem.

Kurt's dissertation research, completed in 2012 at the University of Pittsburgh, focused on two emerging timing problems for diabetes and end-stage renal disease patients: Transplantation in prearranged paired kidney exchanges (PKEs) and the initiation of lipid-lowering agents.The dissertation makes multi-fold contributions to the existing literature of applied Operations Research in Health Sciences.

Methodology-wise, the models in his dissertation and their analyses, and the solution techniques to solve them intersect with multiple disciplines including game theory, MDPs and integer programming.

Papers resulting from this research have earned the INFORMS Service Science Section's Best Paper Award in 2010 and 2011. Kurt is an assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering.