About
Kazim Topuz, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Business Analytics and Operations Management at the Collins College of Business at The University of Tulsa. He holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering with a dissertation on Data Mining Applications in Healthcare from Wichita State University and master’s degrees in Information Systems Engineering from Lehigh University and Industrial and Systems Engineering from Rutgers University.
His work focuses on designing probabilistic graphical models, including Bayesian Belief Networks and Markov Networks, integrated with data mining techniques for data-driven decisions. His current research passion is explainable AI and its applications in healthcare, accident severity, student retention, and mental health.
Topuz’s work has been published in journals like the European Journal of Operational Research, Decision Support Systems (DSS), OMEGA, Annals of Operations Research (ANOR), Journal of Business Research, Information Systems Frontiers, and Journal of Management Information Systems. He is a member of INFORMS, Decision Science Institute, American Medical Informatics Association, and Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE). He served as a special issue editor for DSS on “Explainable AI for Enhanced Decision Making” and for ANOR on “Interpretable Machine Learning.” His awards include the 2023 IISE Gold Award, 2022 Mayo Research Excellence Award, and Chapman Professorship Award (2020-2022). He also received the Outstanding Doctoral-level Student Award at Wichita State University (2016), the Industrial Engineering Honor Society Membership Award (Alpha Pi Mu), and fellowships from Rutgers University and the Turkish Ministry of National Education. Additionally, he achieved first place in a national case study competition in Turkey and ranked in the top 0.1% among 0.5 million university graduates in the Academic Graduate Exam in Turkey (2007).
Awards and Honors
- 2023 IISE Gold Award
- 2022 Mayo Research Excellence Award
- Chapman Professorship Award (2020-2022)
- Outstanding Doctoral-level Student Award at Wichita State University (2016)
- Industrial Engineering Honor Society Membership Award (Alpha Pi Mu)
- Fellowships from Rutgers University and the Turkish Ministry of National Education
- First place in a national case study competition in Turkey (2007)
- Ranked in the top 0.1% among 500,000 university graduates in the Academic Graduate Exam in Turkey (2007)
Education
- Ph.D., Wichita State University
- Dissertation: “Data Analytics Frameworks and Probabilistic Graphical Models in Healthcare”
- M.E., Lehigh University
- Dissertation: “Information Systems Engineering”
- M.S., Rutgers University
- Dissertation: “Industrial and Systems Engineering”
Research interests and areas of expertise
- Designing probabilistic graphical models, including Bayesian Belief Networks and Markov Networks, integrated with data mining techniques for data-driven decisions.
- Explainable AI and its applications in healthcare, accident severity, student retention, and mental health.