Biography

Dr. Haluk Demirkan is the  former Director of the Center for Business Analytics and Master of Science in Business Analytics at the Milgard School of Business, University of Washington Tacoma.

He is an innovation and analytics evangelist, maestro, data gig, recognized leader, experienced practitioner (20+ years), awarded consultant, accomplished scholar (~20 years), active applied researcher, cross-disciplinary teacher, effective mentor, invited speaker, productive author (150+ pubs) & professional student. His achievements brought him a global leadership and reputation in co-creation of value and service innovation with automation, out-tasking, complex data, analytics, artificial intelligence, intelligence augmentation, micro services, design and service-oriented technology & management. Most currently, he is assisting organizations to transform themselves with Collaborative Intelligence (Humans + AI + Process).

Professor Demirkan has more than 20 years professional experience advising more than 40 Fortune 500 companies like IBM, GE, Cisco, HP, Intel, American Express, Bank of America, Citibank, Premier Healthcare, Abbott and others in maximizing the return on companies’ resources by effectively implementing strategic data, analytics, cognitive and service transformation solutions.

In 2014, he was ranked 5th in Top-100 World-wide Researchers (the Association for Information Systems sanctioned rankings) with his applied scholarship. He also received four IBM Faculty Research Awards as a result of service & cognitive analytics research.

He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University, a M.E. and P.E. in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a Ph.D. in Information Systems and Operations Management from the University of Florida.

Biography

Dr. Sergio Davalos is an Associate Professor of Information Systems  and Director of the Center for Business Analytics  at the Milgard School of Business, University of Washington Tacoma.

He has more than 30 years of experience teaching in academia.  He was worked in computer science, management information systems, and business information systems programs. While at the University of the Virgin Islands, he was part of a group that developed one of the first online bachelor’s program in computer science.

His teaching interests include data mining, text mining, programming for analytics R and Python, predictive analytics, machine learning, and data science.

Some of Dr. Davalos’ recent research areas include exploring the use of data mining for business problems such as bankruptcy prediction, credit scoring, and company financial health, identifying text mining applications for a diverse set of fields such as politics, health, marketing, finance, and accounting, sentiment analysis of political forums and accounting documents, topic modeling of social media posts and finance documents, lexicon development of nostalgia and sentiment analysis, and the development of the application of evolutionary computing such as genetic algorithms and swarm intelligence.

Dr. Davalos recently published a paper titled Embedding Swarm Intelligence in Internet of Things Networks: A Social Insect Approach.

Biography

Michael Turek is MSBA Program Director along with being Associate Director of the Center for Business Analytics at Milgard School of Business. He is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Business Analytics at the Milgard School of Business, University of Washington Tacoma.

Aside from education, Michael’s professional experience includes business development, new venture startup,profram management, and consulting for business,analytucs and business inteligence with AI and machine learning platform integration. Previous organizations that he has worked with include Multicare Health System, the Korean Women’s Association, and the Washingron State Historical Society.

At the University of Washington Michael teaches courses in business analytics, data management, and consulting for business, analytics, and business inteligence quantitative methods, and information systems and technology.He is also a speaker and administers workshop on topics including Business Analytics Consulting best practices.

Michael received his MBA AND MSBA from the University of Washington. Michael is passionate about education, developing and implementing innovative solutions to unique business challenges, complex problems, and client needs, and for making positive, meaningful impacts within organizations and local communities.

Biography

Arthur S. Jago is an assistant professor of management at the University of Washington Tacoma. Prior to joining UWT, he completed his Ph.D. in business administration at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Southern California as part of a government research grant focused on how technology is changing human behavior.

At the University of Washington Tacoma, Dr. Jago teaches core classes in management and organizational behavior as well as an elective on organizational change. He is passionate about helping students succeed in an ever-changing technological landscape.

Dr. Jago researches automation and the future of work. Specifically, he is interested in the psychological consequences of new technologies, such as algorithmic recommendation systems, automated human resources practices, and digital and/or robotic assistants. In his research, Dr. Jago utilizes a variety of methods (e.g. laboratory experiments, field surveys, and text analysis) to investigate research questions such as: Do algorithms appear discriminatory? Can using algorithms undermine employee commitment? How do people react to algorithms designed to promote diversity? When do new technologies appear ethical and/or “authentic” to stakeholders? How do people respond to overt vs. subtle people analytics practices in organizations?

Biography

Dr. Luna Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Business Analytics and the Interim Director of the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) Program at the Milgard School of Business, University of Washington Tacoma.

Her research interests include Consumer Behavior, Mobile Commerce, Platform Economy, Revenue Sharing, Business Analytics, Large Scale Data Analysis, and Information Systems and Operations Management Interface. Dr. Zhang’s current project focuses on consumer search and purchase in mobile commerce and revenue sharing in the platform economy. She won the best paper award at the Conference on Information Systems & Technology (CIST) 2021. Her research papers have appeared in prestigious academic journals, Management Science, Production and Operations Management, and Information & Management. She has been invited to give talks at New York University, Fordham University, premier academic conferences, Women in Data Science in Tacoma, and Milgard Executive Speaker Panel. Her opinion about overcoming supply chain challenges has been covered in 425business.

Dr. Zhang previously taught Introduction to Information Systems, Demand and Supply Chain Planning, and Money, Banking, and Financial Markets at Lehigh University. She teaches various topics in analytics and operations management for undergraduate, MSBA, and MBA programs. She has received the 2020 Student’s Choice Voting: Outstanding Faculty Award at the University of Washington Tacoma. She has led the Analytics Innovation (A.I.) student club as a faculty advisor to winning the 2020 INFORMS Student Chapter Annual Award, Cum Laude.

Dr. Zhang received her B.S. in Supply Chain Management with Summa Cum Laude and M.S. in  Supply Chain Management from Tongji University. She completed her M.S. in Economics and Ph.D. in Business and Economics at Lehigh University.

Biography