Plenary Speakers
Anthony Papavasiliou (EWGLA session)
National Technical University of Athens
Biography: Anthony Papavasiliou is an assistant professor at the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National Technical University of Athens. Formerly, he was an associate professor at the Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE) at the Université catholique de Louvain, where he held the ENGIE Chair and a Francqui Research Professorship. He completed his PhD and post-doctoral research at the department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley and his undergraduate studies at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. In 2021 Anthony received the Bodossaki Foundation Distinguished Young Scientist award in Applied Sciences. He is a recipient of an ERC Starting Grant in 2019. He has served as an associate editor for Operations Research and for the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, as well as in the technical program committees of various international conferences. He has received the 2015 INFORMS best publication award in energy and the 2021 INFORMS best publication award in energy runner-up. He has served as a consultant for transmission system operators, regulatory authorities, power exchanges, and utilities on a number of topics related to electricity markets and power system operations.
Research group of Anthony Papavasiliou
Burcu Balçık (EWGLA session)
Ozyegin University
Biography: Burcu Balçık is a Professor of Industrial Engineering at Özyeğin University and the Academic Director of its Sustainability Platform. She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Washington and M.S. and B.S. degrees from Middle East Technical University. She held research positions at Northwestern University, HUMLOG Institute, HEC Montreal, and Tilburg University’s Zero Hunger Lab.
Dr. Balçık’s research spans a wide range of topics in humanitarian logistics and disaster management, recently including food security and healthcare resilience. She applies data-driven analytical methods to optimize decision-making for vulnerable communities and nonprofit organizations. Her work, enriched by global collaborations with governmental and nongovernmental organizations, aims to deliver innovative solutions for disaster preparedness and response.
Her research is published in leading journals, including Operations Research, Transportation Science, Production and Operations Management, and European Journal of Operational Research. She has received Best Paper Awards from the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS-HOCM) and the SEIO/BBVA Foundation.
Dr. Balçık has served in leadership roles in INFORMS Public Sector Operations Research (PSOR) and EURO-HOpe. She is an Associate Editor for Transportation Science and IISE Transactions. Beyond academia, she actively engages in public outreach activities.
Vladimir Marianov (IWOLOCA Session)
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Biography: Vladimir Marianov is a Professor Emeritus at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and worked as a Telecommunications Engineer. He obtained his M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins University in 1987 and 1989, respectively. He has taught, conducted research funded by public and private institutions, and consulted in facility location and network design. He has published nearly 90 papers on emergency system design, utility location, location under congestion, and competitive facility location. He is co-editor or co-author of five books on various location topics, as well as several book chapters on topics such as Emergency Systems Location, Location in the Public Sector, Prison Location, and Competitive Location. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Computers & OR and the Editorial Board of TOP. Between 2014 and 2022 he was Deputy Director of the Complex Engineering Systems Institute , where he has been a researcher since 2007.