BY EHSAN SHAREEF (CTIS\/III)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assoc. Prof. Firdevs Ulus has been a member of the Department of Industrial Engineering since September 2015. She received her BS degree in Manufacturing Systems (Industrial) Engineering, with a minor in Mathematics, from Sabanc\u0131 University in 2008, and completed an MS degree in Mathematics there in 2010. She subsequently earned an MS degree in Operations Research and Financial Engineering from Princeton University in 2012, followed by a PhD in the same field in 2015. Dr. Ulus\u2019s research lies in mathematical optimization, with particular emphasis on multiobjective and vector optimization, convex optimization, multiobjective integer and mixed-integer programming, and algorithm development. Her work examines both theoretical questions and applications in financial mathematics and economics. In recognition of her contributions to industrial engineering, she received the Science Academy Association\u2019s 2024 BAGEP Distinguished Young Scientist Award.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why did you choose an academic career?<\/strong> When I graduated from high school, I was not entirely sure which field I wanted to study. I was considering mathematics, and industrial engineering. But even then, I already had a strong sense that I wanted to become an academic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What subject do you most enjoy teaching, and why?<\/strong> I like teaching this course because it is closer to the way many real-life systems actually work. I often feel that it gives students a different way of looking at problems, and I can see that they find this perspective interesting. Seeing that spark in their eyes is genuinely motivating for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What projects are you working on currently?<\/strong> Recently, I have been studying how the solution set changes when the decision maker has fairness concerns and how these solutions can be computed. I am also working on solution concepts and solution approaches for problems where the decision maker’s preference relation is not known with certainty and may vary across different scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What excites you about your work? And what is the coolest thing about your work?<\/strong> One of the coolest things about my work is the freedom it gives me. I have a great deal of freedom in choosing the problems I want to work on and also in deciding when and where I work. I really value that flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s your best work?<\/strong> In that paper, we revisited a very classical method, the simplex method, for a classical problem and developed an algorithm that could compete with existing approaches. I find it especially satisfying when relatively fundamental problems can be approached with simple and fundamental ideas. That is not something we get the opportunity to do very often anymore, and this is one of the reasons I am particularly fond of that paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s the most common misconception about your work?<\/strong> What has been the most exciting moment of your career so far? Could you share a turning point or defining moment in your career?<\/strong> What\u2019s one piece of information from your field that you think everyone should know?<\/strong> I think it is useful to first look at the problem as a multiobjective one and make the different goals and trade-offs explicit. Even if we eventually decide to use a single objective, understanding these trade-offs first usually leads to a more informed and transparent decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you weren\u2019t an academic, what career would you choose?<\/strong> I also have a long-standing interest in painting, especially oil painting. I took several painting courses during my undergraduate and PhD years. So if I were not an academic, I could imagine myself doing something related to one of these interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you had unlimited funds, what would you like to do research on?<\/strong> What do you like the most about being at Bilkent?<\/strong> What do you like to do when you are not working?<\/strong> Which books have influenced you the most, and why?<\/strong> What is the secret of leading a happy life?<\/strong> If you could go back to your undergraduate\/graduate student years, what advice would you give to your younger self?<\/strong> Can you share a student interaction that has stayed with you over the years?<\/strong> What is one piece of advice you wish every Bilkent student would truly follow?<\/strong> BY EHSAN SHAREEF (CTIS\/III) Assoc. Prof. Firdevs Ulus has been a member of the Department of Industrial Engineering since September 2015. She received her BS degree in Manufacturing Systems (Industrial) Engineering, with a minor in Mathematics, from Sabanc\u0131 University in 2008, and completed an MS degree in Mathematics there in[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[230,83,224],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11534,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11533\/revisions\/11534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bilkentnews.bilkent.edu.tr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Mathematics had been my favorite subject since primary school. I not only enjoyed studying it myself, but also found myself explaining difficult topics to my classmates, and this became even more pronounced in high school. I realized that I genuinely enjoyed teaching, but I also thought that I might eventually get bored if I had to teach the same material over and over again. An academic career seemed much more appealing because it would allow me to combine teaching with continuously learning, exploring and discovering new things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I teach Stochastic Modeling to third-year industrial engineering students. The course is mostly about stochastic processes. The students already know probability, but in this course we add the concept of time, along with systems whose states evolve probabilistically over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mostly work on multiobjective optimization, where we try to optimize several conflicting objectives at the same time. In these problems, there is usually no single best solution. Instead, we look for solutions where improving one objective necessarily means worsening at least one of the others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What excites me most is designing algorithms that can solve difficult problems efficiently. I enjoy the process of thinking about how an algorithm should work and developing an approach that is both mathematically sound and computationally effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is difficult to choose one piece of work, but one paper I particularly like is our 2017 paper in Mathematical Programming, \u201cA Parametric Simplex Algorithm for Linear Vector Optimization Problems,\u201d with Birgit Rudloff and Robert Vanderbei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A common misconception is that multiobjective optimization is always about helping a decision maker choose one solution among several alternatives. In fact, sometimes the goal is to compute an entire set rather than to select a single solution. Certain sets arising in applications can be represented as the Pareto set of a multiobjective optimization problem, so multiobjective and vector optimization algorithms can be used as tools for computing these sets. Multivariate risk measures are one example where this perspective is useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember very clearly the day I was admitted to the PhD program at Princeton. ORFE was the program I most wanted to join, so receiving that acceptance was a very important and exciting moment for me. I was genuinely very happy, and it felt like a major turning point in my academic journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many real-life decision problems involve several conflicting objectives. However, these objectives are often combined into a single objective too early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have quite a few interests outside academia. I have been practicing yoga for many years, and more recently I have also become more consistent with exercise. From time to time, I lead yoga sessions for people around me, and I really enjoy that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My work is mostly theoretical, so I do not usually feel that I need a very large research budget. What I would value is having more time for research and the opportunity to work with more PhD students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What I value most about Bilkent is that it is a research-oriented university and that we are encouraged and supported in doing good-quality research. I also really appreciate the high quality of our students.
Beyond the academic environment, I enjoy the campus itself. It is green and peaceful, and the sports facilities, together with the cultural events that take place from time to time, make campus life even more pleasant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I like to stay active, so I usually do some form of exercise, such as going to the gym, practicing yoga or walking. I also meditate regularly. From time to time, I do drawing or painting exercises. And, of course, I enjoy meeting friends for dinner, coffee, or different events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I read \u201cThe School for Gods\u201d by Stefano D’Anna in my early twenties, and it had a strong impact on me at the time. It gave me a very different perspective on life and the way I thought about personal growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think happiness is an inner state. The less it depends on what is happening around us, the more stable it can be. I do not think waiting for something to happen in order to be happy really works.
There may be many different ways of reaching this inner state, and I think these can be very personal. For me, happiness is more about working on ourselves than waiting for something external to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are already doing your best. Trust the flow of life and worry less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is difficult for me to single out one specific interaction. Many of our students go abroad for PhD studies after graduating, and meeting them again later at academic conferences is always very special for me. Seeing how they have grown and progressed in their careers and meeting them again as young researchers in the same academic community makes me very happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Try to keep a good balance in life. Work hard and do your best, but also take care of your physical and mental health. Once you have done what you can, trust the flow of life and try not to worry too much about things you cannot control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"