UA Culverhouse Professor Named to Poets & Quants’ Top 40 Under 40

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Burcu Keskin, an associate professor at The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Commerce, has been named a Top 40 Under 40 Professor by Poets & Quants.

Keskin teaches supply chain management and business analytics in the information systems, statistics and management science department at Culverhouse.

Poets & Quants is a website that reports on business schools and is considered an authoritative source in the field of business schools and rankings.

More than 100 professors were nominated before Poets & Quants narrowed the pool to the top 40, basing the final list upon excellence in research, the ability to inspire students and world-class teaching prowess.

According to the website, “Winning an Ig Nobel Prize is not enough to get a spot on this list. Neither is taking students to the Amazon. Or getting a class to show up wearing beer helmets. Or having your research featured on the John Oliver show. Or applying neuroscience to the negotiating process. But all of those things help.”

“Dr. Keskin is well deserving of this honor, and we are extremely proud of her,” said Dr. J. Michael Hardin, dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce. “She truly cares about her students and is passionate about using data analytics to solve real world problems. She is one of the professors who are helping Culverhouse become a leader in business analytics.”

Keskin is the faculty adviser for the College’s Women MBA International and co-coordinator of the Culverhouse College of Commerce’s annual Business Analytics Symposium that draws speakers, students and business attendees from across the country.

She is also co-adviser of the MBA program’s supply chain operations management concentration.

She has conducted research in different areas of supply chain management and has collaborated with colleagues and students to apply business analytics to real world business.

Most notably, she has worked with Alabama State Troopers to identify hotspots for speeding and crashes in order to reduce violations and accidents. Her research on increasing fan attendance at the NCAA basketball tournament has been highlighted by ESPN and Fox News.