Headshot of Deniz Besik

Deniz Besik

Assistant Professor of Analytics & Operations
  • Profile

    Dr. Besik is an Assistant Professor of Analytics & Operations in the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond. She received her Ph.D. in Management Science from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a B.Sc. in Manufacturing Systems Engineering, and an M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Sabanci University. Dr. Besik's research focuses on agricultural and food supply chain analytics, with an emphasis on perishable food supply chain networks, food quality, food security, infrastructure resilience, and the impacts of trade and policy instruments. Her work combines network optimization and equilibrium modeling with large-scale empirical datasets, including scanner data and geospatial data, to study how supply chain design and policy decisions affect food quality, waste, equity, and access. She has published eleven peer-reviewed journal articles in outlets including the European Journal of Operational Research, Transportation Research E, Journal of Cleaner Production, and Socio-Economic Planning Sciences. Her research has been recognized with the 2024 and 2022 Outstanding Research Publication Awards from the Robins School of Business, the 2019 Outstanding Doctoral Student Research Award from the Isenberg School of Management, and an Honorable Mention for the 2019 Bayer Women in Operations Research Scholarship from the INFORMS Analytics Society.

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    • Awards

      Outstanding Research Publication Award, Robins School of Business, University of Richmond, 2024

      Outstanding Research Publication Award, Robins School of Business, University of Richmond, 2022

      Elected to the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, 2020

      Honorable Mention Award, Bayer Women in Operations Research Scholarship, Analytics Society of INFORMS, 2019

      Outstanding Doctoral Student Research Award, Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2019

      Cum Laude, INFORMS Student Chapter Award, INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2018

      Magna Cum Laude, INFORMS Student Chapter Award, INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2017

      Cum Laude, INFORMS Student Chapter Award, INFORMS Annual Meeting, 2016

    • Presentations

      2025

      • A Network Equilibrium Model for Fresh Produce Supply Chains with Discount Timing Decisions and Donations (with J. Lowrey and Q. Dong). INFORMS Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, October 26–29, 2025; DSI Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, November 22–24, 2025.
      • Multicommodity Fresh Produce Trade Networks with Quality Deterioration Under Congestion and Transportation Capacities (with A. Nagurney). CEMA Conference, Rice University, Houston, TX, June 16–17, 2025.
      • Optimizing the Food Bank Fresh Produce Supply Chain Considering Quality, Minimum Quality Standards, Equity, and Waste (with S. Thekdi, I. Orgut, and A. Nagurney). POMS Conference, Atlanta, GA, May 8–12, 2025.

      2024

      • Multicommodity Fresh Produce Trade Networks with Quality Deterioration Under Congestion and Transportation Capacities (with A. Nagurney). EURO Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 30–July 3, 2024.

      2023

      • Modeling and Managing Food Insecurity Through Assessment of Agricultural Practices (with S. Thekdi and F. Aros-Vera). INFORMS Annual Conference – Invited Session, Phoenix, AZ, October 15–18, 2023.
      • Strategic Decisions and Sustainability in Competitive Agricultural Supply Chains: A Triple Bottom Line Perspective (with S. Saberi, P. Dutta, and R.M. Fernandez). POMS Annual Conference – Invited Session, Orlando, FL, May 21–25, 2023; POMS International Conference, Paris, France, July 17–20, 2023; DSI Annual Conference – Session Chair, Atlanta, GA, November 18–20, 2023.

      2022

      • An Integrated Multitiered Supply Chain Network Model of Competing Agricultural Firms and Processing Firms (with A. Nagurney and P. Dutta). INFORMS Annual Conference – Invited Session, Indianapolis, IN, October 16–19, 2022; POMS Annual Conference – Invited Session, Virtual, April 21–25, 2022.
      • Strategic Decisions and Sustainability in Competitive Agricultural Supply Chains (with S. Saberi, P. Dutta, and R.M. Fernandez). POMS Annual Conference, Virtual, April 21–25, 2022; INFORMS Annual Conference – Invited Session, Indianapolis, IN, October 16–19, 2022.

      2021

      • An Integrated Multitiered Supply Chain Network Model of Competing Agricultural Firms and Processing Firms (with A. Nagurney and P. Dutta). Fifth International Dynamics of Disasters Conference, Virtual, July 16–18, 2021; INFORMS Annual Conference – Invited Session, Anaheim, CA, October 24–27, 2021; DSI Annual Conference, Virtual, November 17–21, 2021.

      2020

      • Global Supply Chain Networks and Tariff Rate Quotas: Equilibrium Analysis with Application to Agricultural Products (with A. Nagurney and L. Nagurney). Virtual INFORMS Annual Conference, November 7–13, 2020.

      2019

      • Global Supply Chain Networks and Tariff Rate Quotas (with A. Nagurney and L. Nagurney). POMS Annual Conference, Washington D.C., May 2–6, 2019.
      • Tariffs and Quotas in World Trade: A Unified Variational Inequality Framework (with A. Nagurney and J. Dong). EURO Conference, Dublin, Ireland, June 23–26, 2019.

      2018

      • Dynamics of Quality as a Strategic Variable in Complex Food Supply Chain Network Competition: The Case of Fresh Produce (with A. Nagurney and M. Yu). INFORMS Annual Conference, Phoenix, AZ, November 4–7, 2018; NEDSI Conference, Providence, RI, April 12–14, 2018.
      • Quality in Competitive Fresh Produce Supply Chains with Application to Farmers' Markets (with A. Nagurney). INFORMS Annual Conference, Phoenix, AZ, November 4–7, 2018; INFORMS Computing Society Conference, Austin, TX, January 15–17, 2017.

      2017

      • Supply Chain Network Capacity Competition with Outsourcing: A Variational Equilibrium Framework (with A. Nagurney and M. Yu). INFORMS Annual Conference, Houston, TX, October 22–25, 2017; POMS Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, May 5–8, 2017; NEDSI Conference, Springfield, MA, March 22–25, 2017.

    • Professional Experience

      Richmond Business Consultants (2023 - present)

      • Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia — Project Team Member (December 2023–Present): Helping Goodwill optimize financial and operating performance through data analysis and mathematical programming.
      • KidMed Pediatric Urgent Care — Project Team Member (February–May 2023): Consulting project to optimize patient throughput and minimize cycle time; contributed impactful data analysis driving improvements in patient outcomes.

      GlaxoSmithKline Global Healthcare Company (April - July 2012)
      Marketing Intern, Istanbul, Turkey

      Unilever (July – November 2011)

      Supply Chain Intern, Istanbul, Turkey

      Sabanci Brisa-Bridgestone ( January – February 2009)

      Supply Chain Intern, Istanbul, Turkey

  • Publications
    Journal Articles
    1. Fresh Produce Spatial Price Equilibrium on General Networks: Capturing Commodity Quality Deterioration Through Endogenous Transportation Time-Delay Functions with Capacities (with A. Nagurney and S. Samira) (2026), European Journal of Operational Research, 334(1): 249–270.
    2. Multicommodity Fresh Produce Trade Networks with Quality Deterioration Under Congestion and Transportation Capacities (with A. Nagurney) (2025), Journal of Global Optimization, 1–12.
    3. An Integrated Multitiered Supply Chain Network Model of Competing Agricultural Firms and Processing Firms: The Case of Fresh Produce and Quality (with A. Nagurney and P. Dutta) (2023), European Journal of Operational Research, 307(1): 364–381.
    4. Strategic Decision for Capacity Portfolio in Supply Chain Network Considering Emission Permit Price and Demand Uncertainty (with S. Saberi and Z. Liu) (2022), Journal of Cleaner Production, 374: 133797.
    5. Spatial Price Equilibrium Networks with Flow-Dependent Arc Multipliers (with A. Nagurney) (2022), Optimization Letters, 1–19.
    6. Strict Quotas or Tariffs? Implications for Product Quality and Consumer Welfare in Differentiated Supply Chains (with A. Nagurney and D. Li) (2019), Transportation Research E, 29: 136–161.
    7. Global Supply Chain Networks and Tariff Rate Quotas: Equilibrium Analysis with Application to Agricultural Products (with A. Nagurney and L. Nagurney) (2019), Journal of Global Optimization, 75: 439–460.
    8. Tariffs and Quotas in World Trade: A Unified Variational Inequality Framework (with A. Nagurney and J. Dong) (2019), European Journal of Operational Research, 275(1): 347–360.
    9. Dynamics of Quality as a Strategic Variable in Complex Food Supply Chain Network Competition: The Case of Fresh Produce (with A. Nagurney and M. Yu) (2018), Chaos, 28: 043124.
    10. Supply Chain Network Capacity Competition with Outsourcing: A Variational Equilibrium Framework (with A. Nagurney and M. Yu) (2017), Journal of Global Optimization, 69(1): 231–254.
    11. Quality in Competitive Fresh Produce Supply Chains with Application to Farmers' Markets (with A. Nagurney) (2017), Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 60: 62–76.