Gülru Özkan-Seely

Profile | Curriculum Vitae

Associate Professor

gulru@uw.edu
(425) 352-3382
UWBB-107B

Gülru Özkan-Seely is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at the School of Business at the University of Washington Bothell. She holds a Ph.D. in Operations Management from Scheller College of Business at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. She also received an MBA from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia and a B.S. in Environmental Engineering at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Prior to joining the UW Bothell School of Business, Gülru taught at Georgia Institute of Technology and at Clemson University in Clemson, SC.

Gülru’s research interests include new product development, knowledge management and management of technology. Her goal as a researcher is to develop a rich and multifaceted understanding of how technology and knowledge management, as well as behavioral factors and product launch strategies, drive successful NPD outcomes. In a series of papers, she develops insight into how firm attributes (e.g., team dynamics and individuals’ behaviors) and market characteristics (e.g., time-based competition) drive knowledge and technology management strategies. As such, she provides a holistic framework to understand drivers of successful NPD under technology innovation and dynamic markets.

In her research, Gülru utilizes many tools, including methodologies such as optimal control theory including stochastic optimal control and impulsive optimal control, game theory, signaling games and lab-controlled experiments. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in journals such as Operations Research, Organization Science, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Decision Sciences Journal, Quality Management Journal and Journal of Enterprise Transformation. Her work was recognized as the finalist of 2020 TIMES INFORMS Best Paper Award and a finalist of the Junior Faculty Best Paper Award in the 2018 International Workshop on Behavioral Operations Management. She is an Editorial Review Board member for the IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and frequently reviews research papers for Management Science, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Journal, Production and Operations Management Society Journal, Decision Sciences Journal, National Science Foundation, Naval Research Logistics, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, International Journal of Production Research. Gülru is active in professional societies and is currently a Board Member of Programs of the Technology, Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Section (TIMES), INFORMS Society and of the College of Product Innovation and Technology Management of POMS.

Gülru’s past teaching experience includes core Operations Management course at the undergraduate and graduate levels and Introduction to Supply Chain Management at the undergraduate level. She also taught the elective Management of Technology courses to undergraduate and graduate students and the core Management Science course to the undergraduate students at Georgia Institute of Technology. She embraces teaching as an opportunity to equip students with the knowledge and tools to understand and solve business problems in management of operations, supply chains and technology. Gülru is the recipients of 2019-2020 MBA Teaching Award, School of Business, UW Bothell (Bellevue location).

Gülru integrates community-engaged teaching into her courses, having worked with upwards of 170 partners on more than 200 projects with graduate and undergraduate students. Gülru is the winner of the 2021 Outstanding Community-Engaged Scholar Award.

EDUCATION

2009 Ph.D. in Operations Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.

2003 MBA, General Management, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.

2001 B.S., Environmental Engineering, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey.

AREAS OF INTEREST

New Product Development, Knowledge Management, Technology Management, Operations Strategy, Organizational and Behavioral Issues in Operations Management, Dynamic Systems, Competition, Design of Cooperation and Coordination Contracts, Signaling games.

POSITIONS HELD

2015-Current Assistant Professor, School of Business, University of Washington Bothell, Bothell, WA.

2014-2015 Visiting Assistant Professor, Scheller School of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.

2009-2014 Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Clemson University, Clemson, SC.

SELECTED PEER REVIEWER JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS

“Signaling Product Quality Through a Trial Period” with S. Wang. 2018. Operations Research [Lead article] 66(2) 301-312.

“The Role of Direct Outsourcing in New Product Manufacturing Strategy” with Q. Chen and A. V. Roth. 2017. Journal of Enterprise Transformation for the Special Issue on Innovation as a Catalyst for Enterprise Transformation.

“Dynamic Knowledge Transfer and Knowledge Development for Product and Process Design Teams” with C. Gaimon and S. Kavadias. 2015. Manufacturing and Service Operations Management (M&SOM) 17 (2) 177-190.

“Strategies for Environmental and Traditional Quality Efforts During New Product Development: Balancing Complementarity and Conflict.” 2014. Quality Management Journal. 21 (4) 23-35.

“Dynamic Resource Capabilities: Managing Workforce Knowledge with a Technology Upgrade” with C. Gaimon and K. Napoleon. 2011. Organization Science 22 (6) 1560-1578.

SELECTED WORKING PAPERS

“Search for the Best Alternative: An Experimental Approach,” with D. Hall and J. Hutchison-Krupat.

“Managing New Product Development Knowledge Between Competing Firms,” with C. Gaimon and S. Venkataraman.

“Knowledge-based view of the use of an intermediary in new product manufacturing outsourcing” with Q. Chen, S. Wang, and A. V. Roth.

BOOK CHAPTERS

“Requirements Engineering in Business Analytics for Innovation and Product Lifecycle Management” with C. Rohleder, J. Lin, and I. Kusuma. 2014. In Advances in Conceptual Modeling, 8697 51-58, Springer International Publishing.

PUBLICATIONS IN REFEREED CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

“Sell A Pig in a Poke or Let the Cat out of the Bag: Signaling, Learning and Screening Quality of a New Experience Good through Trial Period” with S. Wang. 2013. Extended abstract, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management (MSOM) Conference, Fontainebleau, France, July 2013.

“Requirements Engineering in Business Analytics for Innovation and Product Lifecycle Management” with C. Rohleder, J. Lin, and I. Kusuma. 2013. Proceedings of the RIGiM’13 Workshop, Hong Kong, November 2013.

“Business Analytics in Innovation and Product Lifecycle Management” with C. Rohleder, J. Lin, and I. Kusuma. 2013. Proceedings of the seventh IEEE International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science, Paris, France, May 2013.

“Knowledge Management in New Product Development” with C. Gaimon and S. Kavadias. Proceedings of the EUROMA Conference, (European Operations Management Association), Amsterdam, NL, July 2012.

“Knowledge Management in the New Product Development Project” with C. Gaimon, Proceedings of the EUROMA Conference, Ankara, Turkey, June 2007.

“Knowledge Management for Technology Acquisition and Implementation” with C. Gaimon and K. Napoleon, Proceedings of the EUROMA Conference, Ankara, Turkey, June 2007.

MEDIA MENTIONS

“MBA students improve food bank ‘flow’,” University of Washington Bothell News, January 15, 2020.

“Longer trial period signals product quality as does price-New research from the University of Washington-Bothell School of Business”, Newswise, April 23, 2018.

Featured in article “Three ways to get ahead of technology at work,” Seattle Times, February 9, 2018.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

School of Business, University of Washington Bothell

  • Operations Management (Graduate level and Undergraduate level core courses)
  • Introduction to Supply Chain Management (Undergraduate level emphasis course)

Scheller College Of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

  • Operations Management (Undergraduate level core course)
  • Management of Technology (Undergraduate level emphasis course)
  • Managing Resources of the Technological Firm (Graduate level emphasis course)
  • Management Science (Sophomore level core course)

Department of Management, Clemson University

  • Operations Management (Graduate level core course)
  • Supply Chain Management (Graduate level emphasis course)
  • Operations Management (Junior level core course)

USAC, Imperial College, London, UK

  • Comparative Economic Systems (Undergraduate/Graduate level elective course)

RESEARCH GRANTS

2013 Summer Research Grant, Clemson University $15,000.

2012 Summer Research Grant, Clemson University $15,000.

ACADEMIC SERVICE

August 2017-Current Editorial Review Board Member, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management.

2014-Current Board Member, Technology, Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Section (TIMES), INFORMS.

2014-Current Board Member, College of Product Innovation and Technology Management, POMS.

Reviewer, Management Science (MS), Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Journal (MSOM), Production and Operations Management Society Journal (POMS), Decision Sciences Journal (DSJ), National Science Foundation (NSF), Naval Research Logistics (NRL), Journal of Business Research (JBR), International Journal of Operations Management (IJOM), International Journal of Operations and Production Management (IJOPM), International Journal of Production Research (IJPR).

2015-2016 Cluster Chair, Technology, Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship Track, INFORMS Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

2013-2014 Session Chair, New Product Development Track, INFORMS Conferences.

2008-2011 Session Chair, Technology Management Track, INFORMS Conferences.

2010-2011, 2015 Session Chair, Product Innovation and Technology Management Track, POMS Conferences.

2007 Session Chair, EUROMA Conference.

DISSERTATION COMMITTEES

Jaeseok Lee, Georgia Institute of Technology (Graduation: 2018-Expected, Placement upon graduation: University of Auckland, New Zealand).

Qiong Chen, Clemson University (Graduation: 2015, Placement upon graduation: University of Science and Technology of China).

David C. Hall, Clemson University (Graduation: 2012, Placement upon graduation: Wright State University, Dayton, OH).

Tracy Johnson-Hall, Clemson University (Graduation: 2012, Placement upon graduation: The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA).

Enrico Secchi, Clemson University (Graduation: 2012, Placement upon graduation: University of Victoria, BC, Canada).

HONORS AND AWARDS

2018 Beta Gamma Sigma The International Business Honor Society

2012 Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) New Faculty Development Consortium.

2006 Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) Doctoral Consortium.

2001-2002 Member of Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars.

2001 Georgia State University Honor Student.

2001-2002 Georgia Rotary Student Program Scholarship.

Contact Information

gulru@uw.edu
(425) 352-3382
UWBB-107B
Biography