I am a Professor of Economics at Boston College and a microeconomic theorist who has research interests in market design, mechanism design, and game theory with an emphasis on the theory and practice of matching markets and allocation/exchange of discrete resources.
My more recent research focuses on
- The theory, design, analysis, and implementation of new organ and blood allocation and exchange mechanisms, such as kidney, liver, and dual-donor exchange clearinghouses and blood allocation with replacement donors
- The theory of two-sided matching mechanisms with initial property rights and their applications to tuition exchange in college admissions, teacher (re)assignment, student exchange, and transfer of student-athletes; and their implications on labor markets, education, etc.
- The theory of allocation systems via reserves and their applications in rationing of scarce medical resources such as antivirals, ICU units, vaccines
- Improving recommendation and matching systems used in the adoption of children, theory of search and matching
- Axiomatic mechanism design for matching and discrete resource allocation
Academic Positions
- Professor, Boston College, Department of Economics (Sep 2011-present)
- Associate Professor, Boston College, Department of Economics (Sep 2008-Aug 2011)
- Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Economics (Sep 2005-Aug 2008)
- Assistant Professor, Koç University, Department of Economics (Sep 2000-Aug 2005)
Current Visiting Fellowship
- Professorial Research Fellow, Deakin University Australia (2017-present)
Education
- Ph.D. in Economics, University of Pittsburgh (2000)
- M.A. in Economics, Bilkent University (1995) and University of Pittsburgh (1997)
- B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University (1993)
Editorial Affiliations
- Associate/Advisory Editor: Theoretical Economics (2012-present), Journal of Economic Theory (2016-present), Games and Economic Behavior (2018-present, Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design (2015-present), Journal of Dynamics and Games (2015-present), Review of Economic Design (2012-2019), Journal of Mathematical Economics (2010-2016), BE Journal of Theoretical Economics (2007-2013)
Prizes, Grants, Awards, Honors
Prizes, Awards, and Honors
- Paper “Pairwise Kidney Exchange” selected to the issue Articles celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Economic Theory edited by Karl Shell, Tilman Borgers, Alessandro Pavan (2020)
- Elected Fellow, Science Academy Turkey (BA) (2014-present)
- Franz Edelman Award Laureate, INFORMS (2014)
- Special Award, Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council (TUBITAK) (2013)
- 9 citations (6 among main contributions that led to the prize) and name mention, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences Scientific Background (2012)
- President, Society for Economic Design (2008-2015)
- Distinguished Young Scholar Award (GEBIP), (Older) Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA)(2005)
- Research Incentive Award, METU Parlar Foundation (2005)
- Incentive Award in Social Sciences, (Older) Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) (2004)
- Best Graduate Student Paper in Computational Economics, Society for Computational Economics (1999) for the paper “Backward Unraveling over Time: The Evolution of Strategic Behavior in the Entry-Level British Medical Labor Markets”
- Excellence in Refereeing, American Economic Review (2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017)
Grants
- NSF Grant: “Liver Exchange” No: SES #1729778 (as Principal Investigator)(2017-2019) (grant amount: $ 291,749, with Tayfun Sönmez and Bumin Yenmez)
- NSF Grant: “Organ Exchange for Kidneys, Livers, and Lungs” No: SES #1426440 (as Co-Principal Investigator)(2014-2017) (grant amount: $ 280,247, with Tayfun Sönmez)
- NSF Grant: “Collaborative Research: The Optimal Timing of Kidney Exchanges: A Markov Game Approach” No: CMMI #1069100 (as Principal Investigator)(2011-2014) (grant amount: $90,978)
- NSF Grant: “Collaborative Research: Kidney Exchange” No: SES #0616689 (as Principal Investigator)(2006-2008) (grant amount: $69,870)
- NSF Grant: “EHP:Market Culture, Performance, and the Timing of Transactions” No: SES#0338619 (added as Co-Principal Investigator after moving to the US in 2005) (2004-2010) (grant amount:$323,338 , with Alvin E. Roth and Muriel Niederle)