Research Areas

• Resilience Engineering
• Risk Analysis
• Systems Engineering
• Complex Systems

Research Grants

• Berna Eren Tokgoz(co-PI), Thinesh Selvaratnam (PI), $23,742, “Developing Reliability Indexes for Southeast Texas’s Energy Grid”, Center for Resiliency, Lamar University, 3/2023 – 8/2023.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(PI), Thinesh Selvaratnam (co-PI), Ginger Gummelt (co-PI), Brian Williams (co-PI), Cagatay Tokgoz (co-PI), Seokyon Hwang (co-PI), Marilyn Guidry (SP), Chris Boone (SP), and Angela Clavijo (SP) $50,988, “CRISys-Community Resilience, Infrastructure, Disaster Management, Resilience Indicators – Phase II”, Center for Resiliency, Lamar University, 11/2022 – 8/2023.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(co-PI), Xuejun Fan (PI), Paul Bernazzani (co-PI), Sushil Doranga (co-PI), Ping He (co-PI), Jenny Zhou (co-PI), $50,834, “Research, Education, and Outreach Toward a Center for Resiliency and Reliability of Semiconductor Packaging”, Center for Resiliency, Lamar University, 11/2022 – 8/2023.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(PI), Thinesh Selvaratnam (co-PI), Ginger Gummelt (co-PI), Brian Williams (co-PI), Matthew Pyne (co-PI), Seokyon Hwang (co-PI), Kyle Boudreaux (SP), Chris Boone (SP), and Angela Clavijo (SP) $50,000, “CRISys-Community Resilience, Infrastructure, Disaster Management, Resilience Indicators”, Center for Resiliency, Lamar University, 3/2022 – 8/2022.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(PI), Seokyon Hwang (co-PI), and Jing Zhang (Co-PI) $14,000 “Increasing the Oil and Gas Pipeline Resiliency using Drones and Image Processing Algorithm”, Center for Resiliency, Lamar University, 12/2021 – 8/2022.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(co-PI), Yueqing Li (PI), and Xing Wu (co-PI) $14,000 “Use Connected Vehicle Environments to Improve Resiliency of Transportation System in Severe Weathers”, Center for Resiliency, Lamar University, 12/2021 – 8/2022.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(co-PI), Seokyon Hwang (PI), Jing Zhang (Co-PI) and Zhe Luo (co-PI) $35,000 “Increasing Resiliency and Safety of Waterways and Ports: A Noble Approach Based on Drone and Artificial Intelligence”, Center for Advances in Port Management, Lamar University, 2/2021 – 8/2021.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(co-PI), Seokyon Hwang (PI), Jing Zhang (Co-PI) and Zhe Luo (co-PI) $20,000 “DARTS– Drone and Artificial Intelligence Reconsolidated Technological Solution for Increasing the Oil and Gas Pipeline Resilience”, Center for Midstream Management and Science, Lamar University, 10/2020 – 8/2021.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(co-PI), Seokyon Hwang (PI), and Jing Zhang (Co-PI) $25,200 “An Automatic System for Monitoring and Assessing the Health of Railroad Tracks Using Artificial Intelligence Technologies”, Center for Advances in Port Management, Lamar University, 3/2019 – 8/2020. 
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(co-PI), Jing Zhang (PI), and Seokyon Hwang (co-PI) $3,800 “Monitoring the Health Conditions of Utility Poles and Vegetation Clearance Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Deep Learning Neural Network” CICE Summer Innovation Grant, Lamar University, 6/2019 – 8/2019.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(PI) $5,000 “Risk Assessment of Chemicals at Ports” Research Enhancement Grant, Lamar University, 9/2018 – 8/2019.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(Mentor) $4,500 “Public and Environmental Risk Identification of Commonly Transported Chemicals at Ports in Gulf of Mexico” Office of Undergraduate Research, Lamar University, Student: Dikshant Singh. Summer 2018.  
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(PI) and M Burak Cankaya (co-PI) $34,200 “Optimization of Vessel Scheduling Problem and Evacuation Decision Making Using Real Time Location Data and Their Economic Impacts: A Case Study for Port of Houston”, Center for Advances in Port Management, Lamar University, 5/2016 – 8/2017.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(co-PI) Mahdi Safa (PI) Seokyon Hwang (co-PI) $15,000 “An Innovative Approach to Increasing Power Distribution Network Resilience under Pre- and Post-disaster Situation”, Proposal Writing Research Enhancement Grant, Lamar University, 9/2016 – 8/2017.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(co-PI) Jaeyoung Cho (PI) Maryam Hamidi (co-PI) $35,000 “A Study on Innovative Port System: Utilization of Unmanned Aerial systems in Port Operations”, Center for Advances in Port Management, Lamar University, 2/2017 – 8/2017.
• Berna Eren Tokgoz(PI) $5,000 “Implementation of a methodology for quantification of resilience for essential facilities during a hurricane event”, Research Enhancement Grant, Lamar University, 9/2015 – 8/2016.

Areas of Expertise

• Engineering Management and systems Engineering
• Strong knowledge of risk modeling, assessment and management.
• Strong background in risk assessment methodology based on subject matter expert elicitation for complex systems.
• Strong knowledge in quantifying and controlling catastrophic risks.
• Personal interest of using serious gaming approach for the development of a risk assessment methodology for complex systems.
• Knowledge of supply chain management and inventory management.
• Strong familiarity with decision support techniques and tools.
• Familiarity with the use of requirement analysis and development, business system design, and functional specification of applications of supporting operations.
• Familiarity with the identification of important life cycle processes such as conceptual and preliminary design, detailed design and development, production and construction, system operation and support, and retirement and phase out.
• Familiarity with the identification of customer and product needs, and their application to total project requirements.
• Familiarity with the use of cost estimation techniques along with the consideration of timeline analysis, detailed trade studies and requirements allocation.
• Modeling and simulation of complex systems using different modeling paradigms such as systems dynamics, discrete event simulation and agent-based modeling. 

Professional Experience

Assistant Professor - Dept. of Industrial Engineering, Lamar University - August 2014 - Present

Post-Doctoral Student - Dept. of Engineering Management and systems Engineering,  Old Dominion University - February 2013 - February 2014

Graduate Research Assistant - Dept. of Engineering Management and systems Engineering, Old Dominion University - January 2006 - August 2012

Graduate Research Assistant - Department of Chemical Engineering, Hacettepe University - November 1997 - June 2000

Intern - Polisan Chemical Industries, Inc., Gebze, Turkey - July 1996 - September 1996

Professional Skills

• Strong analytical skills.
• Experience with port management software SEELS
• Experience with programming languages Matlab, Visual Basic 6.0 and NET and C++.
• Experience with software packages such as HAZUS, Expert Choice and ARENA.
• Experience with business process software TOPEASE.
• Proficient in MS Windows and MS Office applications.

Certifications

• Certificate of attendance Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, Lamar University.
• Certificate of appreciation for serving as a Track Chair at ISERC 2016.
• The Western Gulf Coast Houston Pilot Association Conference Certificate of Completion, Brownwater University.
• Certificate on Completion from “Dredging your Docks” conference.
• Certificate on Completion “Writing & Designing NSF Proposals Workshop” in Houston.
• Certification of ISA Southeast Texas Section Professional Engineering Ethics Course.

Memberships

• Member of Institute of Industrial and systems Engineers (IISE)
• Member of Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
• Member of INFORMS

Awards

• Academic Leadership for Women Engineering NSF ASSIST Travel Grant, 2018
• Academic Leadership for Women Engineering NSF ASSIST Travel Grant, 2017.
• Ihsan Dogramaci Supreme Success Award, 1997.
• Ranked 1^st in Chemical Engineering, Hacettepe University, 1997.
• Master of Science student Md Morshedul Alam placed 2^nd in oral presentation:
  Md Morshedul Alam, Mahdi Safa, Seokyon Hwang, and Berna Eren Tokgoz. “Damage Prediction Methodology for Electric Poles Exposed to Hurricane Winds” 5^th Annual Texas Stem Conference, Beaumont, TX, October 2017.
• Doctor of Engineering student M. Burak Cankaya placed 2^nd in student poster presentation:
  Burak Cankaya and Berna Eren Tokgoz. “Vessel Traffic Optimization with Machine Learning using Geospatial Data”, Mission Critical Big Data Analytics Workshop, Prairie View A&M University, May 2016.
• Senior Design project team placed 2^nd in oral presentation:
  Huy Luong, Scorpio Collins, Khalid Almutwa, 3^rd Annual Undergraduate Research Expo, Lamar University, 2016.