Ecem Basak
Doctoral Student in Management Information Systems
Department of Information and Decision Sciences
Contact
Building & Room:
2401 UH
Address:
601 S. Morgan St., Chicago, IL 60607
Email:
CV Link:
About
I am a doctoral candidate in the Management Information Systems program with an interest in statistical and causal inference with observational data. My academic training includes a variety of research methods such as econometrics, causal inference, network analysis, data analytics, and machine learning.
My primary research area lies at the intersection of sharing economy, analytics, and transportation. I design observational studies that infer causal effects in the context of digitally enabled mobility platforms. My dissertation research focuses on the societal and economic impacts of ridesharing and bike-sharing platforms. My secondary research area of interest is in the field of online social networks where I mainly examine the regional impacts of online social connections.
Experience
- Data Science & Advanced Analytics Intern (Full time), May 24, 2021 – August 13, 2021, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
- Teaching Assistant (Part-time), August 2016 – May 2021, Department of Information and Decision Sciences (IDS), University of Illinois at Chicago
- Data Science Intern (Part-time), August 17, 2020 – December 11, 2020, CCC Information Services Inc.
- Data Science Intern (Full time), May 18, 2020 – August 14, 2020, CCC Information Services Inc.
- Teaching and Research Assistant (Full time), December 2011 – July 2016, Department of Industrial Engineering, Istanbul Technical University
Classes Taught
Teaching Assistant, IDS 200 Introduction to Management Information Systems, IDS 201 Introduction to Business Programming, IDS 515 Information Systems Strategy and Policy, IDS 570 Statistics for Management, IDS 532 Introduction to Operations Management.
Research Interests
- Digitally enabled mobility platforms and online networks
Selected Publications
Al Balawi, R., Basak, E., Tafti A., & Watson-Manheim, M.B. (2020) “Ride-Sharing Services and Environmental Sustainability: An Empirical Investigation of UberX Entry and Gas Emissions.” AMCIS 2020 Proceedings. 11.
Basak, E., Tafti, A., & Huang, P. (2018, December). “Network topology and tie strength in online communities of practice.” In International Workshop on Complex Networks and their Applications (pp. 377-387). Springer, Cham.
Basak, E., Calisir F. (2015). “An empirical study on factors affecting continuance intention of using Facebook.” Computers in Human Behavior, 48, 181-189.
Basak, E., & Calisir, F. (2014). “Uses and gratifications of LinkedIn: An exploratory study.” In Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering (Vol. 2, pp. 2-4).
Basak, E., Ekmekci, E., Bayram, Y., & Bas, Y. (2013). “Analysis of factors that affect the intention to leave of white-collar employees in Turkey using structural equation modelling.” In Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science (Vol. 2).
Service to Community
- Representative: PhD Student Representative in IDS Department (Fall 2018 – Spring 2019)
- Ad-hoc Reviewer: International Conference of Information Systems (2018 – Present), Electronic Commerce Research (2018 – Present)
Notable Honors
2016 - Present, University of Illinois at Chicago Doctoral Scholarship and College of Business Administration Doctoral Fellowship, University of Illinois at Chicago
2014, Best Student Paper Award of the 2014 International Conference of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management (WCE’14), International Conference of Manufacturing Engineering and Engineering Management
2013, Certificate of Merit (Student) for the 2013 International Conference on Systems Engineering and Engineering Management (WCECS’13), International Conference on Systems Engineering and Engineering Management
2011, Dean's Honor List, Istanbul Technical University
Education
PhD, Management Information Systems, University of Illinois at Chicago, December 2021 (Expected)
PhD, Industrial Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, May 2016 (ABD)
MSc, Industrial Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, May 2014
Erasmus Exchange Program, Industrial Engineering and Management, University of Minho, Spring 2009
BSc, Industrial Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, May 2011
Licensures and Certifications
- Sequence Models - deeplearning.ai, Issued July 2020
- Structuring Machine Learning Projects – deeplearning.ai, Issued July 2020
- Improving Deep Neural Networks: Hyperparameter tuning, Regularization, and Optimization – deeplearning.ai, Issued June 2020
- Neural Networks and Deep Learning – deeplearning.ai, Issued June 2020
Selected Presentations
- Basak, E., Watson-Manheim, M.B., & Tafti, A. "From Total Effects to Underlying Mechanisms via Causal Mediation: An Empirical Example from Ride-Hailing Platforms in the United States." Statistical Challenges in E-commerce Research (SCECR), June 17-18, 2021.
- Al Balawi, R., Basak, E., Tafti A., & Watson-Manheim, M.B. (2020) "Ride-Sharing Services and Environmental Sustainability: An Empirical Investigation of UberX Entry and Gas Emissions." AMCIS 2020 Proceedings. 11.
- Basak, E., Watson-Manheim, M.B., & Tafti, A. "Exploring Direct and Indirect Effects of On-Demand Ride-Sharing Services on Traffic Congestion: An Empirical Investigation of Uber X in the United States." Winter Conference on Business Analytics (WCBA), Snowbird, UT, 2020 (Conference cancelled due to COVID-19).
- Basak, E., Al Balawi, R., & Tafti, A. "The value of inter-regional social relationships: How does it fuel regional innovation performance?" Winter Conference on Business Analytics (WCBA), Snowbird, UT, 2020 (Conference cancelled due to COVID-19).
- Al Balawi, R., Basak, E., A. Tafti & Watson-Manheim, M.B. "Ride-Sharing Services and Environmental Sustainability: An Empirical Investigation of Uber Entry and Gas Emissions." Winter Conference on Business Analytics (WCBA), Snowbird, UT, 2020 (Conference cancelled due to COVID-19).
- Basak, E., & Tafti, A. "The Impact of Social Ties on Voters’ Electoral Decisions: Evidence from County-Level 2016 United States Presidential Election Results." INFORMS Conference on Information Systems and Technology, Information Systems Society, Seattle, WA, 2019.
Research Currently in Progress
- Basak, E., Watson-Manheim, M.B., & Tafti, A. "From Total Effects to Underlying Mechanisms via Causal Mediation: An Empirical Example from Ride-Hailing Platforms in the United States"
- Basak, E. Tafti, A., & Watson-Manheim, M.B. "Pedaling Our Way to Clean Air: An Empirical Investigation of Bike-Sharing Platforms and Local Air Quality."
- Basak, E., Tafti, A., & Pang, MS. "The Effect of Online Social Ties on Voters’ Electoral Decisions: Evidence from County-Level 2016 United States Presidential Election Results."
- Basak, E., Al Balawi, R., & Tafti A. "nline Social Networks, the Influence of Structural Social Capital, and Regional Innovation: An Empirical Evidence Using United States County-Level Data."
- Basak, E. & Iris, C. "Are Bike-Sharing Platforms Complementing or Substituting Public Transit? An Empirical Investigation in the United States."
- Basak, E., Al Balawi, R., Fatemi, S., & Tafti A. "When Crisis Hits: Bike-Sharing Platforms amid the Covid-19 Pandemic."