Our People

Sergio Davalos PhD

Managing Academic Lead,Director, Milgard Center for Business Analytics

Dr. Sergio Davalos is an Associate Professor of Information Systems and the director of the Center for Business Analytics at the Milgard School of Business. He has more than 30 years of experience teaching in academia.  He was worked in computer science, management information systems, and business information systems programs. His teaching interests include data mining, text mining, programming for analytics R and Python, predictive analytics, machine learning, and data science. Some of Dr. Davalos’ recent research areas include exploring the use of data mining for business problems such as bankruptcy prediction, credit scoring, and company financial health, identifying text mining applications for a diverse set of fields such as politics, health, marketing, finance, and accounting, sentiment analysis of political forums and accounting documents, topic modeling of social media posts and finance documents, lexicon development of nostalgia and sentiment analysis, and the development of the application of evolutionary computing such as genetic algorithms and swarm intelligence.

• sergiod@uw.edu
• UW Tacoma directory

Michael Turek MBA & MSBA

Associate Director, Milgard Center for Business Analytics

Michael Turek is MSBA Program Director along with being Associate Director of the Center for Business Analytics at Milgard School of Business. He is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Business Analytics at the Milgard School of Business, University of Washington Tacoma.

Aside from education, Michael's professional experience includes business development, new venture startup, program management, and consulting for business, analytics, and business intelligence with AI and machine learning platform integration. Previous organizations that he has worked with include Multicare Health System, the Korean Women's Association, and the Washington State Historical Society.

At the University of Washington Michael teaches courses in business analytics, data management, and consulting for business, analytics, business intelligence quantitative methods, and information systems and technology. He is also a speaker and administers workshops on topics including Business Analytics Consulting best practices.

Michael received his MBA AND MSBA from the University of Washington. Michael is passionate about education, developing and implementing innovative solutions to unique business challenges, complex problems, and client needs, and making positive, meaningful impacts within organizations and local communities.

• turekmd@uw.edu
• UW Tacoma directory
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Haluk Demirkan PhD & PMP

Founder and Former Director, Milgard Center for Business Analytics

Dr. Haluk Demirkan is a Milgard Endowed Professor of Service Innovation and Business Analytics, and the founder and former director of the Center for Business Analytics and Master of Science in Business Analytics at the Milgard School of Business, University of Washington Tacoma. 

With 150+ publications and his 20+ years of professional experience, he has been advising more than 40 Fortune 500 companies in maximizing the return on companies’ resources by effectively implementing strategic data, analytics, cognitive and service-oriented technology & management solutions.

He received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University, an M.E. in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a Ph.D. in Information Systems and Operations Management from the University of Florida.

• haluk@uw.edu
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