Dr. Murat Kurt spent eight years at the University of Pittsburgh getting his master’s degree and doctorate in industrial engineering. He received national awards for his dissertation on healthcare modeling applied to Type 2 diabetes and kidney diseases.
So why is he now spending his time researching scheduling quirks in the National Football League?
That’s easy. During his time in the city, Kurt also became a big Steelers fan. He watched the team win two Super Bowls and developed a passion for football.
Now an assistant professor in the industrial and systems engineering department at the University of Buffalo, Kurt is part of a research team that presented a paper at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in February on imbalances within NFL schedules, notably teams playing each other on dissimilar rest.