Born in Izmir, Turkey on 01 January 1989, Gercek Budak graduated from the Department of Industrial Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Baskent University in 2011 where he also received his Ph.D. in 2017 as the top student of the faculty. Budak gained his master’s degree (MSc) from the Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department, the University of Warwick in 2012. Between 2013 and 2017, he served as a research assistant in the Department of Industrial Engineering, Adana Science and Technology University. Becoming assistant professor in 2017, Budak is now serving as instructor and lecturer in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University. Currently, he studies at SIUE as a visiting scholar and conducts various scientific studies along with the researchers of the Industrial engineering department. Carrying out research on engineering optimization, decision analysis, operational research, and mathematical modeling, Budak has written four articles that in internationally accepted publications and cited by other researchers. Budak has a large scope in his agenda and working on optimization of assembly line balancing problems and variations, decision making in sports and mobile games, human and computer interaction design, revenue management, ergonomically optimal design, planning and scheduling in agriculture, healthcare and aerospace industry. He conducted a national trademark from his Ph.D. thesis and consulted three different sports clubs for team forming problems in Turkey. In addition to being an active research member, Budak is also a professional volleyball and played at top division and second division teams of the Turkish Men’s Volleyball League. He also played 12 matches in total for the Turkish National Youth and Junior Team and earned a bronze medal for his country at Balkan Volleyball Championship in 2008.