E. Alper Yildirim is a Lecturer at the School of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh. He graduated from Bilkent University with a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering in 1997. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Operations Research at Cornell University (USA) in 2000 and 2001, respectively. Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, he held faculty positions at Stony Brook University (USA), Bilkent University (Turkey), and Koc University (Turkey). 

His research interests are in mathematical optimization and applications of optimization in different fields. He is particularly interested in convex conic optimization and various convex relaxations of nonconvex optimization problems. He has published over 30 papers in prestigious journals such as Mathematical Programming, SIAM Journal on Optimization, Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS Journal on Computing, Transportation Science, Journal of Global Optimization, Optimization Methods and Software, Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, and Computational Optimization and Applications. His papers have received more than 1550 citations on Google Scholar. He is the recipient of several international awards, including the Journal of Global Optimization Best Paper Award in 2015 and INFORMS Optimization Society Prize for Young Researchers in 2007. He has given over 70 invited talks at seminars, workshops, and conferences, including two plenary talks. He currently serves on the Editorial Boards of Optimization Methods and Software, Optimization Letters, EURO Journal on Computational Optimization, and Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications. He has supervised 5 PhD students, and 10 MS students (2-year programme with thesis). He is currently supervising 2 PhD students at the University of Edinburgh. He has received several teaching awards and recognitions at Cornell University (USA), Stony Brook University (USA), Bilkent University (Turkey), and Koc University (Turkey).