ONRISK-AVERSEANDROBUSTINVENTORYPROBLEMS
                               AThesis
                              Presented to
                           TheAcademicFaculty
                                by
                              Ulas¸ Çakmak
                            In Partial Fulfillment
                        of the Requirements for the Degree
                          Doctor of Philosophy in the
                 H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering
                         Georgia Institute of Technology
                              May2012
                         ONRISK-AVERSEANDROBUSTINVENTORYPROBLEMS
                     Approved by:
                     Professor Shabbir Ahmed, Advisor            Professor Arkadi Nemirovski
                     H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial      H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial
                     and Systems Engineering                     and Systems Engineering
                     Georgia Institute of Technology             Georgia Institute of Technology
                     Professor Alexander Shapiro,                Professor Beril Toktay
                     Co-Advisor                                  College of Management
                     H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial      Georgia Institute of Technology
                     and Systems Engineering
                     Georgia Institute of Technology
                     Professor Anton Kleywegt                    Date Approved: May 7, 2012
                     H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial
                     and Systems Engineering
                     Georgia Institute of Technology
                         To my wife,
                           Pelin,
                        andtomyparents,
                        Nursel and Kemal
                            iii
                        ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
           I wouldliketothankmyadvisorProfessorShabbirAhmedforallhisguidanceandcontinu-
           ingsupportduringmyPh.D.study. Thisthesiswouldnotbecompletedwithouthispatience
           and understanding. I would also like to express my special thanks to my co-advisor, Pro-
           fessor Alexander Shapiro; without his expertise the accomplishment of this thesis would
           not be possible. I am very grateful to have had the chance to work with my advisors, who
           have encouraged me at every step of my Ph.D. study with great patience.
             I would like to thank my thesis committee; I greatly appreciate their time and effort
           in serving on my Ph.D. committee. I would like to thank Professor Beril Toktay for her
           invaluable comments. I am also grateful to Professor Arkadi Nemirovski for providing his
           vast knowledge on robust optimization. I would like to thank Professor Anton Kleywegt
           for his suggestions and constructive comments.
             Finally, I am forever indebted to my dear parents for their unconditional love and sup-
           port. They have sacrificed so much to provide a better future for me without asking any-
           thing for themselves, I can only hope to be able to repay them back someday. My deepest
           thanks go to my wife, who has always been on my side with her continuous moral support.
           Without the energy she radiates, I would not be able to complete this dissertation.
                               iv