ADVISORY BOARD

Dr. Canadinç completed his doctorate at the University of Illionis Urbana-Champaign. After completing his post-doctoral studies at Paderborn University in Germany, he worked as an assistant professor at Koç University in 2007. He became associate professor in 2014 and professor in 2019. Dr. Canadinç's work topics include the multi-scale experimental and numerical characterization of metallic materials, including shape memory alloys, structural materials and biomedical alloys. Thanks to his research, he has more than 85 articles in prestigious journals and a patent in the field of gastrointestinal laparoscopic surgery, as well as several conference papers. Dr. Candavinç has been the associate editor of Frontiers Computational Materials Science since 2014. He is the recipient of 2010 TÜBA-GEBİP, 2018 BAGEP, 2012-2013 Koç University Engineering Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award and 2017-2018 Koç University Engineering Faculty Outstanding Research Award.

Dr. Pasaogullari completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Pennsylvania State University in 2005. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with high honors from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, in 1999, and his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University in 2003. Since 2006, Dr. Pasaogulları has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut. His research focuses on thermal and water management in polymer electrolyte fuel cells and analyzing how heat and water transport affect the performance and durability of these systems. In 2016, he was named Castleman Term Professor.

He received his Bachelor's degree in 2003 from Marmara University's Department of Mechanical Education, his Master's degree in 2009 from Erciyes University's Department of Mechanical Engineering, and his Doctorate degree in 2015 from Northumbria University (Newcastle/UK) in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He started his professional career in 2004 and gained industrial experience by working in production and R&D departments at various companies, including Çapar Machine Inc. (2004), Sebat Aluminum Inc. (2005–2006), Tekmatron Machine Inc. (2006–2007), and Servonom Inc. (2007–2009). During his doctoral studies, he held various academic positions, taught undergraduate courses, and published academic papers in his field. He has been involved in numerous projects that incorporate academic and industrial collaboration. Currently, he serves as the Deputy General Manager and R&D Director at Dener Group, where he has participated as a manager, researcher, or assistant researcher in over 10 projects, including 3 under KOSGEB and 5 under TÜBİTAK. He continues his academic work focusing on engineering designs and optimization. His areas of expertise include engineering design, optimization, machine tools, CNC laser cutting machines, and other industrial machinery.

Mr. Ümit Yurdagül graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Erciyes University in 1999 and successfully completed his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at Niğde University in 2003. With a strong interest in advanced materials, he developed deep expertise in this field, particularly in the design and production of advanced ceramics. Over the course of his career, he served as Production Manager at BM Bor Technologies and later as Production Director at Nurol Technology, where he led projects focused on ballistic ceramics and vehicle armor systems. He also played a key role in the establishment of leading Turkish companies such as KİM Technology, serving as Deputy General Manager and contributing significantly to the production, design, and application of advanced materials. Specializing in the development of advanced ceramics, process optimization, and new product design, Mr. Yurdagül continues to deliver innovative solutions by closely following the latest technological advancements in the field.

In 2003, he graduated from Middle East Technical University Mechanical Engineering Department. Between 2003-2013, he worked as a method engineer and R&D engineer in the automotive industry. Since November 2013, he has been working as a senior leading material and special operations engineer in the R&D Department of FNSS, where he has been working professionally. He has professional experience in the fields of high strength steels, plasticity theory, process simulation, material characterization and quantitative metallography and has several published articles and papers on these topics. In 2018, he completed his master's study on "New Process Design and Application for Stepwise Bending of High Strength Thick Steel Plates" in Atılım University Manufacturing Engineering Department. He still continues his doctorate education at Atılım University Mechanical Engineering Department. The doctoral study is supported by the Defense Industry Presidency with a SAYP project. Barış ÇETİN speaks English and French.