Prof. Aydan ERKMEN – MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
Prof. Aydan Erkmen received her B.S. degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Boğaziçi University in 1978, her M.S. degree from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Drexel University in 1981, and her Ph.D. degree from the George Mason University in 1989. Prof. Erkmen has been working as a faculty member at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Middle East Technical University since 1989. Prof. Erkmen's research areas are robotics, mechatronics, and machine intelligence. Prof. Erkmen served as a member of the management committee of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE RAS) between 1998 and 2000 and as the vice president of IEEE RAS between 2000 and 2003. Prof. Erkmen also served as associate editor and editorial board member for many international journals. Prof. Erkmen served as the national coordinator in the European Union FP6 program between 2002 and 2004 and as the vice dean of the Engineering Faculty at Middle East Technical University between 2007 and 2009. Prof. Erkmen has been an active member of the George Giralt Ph.D. Award jury at EURON since 2009.
Prof. Elif UYSAL – MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
Prof. Elif Uysal has been working as a faculty member at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Middle East Technical University since 2006. Prof. Uysal is the founder and director of the Communication Networks Research Group in the same department. Prof. Uysal received her Ph.D. degree from Stanford University in 2003, her M.S. degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1999, and her B.S. degree from Middle East Technical University in 1997, as valedictorian. Prof. Uysal worked as a postdoctoral lecturer at MIT between 2003 and 2005, as an assistant professor at Ohio State University between 2005 and 2006, and as a visiting researcher at these two universities between 2014 and 2016. Prof. Uysal received the Science Academy Young Scientists Award Program (BAGEP) in 2014. Prof. Uysal was elevated to IEEE Fellow in 2021. Prof. Uysal worked as an editor for IEEE Transactions on Information Theory and IEEE Transactions on Networking journals. Prof. Uysal is a member of the editorial board of IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications journal. Prof. Uysal is the chair and member of the technical committee at various international conferences (e.g., WiOpt 2021, IEEE ISIT 2021, 2022, IEEE ICC 2022). Having served as the general co-chair of the Age of Information Workshop organized under IEEE INFOCOM 2021, Prof. Uysal was the program committee co-chair of the 29th and 30th Signal Processing and Communication Applications Conference (SIU 2021, SIU 2022). Prof. Uysal graduated from TED Ankara College in 1993 in the first place. One of Prof. Uysal's two sons graduated from TED Ankara College (with first place), and the other is still studying.
Prof. Hitay ÖZBAY – BILKENT UNIVERSITY
Prof. Hitay Özbay is a Professor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Bilkent University, Ankara Turkey. He received his B.Sc., M.Eng., and Ph.D. degrees from Middle East Technical University (1985), McGill University (1987), and the University of Minnesota (1989), respectively. His prior academic affiliations include the University of Rhode Island (1989-1990), and The Ohio State University (1991—2006) where he was a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering before joining Bilkent University. He also held a visiting position at INRIA, France (2009-2010). Professor Özbay was a member of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Control Systems Society (elected for the term 2017-2019) and an assembly member of the European Control Association (EUCA), representing Turkey, 2013-2019. He served as Associate Editor for many journals, including IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (1997-1999), SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization (2011-2014), and Automatica (2001-2007, 2012 - 2019). He was a Vice-Chair of the IFAC Technical Committee on Networked Control Systems (2005-2011); and currently is a Vice-Chair of the IFAC Technical Committee on Linear Control Systems (2017-2023). He is a Fellow of IEEE.
Prof. Vehbi Çağrı GÜNGÖR – TURKCELL
Prof. Dr. Vehbi Çağrı Güngör was born in Ankara in 1979. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Middle East Technical University, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 2001 and 2003. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA, USA) in 2007. Receiving the Full-Professor title in 2018, Prof. Dr. Güngör's research areas are in the fields of next-generation wireless communications, 5G and 6G mobile networks, Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence. Prof. Dr. Güngör served as a project manager at Eaton Corporation, a researcher at Siemens Corporate Research, and an Executive Board Member in the TÜBİTAK TEYDEB BILTEG. Prof. Dr. Güngör has received many international and national scientific awards. Prof. Dr. Güngör's research projects have been funded by several institutions, such as the European Union, the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, and TÜBİTAK. Prof. Dr. Güngör has more than 100 research articles published in international peer-reviewed journals and conferences and several patents. Prof. Dr. Güngör is married and the father of three children.
Prof. Ali Ziya ALKAR – HACETTEPE UNIVERSITY
Prof. Ali Ziya Alkar received his B.S. degree from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Hacettepe University. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Microelectronics from the University of Colorado Boulder. Prof. Alkar was awarded the title of Associate Professor by the Council of Higher Education in 2008. He was promoted to Professor in 2017. Prof. Alkar worked as the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Hacettepe University for a while. Prof. Alkar has supervised a total of 40 postgraduate theses so far. Prof. Alkar served as a referee and an editor in various journals. Prof. Alkar was a member of the TÜBİTAK EEEAG advisory board. Prof. Alkar worked as an executive and researcher on national and international projects. Prof. Alkar is currently the Chair of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Hacettepe University and the head of the Electronics Division. Prof. Alkar is also the Director of The Career Development Application and Research Center at Hacettepe University.
Assoc. Prof. Volkan AKAN – NASA JET PROPULSION LABORATORY (JPL)
Assoc. Prof. Volkan Akan received his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering all from Hacettepe University, Turkey in 2001, 2004, and 2012, respectively. Between 2001 and 2006, he was a Research Assistant at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Hacettepe University. In 2006, he joined TUBITAK Space Technologies Research Institute and, he worked as a Group Leader and Chief Research Engineer at Microwave and Antenna Systems Group in the same institute. In 2021, he acquired the ‘Associate Professor’ title from the Turkish Intercollegiate Council. His main research areas are analytical and numerical electromagnetic analysis, microwave planar and nonplanar circuits, and antenna designs for communication subsystems of spacecraft. He was involved in LEO satellite projects like RASAT, and Gokturk-2 projects which are the first earth observation satellites of Turkey. Since 2022, he has been working as a Radio Frequency and Microwave Engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
Dr. Tolga NUMANOĞLU – ASELSAN INC.
Dr. Tolga Numanoğlu was born in Ankara in 1980. He received his B.S. degree from the Department of Electrical and Electronics at Middle East Technical University, which he entered after Ankara Anatolian High School, in 2003. In the same year, Dr. Numanoğlu started his Ph.D. studies as a research assistant in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Rochester. Dr. Numanoğlu took part in the design of a scalable communication network infrastructure for the next-generation tactical radios. Dr. Numanoğlu's Ph.D. dissertation focused on creating a network layer solution that reduces the battery consumption of radios while ensuring efficient use of resources. Following the studies, the award was received due to the economic gains created by the project carried out by the "Center for Emerging & Innovative Sciences" establishment operating in New York State. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Rochester in 2004 and 2009, respectively. He returned to Turkey in 2009 and started to work at ASELSAN. He carries out his work at ASELSAN as the Waveform Design Manager. He leads the team that makes completely national designs in a wide range of systems such as ULAK-3 (Broadband Waveform), Fire Support Automation Project (ADOP), Air Defense Early Warning Command and Control System (HERİKKS), Missile Defense Systems, Line of Sight, and Beyond-Horizon Link Communications, Inter-Aircraft Millimeter Wave Communication, and Unmanned Platforms communication. His areas of expertise include military communication networks, command and control communication systems, security, and protection measures against electronic warfare, and cross-layer design for wireless ad hoc networks. He has a very good command of English and a good level of German.
Dr. Mehmet ÖZDEM – TURK TELEKOM
Dr. Mehmet Özdem received his B.S. degree from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Başkent University (with full scholarship), M.S. degree in Information Systems at Middle East Technical University, and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Gazi University. With over 18 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, Dr. Özdem currently works as the Director of Innovation & Product and Service Development at Turk Telekom. Simultaneously, he represents our country as vice president of ITU (International Telecommunication Union) SG12 and QSDG (Quality of Service Development Group) organizations. He has given lectures as a part-time lecturer at private and public universities and has international certificates such as CCIE, PMP, and ITIL. Dr. Özdem is married and has one child.
Emre ERDİNÇ – LODD AUTONOMOUS
Emre Erdinç received his B.S. degree from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Gazi University and his M.S. degree from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Middle East Technical University. He started his professional career in a small company by designing software and hardware solutions. At the beginning of 2004, he undertook the task of an embedded software engineer in the TP400-D6 project, which is the engine of the Airbus A400M aircraft. Then, he worked in various roles such as expert engineer, lead engineer, chief engineer, and avionics systems manager on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Systems in Turkish Aerospace Industries for more than 11 years. From 2019 to 2024, he served as Director of Electronic Systems Engineering at BNA (Nurol BAE Systems Air Systems Inc.) Since 2024, he has been serving as Technical Director at LODD Autonomous.
Zeynep ÇAKIR – ROKETSAN INC.
Zeynep Çakır completed her primary, secondary, and high school education at TED Zonguldak College. She graduated from TED University, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, with high honors in 2018. Following her undergraduate degree, she started working at Roketsan Inc. as a System Simulation Software Engineer in 2018. Her expertise includes MATLAB-based code generation, distributed/federated simulation, missile modeling, and simulation. From 2019 to 2022, she was pursuing her master's degree in the Telecommunications area of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, under the supervision of Prof. Elif Uysal and Assist. Prof. Elif Tuğçe Ceran Arslan.