About

Bachelor: ODTÜ - Metalurji Mühendisi; 1987
Doctorate: Newcastle Üniversitesi; 1992


Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal was born in Eskişehir in 1965. He completed his primary, secondary, and high school education in Eskişehir, before graduating as an honor student from the Metallurgical Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University (METU) in 1987. He continued his academic journey at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom under a TÜBİTAK Scholarship, earning his Ph.D. in Ceramic Materials in 1992. He furthered his expertise with post-doctoral studies at the same university from 1992 to 1994 and at Karlsruhe University in Germany between 1997 and 1998, where he was supported by an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Scholarship. In 1994, Prof. Dr. Mandal began his academic career at Anadolu University, joining the Ceramic Engineering Department as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor in 1996 and to professor in 2001.

Prof. Dr. Mandal has authored over 150 publications, with more than 70 of these appearing in SCI-indexed journals. His works have been cited over 2,000 times, and he holds an h-index of 24. In addition, he is the holder of six international patents. Prof. Dr. Mandal’s outstanding contributions to science have earned him numerous national and international accolades, including the TÜBİTAK Science Award. He is a distinguished member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA), the World Academy of Ceramics (WAC), and the European Academy. In 2023, he was ranked among the top 2% of the “World’s Most Influential Scientists,” an honor conferred by a collaboration between Stanford University and Elsevier.

Throughout his career, Prof. Dr. Mandal has held several significant administrative roles. He served as the President of the Global Engineering Deans Council, the 1st Vice President of the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies, and the President of the European Ceramics Association. He has also held prominent positions at Anadolu University, including Vice President and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, as well as Secretary General of the Turkish Engineering Deans Council. His leadership extended to the ATAP and GOSB Teknopark Boards, Inovent A.S. Board, BOREN Board, and various TÜBİTAK-related committees, including the Technology Transfer Mechanisms Support Group (TEMEG) and the Engineering Research Group (MAG) Executive Boards.

From 2011 to 2015, Prof. Dr. Mandal served as the Director of Research and Graduate Policies and Vice President at Sabancı University. In March 2015, he was appointed a member of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK), joining its Executive Board on April 1, 2015. He was elected Vice President of YÖK on July 21, 2016, holding this position until January 12, 2018.

Prof. Dr. Mandal was appointed President of TÜBİTAK on February 22, 2018, and held this position until August 16, 2024. In addition, he was named a member of the Presidency of Science, Technology, and Innovation Policies Board on October 8, 2018, and was elected Vice President of the Board on November 1, 2018. He was subsequently reappointed as a member of the Council of Higher Education on April 27, 2019, and again on August 1, 2023. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of TÜBİTAK MARTEK Teknokent A.Ş.

Since January 1, 2020, Prof. Dr. Mandal has been a member of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries (UNTB) Council. He assumed the presidency of the Council in January 2024. Furthermore, since January 1, 2023, he has been serving as the President of the Board of Directors of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO).

On August 16, 2024, Prof. Dr. Mandal was appointed as the Rector of Istanbul Technical University (ITU), a position he continues to hold.

Bachelor: Bilkent University - Electrical and Electronics Engineering; 1996
Master’s: Bilkent University - Electrical and Electronics Engineering; 1999
Doctorate: Bilkent University - Electrical and Electronics Engineering; 2004

Prof. Dr. Lütfiye Durak Ata completed her undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Bilkent University in 1996, 1999, and 2004. She continued her post-doctoral studies at the Statistical Signal Processing Laboratory of the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) between 2004-2005. She worked as a faculty member in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at Yıldız Technical University between 2005 and 2015. Prof. Dr. Durak Ata worked at the University of Pittsburgh, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as an invited researcher in 2008. She started working at the Informatics Institute of ITU in 2015. After being Erasmus coordinator and research projects coordinator, she worked as the Deputy Director of the Institute between 2016-2018 and as the Director of the Institute since 2018. .
Prof. Dr. Lütfiye Durak Ata has undertaken the executive role of many research and development projects for telecommunication and defense industry applications funded by various public and private sector organizations, including TÜBİTAK and the Defense Industry Presidency. She continues her work in the fields of communication and digital signal processing.
Prof. Dr. Lütfiye Durak acts as vice rector responsible for international relations of our university.

• International Student Coordinatorship
• International Strategies Coordinatorship
• International Relations Commission
• International Rankings Commission

Bachelor: Anadolu University – Materials Science and Engineering; 2003
Master’s: Istanbul Technical University – Metallurgical and Materials Engineering; 2005
Doctorate: Istanbul Technical University – Metallurgical and Materials Engineering; 2010

Prof. Dr. İpek Akın Karadayı was born in 1979 in Eskişehir. She completed her undergraduate degree in Materials Science and Engineering from Anadolu University in 2003. She subsequently completed her graduate (2005) and doctorate (2010) degrees in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at Istanbul Technical University (ITU). During her doctoral research, she joined a research group as a visiting PhD student at Tohoku University, Materials Research Institute. Further enhancing her expertise, she pursued postdoctoral studies at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Sheffield.
In 2004, she started to work as a research assistant in the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at Istanbul Technical University, where she was appointed as assistant professor in 2012, associate professor in 2017 and full professor in 2024.
Prof. Dr. İpek Akın Karadayı has actively contributed to the university by serving as a coordinator and member of various commissions. Her research primarily focuses on boride- and carbide-based ultra-high temperature ceramics with significant potential for aerospace applications, and bioceramics. She has been a principal investigator in research projects funded by national organizations including TUBITAK and TENMAK BOREN.

Bachelor: ITU Aeronautical Engineering, 1989
Master’s: ITU Aeronautical Engineering, 1993
Doctorate: ITU Civil Engineering; 1999

Prof. Dr. Şenol ATAOĞLU completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Istanbul Technical University. Between 1999 and 2001, he did postdoctoral studies in the Department of Ocean Engineering at Florida Atlantic University.
In 1993, he started working as a Research Assistant in the Department of Civil Engineering at ITU, and in 2005, he became an Assistant Professor Doctor. He received the titles of Associate Professor in 2011 and Professor in 2017. He works as a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at ITU.
He served as Vice Dean of the ITU Faculty of Civil Engineering, Member of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Disaster Management, Vice Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering Program Coordinator, Civil Engineering Program Coordinator at the University of Djibouti, and Director of Construction and Technical Affairs of ITU TRNC. He has given lectures at Gedik, Işık, Istanbul Ticaret, and Djibouti Universities.
Continued his studies in Experimental Mechanics, Mechanical Tests, Elastodynamics, Photothermoelasticity, Viscoelasticity, Pipe-Soil Interaction, Plastic Pipes, Boundary Element Method, Micromechanics. Prof. Dr. Şenol ATAOĞLU has been a researcher or principal investigator in the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, TÜBİTAK, ISKI, and various private sector research/development. He has a patent, 41 national and international research articles, 47 proceedings papers, and 9 graduate thesis as a supervisor.

Bachelor: Civil Engineering, Yıldız Technical University; 2012
Integrated PhD:Civil Engineering, Istanbul Technical University; 2021

Assistant Proffessor Ümit Karadoğan graduated as the top student of his class from the Civil Engineering Department of Yıldız Technical University in 2012. He completed his integrated PhD in the Civil Engineering Department, Institute of Graduate Studies, Istanbul Technical University in 2021.
Between 2014 and 2021, he worked as a Research Assistant and Lecturer at the Civil Engineering Department of Istanbul Technical University. Since 2021, he has been working as an Assistant Professor in the same department.
Karadoğan conducts research in the fields of Soil Mechanics, Foundation Engineering, Earthquake Engineering, Environmental Geotechnics, Dredged Materials and the Dewatering of Mine Wastes, and the Utilization of Dredged Materials in Geotechnical Engineering. He has published six national and international journal articles and six conference papers.
He has held administrative roles such as Rector’s Advisor and Deputy Secretary General. Currently, Karadoğan serves as the Dormitory Scholarship Coordinator and Secretary General at Istanbul Technical University.