PROJECT TEAM
DAMLA KALELİ
Sustainability Expert, CEEE/EÇEM, Özyeğin University
Damla Kaleli graduated from Istanbul Technical University, Department of Architecture in 2014. With her undergraduate education and concurrent work experience at Ömerler Architecture company, she decided to focus on the field of sustainable architecture. For this purpose, she completed her master’s degree in Architectural Engineering: Environmental Design at the University of Bath in England between 2014 and 2015. During this training on energy efficiency in buildings, she took part in the ENLITEN working group. She wrote her thesis on summer overheating problems in the houses included in this project. The article in which he participated as a co-author was published at the 9th Windsor Conference. In 2016, she started working as an Environmental Designer and Sustainability Consultant at Etude sustainability consultancy office in London. Thanks to this 3-year experience, he contributed to the preparation of sustainability reports for the City of London and various districts, and also had the opportunity to work with leading architecture and energy consultancy companies in many projects, focusing on policies to reduce energy efficiency in these buildings and approach the zero carbon target. In addition, he received the Passive House Designer certificate given by the Passive House Institute and has also worked as a Passive House Consultant in many projects in England. As of 2019, she returned to Turkey and started her second master’s degree in the Alternative Architectural Designs program at MEF University. During this training, he took part in the production of the micro living unit called Volu-te and aimed to produce zero energy smart cabins. In this context, the project they produced was entitled to receive a grant from the Tübitak 1512 program and as a result, they took part in its installation as one of the partners of Alter8 Research and Development company. He has joined the ECEM staff since June 2022 to continue his work on sustainability.
GÖKÇE TOMRUKÇU
Energy Efficiency Expert, CEEE/EÇEM, Özyeğin University
Gökçe Tomrukçu completed her undergraduate education at Özyeğin University Department of Architecture with an honors degree and graduated in 2020. Due to his interest in sustainable architecture, energy efficiency and climate change, he started his master’s degree at Özyeğin University in the same year, aiming to focus his professional career in this field. During her master’s degree, she worked as a teaching assistant in Physical Environmental Control undergraduate courses. She also conducted a workshop program on Ecovillage, which included sustainable architecture and ecological design parameters, during the research internships of undergraduate students. In addition to these studies, she took part as a research student in the ongoing national research project of Özyeğin University Building Materials and Physics Laboratory (BMP Lab). In this context, she took an active part in the project supported by Tübitak to develop long-term strategies with near-zero energy efficiency for educational buildings in Turkey. In his master’s thesis, he studied the effects of climate change on the energy performance and thermal comfort of buildings and the development of energy efficient strategies in the climate adaptation process. During his education, he published various articles and papers in these fields. His research interests include the effects of climate change on building energy performance and the climate adaptation process, energy efficiency in buildings and almost/net-zero energy buildings. Since February 2023, he has joined the staff of the Center for Energy, Environment and Economy (EÇEM) as an Energy Efficiency Specialist in order to continue his work on sustainability.
RUKEN KARAKUŞ
Sustainability Strategist, CEEE/EÇEM, Özyeğin University
Ruken Karakuş completed his undergraduate degree in 2016 with a double major in the Departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Istanbul Technical University. Ruken Karakuş, who spent 2017 working in a Sustainability and Environment organization in Spain, worked at the architecture and design office called Anonim.Istanbul in Istanbul in 2018-2019. Since his student years, he has been involved in urban ecological design, architecture-interior design and landscape projects, and has won awards in various competitions. Between 2019 and 2021, he completed his combined master’s degree at Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University and Bilbao, Pais Vasco University with an Erasmus Mundus scholarship on Smart Cities and Communities: Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in Buildings, Urban Planning, Industry and Transport. The subject of my master’s thesis is on the effect of user behavior on energy demand in residential buildings. He continues his work on urban sustainability by receiving the LEED Green Associate certificate in January 2022. In March 2022, she joined Özyeğin University, Center for Energy, Environment and Economy as a Sustainability Strategist.
KAAN GÜREL
Energy Efficiency Expert, CEEE/EÇEM, Özyeğin University
Kaan Gürel successfully completed his undergraduate education with honors in Mechanical Engineering at Middle East Technical University in 2018. In the same year, due to his interest in sustainable environment and energy systems, he started his master’s degree in Biomass and Coal Combustion at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the same university and graduated in 2021. During both his undergraduate and graduate studies, he carried out studies on Biomass and Coal Combustion at the Clean Combustion Technologies Laboratory of Middle East Technical University and published various articles and papers. During and following his master’s degree, he worked as a Research Assistant in the field of Mechanical Engineering for a total of 4 years. In August 2023, he started working as an Energy Efficiency Specialist within the Center for Energy, Environment and Economy (EÇEM) in order to continue his work on sustainability and energy efficiency.
ACADEMIC TEAM
SELENGA GÜRMEN
Psychology Dr. Lecturer Özyeğin University
Dr. Lecturer Selenga Gürmen completed her undergraduate education at Boğaziçi University Department of Psychology as the top student (2010). He completed his master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of Connecticut in America in 2012. She completed her doctorate in the same field of expertise in May 2015. She teaches both the undergraduate program in Psychology and graduate courses in Couple and Family Therapy. His academic areas of study are family harmony during and after divorce, co-parenting relationships, couples experiencing severe disagreements, and the effects of the digital age on relationships. Dr. By adapting the family system to society, Gürmen works on the interaction of complex social problems (climate change, energy and resource crisis, gender inequality and violence, etc.) with society and detection, intervention, prediction and prevention models of necessary behavioral changes. Clinically, she mainly practices couples therapy and also works with adults, adolescents and families. There are seminars, workshops and training programs that support parents and couples through crisis periods and developmental transition processes. In addition to his clinical training and experience, he has received supervision training and is one of the few American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) approved supervisors in Turkey.
ÖZGÜR ERTUNÇ
Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Özyeğin University
Özgür Ertunç is an aeronautical engineer and conducts research in the field of thermofluid dynamics. He completed his doctoral study on turbulent flows at the Institute of Fluid Mechanics (LSTM) at FriedrichAlexander University (FAU) in 2006. At FAULSTM, he founded the “Unsteady Fluid Mechanics” and “Fluid Dynamics and Turbulence” research groups in 2002 and 2010, respectively. He founded the “Fluid Dynamics and Spray Laboratory” at Özyeğin University and is establishing the “Combustion Laboratory” and “Wind Tunnel Facility”. Laminarturbulent transition uses experimental and computational methods in a complementary way for his research on technological applications of turbulent flows, combustion, multiphase flows (droplets, sprays and particle-laden flows), optimization of flow devices and processes. He has conducted more than 30 industry-focused and partner projects and 16 basic research projects. His research is supported by the EU, German Research Foundation (DFG), German Aerospace Center (DLR), German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), Bavarian Research Foundation (BFS), SIEMENS, BMW, Audi. It was supported by institutions such as VW, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, ATOTECH, ARCELIK, BOSCH, Ford Otomotiv Sanayi A.Ş., TEI.
GÖKTÜRK POYRAZOĞLU
Electrical and Electronics Eng. Dr. Lecturer Özyeğin University
Göktürk Poyrazoğlu is a PhD Lecturer at Özyeğin University, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. After receiving his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYBuffalo) in 2013 and his doctorate degree in 2015, he worked as a Scientist at Mitsubishi Electrical Research Laboratory (MERL) and Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in the USA. He has been involved in research on the adaptation of new technologies that will provide innovative changes in the electrical energy industry. He has worked on energy markets, smart energy solutions, energy transmission and distribution planning, demand side management and energy efficiency. As a team leader at Alevo Analytics, USA, he provided consultancy services to the energy ministries of many countries and states regarding the establishment of an energy storage system road map. He works as a consultant in the fields of optimization, energy efficiency, energy storage, artificial intelligence and emobility at Turkey Energy Markets Management Inc. (EPİAŞ), Electricity Distribution Services Association (ELDER), Turkcell and Acelerex in the USA. He served as IEEE Turkey Student Committees Coordinator between 2018 and 2020, and currently serves as IEEE Turkey Industrial Relations Coordinator.
ALTUĞ MELİK BAŞOL
Mechanical Engineering Dr. Lecturer Özyeğin University
Dr. Lecturer Member Altuğ M. Başol received his undergraduate degree from Boğaziçi University, Department of Chemical Engineering, in 2004, and his master’s degree, from the same university, Department of Mechanical Engineering, in 2007. He did his PhD on aerothermal modeling of gas turbines and compressors at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, between 2007 and 2013. Afterwards, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the same university for 1 year on the modeling of supersonic steam turbines with real gas models. He has been working as Dr. at Özyeğin University, Department of Mechanical Engineering since September 2014. Lecturer He works as a member. Since 2014, he has been developing software and numerical models for modeling industrial processes such as furnaces and combustion chambers, where radiation heat transfer is dominant. In addition, his active research areas include open source software, fluid dynamics and developing numerical methods for problems involving heat transfer. There are Tübitak 3501 and Tübitak 2244 projects that he is the executive of.
PhD STUDENTS
GÖKÇE ERSEL ÖTKÜN
DTS PhD Student, CEEE/ECEM, Özyeğin University
After completing her undergraduate education at Middle East Technical University (METU) Department of Architecture in 2009, Gökçe Ersel Ötkün went to England with her interest in sustainability and completed her master’s degree on ‘Sustainable Architecture’ at Sheffield University. After his training, he focused on sustainability in the projects he took part in, with the “LEED Green Associate certificate” he received in 2011. Gökçe Ersel Ötkün, who started her career in 2011, continues to work as an architectural design and project coordinator with the experience and knowledge she gained in Turkey’s leading architectural firms such as SuyabatmazDemirel Architecture, Emre Arolat Architecture, Tabanlıoğlu Architecture, FREA Architecture. At the same time, as of 2018, he is doing his doctorate on ‘Sustainable Urban Development’ at Özyeğin University under the interdisciplinary Design Society and Technology program. A member of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) and Turkish WIN, Ötkün provides consultancy on sustainability by working on a project basis with WWF Turkey and Brika Sustainability within the scope of his field of expertise. Born in Ankara in 1986, Gökçe Ersel Ötkün speaks fluent English and Italian.
CANAN M. ÖZSOY
Independent Board Member and Board Advisor
Born in Istanbul, Canan M. Özsoy graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Dentistry with a doctorate degree in 1985. Following his master’s degree in Business Management at Boğaziçi University in 1993, he received his master’s degree in Energy Technologies at Sabancı University in 2015. He worked as a Dentist until the end of 1989. After working as a sales and marketing manager in different areas in the pharmaceutical industry between 1989 and 2004, he moved to Paris in 2004 for the Global Marketing Leadership position. In March 2007, Özsoy joined the GE Healthcare business area as Vice President – International Regional Marketing for Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and China. In March 2009, he moved to Milwaukee, Milwaukee, to join the Global Leadership team as Healthcare Systems Marketing Director. He moved to Wisconsin. Özsoy, who worked on the development, strategy and marketing of new products here, took on the responsibility of General Manager of GE Healthcare Mammography Product Group, headquartered in Paris, in November 2011.
In August 2012, Canan Özsoy received the title of Chairman of the Board of Directors & General Manager of GE Turkey, responsible for the growth of GE in Turkey. As of June 2022, he has completed his term as Chairman of GE’s Board of Directors. While Canan Özsoy currently serves as a member of the ABFT (American Business Association) Advisory Board, she is also the Vice President of the Board of Directors and a member of the Board of Trustees of SEV. He has also been a member of the Independent Board of Directors of Garanti Bank BBVA since April 2019. As of April 2022, he continues to work as Tekfen Temas and Esin Attorneys at Baker McKenzie Board Consultant as of November 2022, and as of the 2020 academic year, he continues his doctoral studies at Özyeğin University.
