EDUCATION
In this section you can learn about my education history. I designed the page in three columns as School, University and Other Education. I chose this separation because I believe the school and university are two different concepts and should not considered as one; also other educations are extracurricular in some degree but helpful in their own way. You can find the links to the websites of the institutions I mentioned at the end of each section if you require more information about them.
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*Please check this page in desktop mode for detailed info
SCHOOL
I graduated from TED Ä°stanbul College in Turkey. I started with the kindergarten when it first opened in 1999. There is strict foreign language policy and the education language is English from the very beginning. I was able to achieve my first scholarship when I started elementary school in TED and I maintained it in the middle school.
I started playing guitar but it turns out that I was more suitable for sports than musical instruments. I experienced almost every sport branch from fencing to archery but skating was the first one I become successful and got me in to the hockey team. Then I met judo. Unfortunately I had to choose one sports branch and I decided to go with judo which then I become a professional black belt with a dozen of medals.
It was before I started the TED Ä°stanbul High School that I got a higher scholarship for my success. It was socially and academically superior for most of the other schools in Turkey and I believe I managed to use every opportunity it allowed me. I proceeded with judo to the very end of my school days. I chose the science and math section after first year. Me and couple of other students started a math club with our math professors and studied advanced level questions to get the Mathematics Olympiads of The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBÄ°TAK). I even prepared a term project about golden ratio for the club. Back then I was interested in medical school and they helped me to get couple of internships in pathology departments at leading hospitals. Then I realized I was better with technology and not biology.
After thirteen years of student life with lots of sports, music and even some short internships, I graduated within the top ten in 2012. But this was not the end of my attachment with the great TED family all over the country; I will be an active member of the association of graduates (TEDMED) as soon as my last graduation happens.
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About TED
For our Great Leader Atatürk, education was of paramount importance for the modernization of Turkey. In his speech that he delivered in the inauguration of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on 1 November 1925, he underlined the need for private enterprise in education to reach the targeted level and called for the society to pay attention to it. In line with this vision, the Turkish Educational Society was founded on 31 January 1928 under the leadership of Atatürk and the founders of the Republic of Turkey. The Society have been named as the Turkish Educational Association (TED) since 1946.
TED is a well-established non-governmental organization which focuses on education since its inception. As an affiliate of the Turkish Education Association, which is one of the most well-established educational institutions in Turkey, TED Istanbul College was opened in 1998 with 137 students in Beykoz-Acarkent. The school has become one of the leading educational institutions in Turkey in a short period of time and the quality of faculty and education in the school has gradually increased. With the headquarters in Ankara, the Turkish Education Association functions under the guidance and supervision of the Board of Directors and the President.
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UNIVERSITY
I graduated from high-school and got into the university in 2012. After a long research and decision period I finally made up my mind and chose the B.Sc. Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department of Faculty of Engineering in ÖzyeÄŸin University (OzU) in Turkey. I graduated in 2017 with a B. Sc. from OzU.After I graduated from OzU with my Bachelor of Science degree and worked for a while, I decided to start a Master of Science program. I got accepted by Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia as an International Degree Student with full tuition waiver. I am currently studying M.Sc. Mechatronics Engineering in Department of Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics there.
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ÖzyeÄŸin University (B.Sc.)
Hüsnü M. ÖzyeÄŸin Foundation began its efforts to found ÖzyeÄŸin University in the autumn of 2005. ÖzyeÄŸin University was officially founded on May 18, 2007 with the mission of contributing to social development by producing creative, original and applicable knowledge through its modern education system, its innovative structure integrated with life and its academic programs focused on the service sector. The university welcomed its first students on its Altunizade (Ä°stanbul/ TURKEY) Campus in September 2008 and opened the doors of its Çekmeköy (Ä°stanbul/TURKEY) Campus in September 2011. Since 2014 all faculties transported to Çekmeköy Campus. Created by a leading architecture firm, the designer of the Cambridge and Princeton buildings, OzU Cekmekoy Campus takes pride in having Turkey’s first LEED Gold Certificate. Prof. Dr. Erhan Erkut, who served as the founding rector of ÖzyeÄŸin University from January 1, 2008 to July 1, 2013, successfully led the establishment process of the university. ÖzyeÄŸin University’s mission is to create, share, and apply knowledge in the service of society. It is a research university. Hüsnü ÖzyeÄŸin is the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees of ÖzyeÄŸin University. You can find more information about ÖzyeÄŸin University from its official website through the link below.
ÖzyeÄŸin University Faculty of Engineering education and research activities are open to leaders in industry and society in general through our life-long education programs and industry collaboration and technology transfers activities. The mission is to produce engineers who can start, develop for, or lead global high-tech businesses, or successfully continue on to graduate education. It features a world-class research faculty with deep industry experience, student participation in the research and industrial activities of the faculty, support for building start-ups, certificate programs etc. I can easily say that the Engineering Faculty has one of the best academic staff.
Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department of ÖzyeÄŸin University Engineering Faculty has the mission to educate and graduate students who will be among the most sought after electrical engineers in the global market place, the most wanted graduate students, or thriving entrepreneurs. The undergraduates gain practical experience through laboratory work, summer internships, and senior design projects. For my opinion they are more important and effective for the future of any engineering student than any course or program. The number of patents per faculty member is the highest among all EE programs in Turkey.
I can easily say that the university was much more than just a school. My time in university contributed me more than any other time period in my life both technical and social. After all, university is not only about academic success. I will try to explain my university life very briefly below. You can find the relevant links and pages at the end of the column.
As an electrics and electronics engineering undergraduate my primary concern was always the relevant courses. I don't indicate that some courses are unnecessary but it is a fact that some courses are more important than the others. Especially the lessons of the recent years are more valuable and related to the area of the chosen career path because there is a course selection freedom. As I mentioned before I believe that the most efficient courses are the ones with laboratories. Because learning something is not passing exams but using it to create something. Luckily I am more than enough and capable of being one of the best in laboratories. My gift is in hardware but I am also able to complete the software tasks given to me like writing codes, programming PICs or correcting the mistakes. My hardware skills are good enough to be an example in most cases. Even the tasks I completed in laboratory courses got documented sometimes by pictures and videos to be shown as instruction or demonstration of the course. You can check the ENGINEERING section for detailed information.
The internship and work privileges of ÖzyeÄŸin University are more than any other common university in Turkey. It helps to get in major companies as an intern and inform you on a daily basis about opportunities. The units of work you can get in as a student in the university is countless. From the first year you enroll you can always work in almost any department like sports center, IT, dormitories, administration etc. I chose to work in OzU 360 which you can learn in EXPERIENCES page. You can also learn about the club activities I participated in that page. As I said before, university is not just about lessons but also a life style for a certain amount of time. I believe not working in social events or communities during those years is wasting your opportunities. ÖzyeÄŸin University has many contributions to me in various ways because of the different and effective education focused on the sector and real life experiences. It helped me to obtain many skills that no other place could, you can check the SKILLS page for this. I believe I used and still using every opportunity the university enabled me to.
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Tallinn University of Technology (M.Sc.)
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Established in 1918, Tallinna Tehnikaülikool is the only campus university in Estonia situated in the Mustamäe region of Tallinn. It is one of the most compact university campuses in Europe and the best technical university in the Baltics. TTÜ conducts research and develops high-tech applications in many fields like Chemistry, Biotechnology, Earth Sciences, Power Electronics, Material Sciences, ICT, Civil Engineering and Social Sciences. It is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of engineers and leaders, and supporting sustainable innovation. TTÜ’s campus is home to many high-tech companies as well as the Estonian Information Technology College, a science park, the 19th century Glehn Castle, as well as a library, museum, restaurants, bars, residential areas and more than 200 tech companies.
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The main areas of research in Department of Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics are power electronic converters, energy saving in electrical drives, diagnostics, electricity supply, energy saving, electrical transport systems, industry automation and robotics. Mechatronics Master’s programme aims to give students professional knowledge and skills for a successful career in the future that are orientated to ICT intensive engineering technologies, such as mechatronics, robotics and automation, which presume professional abilities to integrate, conduct and lead complex engineering projects integrating smart ICT and hardware technologies for solving practical problems and starting a new business. Although there are many groups in the department, I am mostly interested in Mechatronics and Autonomous Systems Centre because of their related studies to my area.I am currently studying M.Sc. Mechatronics Engineering in Department of Electrical Power Engineering and Mechatronics at TTÜ.
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RWTH Aachen University (M.Sc.)
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With the full name of Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (Rheinish-Westphalian Technical University) Aachen, RWTH Aachen University is the largest technical university in Germany established in 1870. I was officially registered to Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (F4) as a Master level student with Erasmus+ Programme for 2019/2020 semester. Since the schedule of German Universities are different than the rest of the world, I spent two semester loads there. However, since I was not a regular student, I took courses from Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (F6) and Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences (F1) too.
I was mainly registered to the modules of International Academy during my studies there. Courses I took here included Advanced Control Systems from Medical Information Technology (MedIT), Materials of Electrical Engineering from Institute of Materials in Electrical Engineering (IWE), Mechatronics and Control for Production Plants from Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL), Object-Oriented Software Construction from Research Group Software Construction (SWC), and Robotic Systems from Institute of Mechanism Theory, Dynamics of Machine and Robotics (IGMR). After the study period is over, I returned to my home university, TalTech where I started to work on my thesis.
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OTHER EDUCATION
I believe summer camps are indispensable formations for one's education, both academic and social. My parents also believed this idea and they made a major contribution for my education by sending me as a boarding student to formations, camps and universities almost every year for a month or two. I listed my main summer occupations below. Also, since I no longer have a regular semester scheduled life, I included new trainings and programmes I participated in recent years. I didn't mention the movie nights or the city tours because they are the fun part of the camps but not much educational. I hope this helps to clarify my experiences and explain my place in them as a student.
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Space Camp
Space Camp launched in 1982 to inspire and motivate young people from around the country to join the ranks of space pioneers who persevere to push the boundaries of human exploration. With the U.S. Space & Rocket Center as home base, trainees have an unparalleled environment to spur imagination.
Space Camp alumni include NASA and ESA astronauts, engineers, scientists and technologists. Static displays and unique settings provide excellent areas for classroom instruction while hands-on training, high fidelity simulations and enthusiastic counselors ignite the singular sizzle of Space Camp. Teamwork, leadership, decision-making: from mission control to space transport to space station, trainees gain personal and professional insights that profoundly impact futures. Programs at Space Camp Turkey focus on simulators to give participants the sensations of working and living in space.
I attended the program of Space Camp Turkey when I was starting middle school. I was lucky to be able to work with such talented staff and observing the technological improvements about space from the heart of research programs. I was the only one who was able to attended almost every simulation and complete my work in each one of the activities they prepared for us successfully like moonwalk simulations or satellite repair in zero gravity, ı even got to be the captain in shuttle simulation. It was one of the best summers I had and it contributed a lot to me as in both technical and social experience.
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BoÄŸaziçi University
BoÄŸaziçi University is one of the oldest and top universities in Turkey and it is well-known globally. It has an unit responsible for developing, coordinating and implementing the training programs apart from the undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs of the university called Boğaziçi University Lifelong Learning Center (BULLC). BoÄŸaziçi University Summer School for High School Students is a BULLC organization. The main idea is that having real life university experience and make sure about the department one choose before making any choice after high school. The education language is English in this three weeks program and they even gave us some trainings like stress management, self-confidence and exam concerns.
I can proudly say I managed to take both classes and pass them in top five while I was included in an additional class. The various seminars and trainings about public and private sector were very informative. I can easily say that I managed to provide new social and academic skills after I complete the program.
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Sabancı University
In 1994 one of the major groups of Turkey, Sabancı Group, decided to establish a "world university" led by the Sabancı Foundation and Sabancı University started to enroll students in 1999. Because of the difference of the education system from other universities in Turkey and high level academicians with lots of social opportunities, it became one of the top universities and recognized globally. The Sabancı University Summer School for High School Students brings together high school students from Germany, Turkey and sometimes other countries like USA. The participant students take university courses from Sabancı University faculty, experience the university life in a multicultural environment and earn an official Sabancı University Certificate if they succeed.
I attended two years in a row to the Sabancı Summer School in 2011 and 2012, my last two years of high-school. It was already not easy to get accepted there and it's not possible to attend more than one term now. I became friends with people who got accepted to universities like MIT or Harvard and I had to compete with them. My first year was the year university built the nanotechnology laboratory, which is the best one in Turkey. Some of us were allowed to have a tour and observed some of the new facilities in the building like robotic laboratories where they create new nanochips or clean rooms where the dust accuracy can be a hundred thousand times less than a normal room. I also took an advanced quantum mechanics lesson from the rector of the university, Nihat Berker, which I believe was the most academic course I took at the summer school. But the most technical one is probably the mechatronics lecture where we learned about industrial arms in manufacturing factories.
It was not just technical courses for two years of course. I attended the Universities and Sectors lectures both years. They were practically seminars which famous and successful people briefly explain their jobs and enlighten us about their sectors. I managed to make more friends first year because second year there were more German students and I don't know German. I am still in touch with most of my friends I met there. I even work together with couple of them in clubs, organizations or tasks mostly in technology. I can definitely say that they were unforgettable summers, I especially enjoyed the first year more than any other summer school I attended. It broaden my view of the world. I believe the program improved my communication skills more than any other.
FESTO Didactic
Didactic is the education department of Festo Group. Festo Didactic is the world-leading provider of equipment and solutions for technical education. With advanced equipment and experienced trainers it is probably one of a kind education for both students and employees.
I attended to the summer school for mechatronics at Gebze base of the company in Ä°stanbul. It helped me to learn about mechatronics in all details from pneumatics to sensors, from motors to PLC systems etc. Most of the training was practical and oriented on the field, which means that it was not just a theoretical college lesson but really useful for future possible jobs students might get in. I successfully ended the trainings and achieved a certificate after the mechatronics project exam.
Figes BuildUp Academy
Figes Engineering is an engineering company that was founded in 1990. With its specialized engineers in design, analysis and test; it provides turn-key project services in Defense, Aerospace and Automotive industries from concept design to prototype manufacturing. Figes represents ANSYS Multiphysics which is the leading finite elements software and MATLAB & Simulink and provides services in marketing, sale, training and technical support of these software. BuildUp Academy is an engineering training institution that organizes several education programs.
Research and Developmet Engineer Training Program is a complement of engineering courses that mainly focuses on System Modeling and Control Engineering. The aim of the program is to train engineers to play an active role in professional engineering projects in various sectors. This agenda works as a Pre-Master Program for engineers aiming to advance in their careers with Mechatronics Engineering or related fields. The program accepts senior students or new graduates of Electrical and Electronics Engineering or related fields who matches several criteria. The training program includes various topics with different levels of teaching theoretical and practical knowledge and introduces software and hardware tools. Courses are given by the professional engineers who proved themselves in their areas. You can find the program with the link on the right side.
Courses given were mainly related but not limited to MathWorks and ANSYS software including Matlab, Simulink, Simscape, Signal Processing, Code Generation, Stateflow, Control System Design, ANSYS Electronics interface with HFSS, Maxwell, Simplorer and SCADE. Other technical courses covered theoretical and practical knowledge of several topics including Control Engineering, Electromagnetic Analysis, Mechatronics Applications, VHDL programming, and Physical Systems Modeling based on Bond Graph Theory. The program also offers various other courses including soft skill topics for engineers such as Project Management, Problem Solving with TRIZ, Creative Thinking, and Effective Communication. You can find the complete program in Turkish and Courses Attended list in English as PDF files here.
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