Advisory Board

Prof. Dr. Eşref Adalı

He graduated from Pertevniyal High School in 1965 and started his education at Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Faculty of Electrical Engineering in the same year. In 1971, he graduated as a Senior Engineer from the weak current division and began working as a research assistant at the same faculty.

He received his PhD in 1976, became an associate professor in 1980, and a professor in 1988, all at the same faculty. In 2005, he retired due to the age limit and is currently a retired faculty member of the ITU Faculty of Computer and Informatics.

Apart from his duties at ITU, Adalı served as a visiting researcher at Case Western Reserve University (USA) between 1977 and 1978; as a visiting lecturer at Carleton University (Canada) between 1978 and 1979; and as a visiting research lecturer at Akron University in 1985. Between 1990 and 1991, Adalı led the efforts to establish the Informatics Group at the TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center and during this time served as the deputy director responsible for the Informatics Group.

During his 43 years at ITU, he played a pioneering role in the establishment of the ITU Computer Engineering Department and later the Faculty of Computer and Informatics. He served as the first head of the Computer Engineering Department and the founding dean of the Faculty of Computer and Informatics.

Adalı conducts his academic work in two fields: the first is microprocessors and microprocessor-based digital system design. In this field, he has authored two books (Microprocessors and Microcomputers, Microcomputer-Based Real-Time Systems). His second area of interest is Natural Language Processing. His book on Turkish Natural Language Processing will be published soon. In addition to these two main research areas, he has also published two books on IT Ethics and Law, and Information Security and Management. Another area of interest for Adalı is the analysis and design of information systems.

During his 43-year academic career, he has supervised twelve PhD students. Some of these PhD students are currently working as faculty members at various universities.

In addition to his academic work, Prof. Dr. Eşref Adalı has led or contributed to various R&D projects. These projects include major defense industry projects such as Uzun Ufuk and Milgem, and large-scale projects such as Tofaş CNC, İSKİ SCADA, Istanbul Fire Department, MERNIS, and Bursa Police Department Modernization.

Throughout his academic life, Prof. Dr. Adalı has emphasized the development of University-Industry collaboration and has provided consultancy services for both public and private sector projects. In this context, ASELSAN, İSKİ, MERNIS, and Bursa Police Department are among the public institutions he has served. He has also provided consultancy for approximately 15 TEYDEB-supported projects for private companies.

Adalı is a member of the following organizations: IFAC Computer and Manufacturing Tech. Com., Automatic Control Foundation (Founding President), Unix Users Association (Founding President), Turkish Amateur Radio Society (President between 1965–1970), Turkish Informatics Foundation, and Turkish Informatics Association.

Prof. Dr. Cevdet Aykanat

Dr. Cevdet Aykanat is a Professor of Computer Engineering in Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey. Prof. Aykanat earned his BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from the Middle East Technical University, and received his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Ohio State University, where he was a Fullbright scholar, He worked at the Intel Supercomputer Systems Division, Beaverton, Oregon, as a research associate.

Since 1989, he has been affiliated with the Department of Computer Engineering, Bilkent University. Research interests of Prof. Aykanat mainly include parallel computing (especially for irregular and unstructured applications), parallel scientific computing and its combinatorial aspects, parallel computer graphics applications, parallel data mining, graph and hypergraph partitioning, load balancing, high-performance information retrieval, parallel and distributed databases, grid computing and high performance computing for big data applications“. Prof. Aykanat (co)authored above 100 articles in prestigious SCI journals.

His publications received about 5500 citations in Harzing's Publish or Perish Index and Google Scholar Citation Database. He has an H-index of 38 for all of his citations ( H-index of 24 for his citations since 2015).

Several of his research projects have been funded by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey), Intel SSD and European Commission (ITDC, FP6, FP7). Prof. Aykanat has been the principal investigator of 6 TUBITAK projects, investigator of 2 TUBITAK projects, principal investigator of one Intel-SSD project, general co-ordinator of a 2.5-year EC-funded ITDC project, and principal investigator of Bilkent University in the EC-funded SEE-GRID, SEE-GRID2, PRACE-1IP, PRACE-2IP, PRACE-3IP, PRACE-4IP, PRACE-5IP and PRACE-6IP projects.

Prof. Aykanat is the recipient of the 1996 Investigator Award of TUBITAK and 2007 Science Award of METU Parlar foundation. He was appointed as a member of the IFIP Working Group 10.3 (Concurrent System Technology) in April 2004 and as a member of the EU-INTAS Council of Scientists in June 2005. He has participated in the expert panels of The Research Council of Norway for the research program eVITA- eScience. Prof. Aykanat has served as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions of Parallel and Distributed Systems (2008-2013). Prof. Aykanat has been an Associate Provost of Bilkent University since 2010.

Prof. Dr. Buyurman Baykal

Prof. Dr. Buyurman Baykal graduated from TED Ankara College in 1986. He received his bachelor's degree from METU Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 1990, and his master's and PhD degrees from Imperial College London in 1992 and 1995, respectively. From 1997 to 1999, he served as an assistant professor and played a pioneering and active role as the deputy head in establishing the undergraduate and graduate programs of the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Başkent University.

Since 1999, he has been working at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at METU, becoming an associate professor in 2004 and a full professor thereafter. He has also served in defense industry projects for the Naval and Air Forces between 2004 and 2011 as a Program Manager, Director, and Deputy General Manager at Havelsan through an assignment from METU Technopark.

His research interests include signal processing and its applications, computer networks, and machine learning. He has published in prestigious SCI journals such as IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, IEEE Communications Magazine, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, Neural Networks, Neurocomputing, Computer Networks, Wireless Networks, Digital Signal Processing, and Radio Science. He has also served as an editor for journals such as International Journal of Mobile Network Design and Innovation (Inderscience Publishers), Computer Networks (Elsevier), and IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems. He has been part of the technical and organizational committees of many conferences.

His industrial experience covers model-based systems engineering, software engineering, software/system product lines, electronic system design, C4ISR systems, strategic management, information management, and continuous improvement. He has managed projects worth billions of dollars. He has experience in university–industry collaboration and has developed and managed R&D projects with firms like ASELSAN, ROKETSAN, NETAŞ, ESEN SI, PROFEN, MİLSOFT, ARÇELİK, and WAT Motor. He holds national and international patents based on his research at METU.

Ertuğrul Barak

Born in 1976 in Gelibolu, Ertuğrul Barak completed his primary, secondary, and high school education at various public schools across Anatolia due to his father's civil service duties. He received his bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from METU in 1998 and completed his master's degree in 2022.

He started working at ASELSAN in 1998 as a software engineer and was involved in various command and control projects until 2008. From 2008 to 2014, he served as the Software Team Leader for Fire Support Systems Projects. In 2014, he was appointed as Software Design Manager for Command and Control and held this position until 2021. In 2021, he became the Design Manager for the Command and Control Product Line. He retired from ASELSAN in 2023 and began working as CTO at Onbiron Information Systems. In 2024, he transitioned to ACM Agile as a consultant, where he currently provides consulting in agility and management.

He is an expert in Software Architectures, Software Product Lines, Software Processes, Agile, and Scrum. He has given talks and participated in lectures at various conferences and universities. He is married and has two daughters.

Serkan Ceylan

He was born in Ankara in 1976. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Hacettepe University in 1999, and a Master's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Middle East Technical University (METU) in 2002. He has been working at ASELSAN since 1999 and currently holds the position of Senior Lead Engineer.

Between 1999 and 2017, he worked as a Software Engineer and Team Leader in projects of various scales. Since 2017, he has been working as a System Engineer and Technical Manager in software-intensive system projects of different scales. Between 2008 and 2020, he served as Process Manager for Software Development and System Development Processes. His areas of expertise include system and software architectures, system and software design, embedded software development, system and software product lines, and process modeling. He is married and has one child.

Haluk Gökmen

He graduated from the Computer Engineering Department of Middle East Technical University (METU) in 1987. He started his Master's studies in the same department and during this period, he worked on the establishment of Vakıfbank’s Electronic Banking and x.25 networks. Starting in 1988, he worked for 14 years at the design centers of Alcatel Telecom in Stuttgart, Antwerp, and Sydney in the fields of telecommunications, data communication, and mobile communication. Between 2003 and 2007, he led the Embedded Software Design Group at the R&D center of Vestel Electronics. During this period, he managed the company’s R&D grant project applications and university-industry collaboration efforts and taught the Embedded Systems Programming course at Ege University’s Computer Engineering Department.

In 2007, he joined the R&D office of Beko Electronics in Izmir, where he worked as a Project Manager and Project Office Manager. At Beko/Grundig Electronics, he carried out work on R&D projects, university-industry cooperation, EU 7th Framework Programme, EUREKA Clusters, and TEYDEB project applications. During the same period, he represented the company in EU Technology Platforms (NEM, NESSI, and eMobility) and served on the NEM Board of Directors. He participated in the Koç Technology Board’s R&D, Innovation, and EU Framework Program groups. He led the establishment of the first R&D centers (Grundig Electronics) authorized by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology in Izmir and Istanbul. As a member of the Istanbul Information Society Monitoring Group, he made significant contributions to the “ICT and Development in Istanbul” Book. He authored the report on Pillar 5: “Research and Innovation” within the “Adaptation to the European Digital Agenda” Project initiated by the Digital Turkey Platform. He served as an industry representative in the development of new programs prepared by TÜBİTAK.

He serves as an evaluator in TÜBİTAK 1512 - Entrepreneurship Progressive Support Program projects such as ELOTEG and BİLTEG. In addition, he supports entrepreneurs as a business mentor within the scope of the 1512 Program. Since 2009, he has been providing consultancy services in the fields of R&D and Innovation and has participated as a partner in 7th Framework Programme and EU Horizon 2020 projects in the ICT field. He has taken on various roles such as work package leader, knowledge dissemination leader, commercialization leader, and innovation leader in over 100 project applications and approximately 20 funded projects.

Haluk Gökmen is the co-founder and manager of EGESYS. With 28 years of professional experience, he has a vast national and international network of institutions and individuals in the ICT sector. In 2014, he served as manager and mentor in the “R&D Mentor Network Supported by PROTEIN” project, supported under TÜBİTAK’s call for Increasing Capacity in the Fields of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (code 1601). Later, he also served as manager and trainer in the funded KOBİMEN eAcademy project. He is the manager of the TÜBİTAK-supported ArGeMentor+ project, which began in February 2020. Since 2009, he has continued to provide consultancy services to the Arçelik A.Ş. R&D Center and is a member of the TÜSİAD Industry 4.0 Working Group.