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ITU Science Award to TÜBA Members

TÜBA Full Member Prof. İlkay Erdoğan Orhan and TÜBA Young Academy Member Prof. Seda Keskin Avcı were awarded the 2024 Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Science Award.

The 2024 ITU Awards aims to support research excellence in scientific and technological fields, to reward researchers who contribute to society; people who carry out project, patent and product-oriented studies and those who have served the world of science in education and social fields, and academicians who are determined to develop and encourage teaching activities.

Prof. İlkay Erdoğan Orhan, Dean of Gazi University Faculty of Pharmacy, was awarded the 2024 ITU Science Award in the field of Basic Sciences for her significant contributions to pharmaceutical research with her studies on the discovery, isolation and therapeutic potential of bioactive molecules of natural origin; and Prof. Seda Keskin Avcı, Professor at Koç University Faculty of Engineering, was awarded the 2024 ITU Science Award in the field of Engineering Sciences for developing new materials and technologies by investigating the potential of metal organic structures in energy, environment and biomedical applications through artificial intelligence and molecular modeling.

In his speech at the opening of the ceremony, TÜBA Full Member and ITU Rector Prof. Hasan Mandal emphasized the qualities of the bee, the symbol of ITU, which inspires collective work production, engineering and the future. Reminding that Carl Terzahgi, as the founder of soil mechanics, did his pioneering work in this field at ITU and developed a strong sense of belonging with ITU. Prof. Mandal summarized the current state of ITU's development in terms of the capacity and quality of research and the development of collaborations in research, and shared information about ITU's social responsibility and contribution-oriented activities.

Who is Prof. İlkay Erdoğan Orhan?
Born in 1972 in Ankara, Türkiye. She graduated from Gazi University, Faculty of Pharmacy in 1993 and completed her first master's degree in Pharmacognosy at Gazi University in 1996 with a TÜBİTAK-Scientist Training Group scholarship. She completed her second master's degree at Okinawa Ryukyus University in Japan with a scholarship from the Japanese Ministry of Education and completed her doctorate at Gazi University, Faculty of Pharmacy in 2002. In 2003, she was a visiting researcher at the University of Winnipeg, Canada with a TÜBİTAK-NATO scholarship. In 2004, she was promoted to associate professor and in 2009 she was promoted to professor. She served as the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Eastern Mediterranean University between 2011-2014, as the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Gazi University between July 2016 and January 2024, and as the Advisor to the Rector of Gazi University in 2024. Prof. İlkay Erdoğan Orhan has many national and international awards such as TÜBA-Loreal Young Scientist Award, Gazi University Honor Award, Organization of Islamic Cooperation Science Award, Golden Mortar Science Award, Turkish Pharmacists Association Pharmacy Academy Science Award, OWSD (Organization of Women in Science in Developing Countries) Asia-Pacific Region Young Scientist Award, Pharmaceutical Pharmacy Health and Science Technologies Foundation (İVEK) Achievement Award, World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Science Award, ITU Science Award. Prof. Orhan has 322 articles published in scientific journals indexed by SCI, 3 books, 4 patents, 6 patent applications and one licensed product, and her publications have been cited more than 18,000 times. Her H index is 59 (WoS) and 64 (Scopus).

Prof. Orhan, who was elected as a full member of TÜBA and the Academy of Sciences of the Islamic World, and served as the Vice President of the International Scientific Board of the Austrian Agency for Pharmaceutical Research (ADSI), served as the representative of the European Phytochemical Society (PSE) Southeast Europe & Türkiye (2019-2023) and the President of the Pharmacy Academy of the Turkish Pharmacists Association (2022-2024).

Since July 2024, Prof. Orhan has been working as the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Lokman Hekim University and is continuing her studies on the discovery of raw materials from natural sources for pharmaceuticals.

Who is Prof. Seda Keskin Avcı?
Prof. Seda Keskin Avcı is the director of Koç University Nanomaterials, Energy and Molecular Modeling Research Group (NEMO) and has more than 150 publications on energy applications of metal-organic frameworks, which have been cited more than 8000 times to date.

In 2017, she became the first scientist from Türkiye in the field of engineering to receive 1.5 million euros of funding from the European Research Council (ERC) with her COSMOS project on accelerating the search for materials to capture carbon dioxide, which causes global warming, using innovative computational techniques. She was elected as a member of EuroMOF International Scientific Board for 2017-2021. In 2018, she was elected as the first Turkish woman engineer to the Global Young Academy (GYA). . Prof. Seda Keskin Avcı became the first female member elected from Türkiye in the field of 'engineering' with her application focused on 'Women in Science'.

Prof. Keskin received The METU Parlar Foundation Science Award in 2021, Koç University Special Award in 2017, FABED Eser Tümen Outstanding Achievement Award in 2016, The METU Parlar Foundation Research Incentive Award in 2015, Science Heroes Association Scientist of the Year Award in 2014, Koç University Outstanding Faculty Member Award in 2014, TÜBA Distinguished Young Scientist Award (GEBİP) in 2013, TÜBİTAK 2013 Incentive Award, She received L'Oreal Türkiye Young Women in Science Award in 2011, European Commission FP7 PEOPLE Marie Curie International Reintegration Fellowship in 2010, Sigma Xi Best PhD Thesis Award in 2010 and Outstanding PhD Thesis Award in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in 2010. Prof. Seda Keskin Avcı is currently working at Koç University.