Assist. Prof. Dr. Selman NAS (Chairman)

E-Mail: selman.nas@ostimteknik.edu.tr

Dr. Selman Nas is the Head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and the Deputy Director of the Graduate School of Sciences. In addition to his academic career, Dr. Nas has substantial industry experience. From 2016 to 2023, he served as Vice President for Communication and Earth Observation Satellite Programs in Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. During the same period, he also held board memberships in various defense companies. Furthermore, he has 8 years of experience in airline operations, having served as the Head of Training and Quality Assurance at Turkish Airlines.Between 1995 and 2008, Dr. Selman Nas was a faculty member at Istanbul Technical University’s Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He also has academic experience in the medical field, having worked as a Research Faculty Member in the Pediatric Cardiology Department at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Selman Nas’s current research interests include Fluid Mechanics, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Heat Transfer, Aerodynamics, and High-Performance Computing.

Throughout his career, Dr. Nas has gained extensive experience both as an academician and an administrator. He earned his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1995 and his M.Sc. from the same university in 1990. He received his B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University’s Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1987.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hande GIRARD 

E-Mail: hande.yavuz@ostimteknik.edu.tr

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hande Girard has been working as a faculty member in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at our university since 2022. She served as the founding department head in the Department of Aerospace Engineering between 2022-2023.

From 2016 to 2021, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Girard worked as a faculty member in the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Aeronatics and Astronautics at the University of Turkish Aeronautical Association. Between 2012 and 2015, she served as a Technical Consultant and Project Coordinator in defense projects carried out by the Defence Industry Agency. In 2007-2008, she worked as a Technical Coordination Engineer for maintenance and repair processes at the O/I/D level for aircraft at the Turkish Armed Forces 901st Main Maintenance Center Command. From 2008 to 2012, as a scholarship holder of the French government, she earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Energy Process Engineering with a focus on Soil, Structure, and Materials Mechanics at Ecole Centrale Paris (CentraleSupélec), graduating with High Honors. She completed her doctoral research under the ANR-08-MAPR-0025 project, coordinated by EADS France (Airbus Group), in collaboration with institutions such as École Normale Supérieure de Cachan PPSM CNRS UMR 8531, Ecole Centrale Paris CNRS UMR 8579, Supelec LGEP CNRS UMR 8507, and ICM Paris-Est MCMC CNRS UMR 7182, conducting research on composite structures.

She obtained her associate professorship in 2022 in the field of Aerospace Engineering, focusing on the Design and Materials of Aerospace Vehicles. She earned her M.Sc. in 2007 from Gazi University as a BOREN scholar of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and completed her B.Sc. at the same university in 2005.

 Assist. Prof. Dr. Hikmet BAL (Vice Chairman)

E-mail: hikmet.bal@ostimteknik.edu.tr

Dr. Hikmet Bal gained multidisciplinary work experience by serving as technical staff and project engineer in the public sector for an extended period, focusing on information systems and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) projects. He also worked in both public and private sectors as technical staff and expert engineer for tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). His main areas of expertise include dynamic systems, vibrations of mechanical systems, imaging systems and signal processing, and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Dr. Hikmet Bal received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Dynamics and Theory from Gazi University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2019, with his research focusing on the vibration behavior of shaft-bearing systems. He earned his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in 2006 with a study on Machine Vision and his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in 2002, both from Gazi University.

Dr. Ömer YILDIZ

E-mail: omer.yildiz@ostimteknik.edu.tr

Dr. Ömer Yıldız, who recently joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering, combines academic expertise with extensive industry experience. With over 30 years of leadership roles in the defense and transportation (aviation and railways) sectors, he brings a wealth of knowledge to his academic position. Most recently, he served as the Executive Vice President for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) at Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc. for approximately seven years. Between 2007 and 2016, he held the roles of General Manager and Chairman of the Board at the Turkish State Railways and Metro Istanbul. Additionally, from 1997 to 2016, he served as Deputy General Manager for Metro Istanbul and affiliated companies under the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. During this period, he assumed leadership roles in various governmental authorities in Turkey and extended services under his management to countries such as Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Pakistan, and Niger, among others. Before his professional career, Dr. Yıldız contributed to academia, holding various positions in both the United States and Turkey.

Dr. Yıldız earned his Ph.D. in Aeronautical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in 1995, his M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1988, and his B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering from ITU's Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1982.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Muhammed ELMNEFI

E-Mail: muhammed.elmnefi@ostimteknik.edu.tr

Dr. Muhammed Elmnefi has been serving as a faculty member in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at OSTİM Technical University since September 2023. After moving to Turkey in 2015, he worked as a faculty member in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at the Turkish Aeronautical Association University until the summer of August 2023. Following his doctorate, he served as a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Benghazi University (Libya) until the end of 2015, during which he also held the position of Department Chair for about two years. Since 1996, he has worked as a project engineer at an oil company, and from 1986 to 1994, he worked as a mechanical engineer for companies providing operation and maintenance services for gas turbines.

Dr. Muhammed Elmnefi's areas of interest include Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, the use of nanofluids as a significant method for enhancing the thermal efficiency of various heat transfer systems such as heat exchangers and parabolic solar collectors, Internal Combustion Engines, Propulsion Systems, and Renewable Energy (Wind Energy, Wind Turbines, and Solar Energy).

Dr. Muhammed Elmnefi earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) in 2010. He obtained his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on thermodynamics and fluid mechanics from the Energy Systems Department at the University of Strathclyde (Scotland) in 1996 and his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Bright Star University (Libya) in 1986.

Research Assistant Mehmet Turan EKİNCİ

E-Mail: mehmet.ekinci@ostimteknik.edu.tr

Mehmet Turan Ekinci is the Research Assistant in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at OSTİM Technical University. Between November 2022 and June 2023, he served as a candidate engineer at Turkish Aerospace Industries.

In 2024, Research Assistant Mehmet Turan Ekinci started his M.Sc. in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at Necmettin Erbakan University. He graduated with a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering from Necmettin Erbakan University in 2023.

Research Assistant İdil Sena DURUKAN

E-Mail: idil.durukan@ostimteknik.edu.tr

İdil Sena Durukan is the Research Assistant in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at OSTİM Technical University. She completed her B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering at Adana Alparslan Türkeş Science and Technology University, where she began her studies in 2018 and graduated as the top student in her faculty in 2023. In the same year, she started her M.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering within the Department of Aerospace at Erciyes University.

During her undergraduate studies, she became a finalist in the METU-Boeing VTOL competitions, the TEKNOFEST International Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Competition, and the TEKNOFEST Blockchain competition.