3 BS Alumni

Dr. Birgül Cansu Acartürk  (CE) completed her undergraduate degree in civil engineering in 2017, finishing as the second in her department. Throughout her university years, she served as both a research and teaching assistant, honing her academic skills. Her undergraduate studies, particularly focusing on sustainable and innovative building material systems, influenced her decision to pursue doctoral education in these areas. She successfully completed her doctoral studies at The Ohio State University in 2022 with a thesis titled "Novel and Sustainable Cementitious Systems: Improving Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cement and Bacterial Concrete Properties."

During her doctoral period, Dr. Acartürk published numerous academic articles on sustainable cement-based systems and bacterial concrete. She also presented her research at national and international conferences. Currently, Dr. Acartürk continues her career as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder, where her research is concentrated on bio-based cementitious systems. Her work aims to develop innovative approaches to reduce carbon dioxide emissions during cement production and usage.

Atacan (CE) is currently working in the field of 3D Building Modeling and Project Management. Shortly after starting the university, he became interested in the visual-based project management methods of the construction sector, he developed his modeling skills on 3D building modeling, both in his spare time and computer-aided technical drawing lessons that he took at the university, and decided to work in his professional life on the usage and purposes of these models. He tried to use his 3D modeling and visual thinking skills in different areas of his life and also in different courses and projects he took at the university. He carried his 3D modeling skills to his hobbies and created a fun occupation for himself by taking prints with 3D printers. Later, he even carried this knowledge to his graduation project and wrote his thesis on 3D Concrete Printers and Concrete Mortar Properties.

His professional life has been in the field of Building Information Modeling, construction project management, document and business process management, 3D model supported cost calculations, business plans and conflict analysis, etc. He started working on methods. He is actively working as BIM (Building Information Modeling) Models.

Yıldıray Yılmaz (CE), received his bachelor’s degree at Özyeğin University with a high-honor certificate in the civil engineering department. He is awarded as being the highest ranked student among 2020 graduation class. During his undergraduate studies, he founded Özyeğin University’s Construction Club and ran as president for two years. The construction club has reached more than 200 members during his presidency and organized more than 20 different events.

His original research paper was published with the great help of Dr. Seyis at ‘Building and Environment’ journal under the title of ‘Mapping the scientific research of the life cycle assessment in the construction industry: A scientometric analysis’.

Parallel with his master studies, he joined Metsims Sustainability Consulting company in October 2021. For over a year, he works as a sustainability consultant. His primary task is to analyze and model the environmental burdens of construction products and building from life cycle perspective. So far, he has modelled and assessed the environmental impacts of 20+ different construction products and one residential and one factory building. Besides environmental performance modelling, he currently works on improving one of the biggest life cycle assessment database for construction products in the world.