Student Profiles
STUDENT PROFILES
Dilek Özkan, PhD student in Biomedical Science and Engineering
I have always been passionate about the human brain, artificial neural networks and medical imaging technologies. I graduated from medical school in 2021. In order to be able to easily adapt to any computational research environment and to contribute to my foundation in machine learning and deep learning background, I officially enrolled engineering courses even though I was at medical school. After my graduation, I worked in the emergency service for a few months. I worked as a researcher on the detection of MS lesion segmentation at Goethe-University, Institute for Neuroradiology. Currently, I am a PhD student under the supervision of Professor Çiğdem Gündüz Demir. I want to combine my medical knowledge with my interest in computational sciences and create applications that have diagnostic value, high accuracy and efficiency.
Barışcan Kurtkaya, MSc student in Computer Science and Engineering
Hi, I am Barışcan Kurtkaya. Currently, I am a KUIS AI Fellow and an MSc student at Koç University. Moreover, I am conducting my research project in the KUIS AI Center, under the supervision of Yücel Yemez. I am interested in generative artificial intelligence, mostly delving into generating and editing 2D images and 3D models/scenes, leveraging advancements in deep learning.
Emre Can Açıkgöz, MSc student in Computer Science and Engineering
I am a second year MSc student at Computer Science department and a fellow at KUIS AI Center. My research is in natural language processing (NLP) and multimodal learning around Large Language Models (LLMs). I am mentored by Prof. Deniz Yuret and Prof. Aykut Erdem. Prior to my MSc, I received my BSc again from Koc University but in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (AI focus), where I worked under the supervision of Prof. Deniz Yuret on supervised and unsupervised morphological analysis.
Sara Hamdan, MSc student in Computational Sciences and Engineering
I am Sara Hamdan, currently a graduate student in the Computational Sciences and Engineering (CMSE) department at Koç University, where I am engaged in advanced research in robotic learning. My journey in AI and robotics spans nearly 14 years, starting with a deep-rooted interest in technology during my undergraduate studies. I earned my BSc in Computer Engineering and Automation, which laid the foundation for my subsequent specialization in robotics. Over the years, I have actively participated in teaching, learning, and training in AI and robotics, not only through formal education but also via self-training and involvement in international competitions. My academic path includes a master’s degree in Robotics from Damascus University, and now, my pursuit of a PhD at Koç University represents the latest chapter in my commitment to advancing AI and robotics.
Mert Çökelek, PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering
I am Mert Cokelek. I hold a Master’s in Computer Science and Engineering from Koç University. Before that, I completed my Bachelor’s in Computer Science and Engineering at Hacettepe University. I am continuing my PhD at Koç and working as an AI Research Engineer at Codeway. My research interests and experience lie in Computer Vision, Generative AI, and Virtual Reality. I am working on audio-visual models in 360.
Cansu Korkmaz, PhD student in Electrical and Electronics Engineering
I’m a dedicated and enthusiastic individual with a deep passion for artificial intelligence research for image super-resolution. I am a final-year PhD student in Electrical and Electronics Engineering with a focus on deep learning and computer vision. Throughout my academic journey, I’ve had the opportunity to work on various AI projects, including developing algorithms for image classification, object detection and predictive modeling. I’ve also engaged in research internships where I’ve contributed to advancing state-of-the-art techniques in AI. My background in AI research has equipped me with a strong foundation in both theoretical concepts and practical implementation, and I’m eager to continue exploring and contributing to this rapidly evolving image processing field.
Enes Ulaş Dinçer, PhD student in Mechanical Engineering
Hello, my name is Enes Ulaş Dinçer. I graduated as the first-ranked student from Istanbul Technical University’s Control and Automation Engineering department in 2022. After working 7 months at BAYKAR, focusing on simulation and modeling, specifically Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) systems, I commenced a direct PhD at Koç University. I am a KUIS AI fellow, currently studying in the mechanical engineering department. My research focuses on physical human-robot interaction (pHRI) under the supervision of Prof. Çağatay Başdoğan. I have a strong foundation in AI, reinforced by courses in Deep Learning, Reinforcement Learning, and Medical Image Processing. My work primarily involves integrating AI to enhance robot responsiveness in dynamic interaction environments.
Osman Batur İnce, PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering
Hi, I am Osman Batur İnce. I am a KUIS AI Fellow and 2nd year PhD student in Koç University COMP department. I graduated with a BSc in CS from Bilkent University in 2022. I am lucky to work with professors Aykut Erdem and Erkut Erdem on NLP and multimodal learning.
Görkay Aydemir, PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering
I am Görkay Aydemir, currently pursuing my PhD in Computer Engineering. I completed my undergraduate studies in Computer Engineering at Middle East Technical University in 2022, and started my graduate studies following a year’s break. I engaged in a long-term internship with Fatma Güney, who is now my PhD advisor. Our works are published in top ML venues.
Andrew Bond, PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering
My name is Andrew, and I am a first year PhD student in computer science and engineering. I am from the US, but I finished my bachelor’s degree at Koç. I have been involved in AI research for about 1.5 years. I first got involved with AI research when I took a deep unsupervised learning class taught by Aykut Erdem, and wanted to become more involved in that topic. I have done research in both Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision, but my current research focus is Computer Vision.
Ahmet Canberk Baykal, PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering
I received my B.S. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bilkent University in 2020. Since then I’ve been studying at Koç University and doing research on Generative AI at KUIS AI Center. I received my M.Sc. degree in 2022 and started PhD here. My supervisors are Assoc. Prof. Aykut Erdem and Prof. Deniz Yuret. I specifically work on text-guided image editing, in
which we manipulate images based on textual descriptions. I also work on other projects involving domain adaptation and video synthesis.
Nazir Nayal, MSc student in Computer Science and Engineering
Hi, I’m Nazir. I am currently a fellow at the Koç University & İş Bankası AI (KUIS AI) Center and an MSc Student at Koç University. I am also a member of the Autonomous Vision Group (AVG), working under the supervision of Asst. Prof. Fatma Güney and João F. Henriques from the Visual Geometry Group at Oxford University. I am generally interested in applications of deep learning in computer vision, open-world learning, and uncertainty estimation. My project is about detecting rare events and unknown objects in driving scenarios.
Nafiseh Jabbari Tofighi, MSc student in Computer Science and Engineering
My name is Nafiseh Jabbari Tofighi, and I am 25 years old. I completed my bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering at Tabriz University, where I developed a keen interest in the field of computer science. During my undergraduate studies, I discovered the fascinating world of AI research, and it captured my imagination with its boundless possibilities. My focus has been on computer vision, specifically saliency prediction based on AI algorithms. Currently, I am pursuing my master’s degree at Koc University, where my research involves working on state-of-the-art deep learning methods for 360-degree image and video quality assessment.
Vahideh Hayyolalam, PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering
I am Vahideh Hayyolalam, a Ph.D. student in Computer Science and Engineering. I started AI when I was involved with NP-hard optimization problems in cloud computing during my master’s. I got familiar with meta-heuristic algorithms and then introduced my own algorithm BWO accordingly. Then, During my Ph.D., I started working on Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Federated Learning. As a result, I’ve published more than five papers related to the impact of edge intelligence on connected healthcare systems, heart disease detection using machine learning, and so on. The full publication list is available in my Google Scholar.