Growing up with parents who were both university professors, Celik-Akdur always loved being in academia. After moving to the U.S. with her husband, who is also a professor, Eda wanted to focus more on teaching, having already mentored graduate students and published over 30 SCI research articles.
Celik-Akdur will be teaching Fundamentals of Biomolecular Engineering, Bioprocess Engineering, Sytems and Synthetic Biology, and Advanced Principles of Biomolecular Engineering, as well as developing laboratory course modules related to these subjects, using her strong research background and nearly 20 years of teaching experience.
“The classroom is like my theater stage; I feel very energetic and forget about daily struggles. I am looking forward to getting to know the students at Cornell, helping them identify their goals, and equipping them with the tools they need to succeed and grow to their full potential,” she said.
Celik-Akdur joined the R.F. Smith School in July. She received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from Middle East Technical University, Turkey, where she held a teaching assistant position for seven years during her graduate studies. She worked as a postdoctoral associate at Cornell under the mentorship of professor Matthew DeLisa. She then joined Hacettepe University in Turkey and was promoted to associate professor and was affiliated with the Bioengineering Division at the Institute of Science.