Fulbright Alumni Association Board of Directors members for the 2025 - 2027 period are as follows:
Dr. HANDE GÜNDÜZ KOÇAN (President)
Hande Gündüz Koçan completed her bachelor's degree in Chemistry at Istanbul Technical University in 2009. After his graduation, he was accepted to the doctoral program with a bachelor's degree in ITU Chemistry Department and continued his studies as a visiting doctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 2013 and 2014 as a Fulbright scholar. Hande Gündüz Koçan, who worked as a Research Assistant at ITU during her doctoral education, started working as a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at Koç University after her graduation. After serving in this position between 2019 and 2023, he started working as an Assistant Professor in the n2STAR department at the same university. Dr. gives lectures on organic chemistry, laboratory techniques and organic structure analysis. Gündüz has many international articles and project studies in the fields of synthetic method development, catalytic reactions, fluorescence and chemiluminescent imaging, and development of phototherapy agents for cancer treatment. Hande Gündüz Koçan currently continues to work at Koç University and simultaneously continues her postdoctoral scientific research.
ÖZLEM ÖZYİĞİT (Vice President)
Özlem Özyiğit, who graduated from Kadıköy Anatolian High School and Boğaziçi University Department of Business Administration, completed her Master's degree in Finance with a double major in Corporate Finance and Banking at Georgia State University, Atlanta, with a Fulbright scholarship. Özyiğit, who started his career at Saudi American Bank in 1991, later worked at Garanti Yatırım Bankası. Özyiğit, who moved to Finans Yatırım Menkul Değerler in 1996, was appointed Deputy General Manager responsible for Investment Banking in 2000 and a Member of the Board of Directors in 2007. Until 2011, he provided consultancy to local and foreign companies within the Finansbank group on mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, privatization, project finance and restructuring. Between 2011 and 2020, he served as the Secretary General of the International Investors Association (YASED). He supported all kinds of investment and growth policies of companies in our country and produced policies and solutions for their financial, legal and state problems. In line with his 30 years of management and leadership experience in the private sector and public sector and the responsibilities he has taken on boards of directors, he has been serving as the founding partner of A-Partners Business Solutions consultancy company since 2020. She is a board member of the Board Members Association (YUD) and a member of the Professional Women's Network (PWN).
AYŞEGÜL ÇERÇİ (Vice President)
Aysegul Cerci holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Middle East Technical University (METU) and a Master's degree in Business Administration from Hacettepe University. She began her career in 1988 at the Development and Investment Bank of Turkey (TKYB), where she worked in areas such as project finance, money and capital markets, strategic planning, wholesale banking, and development cooperation at both expert and managerial levels. She has directed loan and grant programs, mainly targeting SMEs, in collaboration with international development finance institutions such as the World Bank, European Union and Council of Europe Development Bank. She completed the Fulbright-Humphrey Fellowship Program in the 2004/05 term at Rutgers University, New Jersey, specializing in Development Finance and Banking; the Distinguished Humphrey Fellowship Program at Duke University in 2019, focusing on Development Economics. She holds a Level 3 Capital Markets License, Credit Rating, and Corporate Governance Rating Licenses, as well as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license. She completed her over 35 years of professional development banking career in 2024 and continues to share her knowledge, expertise and leadership experience in development finance as a management consultant with firms and institutions in areas of sustainable finance and project management. She is an active member of the Humphrey Alumni Association and the Fulbright Alumni Association, serving on their boards and mentoring young alumni.
AYGÜN ŞEN (Secretary General)
Aygün Şen completed her undergraduate education at the Department of English Linguistics at Hacettepe University in 2004 and also received pedagogical formation training at Hacettepe University. After working as an English Instructor at the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences at Istanbul Kültür University between 2004 and 2006, she worked as a Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at The University of Texas Pan-American, now known as The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, with a Fulbright scholarship between 2006 and 2007. She has successfully completed the Fulbright FLTA program. In 2012, she completed the Foreign Language Education (MA TEFL) master's program at Bahçeşehir University with honors. Aygün Çatak, who carried out the Teacher Education Project with the Turkish Informatics Foundation (TBV), is also the Coordinator of the Harvard GlobalWE Essay Contest on Women Empowerment, organized by Harvard University, as well as the Coordinator of the Autumn Teachers Conference (ATC) and KOÇ ELT Conference. As a member of the Koç Group Sustainable Development Committee, she carries out projects with students on the Sustainable Development Goals. She has 19 years of foreign language teaching experience and worked as an English Teacher at the Vehbi Koç Foundation Koç School until 2024. Shee has been a member of the Fulbright Alumni Association since 2010, has served as the secretary general of the Board of Directors since 2013, and became the president in June 2023. She is now the general secretary of the board and lives in Atlanta, USA.
ECEM MUTLU (Accountant)
After completing her undergraduate degree in English Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University and her master's degree in Psychology at Bilkent University, Ecem Mutlu worked as an English Instructor in higher education institutions. He worked as a Foreign Language Teaching Assistant at New York University as a Fulbright scholar in the 2021-2022 academic year. After returning to Turkey, he worked as an Educational Consultant at the Fulbright Istanbul Office. He currently works as an International Projects and Educational Programs Specialist at Koç University. Ecem is also a graduate of the Kennedy Lugar Youth Exchange Study (YES) program.
PROF. DR. HÜSEYİN ÇAVUŞ (Board Member)
He received his bachelor's degree in physics from Middle East Technical University (Ankara-Turkey) in 1999 and his doctorate degree in solar physics from Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (Turkey) in 2007. He became an assistant professor and associate professor at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in 2009 and 2012, respectively. He has been working as a professor at the Physics Department of this university since 2018 and served as the department head between 2020-2022. Using observational data and artificial intelligence, he develops theoretical models to understand the Sun-Earth connection and space weather. He has articles, proceedings and invited speeches on these subjects in international and national journals. As a Fulbright Academic Research scholar, he was a visiting scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics between 2022-2023.
PROF. DR. YUNUS KASIM TERZİ (Board Member)
Yunus Kasım Terzi graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology with honors from the Hacettepe University Faculty of Science in 1998. He earned a Master of Science degree and a Ph.D. in Medical Biology from the Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine in 2004 and 2010, respectively. From 2002 to 2010, he served at the Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Biology. Since 2011, Dr. Terzi has been a faculty member at the Faculty of Medicine at Baskent University. He is also the Director of the Baskent University Transplantation and Gene Sciences Institute. Between 2016 and 2017, he worked as a Fulbright Academic Research Scholar in Stephanie Halene’s Lab at Yale University Division of Hematology and Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Terzi's current research primarily focuses on clonal evolution in cancer, using chronic myeloid leukemia models to explore the fundamental mechanisms driving cell evolution. His work also examines non-coding RNAs and their regulatory roles in cancer cells. He has projects and articles in international and national journals on these topics. Throughout his career, Dr. Terzi has utilized a wide range of molecular and cell biology techniques in his research, including animal cell culture, cloning technologies, expression analysis, western blotting, immunofluorescence staining, live cell imaging, high-throughput DNA analysis, transcriptomics, single-cell sequencing, bioinformatics, and more. Dr. Terzi manages molecular genetic testing for both inherited and acquired disorders, as well as preimplantation genetic diagnosis for monogenic disorders in his department.
MERVE UNUTMAZ (Board Member)
Merve Unutmaz, eğitim ve sivil toplum alanlarında uzmanlaşmış deneyimli bir program koordinatörüdür. Şu anda Köy Okulları Değişim Ağı Derneği'nde (KODA) "Öğretmen Toplulukları" programında saha koordinatörü olarak görev yapmakta, kırsal bölgelerdeki öğretmenlerin mesleki gelişimini desteklemektedir. 2007 yılında Hacettepe Üniversitesi İngiliz Dilbilimi (English Linguistics) bölümünde lisans eğitimini tamamlamıştır. Avrupa Birliği (Galatasaray Üniversitesi) ve Sivil Toplum Yönetimi (İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi) alanlarında, iki yüksek lisans derecesine sahip olup, proje yönetimi, raporlama ve değerlendirme konularında çalışmaktadır. Eğitim alanındaki uzmanlığı, farklı bağlamlarda öğretmen eğitimi, program geliştirme, değerlendirme ve eğitim politikaları üzerine yoğunlaşmaktadır. 2018-2019 yıllarında Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence bursiyeri olarak ABD’de Hawai’i Community College’da misafir öğretim üyesi olarak görev yapmış, burada ders tasarımı, müfredat geliştirme ve kültürel değişim programları üzerine çalışmıştır. İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi ve İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi'nde akademik koordinatör ve öğretim görevlisi olarak görev aldığı dönemde, değerlendirme süreçleri, akademik destek programları ve dil eğitimi alanlarında kapsamlı deneyim edinmiştir. Ayrıca, kırsal bölgelerde öğretmenlerin mesleki gelişimini destekleyen programlar yürütmekte ve eğitimde kapsayıcılığı artırmaya yönelik çalışmalar gerçekleştirmektedir.
YUNUS BÖLEK (Board Member)
Yunus Bölek completed his education at Kirkwood Community College, Iowa, with a Fulbright Community College scholarship between 2008 and 2010, with Business Administration and Marketing diplomas. He returned to Turkiye in 2010 and started his undergraduate education at Boğaziçi University, and successfully completed his undergraduate education at the Department of Business Administration in 2015. After completing his undergraduate education, he started working in various positions at Aselsannet Istanbul Regional Directorate, a full subsidiary of Aselsan, in 2016 and currently continues his working life as a regional manager. Yunus Bölek, who has been a member of the Fulbright Alumni Association since 2010 and has served in various board positions, loves traveling and is a Harley-Davidson driver.