MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Born in Trabzon in 1966, Prof. Dr. Kaya earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from ITU's Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering in 1988 and 1992, respectively. He completed his Ph.D. on "the development of ceramic composites" at The University of Birmingham, UK, between 1995 and 2000. He later pursued postdoctoral research at the same university, focusing on "the development and application of nanomaterials."

He worked at YTU's Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering as a Research Assistant from 1989 to 1995, Assistant Professor from 2004 to 2006, Associate Professor from 2006 to 2012, and Professor from 2012 to 2016. From 2016 to 2020, he was a faculty member at Sabancı University's Department of Materials Science and Nanoengineering and served as the Director of Research and Graduate Policies. Since 2020, he has been a Professor in the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering at YTU.

Prof. Dr. Kaya played a key role in the establishment of YTU’s Project Support Office and TTO (Technology Transfer Office) and served as a project coordinator. He has held various roles, including being a board member of Gebze Organized Industrial Zone (GOSB) Technopark, a Project Evaluation Member at Technopark Istanbul, a board member of the London Materials Society, and a member of the board of Sabancı University's Nanotechnology Application and Research Center (founded under Law 6550). He has also served on the boards of Inovent Inc., TÜBİTAK Presidency of Technology and Innovation Support Programs (TEYDEB), and R&D and Design Centers Communication and Collaboration Platform (ARGEMİP).

Currently, he serves on the Project and Intellectual Property Evaluation Committees of several technoparks. He has delivered over 80 presentations at international conferences, 10 of which were as an invited speaker. He has published 88 papers in SCI-indexed journals, with 3,340 citations. He holds seven national and international patents. In 2024, he was listed among the "World's Top 2% Most Influential Scientists" in the "Lifetime Achievement" category by Stanford University.