Istanbul Technical University (ITU) continues to impress with its international scientific and technical achievements. Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics faculty member Prof. Dr. Melike Nikbay, known for her work in the fields of aerodynamics and aeroelasticity, won the “NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) Applied Platform Technologies Panel (AVT) Excellence Award.” The award plaque will be presented on May 23, 2024 in Ottawa, Canada.

Prof. Dr. Nikbay, who has been involved in AVT (Applied Vehicle Technologies) since 2010 and was awarded “AVT Young Contributor Award” in 2016, attracted attention with the many activities she has carried out and initiated in this field as well as the students she has trained.

We congratulate our faculty member and wish her success in her studies.

About Prof. Dr. Melike Nikbay

Melike Nikbay received her bachelor’s degree in 1996 and her master’s degree in 1998 from Boğaziçi University Mechanical Engineering Department. In addition, she earned a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado (Boulder) in 1999. She completed her doctorate in 2002 in the fields of “Aeroelastic Optimization and Sonic Burst Minimization” at the same department at the University of Colorado, where she also worked as a research assistant between 1998-2002. She started full-time academic life at ITU Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2004. She worked at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio in 2014-2015 and at NASA Langley Research Center in 2015-2016. Prof. Dr. Melike Nikbay, who returned to her duty at ITU in September 2016, is also responsible for the management of AeroMDO Lab, the Aerospace Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Laboratory established in 2019. She was appointed by the Ministry of National Defense and took part in many NATO research teams since 2008. She was elected as the chair of the NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) Applied Vehicle Technologies (AVT) Panel Support Committee, which she will continue from 2021 to the end of 2023. She was awarded the “Academy Membership” award by the American Aeronautics and Space Institute, and the “Young Contributor” award by the NATO Science and Technology Organization in 2016.

Melike Nikbay