BARBAROS ÇETİN

Professor

Barbaros Çetin

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Barbaros Çetin received his MS from Department of Mechanical Engineering at Middle East Technical University, and PhD from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. His MS research was on the analysis of convective heat transfer inside microchannels under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Hafit Yüncü and Prof. Dr. Sadık Kakaç. His PhD research was on the development of lab-on-a-chip technology for the separation of microparticles and cells under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Dongqing Li. Prior to joining Bilkent University, he worked at the Middle East Technical University-Northern Cyprus Campus Mechanical Engineering as a faculty member. He joined Bilkent University Mechanical Engineering Department in 2011, and initiated the Bilkent University Microfluidics & Lab-on-a-chip Research Group. Dr. Çetin has completed TÜBİTAK 3501, 1001 and 1003 projects. Dr. Çetin has published many research articles in prestigious journals including Nature, Electrophoresis, Biomicrofluidics, Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, Electrochimica Acta, Int. J. Heat and Mass Transfer, Int. J. Thermal Science, ASME J. Heat Transfer.

Curriculum Vitae | Publons | ORCID | Google Scholar

Dr. Çetin is the recipient of the following awards:

- 2018 Science Academy Association Distinguished Young Scientist Award (BAGEP)
- 2017 METU Prof. Dr. Mustafa N. Parlar Research Incentive Award
- 2017 Outstanding Young Scientist Award of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA-GEBİP)
- 2015 Billkent University Distinguished Teaching Award

ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE

- Professor, Bilkent University, Türkiye (2024--Present)
- Associate Professor, Bilkent University, Türkiye (2018--2024)
- Assistant Professor, Bilkent University, Türkiye (2011--2018)
- Assistant Professor, Middle East Technical University--Northern Cyprus Campus, TRNC (2010--2011)
- Instructor Dr., Middle East Technical University--Northern Cyprus Campus, TRNC (2009--2010)
- Research Assistant, Vanderbilt University, USA (2006--2009)
- Research Assistant, Middle East Technical University, Türkiye (2002--2006)

EDUCATION

B.S. METU, Mechanical Eng. (2002)
M.S. METU, Mechanical Eng. (2005)
Ph.D. Vanderbilt University, Mechanical Eng. (2009)

RESEARCH

My research interests and accomplishments focus on two tracks: (i) microfluidics for biomedical/chemical applications, and (ii) micro-scale heat transfer. In both topics, there are important research questions from both scientific and application point of view. In my research, basically I have been concentrating on scientific problems which will eventually lead to a solution of challenging engineering problems and/or improved design (or performance) of engineering systems within the context of these topics.

Microfluidics for Biological and/or Chemical Applications

For biomedical and chemical analysis in microfluidic systems, there are some fundamental operations (i.e. unit operations) such as separation, focusing, filtering, concentration, trapping, sorting, detection, counting, washing, lysis of bio-particles, and PCR-like reactions. A certain combination of these operations lead to a complete analysis system or a lab-on-a-chip system for a specific application. Manipulation of bio-particles is the key ingredient for the aforementioned processes. Simulation of bio-particles' trajectory inside microchannels is the key ingredient for microfluidic bio-particle manipulation. Our group together with our collaborators have been developing computational models for these kind of simulations. For the simulation of hydrodynamic and acoustic bio-particle manipulation, we have developed computational models via MATLAB interface of COMSOL Multiphysics. Implementing point particle approach in conjunction with pseudo Monte-Carlo approach, our group demonstrated that microfluidic particle manipulation can be effectively modeled in a real experimental setting for hydrodynamic and acoustic techniques. Albeit point particle approach is an effective and computationally inexpensive way for the simulation of particle motion, it is appropriate when the particle size is small compared to the channel dimensions. It is not straightforward to include any particle-wall and particle-particle interactions. Our group have been developing a computational model based on Boundary Element Method (BEM) to simulate the electro-kinetic motion of particles in microfluidic networks. We have recently concentrated on the electro-kinetic motion of the colloidal particles near conducting and non-conducting walls.In conjunction with these modeling efforts, our group have been developing microfluidic technologies for bacteria and DNA isolation, synthesis of nanoparticles.

Micro-scale Heat Transfer

With the development of the fabrication techniques, the channels with a size on the order of micrometers can easily be fabricated. These micrometer scale channels have become elements of micro heat exchangers, micro heat sinks, micro-sensors, and micro power generation systems. For an effective and economical design of these micro-scale thermal systems, heat transfer characteristics at micro-scale need to be well understood. Although there exists some experimental data for fluid flow, experimental data on convective heat transfer for microchannel flows is limited. Therefore, numerical and analytical models are the key ingredients to gain fundamental understanding of fluid flow and heat transfer at micro-scale. Our group developed analytical and numerical models to investigate how the scaling alter thermal characteristics of fluid flow in microchannels with different thermal boundary conditions. Our models have been followed and used as benchmark in the literature. I have extended my heat transfer research towards the modeling and experimental characterization of flat grooved heat pipes. Together with my collaborators from METU and ASELSAN, we have been developing computational model for the comprehensive modeling of grooved heat pipes. Recently, we have developed a universal computational framework for a fast and accurate modeling of heat pipes. An analysis tool based on this framework, named Heat Pipe Analysis Toolbox (H-PAT) has been presented and will be available for academic use soon.