YEGâN ERDEM

Associate Professor

Yegân Erdem

BIOGRAPHY

Yegân Erdem obtained her Ph.D. degree from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of California, Berkeley in 2013 with minors in Materials Science and Electrical Engineering. During her doctoral studies, she worked in Prof. Albert Pisano’s and Prof. Fiona Doyle’s research laboratories towards developing microfluidic systems for controlled synthesis of nanoparticles. She received her M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 2008 where she worked in Prof. Karl Böhringer’s research group on developing textured surfaces for droplet transport and characterization of a walking microrobot. She received her B.Sc. degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Sabancý University, Ýstanbul, in 2006. Her research areas and interests include microfluidics, MEMS, nanomaterials, nanosensors and energy harvesting. She taught "ME 211: Thermo-Fluids Engineering I" (together with Prof. Çetin) and "ME 615: Microfluidics".

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley (2013)
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington (2008)
B.S., Mechatronics Engineering, Sabancý University (2006)

RESEARCH

Microfluidic systems show great promise for the synthesis of nanomaterials that possess extremely well controlled size, size distribution and shape. Indeed, microfluidic technology provides better control of the reaction conditions than batch-wise synthesis techniques. This is the key to controlling the product characteristics and quality. In addition, new milestones can be realized through the development of smart surfaces formed from the assembly of these nanomaterials. The primary focus of my research group is to focus on the synthesis of nanomaterials by microfluidic methods and the development of these smart surfaces on which nanomaterials are patterned by using microfluidic techniques. These smart surfaces can be used in applications such as energy harvesting and biosensing applications.

During my PhD studies, I obtained practical experience in microfluidics, surface physics and nanomaterial synthesis technology by developing micro-fabrication processes, working on droplet transport on textured surfaces, designing microreactors for nanoparticle synthesis, characterizing the properties of synthesized nanomaterials and printing those materials on substrates. I am enthusiastic about using my experience in microfluidics and nanomaterial technology to establish and direct an interdisciplinary research program focused in the following areas:

Design of Fully Integrated Microfluidic Reactors: Microreactor technology currently focuses on synthesizing nanoparticles in a very controlled environment such that they are monodisperse and at the desired size. Therefore fully integrated microfluidic platforms in which nanoparticles are both synthesized and functionalized such that they can be used in applications such as biodetection and bioseparation are important. Functionalization in a microreactor will improve the quality of these particles since monodisperse size distributions and precise mixing at controlled concentrations can be achieved.

Smart Surfaces Created by Microfluidic Networks: Developing of microfluidic networks for assembling nanomaterials on substrates to create smart surfaces is another research interest. By using this network, different nanoparticles can be assembled on the same substrate at precise locations. This method is a mechanical way of assembling nanoparticles therefore it is independent of substrate material and does not require chemical modification of the surface.

For graduate applications, please also check our department website for the details of application procedure. Undergraduates interested in this research should contact directly to Dr. Erdem via e-mail.

Website: http://minilab.bilkent.edu.tr