Ayse Turak

Biography

Ayse Turak is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering Physics at McMaster University, and the Director of the Centre for Emerging Device Technologies; she is also an associate member of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, as well as the School of Biomedical Engineering at McMaster University. Her research focusses on three major areas: green energy via emerging 3rd generation photovoltaics, electrocatalysis, and batteries; disruptive technologies through work in optical sensors, anti-viral surfaces, and on-chip optical isolators; and advanced materials development with extensive experience in producing nanoparticles, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites, and ferroelectrics. Her research vision is to develop easy, versatile, and inexpensive methods of producing, tuning and exploring nanostructures, targeting energy applications, sensing and magneto-optics. By making cheaper, more accessible, and more flexible electronic products, her research aims at making an impact on how people use clean energy, access information and measure the world around them.

Prior to McMaster, she was a Marie Curie Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute for Metals Research in Germany, then a visiting professor at Sabanci University in Turkey. She has received an Early Researcher Award (2016), an International Association of Advanced Materials Scientist Medal (2021), a Leadership in Teaching and Learning Fellowship (2017-2019) and the Petro-Canada Young Innovators award (2016). In the international research community, she serves as the co-chair for the Canadian chapter for the Society for Information Display, the director of the Functional Materials Research Consortium (with Hoseo University and A-Pro Ltd, S. Korea), and as a member of the Canadian Printable Electronics Industry Association/intelliFLEX Innovation Alliance, and EVATEG (Energy Efficient Electronic and Lighting Technologies Research Centre, Turkey). She also sits on the Editorial Board for the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics (Springer) and Scientific Reports (Springer-Nature), and as Associate editor for Frontiers in Photonics in Photovoltaic Materials and Devices.

As a member of multiple equity seeking groups, she champions colleagues and students from under-represented communities, and celebrates their success, through her service in a variety of roles. She integrates equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility in her teaching philosophy to achieve excellence in the pedagogy of science.