My Projects
Below you can find some projects I have worked in the previous years:
Quantum Computing -Assessment of an Emerging Technology
and Strategic Implementation Plan
- Illinois Business Consulting Project
If you prefer a short summary, click here
Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) is the largest professionally-managed, student-run university consulting organization in the country. IBC conducts more than 70 projects every year with Fortune 100, mid-sized and startup companies and nonprofit organizations.
- Work on a paid consulting project for a Fortune 100 Company as a part of a diverse team of nine consultants to identify and assess capabilities, opportunities, and threats of quantum computing
- Research and conduct interviews with 10+ industry experts to analyze the effect of quantum applications on manufacturing & industry trends
- Develop a quantum computing implementation strategy suited towards both short- and long-term goals with predicted future milestones
Emerging cutting-edge technologies such as quantum computing have the potential to transform the way the businesses are working. Quasi-prototype, working applications evoke interest by the public and technology consultants, while companies struggle to find out how and when this technology may impact their business.
For this paid consulting project, our client -a Fortune 100 company- was interested in identifying the short-term (within 2 years) and long-term (5+ years) impacts of quantum computing across its business. Therefore, I started to work with a diverse team of nine consultants, including students representing from 10+ major academic units within the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Our task consisted of two phases:
1. The first phase was focusing on definition and evaluation of quantum computing, its capabilities and the identification of the industries that have been or will be impacted by this technology.
2. The second phase to identify threats and opportunities in these identified domains and forming links to the client's capabilities and current offerings
After discussing the needs of the client and finalizing the scope of the project, our first goal was to define quantum computing and related technical terms.
A complex emerging technology requires the understanding of complex physical phenomena and laws of physics and engineering. Our primary goal was to define quantum computing (QC) terms and technical lingo in terms of understandable every-day language. After listing all relevant QC related terms such as qubits, decoherence, and tunneling, we explained each term with a combination of definitions coming from industry& academia and forming analogies to existing innovation examples. This step was crucially important as any member of the client team -regardless of his/her background- should be able to comprehend the definitions and its basic work mechanism without any buzzwords. Thus, I gathered and organized information on technical terms and developed visual and alternative ways of explanations to convey a human-centered explanation.
The second step was to list all current and potential promising applications of quantum computing. To understand the development cycle and trends of QC, we searched and listed private and public organizations that are committed to develop QC and to create funding resources. I analyzed research papers and communicated my findings with my supervisors and peers to prevent duplication. This research enabled us to analyze the competitive landscape of QC and to find out most funding-receiving & promising applications of QC. Evaluation of funding and investment helped our client to appraise the QC system as a whole and discover the current performance of QC relative to the goals of the system.
The third step of the project was to identify the industries that will be affected/transformed by quantum computing. Although, quantum computing has a number of technical limitations that hinder the progress and implementation for the upcoming years, we were well aware of the fact that existing projects such as fully secure telecommunication channels may become popular in the near future. I actively gathered knowledge about the progress of dealing with the limitation of QC. As an engineer, differentiating between what can be done with QC and dreams was very important. I conducted around 10 interviews with industry experts and relevant academic staff of UIUC to investigate this gap between expectations and reality. To give an example, I found out that quantum computing will be utilized through cloud service and as a SaaS platform, although there are some news forecasting the quantum computing/processing units as the future of this technology. My interviews with industry experts revealed that quantum computing is very fragile and unstable to be processed as a small hardware unit such as CPU on the computers in the next 10-15 years. Similar insights and facts were reached with help of industry reports and interviews. This kind of research enabled our client to distinguish between real capabilities and fake promises, and thus, locate the QC technology on the Gartner Hype Cycle.
The Project Team
The last step of our research methodology is to analyze the feasibility of quantum computing implementation in areas of our client's services and product offerings. In light of our research analysis, we prepared the most feasible timeline for implementing QC in the existing product/service lines. As a mechanical engineer, I was responsible to investigate how and when manufacturing and industrial operations are going to be affected by QC. As a team, we constructed an implementation plan for QC to prepare for its threats while taking advantage of this emerging technology over competitors. I was personally interested in analyzing our findings and detecting agreements and discrepancies between resources. My research experience and expertise in engineering helped me and my team to revise and harmonize our final decisions while assuring compliance with the existing performance of quantum computing.
To conclude, we presented opportunities and threats of quantum computing on our client's business over short- and long-term plans. In addition to our strategic implementation plan, we also prepared an overview of quantum computing catered to our client's executive leadership. The project was finalized with a comprehensive presentation to the client. All findings of the study including recommendations for implementation of quantum computing technology were documented in a report.
Meet Turkey's First Student-Run Makerspace / Innovation Space
- A Design Thinking Best Practice
If you prefer a short summary of my responsibilities, click here
Tunnel X Makerspace is the first 100% student-run research and development laboratory in Turkey. This makerspace allows students and other university shareholders to create inventions or develop entrepreneurial ventures by providing them with a co-working space, manufacturing capabilities and network of distinguished people.
- Launched the first student-run pre-incubation laboratory to prototype technology-driven inventions
- Led a diverse group of 10 students to manage technical and financial aspects of 100% student-run laboratory
- Coordinated and supervised entrepreneurial and research-oriented projects at makerspace
- Interviewed and mapped the educational needs of 200+ students, academicians and business partners
- Lobbied and promoted for a larger makerspace & design institute at Koç University
A makerspace is a place where people can come together to create or invent things, either using traditional crafts or technology (Cambridge Dictionary). Usually, businesspeople and engineers join forces to prototype and develop their entrepreneurial/technical ventures in makerspaces before scaling up to a conventional manufacturing plant or startup. In a nutshell, a makerspace is the space and network of people which helps you to find the product-market fit by iterating on your idea and product.
Upon my return from my exchange program at UC Berkeley (CA), one of the most frequent questions I have received was:
"Why does UC Berkeley stand out among others?"
Although there are numerous reasons, I believe that I can summarize my answers into three categories:
1 ) Supporting Network of People
2 ) Enabling Spaces & Technologies
3 ) Its Proximity to Silicon Valley
While presenting my findings and insights to the dean of engineering and my professors, I learned that one of the most frequent complaints delivered by students was the absence of a team-working space for hardware and software related projects. The dean was already inquiring into the idea of makerspaces but struggling about how to build a space that fits the needs of students and academic staff. As a mechanical engineer, who spent numerous hours in Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation and several other makerspaces, I was drawn into this project. I left that meeting with the responsibility of representing students and leading the initiative for a new collaborative working space.
I was specially asked to answer the following questions:
1 ) What purpose should the makerspace serve? What are some main activities to be handled within the space?
2 ) How should it look like in terms of ambiance and design? What are some must-have equipment and tools in the space within a limited budget?
3 ) How it is going to be utilized by students, staff, student organizations and other shareholders of the university?
4 ) How to sustain this space in terms of management, regulations, and financials?
From the very start, I was well aware of the fact that this was no one-person job. I needed a diverse team to research, ideate, and prototype a new space which appeals to every shareholder of the university. I reached out to my network and brought a team of outstanding, creative and successful students, who are passionate about designing the 21st-century learning space. I would like to thank İdil Üre, Kaan Bilgin and Murat Çetinkaya in particular, who were with me from the beginning of this project. The question that keeps us awake at nights was there and we were determined to come up with a detailed but to-the-point response...
"How might we design an enabling space and environment to facilitate collaborative learning and creating inside a 21st century university education system?"
While leading this accomplished team of individuals, I wanted to reflect my way leadership style which is known as "shared leadership model" in the literature. In this leadership model, the responsibilities are distributed broadly within a team so that each team member leads the operations in his/her expertise. In this way, more members engage in the leadership of the team and therefore, the team effectiveness can be maximized. I believe that this model was a perfect fit for our project, as the volunteers including me were driven by pure passion and curiosity. The more engaged the team, the more they consider this project as an extension of their dreams and ambitions. My role in this project was to lead and oversee the diverse team of 10 students in order to manage the technical and financial aspects of Turkey's first-to-become 100% student-run makerspace.
Need Mapping
The first step into this project was to identify and map all the needs, wants and necessities of all shareholders of the university. Therefore, I assigned each member to conduct deep empathy interviews and report the findings of these interviews on a canvas. This step was especially crucial because we needed to identify each pain point and need to win the support of the board of directors over other projects. During a four-month period, we had managed to interview and survey more than 200 students, academic staff and other shareholders of the university. We identified patterns across the interviews regarding the needs and summarized these insights in forms of short stories, graphics, and reports. Some questions from the interviews are listed below:
- Where do you feel creative and entrepreneurial? What makes you to get out and to create something new?
- Have you ever given up on a project? What made you feel discouraged during this process? What were some resources you needed but never able to access?
- What are some practical skills you would like to learn?
- Where and when do you work on collaborative projects with your friends?
Some Decisive Quotations from the Interviews
Benchmark Analysis
The second step was to explore the best practices and benchmarks of makerspaces around the world. We researched about different designs, uses, and management practices of makerspaces to discover the link between the needs that makerspaces are filling and the design/equipment they have. We investigated a wide variety of specialized makerspaces ranging from very soft-skills oriented brainstorming/ideation spaces such as James Cook University to heavy-manufacturing oriented makerspaces such as the University of Munich Unternehmertum. After going through the map canvasses filled with insights from the interviews, we have decided to establish a dual structure containing a bit of both. The enlightening blueprint we referred throughout the design process was the makerspace of Stanford University called d.school. D.school managed to join low-fidelity prototyping tools such as foam and pipes together with ingenious and impact-oriented creative space. In other words, this space was enabling people to prototype and iterate their ideas by empowering their creativity without using heavy machinery. As it will be explained later in this post, our research revealed that shareholders were in need of an interdisciplinary co-creation space to work on new projects in groups. Basic prototyping tools were a must, but a creative shared workspace had been a bigger need for our future users.
Turning Insights into Design Manifesto
Many people would have jumped to conclusions and would have started purchasing technical items if they were assigned to this task. But, we - a group of design thinkers- were confident in the design thinking process. I postponed the purchase of new equipment until we identified the needs of our target group. Moreover, we were bounded by a limited budget and wanted to spend every penny for the maximum impact. Our research revealed some key learnings:
1 ) The most frequently-mentioned need was neither the equipment nor the training! It was a collaborative and innovative working space to prototype new ideas. Students and academic staff wanted to think and work on their innovative and passion-driven projects with people from diverse backgrounds.
2 ) Students lacked access to both basic and semi-professional equipment such as electric screwdriver because the technical shop was only open during work hours coinciding with lectures. Moreover, the technical shop was prioritizing research projects over student projects.
3 ) The professors were very interested in introducing new hand-on projects into their class but lacked a team-working class environment to do so. They needed a modular classroom that enables several student groups to work simultaneously.
4 ) Companies were looking for talent who acquired both soft and technical skills throughout their university education. They were actively searching for students with hands-on project experience. This space and the network surrounding it had the potential to serve as a connection between the companies and students. Moreover, some companies were willing to pay for this introduction to space.
In the light of these learnings, we crafted the design manifesto of our future space and started to work on the design and ambiance of the space. We came up with several use cases and how this space can help shareholders to achieve their dreams. This space should welcome students from diverse disciplines to join new innovative projects to prototype and build their first versions of their dreams.
Challenges Faced
However, we faced many challenges throughout this project. The biggest problem was the limited space in our university. Our university was expanding in the last few years to accommodate new majors and more students within their existing buildings. They had run out of space recently. Many professors and departmental units were challenging each other to advocate themselves for the remaining few spaces. I decided to position our project to differentiate among many others by emphasizing that this project would benefit the whole university body instead of serving to a specific research group. After presenting how this space can solve multiple problems of different shareholders of the university and negotiating our needs, our project was approved and selected to be implemented by the directors.
However, the remaining places were still very idle and located far from the campus center. After numerous discussions with the engineering department and mapping every available space within the university property, we negotiated for an old warehouse to be our first makerspace on campus. The space was very small to be a new lab for a research group but accommodating for our needs. Moreover, by then, it was used as a warehouse for abandoned equipment and tools. It was close to the reach of student and would be the perfect location for us to prove our value to the university. We decided to call this space "Tunnel X" because space is located at the very end of the tunnel that connects the student center to the engineering department. The X represents the 'unknown' you want to discover within the space.
First Prototype
We approached this space to be our first prototype in the design thinking methodology. We created our initial architectural drawings and started to list the required equipment and tools for our space according to the need map. These tools were specifically chosen from our benchmarks to invoke interest in creating first designs from low fidelity prototyping tools. Some frequently used technical tools were acquired with sponsorships or from other laboratories to serve for engineering projects. We created a special four-person ideation space to allow people to brainstorm on their projects with the help of whiteboards, post-its, and sharpies. It was true that our space was not capable of accommodating multiple groups at the same time or it was not offering every needed equipment for start-up/technical project development, but this was a prototype space to test our hypothesis of needs and to observe the relationship between people and space. Using these key learnings, we were confident to acquire a larger budget, space, and opportunities if we can prove our value proposition to the university management.
As a group of students, we cleaned, painted and decorated the space to be the first student-run makerspace in Turkey. The makerspace started its operations on March 2017 with 15+ student volunteers. We ran the space every day between 5 pm and 9 pm to offer students a product development space after their coursework. Although the makerspace was only 25 m2 (270 ft2), it was used for the development of 15 interdisciplinary student projects within its first four months. Although the total budget was under $10,000 and it only had approximately 200 prototyping and technical equipment, it served its purpose to become a collaborative working space for innovative and interest-invoking projects.
Some examples of the projects handled within this space can be seen below:
Current Standing and It's Future
This space has been led and managed by the students since its launch in March 2017. I am very honored and delighted to be the founder and the first manager of this space. All the achievements are received thanks to my passionate and distinguished colleagues. My overall role in this project is to lead the efforts to make this space come true and build a united vision around the space and network. My ultimate contribution is to understand the needs of each shareholder and make them gather around the same table to actively engage in this project. I used my negotiation and relationship management skills to convince the directors while used my strategy making and innovation skills to create an enabling space for all people.
The makerspace has been regulated and designed by students to be technically and financially sustainable in the long run. We use the apprenticeship model to train new students on leadership, management, and technical topics to become the next leaders of the space. I am proud to say that this year we are celebrating the 3rd generation leaders in the space. Thanks to the new leadership team and their continuing efforts, each year space is awarded more funding and support both from the university management and external shareholders. Last year, many projects developed in the space were awarded in hackathons, makeathons and entrepreneurship competitions. Thus, the university administration noticed how Tunnel X provides an extraordinary space for innovation and product development, Last year, the second generation of leadership secured a larger and newer location in addition to the increased budget. I am very thrilled to visit the new space and management team every year to learn more about new initiatives and projects.
Thank you for reading to the end
