Santa Clara University

Education

I studied Mechanical Engineering and Physics as part of the double major program at Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey (1988). I then studied fusion plasma physics earning an MA, and PhD in Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (1994). My thesis on Microinstabilities in Rotating Tokamak Plasmas under the guidance of Prof. W. M. Tang. For my postdoctoral studies, I worked with Prof. Steven C. Cowley at UCLA where I worked on solar plasmas instabilities.

Investment Banking

Moving to the world of finance in 1996, I worked in derivatives trading, structuring, and origination in major global investment banks – Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, WestLB, Commerzbank – with a focus on credit derivatives, structured credit products and Emerging Markets credit based out of London with a global mandate.

Entrepreneurship

In 2014, I received VC funding for my startup idea in Emerging Markets bond trading and I built EMBonds – an electronic bond trading platform regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, catering to institutional clients such as banks, brokers, money managers, and hedge funds. This venture was sold to BGC Partners, a large interdealer broker.

Mobile Technology

After the sale of my startup, I started focusing on mobile technology and got involved with the cross-platform development framework Flutter. While helping other startups I am now also teaching this as a course at SCU - CSEN268 Mobile App Development with Flutter.