Istanbul Okan University Department of Energy Systems Engineering was founded on 2010. Former department chair, Prof. Dr. Vural Altın, as an academician, who earned international reputation by his works on education, research and Tübitak contributions. He also produced great effort in foundation process of the department. He made great contributions to Vizyon 2023 r&d energy policy of Turkey. We present below the perfect presentation text of him without any addition, who passed away in 2012.
Head of Department
Energy is the indispensable input of all life processes and the most basic one for the economy. Other resources can not be obtained without it and modern production is based on it. The level of technological development and historically unprecedent impressive economic growth achieved in the 20th century has been built on abundant use of fossil fuels, new reserves of which has been continually sought for and found. However, these resources are limited and evidence for the negative impact of their continued use on global climate keeps increasing every year. Hence, the world community is in need of readjustment towards using the available energy resources in an efficient and environmentally safe, sustainable pattern and also to develop alternative resources. Energy Systems Engineering has come of age within this context. Societies are in fast inceasing need of professionals capable of comprehending and solving the multitude of energy problems.
The program in its first two years follows a curriculum similar to that of traditional engineering disciplines. This is followed by a sequence of courses introducing the basic energy engineering concepts and their application techniques. Basic energy engineering concepts consist of matter and energy balance, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat and mass transport, chemical and physical processes employed in the energy industry. Upon this background, further instruction is provided in basic chemistry of fuels, primarily that of oil, coal and gas; combustion; oil and gas processing; electrochemical energy conversion; chemical, nuclear, biological and catalytic energy conversions; process control and regulation. Additionally, the program offers courses in renewable energy and electrochemical engineering, business administration, finance and management. The students are able to take technical electives in green energy engineering and environmental impact, hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, materials used in energy applications, physical processes in energy engineering, combustion related atmospheric pollutants so as to acquire comprehensive and in depth knowledge. Professional electives enable them to get acquainted with business life and energy related legal and ethical topics. Therefore, the program content is both comprehensive and flexible so as to allow students to streamline their educational process along their special areas of interest.
Our goal is to train graduates who are capable of defining problems in their sector and propose solution techniques for them, by reasoning based on sound foundations of basic knowledge.
Prof. Vural Altın
