Dr. Ilkay Yavrucuk received his BS degree from the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey in 1995, and MS and PhD degrees from the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA in 1997 and 2003 respectively, where he later continued his work as a post-doctoral-fellow. His graduate and post-doctoral studies were concentrated on helicopter dynamics, adaptive control systems, and rotorcraft design. His main contributions were for the Georgia Tech Rotorcraft Center of Excellence, Georgia Tech UAV Lab and the Carefree Maneuvering Lab, as well as to companies like Sikorsky Aircraft, Boeing and NASA.
Dr. Ilkay Yavrucuk is a recipient of the AHS Vertical Flight Foundation Award in 2001. He was a member of the winning teams of the AHS Graduate Design Competitions in 1997 and 2001, the academic advisor for the undergraduate “Best New Entrant Team” of 2008 and the winning team of 2012. He is the author of more than 70 scientific papers, of which two papers received Best Paper Awards at AIAA and AHS conferences. In 2013, he received IEEE‘s Harry Rowe Mimno Award. In 2012-13, during his sabbatical leave, Dr.Yavrucuk was the Program Manager and later the Engineering Manager for System Design for the Turkish Indigenous Helicopter Program at http://www.tai.com.tr.
Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the Middle East Technical University, research faculty at the Simulation Control and Avionics LAB (SCALAB), a consultant to various aerospace engineering firms, and the managing co-founder of Aerotim Engineering. Dr.Yavrucuk is actively teaching courses, short courses, seminars. He is fluent in German, English and Turkish.