B. Erdem Alaca works in Mechanical Engineering Department at Koç University, where he serves as the PI of Mechanical Characterization Laboratory (MCL) incorporating a Class-1000 cleanroom. Research in MCL is specialized in MEMS/NEMS design, nanopatterning and nanofabrication, mechanical property measurement at micro and nanoscale, nano/bio interfaces and molecular diagnostics via MEMS sensors. Current projects address batch-compatible fabrication of Si nanowires and development of integration philosophies of these nanowires with micro electromechanical systems, nanowire resonators, development of resonant microcantilever-based sensors and characterization of the scale-dependence of mechanical properties.
A graduate of Deutsche Schule Istanbul, B. Erdem Alaca received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul, in 1997. He attended the graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the guidance of Prof. H. Sehitoglu and Prof. T. Saif. He was a recipient of the Alumni Association Teaching Fellow Award in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in the academic year of 2002-2003 and received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, both in mechanical engineering, in 1999 and 2003, respectively. He joined Koc University in 2004. He is a member of the Turkish National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics and IEEE. He was a recipient of the 2009 Distinguished Young Scientist Award from the Turkish Academy of Sciences and 2017 Elginkan Foundation Technology Award.