3 BS Alumni

Berke Söylemezoğlu (IE) works as a brand manager at P&G. Giving great importance to the social activities provided by the university during his student period, Berke played in 5 theater plays with the OzU Chamber Theater in the first 3 years of his OzU adventure and participated in festivals. Then, he became the president of the OzU Operations Research Club, which he founded with his friends. The club has become the most active and crowded club in Özyeğin within 2 years.

Berke participated in volunteering programs in Lithuania for 2 months and Finland for 2 months during the summer periods as team leader. He had the chance to work with people from different countries and cultures. He also took part as a Peer Advisor in the Peer Advisor program, which Özyeğin University has set up for freshman students to get used to school. After graduation, he continued to share his experiences by recording podcasts and providing mentoring to university students.

Since Özyeğin University has adopted sectoral education as one of its main focuses, Berke had the opportunity to do a non-credit internships at Fiba Bank and GAP companies within the FIBA Group while he was a freshman. After that, he gained work experience at his internships at Philip Morris, Bayer and Coca Cola Beverage companies. As part of the graduation thesis course of the department of Industrial Engineering, he had the chance to work on a real problem that Unilever is experiencing and found a solution to the problem with the support of our academics.

In the Spring semester of 2020, Berke started as a Business Analyst at Deloitte Consulting company and then moved to P&G as Brand Manager, still continues to work in this position.

Birce received her bachelor’s degree from the Department of Industrial Engineering at Ozyegin University. During her undergraduate education, she developed an interest in supply chain management and acquired skills in the field through relevant coursework. She participated in Unilever’s Supply Chain Reaction Project in her senior year, gaining valuable experience that allowed her to bridge the gap between theory and practice. She also took on roles in extracurricular activities throughout bachelor’s, such as serving as a peer advisor in OZU Peer Advisor Program and being a member of student clubs.

She pursued her education by commencing a master’s program within the same department, where she focused her research on humanitarian logistics and disaster management with the motivation of making contributions to society. She enhanced her proficiency in applying advanced analytical methods and Operations Research techniques to support decision-making in the related fields. Additionally, she served as a teaching assistant during her master’s studies, which further honed her academic and professional skills.

She is currently in her third year as a Ph.D. student at HEC Montréal, specializing in the Department of Logistics and Operations Management. Her doctoral thesis focuses on humanitarian supply chain network design and management. She has received prestigious awards and scholarships in recognition of her academic achievements during her doctoral studies, including Merit Scholarship Program for Foreign Students (PBEEE), Foundation J. Armand Bombardier Scholarship, and CIRRELT Doctoral Excellence Scholarship.

Mert Kavala graduated from Kabataş Erkek Lisesi and started his undergraduate studies in the Civil Engineering program at Özyeğin University with a full scholarship. Throughout his four years at the Özyeğin University, he had the opportunity to enhance both socially and academically. He served on the executive board for 3.5 years and was president of the OzU Construction Club in 2021. In his undergraduate studies, Mert served as an undergraduate teaching assistant for Static and Construction Management courses.

Additionally, he took on the role of undergraduate research assistant in the field of self-healing concrete materials at Assoc. Prof. Zeynep Başaran Bundur’s Advanced Concrete Materials laboratory. In 2022, Mert graduated from Özyeğin University with a GPA of 3.71, ranking first in the department. He expanded his graduation project in collaboration with project members under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Feyza Çinicioğlu and Assoc. Prof. Zeynep Başaran Bundur and presented it in the 18th Young Geotechnical Engineers Symposium. Their paper titled ‘Microbially Induced Carbonate Precipitation (MICP) Use for Slope Stabilization in Sands and Clays’ was selected as the best paper.

In January 2023, he started the combined Ph.D. program in Geotechnical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. As a graduate research assistant, he is currently researching bio-catalyzed CO2 sequestration technologies. Furthermore, he has been working as a graduate teaching assistant for the Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering course for the past two semesters. He received the Larry Goertz Graduate Fellowship from the Cockrell School of Engineering for 2022-2023 in recognition of his academic achievements.