Prof. Mihri Özkan
Prof. Mihri Özkan, who was born in Ankara in 1966, graduated from the department of metallurgical and materials engineering at the Middle East Technical University in 1988. She completed her graduate studies at Stanford University and started working as an intern at the IBM Almaden Research Centre during this period. Enhancing her industry experience by working at Applied Materials in the Bay Area, Özkan graduated from the University of California, San Diego with an interdisciplinary doctorate in electrical and computer engineering. She is currently employed as a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Riverside Campus.
Prof. Özkan, whose areas of expertise include electric car technology with zero carbon emission, lithium-ion battery and super capacitor technologies, clean energy technologies and sustainable production technology has more than 340 publications, 1 book, 47 accepted patents and 10 active patent applications. Being cited more than 11215 times and with an H-Index of 55 according to the Google Scholar data, Özkan has received many awards so far. She was granted the “Emerging Scholar Award” by the American Association of University Women in 2005 for her activities encouraging women to work in the scientific fields. In 2011, together with her husband Prof. Cengiz Özkan, she designed a swimming suit that absorbs chemical wastes in the water and cleans the sea while swimming; and they won the first place in the international wearable technology competition with this project. She was also given the “Remarkable Women” award by the University of California in 2020. Özkan has received the titles of “Climate Action Champion”, “Changer” and “Humanitarian Star” for her studies on the environment, climate and green energy; and is among the five Turkish researchers on the list of the National Academy of Inventers, which is regarded as the Oscars of the academy.
Conducting research on increasing battery safety and works on the production of completely solid batteries without using flammable liquid electrolyte at present, Prof. Mihri Özkan is still considered a pioneer in the fields of energy, green technology and climate change.