Seda Keskin Avcı is a Professor at the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department of Koç University and the Director of Nanomaterials, Energy, and Molecular Modeling Research Group (NEMO). She has >165 publications on energy applications of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) which received >10,000 citations. She has been recognized as one of the “Outstanding Women in Chemical Engineering Across the Globe” in 2022 by the Chemical Engineering Research and Design Journal (ChERD).
She was born in Istanbul on April 28, 1982. She received her BSc. and MSc. degrees from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Boğaziçi University in 2004 and 2006, respectively. She completed her PhD at the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology in 2009 by receiving the Sigma Xi Best Doctoral Dissertation Award, and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering School Outstanding PhD Thesis Award. She joined Koç University in 2010 and became a full professor in 2018. She is the youngest woman professor in Türkiye in her field.
She was awarded the European Research Council’s (ERC) Starting Grant with her project COSMOS (Computational Simulations of MOFs for Gas Separations) in 2017 and the ERC Consolidator Grant with her project STARLET (Atomistic Modelling and Machine Learning of Advanced Porous Materials for Energy, Environment, and Biomedical Applications) in 2023. She became the first woman in Türkiye who receive an ERC grant in the field of engineering in 2017 and she became the first researcher to receive a consolidator grant in the field of process engineering in 2023.
Prof. Keskin is awarded the Europen Commission Mediterranean Science Team Award in 2023, Koç University Outstanding Teaching Award in 2023, the Turkish Journalists’ Association Sedat Simavi Commendation Award in the field of Science in 2022, American Chemical Society I&EC Research Excellence in Review Award in 2022 and 2023, ODTÜ Prof. Dr. Mustafa N. Parlar Foundation Science Award in 2021, Koç University Outstanding Faculty in Research President’s Award in 2017, FABED Eser Tümen Outstanding Achievement Award in 2016, ODTÜ Prof. Dr. Mustafa N. Parlar Foundation Research Incentive Award in 2015, the Science Heroes Association Scientist of the Year Award in 2014, Science Academy The Young Scientists Award (BAGEP) in 2014, Koç University Outstanding Faculty Award in 2014, Turkey Academy of Sciences Distinguished Young Scientist Award (GEBIP) in 2013, TUBITAK Encouragement Award in 2013, L’Oreal Turkey Young Women in Science Award in 2011, European Commission FP7 PEOPLE Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant in 2010, Sigma Xi Best Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2010 and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Outstanding PhD Thesis Award in 2010.
She was elected as EuroMOF International Scientific Committee member in 2017, and elected to Global Young Academy (GYA) in 2018 as the first Turkish woman engineer. She serves on the editorial advisory board of the journal of I&EC Research by the American Chemical Society and Chemistry – An Asian Journal by Wiley-VCH .