Ayse Tekes, PhD
🛠️📘 "Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I may remember, Involve me and I learn." 📐🔬💡
I am an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering here at Kennesaw State University. I received all my degrees in mechanical engineering from Istanbul Technical University and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Gatech.
My research mainly focuses on
(1) Design, Development, and Modeling of Soft Robots and Flexible Machines
(2) Engineering Education: Development of lab equipment and AI-powered virtual labs
I intend that students who have engaged in research will be better prepared for their future careers both in industry and academia.
Awards and Recognitions:
- NSF Award (2336998), PI, $748,943, 2024-2027.
- NSF REU Supplements, PI, $13,500, 08/01/24-05/31/2025
- Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award, Kennesaw State University, 2024.
- KSU Tenured Enhancement Program recipient, $45,000, 2024-2025.
- MathWorks Curriculum Development Grant, PI, $8640, 2024-2025.
- NIH Award (1R15EB032189-01A1), co-PI, $364,220, 2022-2025. (Served as a co-PI until 05/2024)
- NSF Award (2002350), PI, $297,262, 2020-2023.
- Mathworks Curriculum Development, PI, $24,390, 2021-2022.
- 2017-2018 SPCEET Faculty Career Advisor Award.
- 2016 Outstanding Part-Time Teaching Award.
Effective and meaningful education is the heart of student success. Students who are exposed to hands-on research under the mentorship of a faculty member have a positive impact on their fundamental knowledge and engineering skills. I have mentored more than 150 students since 2016 and published more than 30 papers with students being the first authors. Among those:
- My former undergraduate and current PhD student, Connor Talley, received the Outstanding Undergraduate Research award in the Spring 2024 semester.
- Two of my GRAs received Outstanding Graduate Research Awards in 2021 and 2022.
- One of my undergraduate research assistants, Kevin Tran, received the Outstanding Undergraduate Research award and was featured as an Owl.
