Koray Ozcan takes experience from academia into industry

April 10, 2020 - by Sarah Igram

After nearly three years serving as a postdoctoral scholar at Iowa State, Koray Ozcan has made the transition from academia to industry.

Photo of Koray Ozcan

Photo courtesy of Koray Ozcan

Ozcan’s academic research primarily involved creating algorithms for computer and mobile applications. He earned his doctorate from Syracuse University in 2017 and then accepted a postdoctoral position in Iowa State’s Institute for Transportation. Throughout his time at Iowa State, most of Ozcan’s work was related to creating algorithms for cameras.

“There are cameras observing the highways. They are constantly monitoring the state of the roads, and we applied some algorithms to detect certain events, such as the weather,” he said. “So I developed an algorithm to estimate the weather, whether it’s going to be rainy or wet or clear, and I also worked on developing some real-time algorithms that count the number of vehicles passing through just using the camera.” Ozcan’s research team was able to begin installing cameras with this algorithm in certain parts of Iowa.

Ozcan completed additional projects in collaboration with several departments across Iowa State’s campus, as well as institutions like the University of Iowa, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Iowa Department of Transportation. The opportunity to work with so many different people, and the support of his supervisor, associate Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering professor Anuj Sharma, helped Ozcan grow academically and professionally.

“I now know a lot more about project management, communication, and collaborating, because I’ve worked with professors and people from different departments,” he said. “I also now have experience writing grants, not just publications.”

He also took advantage of several growth opportunities as a postdoctoral scholar. After receiving an email from Misty Treanor, the Graduate College’s Postdoctoral Scholar Coordinator, about a fellowship opportunity with the German Academic Exchange Service, he applied and was one of 22 applicants selected worldwide in 2019. As a German Academic Exchange Service Postdoc-Net Fellow, Ozcan traveled to multiple universities, research institutions and companies across Germany and learned more about artificial intelligence and mission-learning applications. On his last day in the country, he and his cohort were able to have breakfast and ask questions in the German Parliament.

“It was very interesting to see all these applications of artificial intelligence and mission learning applied to state-of-the-art production facilities across Germany,” he said.

Now that Ozcan has concluded his work at Iowa State, he’s taken all of his experience and knowledge to his first full-time industry job, as a research scientist with the startup Latent AI, Inc. in Princeton, N.J.

He met his current supervisor five years ago while searching for an internship, and they reconnected on LinkedIn while Ozcan was looking for a full-time position. Most of his current duties are similar to what they were as a postdoctoral scholar, though his job is more customer-oriented and involves a wider array of clients. He also feels lucky to have learned so much as a postdoctoral scholar at Iowa State, because he did not need to spend as much time learning tools when he began his new position.

“When you’re in academia, you might wonder how something you’re working on is going to help you find your next position. But if you keep finishing up projects, then you’re already familiar with tools or software or testing equipment, and it’s something very useful for industry,” he said. “A lot of people are looking for workers who already know these tools inside and out, so it will help you find a job that you desire.”

Tags: postdoctoral scholars