about

CV

EDUCATION

PhD in Environmental Engineering

Technical University of Denmark, Kongens-Lyngby, Denmark, 2011

MSc in Civil Engineering

North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA, 2005

BSc in Environmental Engineering (Honor Student)

Minor in German Language Teaching

Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, 2002

CORE COMPETENCIES

I.Microbial & Systems Engineering

Biofilm Systems & Microbial Ecology: Deep expertise in biofilm behavior and microbial ecology across environmental engineering, food engineering, and medical fields.
Experimental Platform & Reactor Design: Applying fundamentals of fluid mechanics, soil physics, reaction kinetics, and transport phenomena to design, construct, and operate custom reactors, microfluidic setups, and physical platforms that mimic and control realistic microbial environments.
Quantitative Data Analysis & Experimental Workflows: Standard engineering, microbial, and molecular biology assays, quantitative data analysis & visualization (e.g., R ) transcriptomics workflow (sample prep., big data processing and analysis), analytical instrumentation operation, protocol development.
Imaging & Spatiotemporal Analysis: Operation of diverse microscopy setups and imaging technologies; spatiotemporal data acquisition, image processing, and quantitative feature extraction.
Systems Engineering & Assessment: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and multi-criteria decision-making simulations for solid waste management; microbial risk assessment.

II. Transdisciplinary Synthesis, Multimodal Frameworks & AI

Cognitive Frameworks & AI System Design: Developing conceptual models connecting human-AI collaboration, meaning-making, autonomous smart microscopy, and Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) accessibility to understand complex microbial adaptive systems.
Multimodal Concept Deconstruction and Synthesis: Designing multimodal media (such as microbiology comics, animations, interactive story-game) as non-traditional cognitive interfaces to deconstruct complex adaptive systems and for transdisciplinary synthesis.
Sci-Art & Philosophical Reflection: Using arts, crafts, and narratives to explore scientific ideas, critical reflections, speculative futures.

III. Scientific Leadership, Mentorship & Operations

Research Advising & Teaching: Initiating original research projects, advising thesis research and internships, teaching and coordinating advanced university courses.
Empathetic & Inclusive Leadership: Fostering inclusive learning environments through active listening, supportive mentorship and student-centered teaching.
Operations & Program Execution: Operating an independent sole-proprietorship science education studio; coordinating national environmental education programs.

EXPERIENCE

Transdisciplinary Scientist

Independent Project | Sep. 2025-present

Developing meaning-making frameworks to explore multi-sensory BVI-accessible smart microscopy (human-AI collaboration) for microbial systems; designing reflective and speculative narratives at the interface of science, technology, art, and philosophy.

Founder

Studio Visionarrate, Wageningen, Netherlands | Oct. 2024-Jul. 2025

Managed sole-proprietorship administration, operation, service, and multimodal execution of science education projects.

Faculty

Wageningen University Research, Wageningen, Netherlands | Aug. 2020 Aug.2024

Supervised research and internships, mentored students, coordinated courses, delivered lectures and tutorials, supervised course projects and lab sessions in food microbiology and product design.

Creator

MICRO-C-OMICS | Dec. 2017- 2025

Developed interactive visual stories, animations, and educational media on microbial life and science-inspired reflections.

Scientist

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland | Oct.2015-Oct. 2017

Designed and led microfluidic-based biofilm experiments, initiated the setup of basic microbiology lab, protocols and strain inventory, supervised MS research, and lectured in multi-departmental course.

Assistant Professor (TT)-Formal Appointment Process

Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey | Nov. 2013-Dec.2014

Completed formal institutional appointment requirements, exams, and academic training while developing research proposals, course curricula, and delivering seminars. (Role closed due to institutional restructuring)

Postdoctoral & Doctoral / Graduate Research Appointments

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Technical University of Denmark, Kgs.Lyngby, Denmark

North Carolina State University, NC, USA

2003-2013

Designed and executed 10 years of experimental and computational research in environmental engineering (water, wastewater, soil, solid waste), microbial ecology, biofilms and medical science (cystic fibrosis) using custom experimental platforms, analytical instruments, and quantitative modeling. Also lectured, led tutorials, and supervised MS research.

National Coordinator and Manager

Foundation for Environmental Education Turkey, Ankara, Turkey | Jan. 2003-May 2003

Managed nationwide “Eco-schools” and “Learning about Forests” environmental education programs for schools and secured educational publishing grants.

HONORS AND AWARDS

Jury and Public Awards for the short science movie “Quorum Sensing” at Exposure:Science Film Hackathon, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2016
Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) – NSF CAREER Grant Application Workshop Participation Grant to be held at AEESP Conference, 2013
Travel Grant at the amount of 22600 DKK (3700 US $) by Lundbeck Foundation to attend ISME conference, 2010
Graduate Research Assistantship by Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, 2003- 2006.
Young Scientist Grant, Turkish American Scientists and Scholars Association (TASSA), 2006
Chi Epsilon, Civil Engineering Honor Society
Third Place in Poster Presentation in 84th Annual NC AWWA/WEA Conference, November 14-17, 2004, Charlotte ,NC

PUBLICATIONS

Articles

Gulez, G. (2026) A Proof-of-Concept Study Evaluating the Impact of Comic Literacy on Meaning-Making of Microscopy Data in Microbial Systems and the Capability of LLMs as Collaborators.Zenodo.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20542400
Gulez, G. (2026) Multimodal Narrative Design, Literacy and Cross-modal Synthesis for Meaning-making of Complex Adaptive Microbial Systems: Towards a Blind and Visually Impaired Accessible Smart Microscopy. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19335170
Gulez, G. Life in Microbial Communities (to be published in the book Co:exist by Utopiana, MētisPresses Geneva)
Kreft, J. and Gulez, G. (2019) Microbiological Meaning from Mathematical Models. Microbiologist, June 2019
Gulez, G., Altintas, A., Fazli, M., Dechesne, A., Workman, C.T., Tolker-Nielsen, T., and Smets, B.F. (2014) Colony morphology and transcriptome profiling of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 and its mutants deficient in alginate or all EPS synthesis under controlled matric potentials, MicrobiologyOpen, Vol. 3(4), pg.457-469
Gulez, G., Dechesne, A., Workman, C., and Smets, B.F (2012) Transcriptome dynamics of Pseudomonas putida KT2440 under water stress. Applied & Environmental Microbiology, Vol.78, No. 3, pg.676-683
Gulez, G., Dechesne, A., and Smets, B.F (2010) The Pressurized Porous Surface Model: An improved tool to study bacterial behavior under a wide range of environmentally relevant matric potentials. J. Microbiol.Meth. Vol. 82, No.3, 324-326
Dechesne, A., Wang,G., Gulez,G., Or,D., and Smets, B.F. (2010). Hydration controlled bacterial motility and dispersal on surfaces, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 107(32), 14369-14372
Gulez, G. and F. L. de los Reyes III (2009), Multiple approaches to assess filamentous bacterial growth in activated sludge under different carbon source conditions. Journal of Applied Microbiology, Vol.106, No.2 pg.682-691
Dechesne, A., Or, D., Gulez, G., and Smets, B. (2008) The Porous Surface Model: a novel experimental system for online quantitative observation of microbial processes under unsaturated conditions, Applied & Environmental Microbiology, Vol.74, No.16, pg.5195-5200
Gulez, G. and F. L. de los Reyes III (2005), What Do Filaments Like to Eat? Using DGGE to Determine the Effects of Carbon Source and Seed Sludge on Filamentous Growth, 78th Water Environment Federation Annual Conference and Exposition (WEFTEC 2005), October 2-6, Washington D.C.,
Gulez, G. and F. L. de los Reyes III (2005), “Effect of Carbon Sources on Filamentous Growth in Activated Sludge Systems”, International Water Association, Microbial Population Dynamics in Biological Wastewater Treatment, July 2005,Australia

Others

Editing/Translating: “Litter and Waste”, “Water”, “Energy”, “Waste Minimization and Recovery”, and “Environmental Assessment” Booklets, funded by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Environment Facility / Small Grant Programme (GEF/SGP) , 2003
Compiling/Translating: “Learning about Forests Project Guide” and “Learning about Forests Activity Guide” Booklets, funded by UNDP-GEF/SGP, 2003

PRESENTATIONS (including peer reviewed published conference abstracts)

Invited Talk - Sociomicrobiology “Sculpting the Everyday / Biotopes”, an interdisciplinary seminar series by the Utopiana, Geneva, Switzerland, 27 April 2018
Invited Talk, Biotechnology Program Seminars, May 12, 2015, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
Oral Presentation, Environmental Science Institute, June 24, 2014, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey,
Poster Presentation, 14th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 19-24, 2012, Copenhagen, Denmark
Poster Presentation, Signals and Space: Spatio-temporal pattern in simple bio-systems, August 25-27, 2011, Center for Models of Life, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen
Oral Presentation, Danish Microbiological Society Symposium, November, 2010
Poster Presentation, 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 22-27, 2010, Seattle, WA, USA
Oral Presentation, Raisebio International Symposium on Microbial Contaminant Degradation at Biogeochemical Interfaces, March 2-4, 2010, Leipzig, Germany
Oral Presentation, CREAM International Symposium on Microbial Degradation of Soil Pollutants: Processes and Impacts, November 3-4, 2009, Copenhagen, Denmark
Poster Presentation, FEMS 2009. 3rd Congress of European Microbiologists, 2009, Gothenburg, Sweden
Poster Presentation, 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME-12) - Microbial Diversity - Sustaining the Blue Planet, August 2008, Cairns, Australia
Poster Presentation, ASM 108th General Meeting, June 2008, Boston, USA.
Poster Presentations, Turkish American Scientists and Scholars Association (TASSA) 2nd Annual Conference, March 25-26, 2006, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Poster Presentation, NC Branch of American Society for Microbiology, October 7, 2005, Raleigh, NC, USA
Oral Presentation, 78th Water Environment Federation Annual Conference and Exposition WEFTEC 2005, Washington DC, USA
Poster Presentation, International Water Association, Microbial Population Dynamics, July 2005, Gold Coast, Australia
Poster Presentation, 84th Annual NC AWWA/WEA Conference, November 14-17, 2004, Charlotte, NC, USA
Poster Presentation in WREE Spring Symposium in May 2004, NCSU, Raleigh, NC, USA

SERVICE & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Service

Peer reviewer for Biofilms & Microbiome-Nature Partner Journal, MicrobiologyOpen, Environmental Monitoring & Assessment, Environmental Microbiology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Science & Technology, PlosOne
Coordinator of Individual-based Modeling Course (iDynoMICS), Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark
Chair of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering Symposium Organization Committee, NCSU, USA
Coordinator of Eco-Schools National Training Seminar Organization, Istanbul, Turkey
Vice President and Treasurer of Bird Watching Society, METU, Ankara, Turkey

Environmental Fieldwork & Community Initiatives

Important Bird Areas Training Program, World Wildlife Found (WWF)-Turkey, Dicle University and Diyarbakir Environment Volunteers, 1-4 October 2002, Diyarbakir, Turkey
Environmental Education Camp, The Scientific & Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), Karadeniz Technical University and Ministry of Forestry, August 2002, Rize, Turkey
Marine Turtles Conservation Project, WWF-Turkey, 1-15 July 2002, Antalya, Turkey
Environmental Education Camp, TUBITAK, Akdeniz University and Ministry of Forestry, July 2001, Antalya, Turkey
Nature Conservation & Public Awareness Exchange Program, WWF-Turkey and Naturschutzjugend (Germany), 2001, Turkey
Environmental Policy Exchange program, organized by WWF-Turkey and Naturschutzjugend (Germany) to observe the environmental policies, and problems and solutions of Germany, 2000, Germany
Contamination in RAMSAR Areas: Lake Burdur Exchange Program, Naturschutzjugend (Germany), 1999, Burdur, Turkey

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP)
International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME)
American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
Air & Waste Management Association (AWMA)
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
Water Environment Federation (WEF)
American Society for Microbiology NC Chapter (ASM-NC)
NC American Water Works Association/Water Environment Federation (AWWA/WEA)
Turkish American Scientists and Scholars Association (TASSA)

INTERESTS

laying soprano & bass ukulele, singing, percussion, hiking, outdoor adventures, dancing, cross-training, basketball, football, philosophy, comics, neuroscience
Member of Turkish Student Association at NCSU, 2003-2006.
Member of METU Bird Watching Society, 2001-2003
Member of the METU Turkish Folklore Society (dancing) 1997-2003
Member of the METU Amateur Astronomy Club, 1998
Member of the METU Musical Society (singing, dancing, acting), 1998-2000
Performing jazz classes from jazz singer Yildiz Ibrahimova (2000-2003)
3rd place in “Beatles” singing competition organized by British Council