Prof. OKAN TOPÇU

Prof. Dr. Okan Topçu received his B.S. degree in Electrical/Electronics (Computer) Engineering from the Turkish Naval Academy in 1993. He earned his M.S. degree in 1999 and his Ph.D. degree in 2007 from the Department of Computer Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey. During his doctoral studies, he worked as a researcher at Defense Research and Development Canada – Atlantic (DRDC Atlantic) between 2002 and 2003. In 2010, he conducted research in the field of C4I systems at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in the United States. He later carried out postdoctoral research at the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Auburn University between 2012 and 2013.

Throughout his academic career, Prof. Dr. Topçu has held several administrative and academic positions. Between 2020 and 2021, he served as the Coordinator of the Computer Engineering Program at the Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus (METU NCC). From 2021 to 2024, he served as the Head of the Academic Board of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (equivalent to a dean-level academic role) and simultaneously worked as an Advisor to the Rector.

Between 2024 and 2025, he served as the founding coordinator and founding chair of the Computer Engineering Program at the Turkish–Azerbaijan University (TAU) on behalf of METU. Following the completion of this role, he has been contributing on behalf of METU to the establishment of the Computer Engineering Department at the International University of Turkic States in Tashkent.

Since 2026, Prof. Dr. Topçu has been continuing his academic and research activities at the Department of Computer Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU CENG).

Prof. Dr. Okan Topçu is the author of two books in the field of distributed simulation. His research interests include modeling and simulation, distributed simulation, intelligent agents, autonomous systems, software engineering, model-driven engineering, and cybersecurity.