Curriculum Vitae

My interest in science flourished early in my high school years.(Sankt Georg Austrian High School). Instead of accepting facts as given, I decided to be skeptical and deduce answers through logic and deep reflection. This critical thinking approach turned my studies into an enjoyable activity. As my education progressed, I discovered my interest in social sciences and excitement about use of elegant theories to describe social phenomena and predictive power of well-designed models. 

I chose International Trade Department at Bogaziçi University for my undergraduate studies. Its applied nature based on theory attracted my interest. In order to balance my academic life with professional activities, I worked as a part time sales manager in an import company and gave private tutoring on various high school and college courses. My experience in the industry helped me to grasp the crucial role of information and technology management in companies’ success. Therefore, I commenced a double major program with the Management Information Systems Department (MIS) where the curriculum is designed substantially to focus on the integration of information technology into business applications.

At the end of my sophomore year, endowed with basic theoretical and applied knowledge, I conducted an AIESEC summer internship in Germany to gain international experience. This practice gave me ample opportunities to become acquainted with the European financial sector.  Following the internship, I attended a one-semester exchange program at SUNY Binghamton, where my first acquaintance with international competition took place. In the Global Strategic Management course (Prof. Arieh Ullmann), together with my team, I won the corporate case competition among all senior management students, due to the insights I gained in economics and finance.

In my senior year, I expressed my wish to work in a research project to my advisor Ayfer Hortaçsu and joined her study as data analyst. The project was an extensive empirical endeavor to determine the extent of divergence and overlap of legal claims and ethical norms in the Turkish banking industry. Conducting statistical analysis using SPSS and being able to apply analytical skills I had gained throughout my studies propelled my interest in remaining in the academic environment.

Graduating first in the School of Applied Disciplines with a double major, was clearly a good motivation for me to continue with advanced studies, but I was perfectly aware of the fact that my theoretical and mathematical preparation was not sufficient to excel in a theoretically demanding Ph.D. program. Consequently, I decided to first obtain a Masters degree in a research oriented Economics department to fill the missing theoretical gap in my studies and started MSc in Economics at Pompeu Fabra University.  My desire to acquire a solid basis in economic theory led me to follow core courses designed for the Ph.D. program, namely microeconomics I-II, macroeconomics I-II and econometrics, taught by highly reputable faculty like A. Mas-Colell, R. Marimon, J. Gali, X. Sala-i-Martín. Despite the highly advance nature of the courses and my lack of solid theoretical background, I achieved good grades, attaining an Honors (Distinction) in the MSc and acquired an invaluable preparation in gaining analytical skills to continue graduate study and conduct research.

While core courses helped me to explore fundamentals of economics, the Behavioral Decision Making course taught by Robin Hogarth, inspired me to question the standard assumptions of economic theory. I designed my first experiment in this class, and had the great opportunity to conduct an experiment in LEEX with the supervision of Rosemarie Nagel. This invaluable experience demonstrated the vital role of experiments in advancing social sciences. My interest in behavioral sciences and curiosity in understanding human nature boosted my enthusiasm in the ever-growing field within economics, namely experimental economics and behavioral finance.

In my second year, MAS ( Master of Advanced Studies), I took graduate level finance and applied research courses as a preparation for my thesis. Moreover, I acquired the necessary tools to conduct research using time series data using Matlab & Dynare, as the research assistant of Fabio Canova. The feeling of self-fulfillment while working on solutions in complex macroeconomic problems with Professor Canova and the excitement I got from my T.A assignments confirmed the aptness of my decision to remain in academic world.