Prof. Dr. HAKAN ALTAN 

Prof. Dr. Hakan Altan received his PhD from the integrated Applied Physics program of New Jersey Institute of Technology and State University of New Jersey at Rutgers and conducted most of his PhD thesis studies at the world famous Bell-Labs-Lucent Technologies. He made a name for himself in Terahertz (THz), one of the most important and up-to-date subjects in the field of photonics, with his studies and conducted postdoctoral studies with Prof. Dr. Robert R. Alfano, one of the world’s leading researchers due to his achievements in the field of photonics. Given his non-doctoral and post-doctoral publications, it is possible to see that he can issue publications on different topics, such as ultrahigh spectroscopy methods, plasma physics, and astronomy, not just on Terahertz. He started to work as a faculty member in METU Department of Physics in July 2007 and has achieved a great success in research and development activities in this field. He has made important contributions to the sub-structure of the physics department and the development of the photonic field in the department through national and international projects he carried out.  Prof. Dr. Altan led the team that developed the first remote imaging system in the THz frequency range last year after he developed the first pulse THz beam source in Turkey for spectroscopic measurements in 2009 in the Terahertz Research Laboratory he found.   Thanks to the experimental work carried out in these laboratories, many graduate and doctoral students have gained experience. These students continue to contribute to the work in this area by keeping on their careers in the leading research institutes of our country or international well-known photonics research and development centers.

In April 2017, Prof. Dr. Hakan Altan was appointed as the Director of METU Central Laboratory, which aims to provide education and measurement services for researchers working in universities, public institutions and in the industry. Laboratory staff aims to help and pioneer the research, product development and production stages required by private and public institutions in the laboratory, where the Center is conducting research and measurements in accordance with national and international criteria. Two separate sections in the METU Central Laboratory contribute to the center's research activities. These are R&D Center and Molecular Biology and Biotechnology R&D Center. In order to follow up all studies successfully and to contribute to the development of research activities in the Central Laboratory, a five-person board of directors and two deputy directors are working as the main administrative staff. Activities in R&D Training and Measurement Center are conducted by the Deputy Director Asst. Prof. Sezer Özerinç from METU Department of Mechanical Engineering, while the activities in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology R&D Center are conducted by Assoc. Prof. Çağdaş Son, the other deputy director, from METU Department of Biology.

In 2011, accreditation actions were initiated for TS EN ISO 17025 Standard, and METU Central Laboratory was accredited by the Turkish Accreditation Agency as a result of the audits made in 2013. In 28 individual measurement and analysis laboratories in the Center, external stakeholders can analyze the physical and chemical properties of their materials as well as their samples in biology and biotechnology areas with the help of our expert team. The desired samples are analyzed in the designated measurement and analysis laboratories as promptly as possible and the results are reported to them when they request them by telephone, e-mail, or personally via the Sample Acceptance Department of the METU Central Laboratory and/or the specialists working in our laboratories. Based on the increase in the number of samples measured in our laboratories and their economic contribution, we can see that the interest of the industry in the use of our laboratories for measuring and analyzing the systems has increased especially in recent years. In 2016, 25% of the income from all analyzes in the lab was obtained from the industry and other organizations.