He is the recipient of Teaching Excellence Award from Boston College and New York University, Young Scholar Award from the Foundation for Child Development for his work on immigrant children, and Review of Research Award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA) given in recognition of an outstanding article published in education. He currently serves on National Academies of Science committee. Sirin writes a weekly column on Hurriyet, flagship Turkish newspaper and penned a best-selling book in Turkey titled Turkey in Crossroads: Freedom or Misery.