Bilge Yıldız
Bilge Yıldız is a Professor of Nuclear Science, Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She develops new materials for energy conversion in harsh environments. These include solid oxide fuel cells and corrosion-resistant materials for nuclear energy regeneration. Early life and education. Yıldız was born to two teachers in İzmir, who made her appreciate education and hard work. She became interested in science and engineering whilst at primary school and chose to attend the science specialist school in her home town. During school Yıldız worked with a local university on a project to clean  the waters in İzmir bay. Yıldız was an exchange student with a farming school in Wisconsin and had the opportunity to visit Fermilab. She spent her summer holidays on the Aegean Sea. Eventually Yıldız studied nuclear engineering at the Hacettepe University, where she particularly became interested in the technology of nuclear engineering. At the time there were not clear career paths for her to pursue this in Turkey, and Yıldız decided to move to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Yıldız earned her PhD at MIT in 2003 and remained there as a postdoctoral research associate. Research and career. Whilst  working as a research scientist at Argonne National Laboratory Yıldız became interested in electrochemistry and surface science. She returned to MIT as the Norman C. Rasmussen Assistant Professor in 2007. Yıldız leads the Laboratory for Electrochemical Interfaces at MIT. Her research considers how surfaces respond to harsh conditions, including high temperatures, reactive gases, mechanical stress and applied fields. She studies what happens to the electrodes in fuel cells and electrolyzers. By studying the reaction and transport kinetics in fuel cells or cells designed for water splitting, Bilgie hopes to suppress the corrosion of these materials. She has developed "in situ