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Ilyas Yildirim
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I was born in Berlin, Germany on
October 20, 1976. I lived in Berlin for 6 years. Because my family wanted me, my sister
and my brother to study in a Turkish educated school, we went to Turkey. I spent my next 8 years in my hometown,
Malatya, Turkey. After passing
the National Science High School examination in 1991, I went to Istanbul,
Turkey, and spent my next 8 years in
Istanbul, Turkey. In 1999, I was accepted to the PhD program of
University of Rochester, Department of
Physics and Astronomy. Since then, I am living in Rochester,
NY.
I joined to Prof. Douglas H. Turner's Group in Fall 2003. We are collaborating with
Dr. Harry Stern. I am doing theoretical, computational and
experimental work, specifically on a particular RNA structure to describe it's thermodynamic properties.
Check out my "Research" page for more information.
Publications:
G. Chen, R. Kierzek, I. Yildirim, T. R. Krugh, D. H. Turner, and S. D.
Kennedy, "Stacking Effects on Local Structure in RNA: The Structure of
Tandem GA Pairs Changes When Flanking GC Pairs are Replaced by isoG-isoC
Pairs" J. Phys. Chem., accepted (2007).
Ilyas Yildirim and Douglas H. Turner, "RNA challenges for computational chemists",
Biochemistry 44,
13225-34 (2005).
(.pdf)
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Research and Teaching Experience |
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Fall '03 - present
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University of Rochester
Department of Chemistry
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Rochester, NY
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Research Assistant
Advisor: Prof. Douglas H. Turner
Project: Application of Thermodynamic Integration Approach (TI) to describe the thermodynamic properties of 5'iGiGiCiC -> 5'GGCC
transformation.
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Spring '02
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University of Rochester
Department of Physics and Astronomy
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Rochester, NY
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Teaching Assistant
Teaching Assistant for the graduate course Quantum Mechanics II, and undergraduate course Electrodynamics II.
Solved and graded homework problems weekly.
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Fall '01 |
University of Rochester
Department of Physics and Astronomy
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Rochester, NY
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Teaching Assistant
Teaching Assistant for the graduate course Quantum Mechanics I, and Complex Analysis and Differential Equations.
Solved and graded homework problems weekly. Gave recitation classes to students, weekly.
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Summer '01
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University of Rochester
Department of Physics and Astronomy
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Rochester, NY
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Instructor
Instructor for the undergraduate course Introduction to Mechanics.
Prepared an initial course plan.
Developed a complete lecture syllabus and lecture notes.
Generated complete set of homework assignments with solutions.
Composed midterm and final exams.
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Summer '00
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University of Rochester
Department of Physics and Astronomy
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Rochester, NY
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Research Assistant
Advisor: Prof. C.R. Hagen
Project: Finite temperature dependence of Casimir Effect on Parallel two Conducting Plates.
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Fall '99 - Spring '01
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University of Rochester
Department of Chemistry
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Rochester, NY
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Teaching Assistant
Teaching Assistant for Mechanics Lab for 4 semesters.
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Summer '97
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M.E.T.U.
Department of Physics
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Ankara, Turkey
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Private Research
Special study with Prof. Ali Alpar and Prof. Umit Kiziloglu on Neutron Stars.
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1991
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Istanbul Private Fatih Science
High School
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Istanbul, Turkey
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Research Project in Physics
Research on Noise Pollution: “Noise absorption capacities of cheap and simple materials”.
Received the fourth prize in Turkish National TUBITAK Project Competition in Physics.
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Education and Achievements |
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Fall '99 - present
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University of Rochester
Department of Physics and Astronomy
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Rochester, NY
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Graduate Student (Ph.D.)
Earned full tuition waiver and teaching assistantship.
Received M.A. in Physics (June 2001)
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1994-1999
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Koc University
Department of Physics
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Istanbul, Turkey
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Received B.S. in Physics.
Named "Vehbi Koc Scholars" for 2 semesters (SPA 3.5 / 4.0 or above).
Listed in "Dean's Honor Roll" for 5 semesters (SPA 3.0-3.5 / 4.0).
Earned full scholarship and tuition waiver.
Graduated with 3.22 / 4.0.
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1991-1994
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Istanbul Private Fatih Science
High School
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Istanbul, Turkey
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Earned full scholarship and tuition waiver.
Graduated with 4.47 / 5.0.
Listed in "Honors’ List" for 5 semesters out of 6.
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1988-1991
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Malatya Hasan Varol
Secondary School
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Malatya, Turkey
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Listed in "Honors’ List" for all semesters.
Best second student in 1991 graduates.
Chosen one of the four students to represent the school in science competition in the city (The school got the second best place out of 30 schools).
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Other Achievements |
1998
In top of 1% and above in the LES; Turkish Postgraduate Education Exam.
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1994
In top of 1% at the OSYM Exam; Turkish National University Entrance Exam.
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Summer 1992 and 1991
Finished the first place in the Chess Tournament, Malatya-Turkey.
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1991
In top of 1% at the National Science High School Entrance Exam.
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Professional Skills
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Fluent in English and Turkish. Good with German. Proficient in personal computers (XP and Linux); experienced in PERL, AMBER Molecular
Dynamics Package (v.8 and v.9), Gaussian 98, Mathematica, MS Office, Visual Basic, Latex, Fortran, MS FrontPage, Adobe PhotoShop.
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Personal Background
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Born in Berlin, Germany on 20th October 1976.
Play soccer, basketball, chess, ping-pong and downhill skiing.
Play classical guitar.
Enjoy reading science fiction and fantasy books by authors such as Stephen King and Isaac Asimov (in particular, Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series).
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