Can Alkan Receives EC and EMBO Grants
Assistant Professor Can Alkan of the Department of Computer Engineering has been awarded both a 2012 European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Installation Grant and a European Commission Marie Curie Career Integration Grant. These grants, regarded
as being among the most prestigious in the European Research Area, reflect the internationally competitive nature of research endeavors at Bilkent University and provide an invaluable impetus for scientific excellence.
The Marie Curie Career Integration Grant is given to experienced scientists returning to the European Union and associated states to initiate their research groups and laboratories. Those selected for the award receive 25,000 euros annually for four years. Similarly, the EMBO Installation Grant is designed to help new researchers set up their research groups in Europe. Each scientist receives 50,000 euros annually for three to five years to help establish groups in the European scientific community. In Turkey, EMBO awarded installation grants to 5 researchers in 2012, and has given the grant to a total of 15 researchers in the country since its introduction in 2006.
Dr. Alkan received his B.Sc. in computer engineering from Bilkent University, and his Ph.D. in computer science from Case Western Reserve University. He was a visiting researcher at Simon Fraser University and subsequently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington. These grants will support Dr. Alkan's research program to develop computational methods to understand genomic variation using high-throughput DNA sequencing data.