Goodbye, Professor Tansel
Prof. Barbaros Tansel, faculty member and former chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering, passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, January 3. His untimely death was a great shock to all of his family members, students and colleagues, and to the entire Bilkent family.
A highly respected researcher and academician in his field, Prof. Tansel completed his high school education at Robert College and graduated from the Middle East Technical University Department of Industrial Engineering in 1974. He received his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Florida Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering in 1976 and 1979.
Before joining the Department of Industrial Engineering at Bilkent, Prof. Tansel was a faculty member at the University of Florida, Middle East Technical University, the University of Southern California and the Georgia Institute of Technology. Joining the Bilkent engineering faculty in 1991, he became an associate professor in 1993 and a professor in 2002; he chaired the Department of Industrial Engineering from 1999 to 2006.
Prof. Tansel received a number of awards and research grants from organizations and agencies in Turkey and abroad. The author or coauthor of many papers and chapters in national and international journals and books, he also supervised more than 40 master's and doctoral theses.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, his personal qualities made him a beloved mentor and colleague to all those who had the privilege of studying or working with him. Prof. Tansel was a talented dancer who shared his expertise and love of dance by teaching classes that were attended by many Bilkenters over the years. He is survived by his wife Elif Tansel and son Doğa Tansel.
A gathering to commemorate and pay tribute to Prof. Tansel was held on Saturday, January 5 at Mithat Çoruh Auditorium. Those who addressed the large gathering included Rector Abdullah Atalar; Prof. Levent Onural, dean of the Faculty of Engineering; Prof. İhsan Sabuncuoğlu, chair of the Department of Industrial Engineering; Assoc. Prof. Bahar Yetiş Kara, faculty member in the Department of Industrial Engineering; and graduate student Hatice Çalık. All expressed their deep sorrow and shared their personal recollections of Prof. Tansel, paying tribute to him as an invaluable teacher who had served Bilkent since 1991.
He will be greatly missed not only by his family, but also by large numbers of colleagues and former students. We would like to express our profound condolences to his family, friends, students and the Bilkent community.