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Prof. Dr. Mustafa Verşan Kök - Curriculum Vitae

Born in Çorlu-Tekirdağ in 1960, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Verşan Kök completed his primary education at the International School of Prague (Czech Republic). After graduating from Ankara Atatürk High School in Türkiye, he earned his B.Sc. degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from Middle East Technical University (METU) in 1983. Between 1986 and 1987, he worked as a well-site operations engineer at SHELL Petroleum Company. 

In 1990, he completed his PhD at METU. Subsequently, he conducted postdoctoral research at the CNRS-INSA de Lyon Research Center (Institut National des Sciences Appliquées, Laboratoire de Thermochimie Minérale) in France and at ELF Petroleum Company. Between 1995 and 2000, Prof. Kök worked as a visiting researcher for periods of three to six months each year in the UK (University of Salford), Germany (Karlsruhe University) and Hungary (Budapest University of Technology and Economics). From December 2014 to May 2015, he served as a visiting professor at CNRS-ICARE in Orléans, France.

From 2001 to 2006, Prof. Kök served as an Advisor to the President of TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey). His responsibilities included acting as the National Contact Point for Energy, Transport, and Environment under the EU's 6th Framework Programme, serving as a Programme Committee Member in Brussels, and chairing the Engineering Research Group Executive Committee (MAG).

Prof. Kök’s academic contributions include 213 articles published in SCI-indexed journals and 83 international conference papers. He has been the project coordinator for four European Union Sixth Framework Programme projects in energy and environment, as well as for six international and 15 TÜBİTAK projects. His publications have received over 6,000 citations according to Web of Science (WoS), more than 7,000 on Scopus, and over 8,750 on Google Scholar. His h-index is 49 on WoS, 52 on Scopus, and 58 on Google Scholar.

In 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, Prof. Kök was recognized as one of the world's most influential scientists, ranking in the top 2% on the "World’s Top Scientists" list published by Stanford University and Elsevier. In 2023, he was further distinguished by ScholarGPS, ranking among the top 0.05% of scientists globally for his outstanding scholarly impact, exceptional research quality, and high-impact publications.

Prof. Kök received the Science Award from the National Foundation for Development of Mining in 2007 and the Prof. Dr. Mustafa Parlar Foundation Science Award in 2008. He has been honored with more than 20 outstanding achievement awards, including the TÜBİTAK Incentive Award in 1999 and the International Leader Scientist and Engineer Award by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 2008.

On April 19, 2023, Prof. Kök was honored with the Jubilee Medal by the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University. He was also awarded Honorary Doctorates by Kazan Federal University on February 28, 2019, and by Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University on November 5, 2022.

In November 2015, Prof. Kök was elected as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at METU. He served as the Rector of Middle East Technical University (METU) from July 2016 to August 2024. In December 2024, Prof. Kök was appointed as the Rector of the Turkish-Japanese University of Science and Technology. He is also an elected Principal Member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA).