Melike Nikbay

Melike Nikbay is a Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Istanbul Technical University, affiliated with the College of Engineering. Her research focuses on aeroacoustics, aeroelasticity, multi-fidelity modeling, and sonic boom mitigation in supersonic aircraft design. She leads projects on machine learning applications in aerospace problems and has pioneered Bayesian optimization techniques for flow simulations. Nikbay has been recognized with the AIAA Associate Fellow Award (2017) and Young Contributor Award (2016).

Her research interests include computational fluid dynamics (CFD), uncertainty quantification, and multidisciplinary design optimization. Notable projects include low-boom supersonic transport design and low-observable UAV development. She has published extensively on turbulence model calibration, wind tunnel testing, and surrogate modeling for aerodynamic optimization.

Nikbay has secured 18 funded projects as Principal Investigator, including initiatives on machine learning validation, cavity flow analysis, and high-fidelity computational tools. Her work bridges theoretical advancements and practical aerospace engineering challenges, emphasizing reproducibility and industrial relevance.