Bilge Demirköz

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bilge Demirköz is a faculty member in the Department of Physics at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey. She specializes in experimental particle physics with a focus on dark matter research and high-energy collider experiments. Her work connects fundamental physics research with practical applications in detector technology that has implications for nuclear safety, space research, and biomedical imaging.

Dr. Demirköz earned her undergraduate degree from MIT, where she began research on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) project. After the Columbia shuttle accident disrupted her MIT PhD work, she completed her D.Phil at Oxford University while working at CERN on the ATLAS Experiment. Her educational journey reflects her deep commitment to understanding the fundamental nature of the universe, driven by what she calls 'the curiosity of a six-year-old child.'

Her research focuses on dark matter detection through multiple approaches including the ATLAS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider and the AMS-02 experiment aboard the International Space Station. She has particular expertise in detector technology and trigger systems, having worked on the ATLAS trigger team as a CERN fellow. Her work addresses fundamental questions about the universe's composition, noting that 'only 4 percent of the energy budget of the universe is made from matter like us' while the rest consists of dark matter and dark energy.

Analysis of her publications shows a progression from early detector development and calibration work to physics analysis of LHC collision data. Her research has focused on understanding collision signatures, jet shapes in quantum chromodynamics, and developing methods to search for dark matter candidates. The papers reflect the collaborative nature of modern particle physics, with contributions to the foundational work of the ATLAS collaboration.

Dr. Demirköz actively mentors undergraduate students, currently working with four undergraduates on dark matter research. One of her students is conducting research at CERN on the AMS project. She has secured research funding in Turkey to support her experimental work, recognizing that 'experimental physics requires significant resources for travel, equipment, and computing.'

She is establishing a particle detector research and development laboratory at METU, with applications extending beyond fundamental physics to nuclear safety, space research, and biomedical imaging. Her work represents Turkey's growing involvement in international particle physics collaborations, particularly through CERN accession processes she has helped advance.