Elif Sertel

Prof. Elif Sertel is a Professor of Geomatics Engineering at Istanbul Technical University's Faculty of Civil Engineering, specializing in GIS, Remote Sensing, and Satellite Technologies. She holds a PhD from ITU (2008) and has conducted groundbreaking research on land use analysis, urbanization impacts, and geospatial AI applications. Her work integrates historical aerial photography with modern satellite data to model environmental and demographic changes. Notable projects include the GeoAI_LULC_Seg ERC-funded initiative analyzing rural depopulation and agricultural land abandonment in Turkey and Bulgaria since 1940. She has led over 30 research projects totaling €6M+, with notable funding from TÜBA, ERC, and the Ministry of Development. Awards include the 2024 Istanbul Technical University Academic Performance Award and the 2017 TÜBA Outstanding Young Scientist Award. Her teaching includes GIS in Engineering courses.

Research focuses on: 1) AI-driven land cover segmentation using deep learning, 2) drought monitoring via satellite data, 3) urban heat island analysis, and 4) landscape metric correlations with satellite resolution. Recent work emphasizes historical data integration, with projects like the 1958-2020 Bursa land use study. Her team developed benchmark datasets (VHRTrees, HRPlanes) and tools like the GeoAI-based mobile drought app.

Grants and projects: Over 30 completed projects including €150k ERC GeoAI_LULC_Seg (2022-2024), €5M ITU Satellite Ground Terminal Renewal (2016-2020), and TÜBA-funded city mapping initiatives. Collaborations with institutions like NASA, ESA, and European Research Council have produced over 50 peer-reviewed publications.

Awards highlight sustained excellence: 2023-2024 Academic Performance Awards, 2024 Broadcasting Achievement Award, and 2017 TÜBA recognition. Her work bridges geomatics engineering with environmental policy through interdisciplinary approaches.