Gözde Ünal

Gözde Ünal is a Professor at Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Data Engineering, under the School of Computer and Informatics. She has held leadership roles including Deputy Dean and former Director of the Application and Research Center. She previously served as Associate and Assistant Professor at Sabancı University and taught at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Education:

• Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University (1998–2002)
• M.Sc., Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University (1996–1998)
• B.Sc., Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Middle East Technical University (1992–1996)

Her research focuses on medical image computing, computer vision, deep learning, augmented and virtual reality, and AI for healthcare. She specializes in image segmentation, point cloud processing, and surgical scene analysis. Her work bridges computer science with biomedical applications, particularly in MRI, ultrasound, and dermoscopic imaging. She leads interdisciplinary research in both medical and cultural heritage domains.

The recent publications (2021–2025) highlight a strong trend in deep learning for medical image segmentation, adversarial attacks on point clouds, AI in surgical skill assessment, and cultural heritage digitization using 3D point clouds. Her work increasingly employs transformers, self-supervised learning, and multimodal fusion, with a focus on robustness and real-world deployment.

Scientific Awards:

• Fakülte Yılın Seçkin Eğitimcisi Ödülü, ITU, 2018
• Marie Curie Alumni Association Career Award, 2017
• GENÇ BİLİM KADINI, L’Oréal Turkey, 2010
• GEBİP, Turkish Academy of Sciences, 2010

She has supervised numerous students and research projects, securing grants from EU and TTO (Technology Transfer Office). Her projects include AI-based optimization in banking, AI for assisted reproduction, deep learning for quality control, and normalization of multimodal brain networks. She leads a dynamic research group working on cutting-edge AI applications.

She is actively involved in professional societies: President of the Marie Curie Alumni Association Turkish Chapter, member of MICCAI, IEEE, and TMRD. Her lab focuses on AI-driven solutions in medical imaging and heritage preservation, with strong international collaborations, particularly in Europe.