PhD 1980 University of Essex, Theoretical Physics

Ayhan Bilsel joined the Eastern Mediterranean University (then Higher Technological Institute) in October 1980, a few weeks after he obtained his PhD. He designed the mathematics and physical sciences components of the engineering curriculum. In 1982 he was appointed the first head of the Department of Basic Sciences. In 1986, he became the founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, a position he has continued to hold since then. In 1989 he chaired the committee responsible for establishing the Graduate School. In 1999 he initiated the setting up of the Faculty of Education, and he was the acting dean of this Faculty until  2003. His early research was on theory of light scattering, more specifically Brillouin scattering from liquid and solid surfaces. His current research interests include engineering education, curriculum studies, and the analysis of misconceptions in physics. He is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the Institute of Physics (UK).

Research Interests

Physics education

Engineering education

Selected Publications

Garip M, Erdil E, Bilsel A, Engineering faculty attitudes to general chemistry courses in engineering curricula, Journal of Chemical Education, 83 (12), 1873-1878, Dec 2006.

Erdil E, Garip M, Bilsel A, et al., Content evaluation of traditional core physics courses in engineering curricula, International Journal of Engineering Education, 21 (5), 943-949, 2005.

Bilsel A., and Erdil E., Experience Gained in Applying ABET Criteria to an Electrical/Electronic Engineering Program in a Turkish University, International Journal of Engineering Education, 20 (1), 77-82, 2004.

Erdil E., and Bilsel A. Curriculum Design to Revitalize Electrical Engineering Education at Eastern Mediterranean University, to  appear in International Journal of Electrical Engineering Education, 2004.

Bilsel A., and Oral Ö., Back to the Future: Educating the Renaissance Engineer, Proceedings of the 30th SEFI Annual Conference: The Renaissance Engineer of Tomorrow (Ed. by C. Borri and T.-U. Weck), Florence, 2002.

Aydıroğlu E., and Bilsel A., Problems of Teaching Physics to Freshman Engineering Students, Proceedings of 2nd European Conference on Physics Education in Engineering, Budapest, 2000.

Bilsel A., and Oral Ö., Role of Humanities and Social Sciences in Engineering Education, Engineering Education in the Third Millenium (Ed. by G. Sağlamer, A. Melezinek, and S. Incecik), Alsbach: Leuchtturm-Verlag, pp. 629-634, 1999.

Bilsel A., Oral, Ö., and Pillai J., Turkish and North American Engineering Programs: A Comparative Study of Curricular Emphases on Mathematics, Basic Sciences, Humanities, and Social Sciences, IEEE Transactions on Education, 41 (4), 247-252, 1998.