EDUCATION AND ACADEMIC DISTINCTIONS:

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, PhD. History (May 2015 expected)
  
• Johns Hopkins University, B.A. History, B.A. History of Art, M.A. Humanities (May 2009)
  
• Franklin Center/Clinger Grant recipient for M.A. research, Summer 2008
• JHU Provost’s Undergraduate Research Award for M.A. research, Summer 2008
• Official Johns Hopkins nominee for the national Beinecke Scholarship, 2008 

 

EXPERIENCE:

• The Princeton Review, Teacher and Tutor: January 2010 – present
• Teaching SAT preparation courses for high school students, grading SAT practice test essays, evaluating students' progress, strengthening writing and math skills.
• Google, Google Summer of Code (GSoC) Student Participant: May 2010 – August 2010
• Implementing non-linear page flows to AbiWord, an open source word processor; optimizing rendering and document loading algorithms to enable large file manipulation (3000+ pages)
• Johns Hopkins University, Fellow-by-Courtesy: September 2009 – present
• Conducting research for two books-in-progress, one on academic reform in higher education and the other on the impact of fifteenth-century Portuguese tropical explorations on the development of science.
  
• Foundations, Editor-in-Chief: May 2007 – May 2009; Assistant Editor: Sept. 2006 – May 2007
• Biannual international undergraduate academic history journal. Managed 30+ professors and undergraduate editors, secured annual funding, and conducted a worldwide submissions call. Last issue received 80+ submissions. Web edition available at http://www.jhu.edu/foundations. 
• Johns Hopkins University Digital Media Center, Front Desk Staff: Sept. 2005 – Feb. 2007
• Collaborated with patrons to create multimedia projects using InDesign, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flash, and configured A/V setups with cameras and microphones. Day-to-day operations included managing a busy computer lab.

COMMUNITY SERVICE:

• Hopkins 4K for Cancer, Team Cyclist: June 2006 – July 2006
• 3500 mile charity bike trip from Baltimore to San Francisco, raised cancer awareness and funds for the American Cancer Society, personally raised over $1000.

COMPUTER SKILLS:

• Print and web publishing: 5 years' experience with Adobe InDesign and Acrobat, extensive experience configuring and maintaining online content management systems including Drupal and WordPress
• Web and graphics design: Adobe Dreamweaver, GoLive, Illustrator, Photoshop; proficient in HTML and CSS, basic knowledge of XML and Flash
• Programming: C, C++, Visual Basic
• Linux/Open Source: 8 years' experience with Linux ranging from helping desktop users migrate from Windows and configuring LAMP setups (web servers) to configuring GCC cross-compiler toolchains and creating custom distributions from scratch
  
• Office productivity: Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, both on Windows and Mac 

LANGUAGES:

• Fluent in English and Turkish
• Proficient in Spanish, worked as the official Spanish speaking election judge in my home precinct during the 2006 Congressional elections
• Intermediate knowledge of German and Latin
• Can read French, Portuguese, and nineteenth-century Ottoman Turkish for research