I was one of those children whose answer to the question 'What do you want to do when you grow up?' was not stable. My future plans were in rapid flux due to the effects of reading, watching, and learning new things. When I realized that being all of them was impossible, I thought acting would be the most suitable profession because I could transfer any interest and curiosity into it. Back then, I was not yet familiar with the design. Even when I decided to study Industrial Design at university, I could not foresee that design could do this for me. Upon completing the B.Sc. degree, I understood that the context and tools are variable, but the approach is the butter-and-bread of design. The way of thinking that was designed in my mind was the most powerful skill I have gained from my university education. Thus, I could have practiced this skill and used that perspective in my daily, professional, and academic life since then. I can proudly say that the design profession was the best choice for me, as I realized that my interests could contribute to my professional growth.
As I realized that an academic career was the most suitable field for me to enrich my interests and explore new horizons, I quit my job in furniture design. Academia would provide me with a platform to pursue my oldest hobbies - reading and writing - as a professional career. Additionally, it would provide constant interaction with young students, keeping me engaged and up-to-date. This turn made me realize the potential of design as a good base for interdisciplinary studies, which led me to my favorite course in high school: biology. By its nature, the design curriculum had no class related to biology or nature during my B.Sc. education. That motivation drove me to study a biology-related topic in my graduate education. Additionally, I have a keen interest in psychology, but I did not have any directed classes in the curriculum related to psychology. Psychology has been a part of this journey from the beginning of the Ph.D. phase. On the other hand, being a lecturer enabled me to learn new things in various fields by preparing and presenting courses, which became my playground where I had the opportunity to share this excitement and motivation with my students. They are also good teachers to me in this mutual relationship. This lecturer position was another turning point in my life; it was also the right choice. Or should I say that the journey has carried me here rather than that I chose?
A retrospective gaze on my life makes me realize that I always follow the path, which has become a delightful journey, drawn by the qualifications I acquired because of my interest rather than following a target-oriented equipping effort. Through this journey, I embraced all the obstacles, encounters, and acquaintances as valuable assets that would lead me to a great personal and intellectual fortune. Although my variable and diverse interests led me to be labeled as 'whimsical' during my childhood, they have become fruitful sources that I benefit from now in my trans-disciplinary design studies and courses. The diversities that blossomed from contrasts have always thrilled me, and I developed a selective perception of contradictions. This tendency has also been evident in my graduate education and the courses I teach. All my studies and research somehow took place at the intersection between nature and design, organic and modern, or function and aesthetics, technique and discourse.
My academic interest in bio-approaches in design, and my Ph.D. topic, biophilia, reveal my standpoint that mediates the natural sciences, design, technology, and social sciences, as well as the convergence of natural and artificial. It would be fair to say that my studies and courses made me discover the mediator in me. It also appears in the framework of the studio courses, which gather cultural approaches and sustainability goals, such as the Fundamentals of Design Thinking course, in which we discuss the designer's role as a mediator between various stakeholders and contexts. Now, I design courses and research projects in a mediator role.