Research Interests

• Biogeochemistry of low-oxygen marine environments and deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems

• Carbon, sulfur and metal transformations across aquatic redox gradients

• Electrochemical and microfluidic chemical sensors, 

• Nanogeoscience and Extreme Environments

Education  

2005- 2010  | PhD, Oceanography, University of Delaware, USA, mentored by Prof. George W. Luther III

2000- 2005 | B.Sc. Chemical Engineering, Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey with a minor degree in History

and Philosophy of Science

Professional Experience

2017- Now  | Associate Professor, METU Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS), TURKEY

2016- Now  | Vice Director for Academic Affairs, Research, and International Collaborations, METU-IMS

2015- 2017 | Assistant Professor, METU-IMS, TURKEY

2014              | Habilitation (Title of associate professorship), Turkish Higher Education Council

2013- 2015 | Postdoctoral researcher, GEOMAR-Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, GERMANY

2013- 2014 | Visiting scientist, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK 

2010- 2012 | Postdoctoral researcher, UPMC-CNRS Benthic Ecogeochemistry Laboratory, Banyuls, FRANCE

2005- 2010 | Graduate research assistant, University of Delaware, USA

Oceanographic Cruises

2019 | Black Sea and Marmara Sea, R/V Bilim-2 (as Chief Scientist)

2018 | Mid-Atlantic Ridge, R/V Atalante and ROV Victor (As chief responsible for fluid chem.)

2017 | East Pacific Rise 9°50’N, R/V Atlantis and submersible Alvin (As chief responsible for in situ sensors)

2016 | Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea, R/V Bilim

2014 | Eastern Tropical Atlantic, R/V Meteor

2013 | Baltic Sea (Gotland Basin) with R/V Alkor

2013 | Black Sea with R/V Pelagia

2012 | Shallow water hydrothermal vent research in Milos island, Greece.

2012 | East Pacific Rise, 9°50’N and 13° N with N/O L’Atalante and submersible Nautile

2010 | Several cruises in the Western Mediterranean Sea with N/O Minibex and ROV Super Achille

2010 | East Pacific Rise, 9°50’N and 13° N with R/V L’Atalante and submersible Nautile

2009 | Lau Basin (Pacific Ocean) with R/V Thomas Thompson and ROV Jason II

2008 | East Pacific Rise, 9°50’N with R/V Atlantis and submersible Alvin

2007 | East Pacific Rise, 9°50’N with R/V Atlantis and submersible Alvin.

2007 | In situ voltammetric profiling of freshwater wetland sediments, Maryland, USA.

2006 | Lau Basin (Pacific Ocean) with R/V Melville and ROV Jason II

2005 | Several cruises in coastal Atlantic Ocean with R/V Hugh Sharp and R/V Cape Henlopen.

Research Submersible Dives

2017 | ALVIN Dive 4886, 2506 m, East Pacific Rise 9°50’N (10/04/2017, Pilot P Forte, J Guimond UDEL)

2017 | ALVIN Dive 4880, 2504 m, East Pacific Rise 9°50’N (04/04/2017, Pilot P Forte, BC Yapan METU)

2012 | NAUTILE Dive 1817, 2516 m, East Pacific Rise 9°50’N (19/3/2012, Pilot X Placaud)

2008 | ALVIN Dive 4407, 2504 m, East Pacific Rise 9°50’N (12/6/2008, Pilot S Kelley, S Webb LDEO)

2007 | ALVIN Dive 4304, 2511 m, East Pacific Rise 9°50’N, (20/1/2007, Pilot M Spear, B Govenar WHOI)

Selected Publications

Findlay, A.J., Estes, E.R., Gartman, A., Yücel, M., Kamyshny, A., Jr., Luther, G.W., (2019). Iron and sulfide nanoparticle formation and transport in nascent hydrothermal vent plumes. Nature Communications 10(1), 1597. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-09580-5

Yücel M., Beaton AD, Dengler M, Mowlem MC, Sohl F, Sommer S, (2015). Nitrate and Nitrite Variability at the Seafloor of an Oxygen Minimum Zone Revealed by a Novel Microfluidic In-Situ Chemical Sensor. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0132785. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0132785

Yücel M., (2013). Down the thermodynamic ladder: A comparative study of marine redox gradients across diverse sedimentary environments. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 131, 83-92.

Yücel M., Sievert SM, Vetriani C, Foustoukos DI, Giovannelli D, Le Bris N (2013). Eco-geochemical dynamics of a shallow-water hydrothermal vent system at Milos Island, Aegean Sea (Eastern Mediterranean). Chemical Geology 256, 11-20.

Yücel M, Gartman A, Chan CS, Luther GW (2011). Hydrothermal vents as a kinetically stable source of iron-sulphide-bearing nanoparticles to the ocean, Nature Geoscience 4, 367-371

Yücel M., Konovalov SK, Moore TS, Janzen C, Luther GW (2010). Sulfur speciation in the upper Black Sea sediments. Chemical Geology 269, 364-375.

You can find a full list of publications here.

Awards and Honors

2019 | BAGEP Young Scientist Award, Science Academy Turkey

2018 | TÜBA-GEBIP Distinguished Young Scientist Award, Turkish Academy of Sciences

2017 | Science Award, Turkish Marine Research Foundation (TÜDAV)

2017 | Young Investigator Award, Rectorate of Middle East Technical University

2015 | Turkish Scientific and Research Council (TÜBITAK) Reintegration Grant

2011 | Award for best dissertation in Oceanography program, University of Delaware

2008 | Research Mini Grant Award given to a selected doctoral student, University of Delaware

Presentations

Invited Talks

2019 | Keynote speaker, InterRidge Theoretical Institute, Banyuls-sur-mer, France

2019 | Keynote speaker, EnvironChem Congress, Antalya, Turkey

2019 | Panel speaker, Black Sea NGO Forum Conference, Istanbul, Turkey

2019 | Panel speaker, High-Level Conference on Marine Litter in the Black Sea, Sofia, Bulgaria

2019 | Speaker, TedX Event in Arkın University for Arts and Design, Cyrenia, Cyprus

2018 | Panel speaker, Black Sea University Network Congress 2018, Greece

2018 | Lecturer, GEOTRACES Training workshop on metal speciation and isotopes, Xiamen University, China

2018 | Panel speaker, Baltic Sea Day, St Petersburg, Russia

2018 | Departmental seminar, Hacettepe University, Neuroscience Institute, Turkey

2017 | Keynote speaker, ITU Molecular Biology Student Society International Congress, Istanbul, Turkey

2017 | Departmental seminar, Istanbul Technical University, Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey

2017 | Goldschmidt Conference 2017 Paris, Invited speaker Session 8h, Paris, France

2016 | Lecturer, Computational Ecology and Evolution Workshop, EkoEvo Turkey, Nesin Math Village, Turkey

2015 | Departmental seminar, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel

2015 | Speaker, Regional Cooperation in Eastern Mediterranean Research, Haifa, Israel

2015 | Speaker, IUCN Workshop on Mediterranean Deep-Sea Ecosystems, Marseille, France

2014 | Departmental seminar, Middle East Technical Uni., Department of Earth System Sciences, Ankara, Turkey

2012 | Departmental seminar, Bogazici University, Institute of Environmental Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey

2012 | EU Sensenet Workshop – Invited Lecturer, UPMC, Banyuls-sur-mer, France  

2011 | Departmental seminar, Angers University, Actual and Fossil Bio-indicators Research Group, Angers, France

2010 | Departmental seminar, Istanbul Technical University, Eurasia Institute of Earth Sciences, Turkey

Presentations at International Meetings

2019 | OceanObs 2019, Hawaii, USA

2019 | Goldschmidt Conference, Barcelona, Spain

2018 | ASLO/AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting, Portland, OR, USA

2017 | Goldschmidt Conference, Paris, France

2017 | Fourth Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Symposium, Istanbul, Turkey

2016 | Goldschmidt Conference, Yokohama, Japan

2015 | Deep Carbon Observatory, Early Career Scientist Workshop, Azores, Portugal

2015 | Second Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Symposium, METU, Ankara, Turkey

2014 | European Geophysical Union, Vienna-Austria

2012 | Goldschmidt Meeting, Montreal, Canada

2012 | ICES/PICES Early Career Scientist Conference, Majorca, Spain

2011 | World Conference in Marine Biodiversity, Aberdeen, Scotland

2010 | Cross-Border Meeting of Sensors and Biosensors, Sant Carles de la Rapita, Spain 

2010 | CIESM (Mediterranean Science Commission) Meeting, Venice, Italy

2009 | Goldschmidt Meeting, Davos, Switzerland

2008 | Ocean Sciences Meeting, Orlando, FL, USA

2007 | Gordon Conference on Chemical Oceanography, Tilton, NH, USA

Teaching

METU- Institute of Marine Sciences:

Biogeochemistry of Seafloor Ecosystems (Every Fall between 2015-2019)

Geochemistry of Sediments (Every Spring between 2015-2019)

METU-Earth System Sciences:

Global Biogeochemistry (Every Spring between 2015-2019)

UPMC University Pierre and Marie Curie, France:

Oxygen-free Marine Biogeochemistry (Every December between 2010-2016)

Voltammetric Sensors (Every December between 2010-2016)

Memberships

Geochemical Society

American Geophysical Union

European Geophysical Union 

European Association of Geochemistry