West Virginia and Turkey don’t usually spark comparisons in most people’s minds. However, two West Virginia University students will tell you that they feel right at home among the hills.
Maybe it’s because Morgantown reminds them of their hometowns. Berk Demirgok, who graduated with his master’s in mechanical engineering in December 2013 and will start his doctoral work in August, compares the city to his hometown of Zonguldak, which resides in Turkey’s coal country.
“The city, landscape and weather are very similar to my hometown,” he said.
Or maybe it’s because the people who live here are so welcoming.
Sercan Ergungor, a senior industrial engineering student, says he has fallen in love with the “Morgantown hospitality.”
But for the two roommates, one thing is clear: they have thrived at WVU.
Worthwhile work
After earning his bachelor’s degree at Utah State, Demirgok, who came to the U.S. in 2009, began looking for a place to continue his education. A friend from Turkey who was attending WVU invited him to Morgantown.
“I loved the environment here. It was obviously a great place to study,” he said.
Demirgok enrolled in the Statler College and began working on his research in combustion with V’yacheslav Akkerman, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. The two will travel to San Francisco, California, in August, where Demirgok will be presenting a paper at the International Symposium on Combustion. His paper, “Effects of Thermal Expansion on Flame Propagation in Channels with Nonslip Walls,” was chosen out of submissions from an international pool of professors, students and researchers.
“I was so excited to have been accepted to present, especially an oral presentation,” said Demirgok. “I didn’t think I was doing anything that important, but now I realize my work is worth something.”
The symposium is considered the most prestigious biannual conference in the field, and this will be the first time it has been held in the United States since 2004.
“Giving a talk at the symposium is an honor not only for students like Berk, but even for senior researchers,” said Akkerman. “Participating in the symposium will also help him to dive deeper into the combustion community and extend his networking, thereby facilitating his future academic career.”
Luckily, Demirgok has plenty of experience delivering oral presentations on his research. He has given four presentations at various national combustion conferences and has also submitted manuscripts to journals based on his master’s research.
In his paper, Demirgok explains the fundamentals of flame theory when applied to conditions of wall friction in a tube. Specifically, he demonstrates the role of thermal expansion in the burning process on flame dynamics.
A true college experience
For most people, getting locked out of their house is a bad thing. For Ergungor, it turned out to be the key to pursuing his education in the United States.
“My parents were in Cyprus when I was going to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language and I didn’t have the money to pay for it,” he recounted. “On the morning of the test, I locked myself out of the house and had to wake up my grandmother so she could let me back in. I decided to ask her for the money.”
The rest is history for Ergungor, who came to North Carolina to live with a host family to attend high school.
“It was a complete culture shock. It really got me in the beginning,” Ergungor said. “Every day phrases confused me, but I quickly picked them up.”
After a visit to New York City, he made the decision to move to the Big Apple without a secure job or financial backing from his family.
“New York City slapped me in the face so many times, but it taught me that I could live anywhere in the world,” he said.
While in New York, he worked on his associate’s degree and struggled to keep a positive attitude, longing for a true college experience.
“It was like going to an office every day,” he said. “The classrooms were in skyscrapers and I needed a swipe card to get in the buildings, where I was then greeted by a receptionist.”
Upon graduating with his associate’s degree, Ergungor applied to several universities. WVU earned a spot on his list because he remembered watching the Mountaineer basketball team win the Big East Championship in Madison Square Garden in 2010.
Also instrumental in his decision were people like Jack Byrd, Jr., professor of industrial and management systems engineering.
“I asked him a lot of questions and he answered them all,” he explained. “He never passed me to someone else and was always quick to respond.”
Ergungor moved to Morgantown in August 2012 and was instantly smitten with the friendly and knowledgeable people. He will officially graduate from WVU in August and will head back to New York City to work for a logistics company.
-WVU-
wbk/06/25/14
CONTACT: Mary C. Dillon, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
304.293.4086, Mary.Dillon@mail.wvu.edu
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