Assoc. Prof. Hande Girard has been working as a faculty member in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at our university since 2022. She served as the founding department head in the Department of Aerospace Engineering between 2022-2023.
From 2016 to 2021, Assoc. Prof. Girard worked as a faculty member in the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Aeronatics and Astronautics at the University of Turkish Aeronautical Association. Between 2012 and 2015, she served as a Technical Consultant and Project Coordinator in defense projects carried out by the Defence Industry Agency. In 2007-2008, she worked as a Technical Coordination Engineer for maintenance and repair processes at the O/I/D level for aircraft at the Turkish Armed Forces 901st Main Maintenance Center Command. From 2008 to 2012, as a scholarship holder of the French government, she earned her Ph.D. in Mechanical Energy Process Engineering with a focus on Soil, Structure, and Materials Mechanics at Ecole Centrale Paris (CentraleSupélec), graduating with High Honors. She completed her doctoral research under the ANR-08-MAPR-0025 project, coordinated by EADS France (Airbus Group), in collaboration with institutions such as École Normale Supérieure de Cachan PPSM CNRS UMR 8531, Ecole Centrale Paris CNRS UMR 8579, Supelec LGEP CNRS UMR 8507, and ICM Paris-Est MCMC CNRS UMR 7182, conducting research on composite structures.
She obtained her associate professorship in 2022 in the field of Aerospace Engineering, focusing on the Design and Materials of Aerospace Vehicles. She earned her M.Sc. in 2007 from Gazi University as a BOREN scholar of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and completed her B.Sc. at the same university in 2005.
