Associate Professor Dr. Burcu Saner Okan earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Middle East Technical University, Turkey, in 2005. She then went on to complete her Master's degree in 2007 and her Ph.D. in 2011 in the Materials Science and Engineering program at Sabancı University. Since March 2022, Dr. Saner Okan has held the position of academic director at the Sabancı University Composite Research Center. She is also a research faculty member in the Departments of Materials Science and Nanoengineering, as well as Manufacturing Technologies, at Sabancı University. In addition, Dr. Saner Okan is co-founder of NANOGRAFEN Nano Technological Products Company and she is among the first entrepreneurs to successfully complete the TUBITAK 1512 program. Dr. Saner Okan develops cost-effective and lightweight automotive composites parts reinforced by waste tire-derived Graphene NanoPlatelet with part producers and leading OEM partners. Additionally, she is involved in sustainable advanced materials research, creating compound solutions using recycled and natural sources for thermoplastic processing. As a co-founder of Euronova Next-Generation Sustainable Plastic Materials Company, she contributes to producing sustainable compounds with recycled additives for various plastic applications. Throughout her career, Dr. Saner Okan has secured funding totaling $5.0 million for national and international projects at Sabancı University. Her areas of expertise include graphene, polymer nanocomposites, compounding, surface chemistry, electrospinning, recycling, upcycling, and circular economy practices. She has more than 50 articles published in international journals, 8 book chapters, 2 patents and presented over 50 conference papers in these fields.