2024-2025 Visiting scholars
Each of our departments has its own policies and procedures for working with international scholars. If you're interested in being a visiting scholar, please contact the department directly.
Dr. Mehmet Başaran is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota's STEM Education Center, working under the Supervisor of Prof. Dr. Gillian Roehrig, and also serves as an Associate Professor at Gaziantep University, specializing in Curriculum and Instruction. He holds a Ph.D. in STEM-focused preschool education from Gaziantep University and an M.S. from Bilkent University, during which he briefly visited the University of Cambridge for the PGCSE Secondary Mathematics program. His research focuses on STEM program development, teacher education, and early childhood STEAM education, with contributions to computational thinking and coding for preschoolers. He has held visiting professorships in Poland, Jordan, and Turkey and has led research projects funded by the EU and TÜBİTAK. Dr. Başaran is also the founder of Dünyatek Bilişim Teknoloji A.Ş. and has received awards, including the 2023 Science Award from Gaziantep University.
Eleonora Pizzigallo is a visiting scholar working with Dr. Panayiota Kendeou in the Reading and Learning Lab of the Department of Educational Psychology. She is a Ph.D. student in Psychological Sciences at the University of Padova, Italy. Since her master's degree in Cognitive Psychology (University of Padova), Eleonora has been interested in developmental disorders and cognitive training. She attended a specialization in Specific Learning Disorders, focusing on the assessment of children and adults, as well as strategies to improve their well-being. Her research centers on how technology-based treatments can enhance reading skills in individuals with reading comprehension disorders and dyslexia, and on the factors that influence the effectiveness of these interventions within a life-long learning framework.