Bon voyage: Admired UIUC research assistant professor Hasan Ozer headed to Arizona State

Researchers look to improve the world around them. Teachers inspire the next generation to make the world a better place. Hasan Ozer has made it his life mission to be both.

For the last 12 years, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign research assistant professor has carried out his life’s goal at Illinois Center for Transportation, where he has poured into the lives of countless Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate students.

But come next month he’ll swap out his orange and blue for maroon and gold, beginning a new career as an associate professor at Arizona State University.

“It’s a big jump for me,” said Ozer, who earned his bachelor’s (Middle East Technical University), master’s (Northwestern University) and doctoral (UIUC) degrees all in civil engineering.

“My job will primarily be research teaching and helping the department, helping the center as a transportation facility,” said the Malatya, Turkey native.

Before joining his new crew in Tempe, Ariz., Ozer can’t help but reflect on his valuable time at ICT.

“In the very beginning, there were only a few students with us — five or six,” Ozer said. “There was only one staff member and Dr. (Imad) Al-Qadi (ICT director and UIUC CEE professor).”

“It was smaller times,” he added, “but it was very good for me to witness the growth, and I can clearly see how things have changed in the lab, how things have changed in terms of the staff, in terms of the students. We have more than 20 students now and maybe 10 staff, so things will continue growing in an exponential phase.”

Over the years, Ozer’s certainly had his fair share of favorite memories, including the all-out bash for Al-Qadi’s 50^th birthday.

“We made a big arrangement in his room,” Ozer joked. “There was a cane and some other accessories to remind him that he’s getting older.”

He also recalled the time a student accidentally sparked a fire one evening in the binder lab.

“He (the student) was doing something with binders and picked up the fire and the sprinklers started to work. Of course the entire binder lab with all of those sprinklers got wet,” Ozer said. “I remember I panicked. I couldn’t do too much, but at least one of us picked up the fire extinguisher and was able to put out the fire.”

“But after that, lab safety with the engineers became a more important role in our training,” he added.

In terms of personal accomplishments, Ozer always enjoyed the thrill of piecing together numerous transportation research proposals.

“It makes me very, very happy because we put in a lot of effort,” he said.

But it pales in comparison to the pride he feels when watching ICT students succeed.

“The biggest accomplishment that I feel is whenever a student graduates from here and they find a job,” Ozer said. “This (ICT) is a place around the students, but it also shows that they’re really enjoying their time in here and wrapping up the work nicely, finding a job and moving on to the next step in their career.”

Such pure dedication isn’t something that’s easily lost on the students.

“He’s very selfless,” UIUC doctoral candidate Izak Said said. “He always gives us time. I usually go to discuss stuff with him, and I start by saying, ‘Do you have a minute?’ and we end up spending hours.”

Siqi Wang, UIUC doctoral candidate, said Ozer helped him fight off being homesick and “uncertainties” about his future when he first arrived to Champaign three years ago.

“I even thought about quitting within the first month of arrival,” he said. “Then I had my first lecture of CEE 405 lectured by Dr. Ozer. His sense of being a pure scholar, his dedication and passion in teaching really inspired me, and I was like, ‘OK, I’ll give myself a try.’ Now I’m proceeding towards the end of my Ph.D., and I cannot thank (him) more for (his) great mentoring.”

UIUC doctoral student Egemen Okte, who considers Ozer one of his mentors, said “not disappointing him has been and will be a major motivation for me.”

UIUC graduate student Javier García Mainieri couldn’t agree more.

“Professor Ozer’s passion, dedication and great skill have empowered me with a deep sense of reassurance about my life goals and decisions,” he said. “He is and will continue to be a role model for us, his students.”

If one thing’s for sure, his students know their beloved advisor is going places.

“He’ll be a star anywhere he goes,” Said added.

Before he bids adieu, Ozer has one last bit of advice to his students: “be curious.”

“It’s always important to be curious and question everything,” he said. “Never take anything for granted.”

His greatest hope for these young scholars is that they would make a lasting impression in their communities.

“They want to publish papers, they want to get a job, but I think it’s also important for someone like a Ph.D. student, or a research faculty, or a faculty, to contribute to the community that they’re in,” he said. “You may not see the benefit of that in the short run — and you may not even get anything in the long run — but know you’re contributing to a place that you know people will benefit from.”

Ozer said he would be remiss if he did not thank Al-Qadi for the opportunity to serve such an incredible “mission and vision” at ICT.

“All of the things I have learned in here are because of what Dr. Al-Qadi envisioned,” Ozer said. “What he built in here is very, very meaningful, and my goal is to basically make a similar kind of contribution to a community where I go — just like he did, for example, here in Illinois.”

His mentor is confident Ozer is going to accomplish this and so much more at ASU.

“He will be greatly missed at ICT,” he added,” but he will have an amazing, rewarding and fruitful academic career ahead of him,” Al-Qadi said.

“He is dedicated, loves his work, inspires students around him, and is a great human being,” he added. “He is an exemplary teacher and provides exceptional service to his profession.”

Endless opportunities await the new ASU associate professor, and that’s something he can hardly wait to begin.

“I hope my legacy is training good, skilled students in the workforce so that when they get into their job they can preserve our roadways and build better ones,” Ozer said.