Boğaziçi University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KRDAE) Geophysics Department Faculty Member Prof. Dr. Nurcan Meral Özel was awarded the Order of the State of Japan for her successful work in the International Monitoring System (IMS) of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).

Boğaziçi University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KRDAE) Geophysics Department Faculty Member Prof. Dr. Nurcan Meral Özel was awarded Japan’s prestigious State Order “Golden Lights, Order of the Rising Sun and Neck Tie” on the 100th anniversary of Turkey-Japan diplomatic relations for her significant contributions to the establishment of a world free of nuclear weapons and the development of the organization’s cooperation with Japan between 2014 and 2022.

ONE OF THE “SIX WOMEN LEADERS MAKING THEIR MARK IN TECHNOLOGY ON THE INTERNATIONAL PLATFORM”

Elected in 2014 as the director of the International Monitoring System (IMS), which 183 countries use to detect nuclear tests around the world, Prof. Dr. Özel served in a diplomat position as the highest international civil servant in the field of multilateral diplomacy. Responsible for detecting possible nuclear detonations and maintaining the global network of facilities, he led successful initiatives to build the IMS with diplomatic and scientific representatives of signatory states. In 2017, she was selected as one of the “Six International Women Leaders in Technology” at the symposium on “Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Women Leaders” held in the USA. She has installed many new monitoring stations in various parts of the world.

Prof. Dr. Nurcan Meral Özel, who completed her PhD in seismology at Hokkaido University in Japan, has undertaken very important tasks for the development of research infrastructures in Turkey, technology transfer, and the creation of platforms for joint scientific and operational studies between Japan and Turkey, especially in the field of earth sciences. She also pioneered the establishment of the KRDAE National Tsunami Warning Center, which provides regional tsunami warning services to the Eastern Mediterranean, Aegean and Black Sea regions in Turkey under the umbrella of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.

THE NATIONAL HONOR OF JAPAN HAS BEEN AWARDED SINCE 1875

The “Order of the Rising Sun”, the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese government during the reign of Emperor Meiji in 1875, symbolizes energy and Japan as the country of the rising sun. Prof. Dr. Nurcan Meral Özel will be presented with this important decoration and certificate in 2024, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Japan-Turkey diplomatic relations.