experience | Turhan Can Kargin

Work Experience

PhD Researcher

Group of Machine Learning Research (GMUM)
Kraków, Poland
Oct 2024 – Present

Conducting research on smarter visual representations for embodied artificial intelligence, with a focus on spatial awareness in visual foundation models.
Designing computer vision pipelines for Eurasian lynx re-identification in collaboration with the Wildlife Research Ecology Team, Institute of Environmental Sciences.
Developing semantic segmentation models to automate frog cell-size estimation for the Life History Evolution Group, Institute of Environmental Sciences.
Coordinating GMUM's social media presence and outreach to promote the group's research and strengthen its international visibility.

Data Scientist

Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC)
Poznań, Poland
Mar 2022 – Jan 2025

Applied machine learning, statistical modeling, and large-scale time-series analytics to research and innovation projects in the ICT Energy Efficient Technologies Department.
Delivered anomaly detection, time-series forecasting, and simulation of renewable energy system configurations, including work on the EU-funded RENergetic project.
Developed a replicable ML workflow for multi-site energy forecasting that integrates with energy management systems without requiring in-house ML expertise.
Contributed to a recommendation-based Heat Demand Response (HDR) system that forecasts baseline consumption and proposes energy-saving measures when user-defined limits are exceeded.

Erasmus+ Internship

University of Catania
Catania, Italy
Mar – Aug 2023

Research internship in the DIEEI Robotic Systems (ROSys) group on the BIOBLU project, supervised by Prof. Giovanni Muscato and Prof. Dario Calogero Guastella.
Built object detection and segmentation pipelines for robotic picking using YOLO, Mask R-CNN, and PCA-based methods with OpenCV, TensorFlow, and PyTorch.
Designed and validated AI-driven manipulation and control strategies in ROS and Gazebo across mobile robots and industrial manipulators (UR10e, AUBO i5, Kuka youBot).
Fine-tuned classification algorithms to improve picking accuracy and participated in the university robotics course as a guest student.

Erasmus+ Internship

Silesian University of Technology
Gliwice, Poland
Nov 2020 – Mar 2021

13-week research internship on clustering single-cell RNA sequencing data, supervised by Asst. Prof. Michał Marczyk.
Performed end-to-end scRNA-seq analysis in R, including quality control, normalization, UMAP visualization, and dropClust clustering on breast cancer data.
Tuned preprocessing and clustering parameters, ran differential expression analysis, and applied functional annotation to interpret cell populations.

Mandatory Internship & Graduation Project

Tescom UPS
Izmir, Turkey
Sep 2019 – Sep 2020

Completed an industry-linked BSc thesis (TÜBİTAK 2209-B) on high-efficiency LLC resonant converter design for UPS battery charging and charge–discharge regression modeling, with industrial support from Tescom Elektronik A.Ş.
Gained prior production experience at Tescom across PCB layout, in-circuit card testing, cabling, and final device testing.

Part-Time Working Student Engineer

Deutz Service Group ASM
Izmir, Turkey
Dec 2019 – Mar 2020

Supported engineering development for Ex-Proof product lines serving industrial motors, automotive, and machinery applications.

Mandatory Internship

Elpro Energy
Izmir, Turkey
Aug – Sep 2019

Prepared bills of quantities and conducted market and price research for electrical installation materials.
Assisted with electrical installation design and technical documentation using AutoCAD.

Optional Internship

Maselmak Engineering
Ankara, Turkey
Jul – Aug 2017

Designed electrical control panels using SEE Electrical.
Developed PLC software in TIA Portal and supported PLC hardware design.

Awards & Honors

Jan 2025 · Brunico, Italy

Best Project Award — ELIAS–ELLIS–VISMAC Winter School
Oct 2022 · Poznań, Poland

PUT Rector's Scholarship — Poznań University of Technology

Second award during MSc studies for academic excellence.
Oct 2021 · Poznań, Poland

PUT Rector's Scholarship — Poznań University of Technology

Awarded during MSc studies for academic excellence.
Jul 2020 · Izmir, Turkey

Highest-ranked student in the department — Izmir Katip Çelebi University

BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Sep 2019 – Sep 2020 · Izmir, Turkey

TÜBİTAK 2209-B Industry-Supported Undergraduate Thesis Grant — TÜBİTAK

LLC resonant converter design for UPS battery charging (Tescom Elektronik A.Ş.).
2016–2017 academic year · Eskişehir, Turkey

Certificate of Honour — Anadolu University

Parallel BBA in Business Administration.

Service & Leadership

Event organizing

Jun 29 – Jul 3, 2026 · Kraków, Poland

Organizing Team — MLSSR&S 2026: Machine Learning Summer School on Reliability & Safety
Jun 2025 · Kraków, Poland

Volunteer Organizer — MLSSD 2025: Machine Learning Summer School on Drug and Materials Discovery

Outreach & education

Volunteer Instructor

Polish AI Olympiad (Olimpiada AI)
Sep 2024 – Present

Deliver classes for high school students on artificial intelligence and machine learning, and help prepare competition tasks for the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence (IOAI).