Prof. Dr. İbrahim Özkol was born in 1962 in İzmir and completed his B.Sc. (1985), M.Sc. (1988) and Ph.D. (1992) in Aerospace Engineering at İstanbul Technical University (ITU). He began his academic career as a Research Assistant in 1987 and became Associate Professor in 1996 and Professor in 2005. He has led and participated in numerous national and international aerospace projects supported by SSB, NATO, EU, Boeing, TÜBİTAK, Aselsan, TUSAŞ, THY and others. Since 2019, he has served as Founding Director of the ITU Aviation Institute and has held senior leadership roles including Deputy Rector and Board Member positions in industry and academic councils. His research encompasses aircraft structures and materials, composite and metallic airframe design, and production processes. He has extensively studied aircraft manufacturing projects, interfacial behavior and fracture mechanics of composite laminates, and university–industry partnerships. Currently, he focuses on aviation management, aerospace systems engineering, advanced material characterization under operational loads, and strategic development of aviation education programs.