Deniz Eksioglu

2025 Goldwater Scholar

Hometown

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Major

Biomedical Engineering

College

College of Engineering

 

Recipient of the 2025 Goldwater Scholarship, Deniz Eksioglu has a clear vision of his future as a career scientist that is shaped by his immigrant family history, community engagement, and interdisciplinary perspective from the fields of engineering, neuroscience, and biomaterials science. As a freshman, Deniz jumped right into what became a pivotal hands-on learning experience by joining the Engineering Project in Community Service (EPICs). While working in a collaborative environment to develop a prosthetic arm powered by muscle signals, Deniz was inspired to pursue healthcare research.

 

Motivated to revolutionize implantable medical devices, Deniz persistently pursues a research career to develop biocompatible materials and novel coatings that will extend the lifespan of neural implants and reduce invasive replacements. He strives not only to improve patient outcomes by increasing the reliability of neural interfacing devices, but also to expand access to treatments for those with cognitive and motor neurological disorders, including veterans.

 

While building a stream of research at Purdue, Deniz has published as a coauthor in the Journal of Advanced Functional Materials and currently has another article under review in Nature Communications, in addition to his contribution to a publication in the Proceedings of the 2024 IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Bionanotechnology and BioMEMS. Writing in support of his application, Purdue faculty at the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Dr. Hyowon Lee and Dr. Chi Hwan Lee attest to his promise as a future scientist.