Her research focuses on understanding how animals make behavioral decisions by integrating their physiologic states and external sensory stimuli received from the environment. She earned her BA in molecular biology and genetics from Bogazici University in Turkey and went on to earn a PhD in 2008 at University of Vienna where she worked with Barry Dickson at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP). She completed her postdoctoral training with Leslie Vosshall at the Rockefeller University before joining to Cornell as an Assistant Professor in 2016. Departments/Programs Neurobiology and Behavior Research