Researcher, Instructor, Educator
zeynepdelen@sabanciuniv.edu
egedeatolye@gmail.com
+90 533 384 21 46
İstanbul, Turkey
www.egedeatolye.org
E D U C A T I O N
Ph.D, Physical Organic Chemistry – 2007
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA.
Synthesis of Phenols with Potential Biological Activities & Crystallography and Magnetism of Nitroxides
B.S., Chemistry – 2001
Boğaziçi University, İstanbul Turkey.
R E S E A R C H
2025 - present Sabancı University Nanotechnology Center SUNUM Visiting Researcher
•
“Bio-based Antimicrobial Packaging Materials to Increase the Shelf Life of Naturally Fermented Low-Salt Table
Olives (OLIVEPACK)” PRIMA Section 2 Program, Ongoing 2024-2027 (PRIMA: Partnership for Research and
Innovation in the Mediterranean Area)
•
“Low salt content olive packaging technology development” in collaboration with SUNUM and National Olive
Research Institute, TÜBİTAK: Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology. Ongoing 2023-2025,
•
“Malaxer and extraction system design for high efficiency olive oil production with added value” TÜBİTAK: Turkish
Ministry of Industry and Technology. Accepted 2025.
•
“Phototermal agent development from olive oil waste water / Zeytinyağı üretimi atık suyundan fototermal ajanlar
geliştirilmesi” TÜBİTAK Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology, Resubmitted 2025.
•
Heavy metal uptake in olive trees (Olea europaea L.) in the circum-Mediterranean region related to mining activities
and wastewater. Case studies from Palestine, Cyprus, and Turkey. SESAME International Synchotron Light for
Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East. Started in 2020, on hold due to developments in the
region.
2010 – present
E D U C A T I O N A L I N I T I A T I V E Ege’de Atölye Founder (www.egedeatolye.org )
Ege’de Atölye brings international scholars and students together to focus on a local topic academically but holistically.
Outcomes include a school, books, seminars, articles, university courses, etc.
o 2021 - 2024 Community Fungi Programs in Ömerli, İstanbul
o 2024 Translated into Turkish: The Chemical Story of Olive Oil: From Grove to Table, İş Bankası Kültür
Yayınları in 2021. 3 rd print, released in January 2024.
o
2017 Coauthored The Chemical Story of Olive Oil: From Grove to Table, Royal Society of Chemistry. Also
translated into Spanish.
o
2016
Cofounder of Zeytin Okulu/Olive Academy. A nonformal school in İnecik village, Karaburun
www.zeytinokulu.net
o 2014 Co-created and taught Chemistry and Utility of Olive Oil at Boğaziçi University CHEM 485.
o 2014 Organized the Virginia Tech Global Scholars Program excursion in Turkey.
o 2013 Cofounded Zeytince Association for Supporting Ecological Life
o 2012 Cofounded Ege’de Atölye Association
o 2012 Facilitated reciprocal municipal visits between Turkey and Spain.
o 2011 – 2019 Zeytin Programs in Foça, Urla, Selçuk
2008-2009, University of Massachusetts, Postdoc, Amherst, Massachusetts
Thayumanavan Group, Hydrogels for testing the feedback-regulated drug delivery of morphine.
2001-2007, University of Massachusetts, Teaching and Research Assistant, Amherst, Massachusetts
Biological activities of phenolic substances. Magnetism of nitroxide and phenoxy radicals. NMR, IR, UV/Vis, HPLC,
EPR, crystallography, SQUID. Autodock for drug design. Teaching assistant for General Chemistry, Honors Course
General Chemistry, and Graduate Core Courses.
T E A C H I N G
2024 – present, Özyeğin University Gastronomy Department Part-time Instructor
GARM 485: The Science and Culture of Olive Oil
2018 - 2023 Sabancı University Part-time Instructor, Foundation Development Directorate. Science of Nature (NS 101-
102): NS is an integrated, interdisciplinary science course that replaces the traditional introductory chemistry, biology, and
physics courses as part of Sabancı University’s core curriculum. Taught three of four modules on climate change, brain,
and antibiotic resistance.
PROJ 201; is a semester-long project, mandatory for all students as part of Sabancı University’s core curriculum.
2010 - 2020 Boğaziçi University Part-time Instructor Chemistry Department, İstanbul
CHEM 105 General Chemistry courses
CHEM 485 The Chemistry and Utility of Olive Oil
2015 Bilgi University Part-time Instructor, İstanbul
CHEM 100 General Chemistry courses
2007 - 2009, Amherst College, Instructor and Visiting Assistant Professor, Amherst, Massachusetts
CHEM 11 General chemistry, organic chemistry, lectures, and laboratories.
P U B L I C A T I O N S
P O P U L A R S C I E N C E
•
Contributor to the online Popular Science Portal of the Science Academy. www.sarkac.org.
§ Sofralık Zeytin Üzerine, Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2025.
§ Mantar Tarım Ekolojik Denge Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2023.
§ Beyin Nasıl Çalışır? Bilim Akademisi Sarkaç Dergisi, 2023.
§ Mantar Nedir? II Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2022 *
§ Mantar Nedir? I Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2022 *
§ Gelelim Fasulyenin Faydalarına Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2021 * #
§ Nergis Çiçeği: Mis Kokulara bürünmüş zehir ve şifa, Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2021*
§ Bitkilerdeki sağlıklı maddeler: Polifenol nedir? Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2020 * #
§ Antibiyotik Direncinden Neden Korkmalıyız? Bilim Akademisi Sarkaç Dergisi, 2019 *
§ Kendi kendine Tatlanan Zeytin, Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2019 *
§ Zeytin Ağacının Yaşı, Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2019 * #
§ Zeytinyağının Tadını Almak, Sarkaç Dergisi, Bilim Akademisi, 2018 * #
§ Zeytinyağında Boynuz Kulağı Geçiyor, Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2018 *
Zeytinyağı Neden Sağlıklı, Sarkaç Bilim Akademisi, 2017 * #
Book: Delen, O’Hara, Blatchly, Learning Design from the Olive in POMACE Learning Circularity from the Olive
edited by Melis Baloğlu, Serdar Aşut, Emre Günlügür funded by Creative Industries Funds NL. 2023
•
Book: Blatchly, Richard A.; Delen, Zeynep; O’Hara, Patricia; The Chemical Story of Olive Oil: From Grove to Table,
Royal Society of Chemistry Publishers, 2017.
o
Turkish Translation by Zeynep Delen Nircan; Blatchly, Richard A.; Delen, Zeynep; O’Hara, Patricia;
Zeytinlikten Sofraya Zeytinyağının Hikayesi, İş Kültür Yayınları, 2020. (3 rd press in 2024)
o
Spanish Translation: Blatchly, Richard A.; Delen, Zeynep; O’Hara, Patricia; La Aventura quimica del aceiite
de oliva: Del olivar a la mesa, Editorial Acribia, S.A., 2021.
•
Book Series: Meraklısına Bilim (Eng: Science for the Interested), Science Academy Press and Doğan Kitap Press
in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
A C A D E M I C
•
Nevra Ozcelik, Atena Ghosi Gharehaghaji, Zeynep Delen Nircan, Erkan Susamcı, Feriste
Ozturk Gungor, Sahnur Irmak, Hayriye Unal, Harnessing the photothermal properties of table olives: A near-
infrared light strategy for enhancing the shelf-life of low-salt naturally fermented black olives, Innovative Food
Science & Emerging Technologies, 105, 2025, 104206, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifset.2025.104206.
•
Selçuk, İ.; Delen Nircan, Z.; Coşkun, B.S. Imagining Decent Work towards a Green Future in a Former Forest Village
of the City of Istanbul. Soc. Sci. 2023, 12, 342. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12060342
•
Delen, Zeynep; Chemical Advances in Olive Oil Production, IEHCA Fourth International Convention on Food History
and Food Studies, Tours, France, 2018. (Also published in Turkish in Yemek ve Kültür Dergisi 53, Çiya Press, Fall
2018.)
•
Blatchly, Richard A.; Delen, Zeynep; O’Hara, Patricia; Making Sense of Olive Oil: Chemistry connecting
observations with standards - Experimental Approaches, Journal of Chemical Education, 91 (10), 1623–1630,
2014.
•
O’Hara, Patricia B.; Delen, Zeynep; Wernz, Christian; Blatchly, Richard ; Türköz, Meltem; "Re-Orienting the Liberal
Arts: The Olive Experiment, 4th Annual Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy, Virginia Tech. February 8-10,
2012.
•
Delen, Zeynep; Eriş, Ertuğrul. Yükseköğretimde Eğitim Odaklı Alternatif Yaklaşım, International Higher Education
Congress: New Trends and Issues, Istanbul Turkey, May 27-29, 2011.
•
Murata, Hidenori; Yuji Miyazaki; ArmandoPaduan-Filho; Valdir Bindilatti; Nei Fernandes Oliviera Jr.; Delen, Zeynep;
Lahti, Paul M. 2-(4,5,6,7-Tetrafluorobenzimidazol-2-yl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole-3-oxide-1-
oxyl, A Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Quasi-1D Ferromagnet. Journal of American Chemical Society, 130, 186-194,
2008.
•
Delen, Zeynep; Lahti, Paul M. Crystallography and Magnetism of Two 1-(4-Nitroxylphenyl)pyrroles. Journal of
Organic Chemistry, 71, 25, 9341-9347, 2007.
•
Delen, Zeynep; Lahti, Paul M. Crystallography and Magnetism of 1-(4-[N-tert-butylaminoxyl]-2,3,5,6-
tetrafluorophenyl)-pyrrole. Polyhedron, 26, 2031-2036, 2007.
•
Murata, Hidenori; Delen, Zeynep; Lahti, Paul M.
Strong Ferromagnetic Exchange Tetrafluorobenzimidazol-2-yl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazole-3-oxide-1-oxyl.
Materials, 18(11), 2625-2652, 2006.
Delen, Zeynep; Lahti, Paul M. Synthesis of Phenols with Potential Biological Activity. 33rd Northeast Regional
Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Fairfield, CT, United States, July 14-17, 2005.
•
Delen, Zeynep; Xie, Chunping; Hill, Pamela J.; Choi, Jong; Lahti, Paul M. Hindered Hydrogen Bonding in 2,6-Di-
tert-butylphenols with Para Aza-Heterocyclic Rings. Crystal Growth & Design, 5(5), 1867-1873, 2005.
•
Delen, Zeynep; Lahti, Paul M. Synthesis of phenols with potential biological activity. 228th American Chemical
Society National Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, United States, August 22-26, 2004.
4
