About Me

I am a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at the Colorado School of Mines, specializing in knowledge graphs, databases, and machine learning for cyber-physical systems such as smart buildings and water treatment plants.

My work focuses on enabling data-driven applications in cyber-physical systems. I am particuarly interested in semantic metadata models and dataframe systems.

I am also passionate about teaching, mentorship, and open-source development.

I am always open to opportunities for collaboration and am always interested in discussing new research ideas. Please feel free to contact me via email.

Link to my Resume

Email / Google Scholar / Github / LinkedIn

Education

• PhD, Computer Science - Colorado School of Mines, 2024 - Present
• MSc, Computer Science - Colorado School of Mines, 2022 - 2024
• BSc, Industrial Engineering - Bogazici University, 2018 - 2022
• High School - Kadikoy Anadolu High School

Publications

6. Anwar, A., Saka, U.M., Fierro, G.T. Poster

   Graph Learning on Cyber-Physical Knowledge Graphs

   Proceedings of the 23rd ACM Conference on Embedded Networked Sensor Systems

7. Saka, U.M., Pacheco-Hague, K., Duzgun, S., Smith, N. Journal Paper

   An analysis of the impact of CO₂ emissions from deforestation and mining in Madre de Dios, Perú

   Extractive Industries and Society, 2024.

8. Saka, U.M. Master’s Thesis

   Workload-Driven Data Partitioning for Data-Intensive Serverless Computing

   Colorado School of Mines

9. Saka, U.M., Duzgun, S., Bazilian, M. Journal Paper

   Analysis of World Trade Data with Machine Learning to Enhance Policies of Mineral Supply Chain Transparency

   Resources Policy, Vol. 89, 2024.

10. Smith, N.M., Seguin, K., Saka, U.M., Duzgun, S., Smith-Roberts, A., Soud, D., White, J. Journal Paper

    Gold Supply Chain Opacity and Illicit Activities: Insights from Peru and Kenya

    Journal of Illicit Economies and Development, 2024.

11. Smith, N.M., Seguin, K., Saka, U.M., Duzgun, S., Smith-Roberts, A., Soud, D., White, J. Working Paper

    Indicators of illicit activities in gold supply chains: Insights from Peru and Kenya

    UN WIDER

Miscellaneous

Service

• Judge, Congressional App Challenge (2023–2024): Evaluated mobile app submissions from high school students in Colorado’s 7th Congressional District.
• President, Bogazici University Dance Society (2019–2020): Elected to lead a student organization with 500+ active members.
• Volunteer Instructor, Argentine Tango (2017–2020): Taught over 200 students through the Bogazici University Dance Society.

Scholarships & Fellowships

• Colorado School of Mines – CS Department Fellowship (2024)
• C-MAPP Scholarship (2023–2024)
• McQuiston Fellowship (2022–2023)
• Turkish National Merit Scholarship (2016–2020): Awarded to the top 100 students among 2M in the National University Placement Exam.

Achievements

• Google Summer of Code, Contributor (2024)
• Blasterhacks Hackathon, 1st Place (2024): Project
• College Teaching Certificate, Trefny Center, Mines (2024)
• Colorado State Dance Champion (2023): First place, Argentine Tango category.