Firat Taxpulat is a graduate student at Georgia Tech under the M.S. in Computer Science program with a Specialization in Computational Perception and Robotics. Before attending Georgia Tech, Firat graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics with a Specialization in Computing. Firat is a research assistant for the Design Intelligence Lab at Georgia Tech as a member of the Jill Watson team under the supervision of Dr. Ashok Goel. His research interests involve applying scalable educational systems using artificial intelligence tools to promote learning of historically underrepresented Central Asian languages.

Firat is a Senior Software Engineer at Lockheed Martin working on air vehicle software under Advanced Development Programs / Skunk Works. Prior to Lockheed Martin, Firat worked on flight instrumentation software at Edwards Air Force Base. With his interests in aeronautics and robotics, Firat co-founded a NASA RASC-AL Competition Team at Georgia Tech and is a member of the Vertically Integrated Project (VIP) Aquabots: Maritime Robotics research group at Georgia Tech under the supervision of Dr. Michael West.

Outside of work and school, Firat is actively engaged in his community of Palmdale, CA as the Lead Computer Vision Mentor for FIRST Robotics Competition Team 5012: Gryffingear at The Palmdale Aerospace Academy and as the Competition Day Volunteer Coordinator for the Aerospace Robotics Competition. In his free time, Firat enjoys running, reading, NBA, and feeding his neighborhood’s stray cats.

For more on Firat, visit www.linkedin.com/in/firat-taxpulat