Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca, born in Istanbul in 17.09.1957, graduated from the Department of Meteorology Engineering of Istanbul Technical University in 1971 and received his first MSc degree in 1981 from the same department. Prof. Karaca received his second master and doctorate degree from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1985 and 1990 respectively. Karaca has had an active role in the administration of ITU as he has held different academic and administrative positions throughout his career. He acted as a member of the execution committee for TÜBİTAK-ÇAYDAĞ between 2001-2007. Positions held by Prof. Karaca also include the post of Dean at the Graduate School of Science Engineering and Technology between 2002-2004 and Vice Rector of ITU between the years of 2008-2010, founder Rector of the ITU-Northern Cyprus between 20019-2010. Karaca has been holding various board memberships in TÜBİTAK, academic consultancy for National Geographic-Turkey and he is a member of the commission for the Elginkan Foundation Science and Technology award. Prof. Karaca’s research areas include are atmospheric and oceanic modeling; climate change, paleo-oceanography, paleo-climatology, disaster management and air quality modeling. Scientific research on these areas appeared in over 30 international and national journals in addition to chapters published in 6 edited books. Karaca is also a member of American Geophysical Union, American Meteorological Society, National Geographical Society, World Wildlife Fund in Turkey. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Karaca had been appointed as the rector of Istanbul Technical University (ITU) between 2012 and 2020 and has been as a member of the executive board of Turkish Patent and Trademark Office since 2018.