Şükrü Beşiktepe holds a B.S. in physics from Ankara University and a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography (1991) from the Institute of Marine Sciences of the Middle East Technical University (IMS-METU), Turkey. Dr. Beşiktepe joined IMS-METU as an Assistant Professor in 1991 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1996. He was a visiting scientist at Harvard University at different times during 1996-2002. He became Director of IMS-METU in 2002 served as a director till 2007. Şükrü Beşiktepe was the Executive Secretary of Black Sea GOOS, collaborating with international organizations active in the Black Sea region and was a member of the EuroGOOS, member of the Advisory Board of the Black Sea Environmental Programme, Global Environmental Facility (BSEP-GEF), UN, member of the International Scientific Group, BSEP-GEF. He worked at NATO Undersea Research Laboratory, La Spezia, Italy as head of the Modeling and Prediction group during 2007-2010 and starting from May 2010, he is a Professor of Physical Oceanography in the Institute of Marine Sciences and Technology of the Dokuz Eylul University, Turkey. He served as the member of the European Marine Observation and Data Expert Group and member of the SCOR Capacity Building Committee. Prof. Beşiktepe's research interests include combining observations and dynamical models to attain coupled physical and biogeochemical dynamical processes in semi-enclosed seas with particular emphasis given to the Black Sea, Mediterranean and the Sea of Marmara.