Özgür B. Akan was born in Ankara, Turkey. After high school education in Ankara Fen Lisesi (Ankara Science High School), he received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical and electronics engineering from Bilkent University and Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, in June 1999 and January 2002, respectively. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the Broadband and Wireless Networking Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, in May 2004. He was with the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Middle East Technical University between May 2004 and August 2010. He acted as the Associate Director and the Director of Graduate School of Sciences and Engineering, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey between January 2013 – May 2016.

He is the Head of the Internet of Everything Group at the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, where he conducts highly advanced theoretical and experimental research on nanoscale, molecular, and neural communications, Internet of Everything, cyber-physical systems, 5G and THz wireless mobile networks, distributed social sensing, and cognitive radio and sensor networks. He is also a Professor with the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and the Director of Next-generation and Wireless Communications Laboratory (NWCL) at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Koc University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Prof. Akan is an IEEE Fellow. He is an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IET Communications, and IEEE Networking Letters, Editor for Nano Communication Networks Journal (Elsevier). He has served as Editor for International Journal of Communication Systems (Wiley), European Transactions on Telecommunications, and Transactions on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies (Wiley), the General Co-Chair for EEE INFOCOM 2017, ACM MobiCom 2012 and IEEE MoNaCom 2012, and TPC Co-Chair for ACM NanoCom 2014, IEEE ISCC 2012, and ACM MSWiM 2010. He is the Vice President for IEEE Communications Society – Turkey Section. He is an ACM and IET member.

Prof. Akan is awarded the European Research Council’s (ERC) Consolidator Grant for 2014-2019 and ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant in 2017. He is appointed as IEEE Nanotechnology Council (NTC) Distinguished Lecturer effective January 2017, and IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Distinguished Lecturer effective January 2011. He received the TUBITAK Young Scientist Award 2014, Koç University Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award in 2012 and 2014, Promising Scientist Award 2014, Kadir Has University, Young Scientist Award 2014 (BAGEP 2014), The Science Academy, Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award 2012, Faculty of Engineering, Koç University, IBM Shared University Research (SUR) Award 2011, IEEE Communications Society 2010 Outstanding Young Researcher Award for Europe, Middle-East and Africa Region (as runner-up), IBM Faculty Award 2010, IBM Faculty Award 2008, Turkish Academy of Sciences Distinguished Young Scientist Award 2008 (TUBA-GEBIP), TUBITAK-Career Award in 2005.