Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 3 No. 1 Spring 2018 | Page 33

– it sounded very exciting to me – dealing
with the unknown. That’s why I started in
engineering.”
Pinar Acar
Istanbul, Turkey
As the youngest of two girls, Pinar Acar was
always interested in math and knew early on
that her future lay in engineering.
Acar, (pronounced ah-jhar) an assistant
professor in mechanical engineering, now
works in a computational world, designing
materials at the micro and nano scales that
will help create better materials for larger
scale structures, such as aircraft wings. But it
wasn’t so long ago that she was beginning her
academic journey.
“I loved solving math problems and knew
I wanted to apply that knowledge to the
real world. I was also interested in space
Enrolling in the Istanbul Technical Univer-
sity, Acar earned her undergraduate degree
in astronautical engineering and moved
from there to a master’s degree in aerospace
engineering.
Growing up in Istanbul, Acar’s parents were
both bank accountants who encouraged her
interests and were supportive of her decisions.
“There is a perception in Turkey that if you
are successful in high school, then people
expect you to be enrolled in science, or medi-
cine, or engineering,” Acar said. “If you choose
another area, people think you might be
wasting your potential, and that you should be
going into science. This perception is proba-
bly why my parents were ok with my decision
even though astronautics sound a bit extreme
MOMENTUM
SPRING 2018
PAGE 33
Acar upon receiving her
bachelor's in aeronauti-
cal engineering