A legacy of student support
Graduate fellowship named for exceptional mentor and researcher.
Ziyaeddin “Ziya” Ahmet Akçasu’s work deeply influenced two different fields: industrial nuclear power reactors and polymer solutions. But those who knew him remember his deep curiosity, warmth and caring—particularly as a teacher and mentor.
Sidney Yip, a three-time U-M alumnus (BSE Mech ’58; MSE ’59 PhD ’63 NERS) and a professor of nuclear science and engineering and materials science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and his wife, Nita, sought to honor all of these facets of Akçasu by creating a graduate fellowship in his name in 2018.
Graduate fellowships provide full tuition and a stipend to cover the cost of living, enabling all engineering PhD students to focus fully on their studies. This one extends Akçasu’s legacy of nurturing research talent in nuclear engineering and radiological sciences (NERS), and Yip hopes that the recipients of Akçasu’s fellowship will take a moment to get acquainted with who he was and why he is worth emulating.
“It was a true honor to receive the Ziya Akçasu fellowship last year. Dr. Akçasu thought about nuclear science problems holistically, in how people and technologies could either be positively or negatively impacted by advancements in the field,” said Riley Fisher, a PhD student in nuclear engineering and radiological sciences who received the fellowship over the 2024-25 academic year.
“I do much of the same thinking in my research of policies for nuclear technology siting, and this award allowed me to continue my work in a way that paid respects to the giants that came before us.”
As an undergraduate, Fisher studied a textbook Yip authored, and he recognizes Yip as “a giant in his own right.”
Akçasu was one of Yip’s early role models, well on his way to a PhD by the time Yip joined him in the lab of Richard Osborne, a professor of NERS. Yip honored Osborne in 2011 with an endowed lecture, which brings in expert speakers who are at the forefront of nuclear theory and simulation. Akçasu , Osborne and Yip all shared an appreciation for getting to the root of a problem as researchers, but Yip views Akçasu as exceptional.
“I personally admire him for his intellect—his ability to address fundamental problems and concepts and work right from the bottom up,” said Yip. “But he was also a down-to-Earth, simple and well-meaning person.”
Akçasu’s delving into the basics provided insights into keeping a stable burn in nuclear reactor cores and designing materials made up of more than one kind of polymer, underpinning advancements anywhere these blends are used, including the medical, electronic and automotive industries.
In their roles as teachers and mentors, the three professors shared a philosophy of guiding students through the steps necessary to solve problems for themselves but never handing them solutions. Neither an easy professor nor a harsh one, Akçasu is remembered in the department for the affection he had for the students, and that the students had for him.
This is Yip’s third gift honoring undersung mentors. He also provided the lead gift for the 2017 construction of the John S. King Student Collaboratory in the renovated Nuclear Engineering Laboratory, which once housed the Ford Nuclear Reactor.