Teaching & Speaking

Graduate teaching, engineering instruction, curriculum development, and invited presentations in applied AI.

I teach machine learning as an engineering discipline. I begin with the mathematical foundations, then carry models through data design, evaluation, deployment, and communication with the people who will use them.

CS3 Research Experience for Teachers

2024-2026

Main engineering instructor

For three annual cohorts of the NSF Center for Smart Streetscapes Research Experience for Teachers (RET), I have designed and led the core engineering curriculum for K-12 STEM educators. The four-week program turns current work in computer vision, urban data, and generative AI into material that teachers can adapt for their own classrooms.

01

ML foundations

Neural networks, backpropagation, training workflows, validation, and model evaluation.

02

Computer vision

Convolutional networks, object detection and segmentation, tracking, annotation, and dataset design.

03

Deployable AI

YOLO training, Colab workflows, CVAT, edge deployment, Raspberry Pi systems, and reproducible experiments.

04

Language systems

Language model foundations, zero-shot methods, generative AI, and responsible classroom use.

Engineering materials

The local curriculum archive preserves the instructor materials used across the 2024 and 2025 cohorts.

Classroom outcomes

Participating teachers developed complete lesson plans that connect AI engineering to science, mathematics, civics, and career education.

Columbia courses

EECS E6691 · Spring 2023

Advanced Deep Learning

Syllabus

An advanced, implementation-centered course on modern visual recognition. Students moved from evaluation and segmentation through two-stage and one-stage detection, tracking, transformers, vision-language models, diffusion, and open-vocabulary systems.

Format Weekly lectures and coding assignments Capstone Conference-style project, reproducible code, and poster Assessment Assignments 30% · exam 30% · project 40%

Sequence: Metrics and segmentation · R-CNN, FPN, Mask R-CNN, PointRend · SSD and YOLO · graph embeddings · SORT, ByteTrack, BoT-SORT, DeepSORT · ViT, DETR, Swin, Segmenter · CLIP · diffusion and ControlNet · OWL-ViT · Segment Anything · Generative Agents

ECBM E4040 · Fall 2023

Neural Networks & Deep Learning

Syllabus

A theory-to-practice introduction to deep learning, covering mathematical foundations, implementation, model design, and the empirical habits needed to train and evaluate neural networks well.

Format Lectures, assignments, exam, and team project Coverage Core architectures and modern generative models Assessment Assignments 40% · exam 25% · project 35%

Sequence: Machine learning review · feedforward networks and backpropagation · optimization · convolutional networks · regularization · recurrent networks · autoencoders · GANs · VAEs · current research directions

I also co-taught Columbia Video Network’s VOAI 0003E: Neural Networks and Deep Learning for the AI Executive Certificate in Fall 2022 and Summer 2023, and previously supported Columbia courses in neural computation and computational neuroscience.

Selected presentations

Mehmet Kerem Turkcan speaking on the real-time traffic analysis panel at the 2026 CS3 Innovation Summit
February 5, 2026 · Columbia University

From Sensors to Systems: Real-Time Traffic Analysis for Faster Decision-Making

Panelist at the CS3 Innovation Summit, discussing how camera, mobility, and model outputs become operational urban intelligence.

Event · Columbia Engineering coverage · local event archive

Mehmet Kerem Turkcan presenting at the Port Authority Tomorrow Summit
January 7, 2026 · World Trade Center

Port Authority Tomorrow Summit workshop

I hosted a technical workshop at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey headquarters as part of its annual Tomorrow Summit, which recognizes technology pilots demonstrated during the previous year.

Title slide for Evaluating Micromobility and Dangerous Riding Behaviors
November 19, 2025 · New York City DOT

Evaluating Micromobility & Dangerous Riding Behaviors

Presentation at the Eighth Annual Vision Zero Research on the Road event on using street camera analytics to study micromobility and risky riding behavior.

Agenda and bio · slides · local slides