Silver Taps for Ayse Yalcinkaya

On July 29 2015, Ayse Yalcinkaya, Class of 2002, Biomedical Engineering, was killed instantly when a fully-loaded semi-truck crashed into her car from behind as she was stopped and waiting for traffic to move at an exit on M1 Highway, north of London. She was on her way to work at Network Rail corporate headquarters in Milton Keynes, UK, Her very untimely departure pains us all.
After graduating from TAMU, she started working for Lockheed Martin Corporation, working on the NASA JSC contract. She was the design engineer for the Aerobic Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) equipment which is still flying around the world on International Space Station keeping astronauts healthy and in shape. In 2003, she transferred to Denver and eventually to Huntsville, Alabama to work on the corporation’s defense contracts. While employed full time, she attended Auburn University, where she received her MS Degree in Mechanical Engineering within 18 months. She continued her assignment at Lockheed Martin until she married Tom Harris of UK in August 2014 and moved to UK shortly thereafter. In UK, she worked for Network Rail at their headquarters as a project manager.
Ayse was born on 19 January, 1980 to Ayse Perihan Yalcinkaya (Class of 1976) and Ibrahim Mete Yalcinkaya (Class of 1977). As a very young girl, she became an accomplished gymnast winning state championship in beam. During her short life, she had the opportunity to visit New Zealand, Australia, Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean, Canada, South America, South Korea, Thailand, and all of Europe. She was a lover of nature, especially of animals, the marine world and was an avid scuba diver, cyclist, and voleyball player. She has been laid to rest in Istanbul, Turkey.