I like engaging and teaching students. They love to learn, and I enjoy watching them grow.
- Melih Calamak
As an undergraduate student at Gazi University in Turkey, Melih Calamak enjoyed all aspects of civil engineering, including water resources, structures, and transportation. He also began tutoring students in his senior year.
Interestingly, it was a combination of his enjoyment and success in civil engineering courses and music that drew him towards a career in academia.
“I liked the professor’s offices, where they would listen to classical music or play instruments surrounded by books,” Calamak says. “It was an active environment which was attractive to me.”
After graduating, Calamak remained in Turkey to pursue his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in civil engineering from Middle East Technical University. Coming off his success in undergraduate water engineering courses, Calamak continued taking these courses while performing dam safety research.
Calamak was an assistant professor at another university in Turkey after earning his Ph.D. but an opportunity arose to focus on research. This led him to the Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing in 2017 as a research assistant professor. His wife, who is also in academia, joined him and began working as an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina College of Education.
“My wife and I love USC because it's strong academically,” Calamak says. “I was looking for an opportunity in the U.S. for either research, teaching or both, and I was excited to work at USC.”
Calamak’s research included levee failures and embankment dams, which are constructed primarily from earth and rock materials. The embankment dams project examined animal activity, which included digging holes in soil as well as making nests and looking for prey.
After three years at USC, Calamak returned to Middle East Technical University as an associate professor. His wife was also offered a research project at the school. But after two years back in Turkey, the couple returned to South Carolina in 2023. While Calamak’s wife returned to the College of Education, he worked in industry for the first time as a water resources engineer at AECOM. Some of his work included FEMA flood studies, flood hydrologic and hydraulic modeling, and publishing flood maps for a South Carolina Department of Natural Resources project.
“It was a good opportunity because I was able to connect my academic knowledge and theories with the real-world problems,” Calamak says.
Calamak left AECOM this past January and is now using his experiences in research and industry to help undergraduate students find solutions to real-world problems as a full-time instructor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
“I love to talk about projects that I worked on and connect the theories with real-world applications,” Calamak says. “Undergrads are exposed to theories and concepts which may not make sense, so I try to teach how they will work.”
During this semester, Calamak is teaching courses in engineering hydrology, water resources engineering, computational methods and transportation engineering. He says the most gratifying part of being an instructor is seeing his students grow. It starts at the beginning of the semester when they are often hesitant to ask questions. But once the ice is broken, students begin engaging with Calamak and the class.
“I start teaching them from their sophomore year until they are seniors, and I watch them grow as I teach 200 level to 300 and 500 level classes,” Calamak says.
Calamak is impressed by the abilities and capabilities of USC students. For example, his students ask insightful questions upon first seeing a theory or concept. But it does not take too long before they have a better understanding and ask follow-up questions.
“It impresses me how clever the students are, which is what I like about them,” Calamak says. “They are confident and have a good understanding of the concepts.”
Calamak also serves as advisor for the USC chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He oversees chapter activities, including the ASCE Southeastern Region student chapter conference, steel bridge competition and outreach opportunities. While Calamak says the group has fun competing, they also compete to learn.
“If this group is the vehicle, I'm just the passenger and they’re driving it,” Calamak says. “They do a great job because student chapters are the backbone of the organization, and the activities and competitions are competitive. For example, the Concrete Canoe Competition requires a long preparation that takes approximately eight months.”
Morgan Havers, a junior civil engineering major, is currently enrolled in Calamak’s water resources engineering course. She says that Calamak has a great way of breaking down complicated concepts and showing how they apply in real engineering situations.
“He makes the material feel relevant, which helps everything click,” Havers says. “He also does a great job of explaining why this is important and why we need to know how to solve these problems as future engineers.”