Prof. Dr. İ. Ersan Kalafatoğlu graduated from Istanbul German High School in 1967 and received his B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 1972. He completed his Ph.D. studies at the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom, in 1975 under a scholarship awarded by the Turkish Ministry of National Education. Following his doctoral studies, he served at the Department of Chemical Engineering of Karadeniz Technical University in Trabzon between 1975 and 1978.
In 1978, Prof. Kalafatoğlu joined the Chemistry Division of TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center, where he held various positions including Specialist, Senior Specialist, Head of Division, and Deputy Director of the Institute until 2003. He subsequently joined the Faculty of Engineering at Marmara University as a faculty member and served there until his retirement in 2015. In addition, he taught courses in the Chemical Engineering Departments of Yıldız Technical University and Istanbul Technical University, as well as at Yeditepe University and Gedik University.
Following his retirement, he continued teaching at Marmara University and also served as the founding director and consultant of R&D Centers for two major national chemical companies until 2024. He continues to teach graduate-level courses. Prof. Kalafatoğlu has delivered numerous environmental training programs for the Turkish Cement Manufacturers’ Association and chaired the Association’s Quality and Environment Committee until his retirement.
His research interests include process design and simulation, boron technologies and hydrogen energy, air pollution and its control, cement technologies, fluidization, and drying processes. Throughout his career, he has led or participated in more than 50 projects funded by NATO and industry partners. He is the author of three books, holder of four patents, and has published extensively in national and international journals and conference proceedings. He has also prepared more than 150 technical reports and developed software within the scope of TÜBİTAK projects.