Meet Skypuzzler’s Operations Director, Elgiz Baskaya
Elgiz Baskaya is Skypuzzler’s Operations Director based in Toulouse, France. She has a prominent and strong background in flight dynamics and control, having obtained a bachelor’s degree in astronautical engineering, a master’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering, and two PhDs in drones and AI. At Skypuzzler, she leads all space operations from B612 in Toulouse, the European hub of aerospace.
In this third release of our Meet the Team series, Elgiz Baskaya will bring us along and share how she contributes with her impressive educational background and experience.
What is your educational background?
This will take a while, as I have been studying a lot and participating in many projects throughout the years. Let me start from the beginning. I took my bachelor’s degree at Istanbul Technical University in astronautical engineering, with a main interest in dynamic systems. During my bachelor’s, I specialised in orbital mechanics, where I did my graduation project on the restricted three-body problem, designing trajectories that are low-energy and cost-efficient. During my master’s in aeronautical and astronautical engineering, I started working on satellite design projects – mainly Cubesats. Here, I worked on the design of ITUpSAT – 1 sent into space in 2009 –to mention one project out of many. My master’s thesis was about attitude determination and control subsystem.
Then my interest evolved to drones, and I obtained my PhD, which focused on parameter estimations for drones as well as flow control for nanofluids. Spending my first study period in Istanbul, I then moved to Toulouse to do my second PhD. This was at Université Paul Sabatier, where my focus was on actuator faults on drones using AI machine learning. During that time, I primarily spent time at ENAC (Ecole Nationale d’Aviation Civile) – The drones research lab. After the second PhD, I worked for AIRBUS Control functions on Multi-sensor fault detection in Capgemini Engineering. My expertise in aviation and space is very relevant for Skypuzzler, as my flight dynamics and control background relates well to Skypuzzler’s work in flight planning.
What aspect of your role as Operations director do you find most rewarding?
I really like to lead Skypuzzler’s evolution into the space branch, working on both the strategic and technical perspectives. I think it’s interesting to see the state-of-the-art concepts evolve into actual projects and see their real implementation. Most importantly, I like exploring what we can do next to make it more innovative and make a difference. Meeting with new partners and clients and making connections is also a pleasure.
I, of course, also enjoy working with the Skypuzzler team. It’s a very well-selected group of nice people. Even though I work from France, I think collaborating with teammates from the Danish main office works great. It’s cool to take the lead of Skypuzzler in France and represent us in Toulouse. With my primary interest being to increase safety and autonomy in airspace, it truly fits my values to represent a company where flight safety is the main point, both in Toulouse and in standardisation groups.
Describe a typical day working for Skypuzzler
Honestly, every day is different. I usually go to the shared office in Toulouse, as it is good to be around industry colleagues to chat with. I, for instance, have an office mate who specialises in coffee. He knows absolutely everything about coffee and the beans, and we share the joy of nerding about coffee. Even though we might not be direct colleagues, the joy of coffee is what connects all of us in the shared office.
Task-wise, I have regular meetings with Jesper (CEO) and Ronni (COO) and conduct research on funding and projects we can do. I also do technical research on how our core solution can make a difference in the space segment. Besides this, I represent Skypuzzler in AI certification standards, where I ensure that AI is implemented responsibly.
I regularly travel to Copenhagen to be present at the office and spar with my teammates. I really enjoy travelling and do it a lot. Besides Copenhagen, I travel to summits and conferences. I love listening to clever people who know what they talk about – I’m too hungry for information and knowledge.
After a day at the office, I like (to)
Ah, you want me to pick only three? Well, I can try.
Listening to Bach (by Glenn Gould)
The first time I listened to Bach was the cello suite by Yo Yo Ma. I was captivated by it and listened to it all the time. Then I discovered Glen Gould. At first, I thought there was something wrong with my recording and even my ears, as I didn’t understand what those small noises were. But then I realised it was Glenn Gould humming while he was playing—so it wasn’t just my ears.
Dancing
I love dancing all sorts of styles, though I have mostly danced tango. I like it because you’re entirely giving in to the music, just following the movements of waves. You can forget about everything while dancing tango.
Coffee nerding, being in nature, travelling north, sailing, collecting seashells, listening to classical music, going to classical concerts, going to science museums, watching sci-fi TV shows and movies, just learning
That counts as one, right?
