Ian F. Akyildiz won the top academic award in the Republic of Turkey, the 2011 TUBITAK Exclusive Award, for outstanding contributions to the advancement of scholarship/research of a scholar with Turkish origin at an international level.

Honored specifically for his significant and pioneering work in telecommunications spanning 27 years, Dr. Akyildiz was presented with this award by the president of the Republic of Turkey Abdullah Gül on December 5 at Cankaya Palace, which is the president's home in city of Ankara.

Dr. Akyildiz has been on the Georgia Tech faculty since 1985 and has been on the faculty of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering since 1992. He is currently the Ken Byers Professor in Telecommunications and leads the Broadband Wireless Networking Laboratory.

TUBITAK is the leading research management and funding agency in Turkey and is a very close equivalent to the National Science Foundation in the U.S.  However, in addition to funding research projects, TUBITAK is also comprised of many different R&D institutes focused on various areas of engineering, sciences, and industrial management.