I received my doctoral degree in Instructional Technology and Media program at Teachers College, Columbia University in May 2013. I am currently researching the effects of choices in the form of customization, as user control, on engagement and motivation in games and virtual worlds. My larger research interests include game design and game research, communities, learning with agents, avatars and robots, creativity and learning in game-like multi-user virtual environments and informal learning of mathematics. I have been working with Dr. Charles Kinzer on a multi-institute project, the Games for Learning Institute and with Dr.Sandra Okita on Learning with Humanoid Robots project at Teachers College, Columbia University. I received a master's degree in Differential Geometry and B.S. in Mathematics from Uludag University, Bursa, Turkey.