Pinar Omur-Ozbek is a Teaching Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Colorado State University, where she has been a faculty member since January 2009. Omur-Ozbek has been teaching a wide range of undergraduate-level courses including environmental engineering concepts, environmental engineering design, water quality analyses, as well as other courses and modules she developed to provide students with interdisciplinary and transnational perspectives covering global water challenges amid climate change, environmental and social justice, sustainability, cultural competence and engineering ethics.

Omur-Ozbek’s research interests include engineering education, enhancing drinking water quality, addressing taste-and-odor issues, and investigating the impacts of harmful algal blooms and toxins on water sources and public health. She also explores the effects of wildfires, hydraulic fracturing, and green building materials on water and air quality. She collaborates closely with local drinking water utilities and breweries to improve the aesthetic quality of drinking water.

Omur-Ozbek is actively involved in the development of next generation of engineering faculty through her leadership roles in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Committee on Faculty Development and the ExCEEd Teaching Workshop, as well as the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Rocky Mountain Section. Her commitment to teaching excellence has earned her several awards, including the 2024 Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering George T. Abell Outstanding Faculty Teaching and Mentoring Award, the 2024 Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Faculty Award for Excellence in Service, and the 2022 Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. She was also named a Fellow of the Faculty Institute for Inclusive Excellence in 2022.

Outside the classroom, Omur-Ozbek is dedicated to encouraging middle and high school students to pursue careers in STEM, particularly engineering. She participates in outreach programs such as Engineering Exploration Days, CSU-WISDOM, WSCOE PROGRESS, and Introduce A Girl to Engineering (IAGE), all aimed at inspiring the next generation of engineers.