Cengiz (pronounced "Jen·ghiz") is an Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics at Harvard SEAS. Previously, he worked at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Biology (CCB), where he was a a research scientist in the neuroscience group. Before CCB, Cengiz was a postdoctoral associate at Janelia Research Campus, and before that a Swartz Fellow at Harvard.

Cengiz received a doctorate in physics from Brown University and undergraduate degrees in physics and electrical engineering from Bogazici University. He is a native of Tosya, Turkey.