Köksal was born and grew up in Bursa, Turkey and attended Bilkent University's Faculty of Music and Performing Arts in Ankara from 1989 to 1996, where she earned her bachelor's degree in music theory and composition, studying under the supervision of Bujor Hoinic.
From 1996 to 2002 she lived in Cologne, Germany, where she studied composition with Krzysztof Meyer[1] and theory with Johannes Schild, earning a Diplom Musikerin from the Hochschule für Musik Köln.
In 2004, she matriculated into the doctoral program at the University of Chicago, where she has studied with Marta Ptaszynska and Shulamit Ran.
Her oeuvre ranges from solo to orchestral works and is informed by the gestural and timbral concerns of e.g. Pierre Boulez, Luciano Berio.
[5][6] Köksal's honors include: She has participated in master classes by Peter Eötvös, Salvatore Sciarrino, Augusta Read Thomas, and David Felder.