After that he went to Germany in 1938 to study hydraulic engineering on a scholarship from the Turkish Ministry of National Education, and he completed his degree in engineering in 1943 from the Technische Hochschule in Berlin (now Technische Universität Berlin).
In 1982, he became the dean of Hydraulics and Water Resources Engineering Department at ITU.
For his research output, he was awarded the Gotthilf Hagen Medal in 1967. in 1976, he won the Tübitak Science award for his study on water intake facilities and groundwater flows in Istanbul.
[1] Cecen was the author of numerous works in Turkish and some in English on the waterways of Istanbul, as well as many entries in the Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Encyclopedia of Islam), a Turkish academic encyclopaedia for Islamic studies published by the TDV.
His books include: He also wrote many articles in Turkish on the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, especially on the Byzantine and Ottoman waterways of Istanbul.