She was made an honorary member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences in 1996 and was awarded the Grand Prize of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2010 for her contributions to archaeology in the country.

Around 1941, she began working on excavations in the Samsun Province including sites at Dündartepe, Kale Doruğu Höyüğü [tr] near Kavak and Tekkeköy.

[1] Studying with Hans Gustav Güterbock,[4] she completed her thesis, Anadolu Damga Mühürleri (Anatolian Stamp Seals) in 1943,[3] earning her doctorate in 1944,[1] and that same year, married a fellow archaeologist, Tahsin Özgüç.

In a mound known as Karahöyük they discovered an inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian on a stele describing the fall of the Hittite Empire.

[1] She continued her work with her husband at Kültepe,[1] and on such excavations as Frakdin (1954) and Altintepe (1959),[3] until 1962, when she began her own project examining the Hittite center at Acemhöyük near Niğde.

[3] She was granted an honorary membership to the Turkish Academy of Sciences in 1996[1] and was a co-awardee with Halet Çambel of the Grand Prize of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of 2010 for her contributions to archaeology in the country.