KABAM (predecessor of KUBAM) was founded in cooperation between Koç University (KU) and Ak-Kim company to establish a scientific center with competence in advanced boron technologies and initiate the advancement of high-tech boron-based materials and related modern chemicals with the sole purpose of research excellence in science and technology in our country, which holds beyond 72% of global stocks of boron.

In December 2018, Ak-Kim changed its policy and decided to focus on different industrial products excluding boron-based materials; on that account, the cooperation agreement was terminated.

At the end of August 2019, Prof. Mehmet Somer—the director of KABAM at the time—retired from the university and honored as Emeritus Professor while Asst. Prof. Umut Aydemir from the Chemistry Department was officially appointed as the new director of the KABAM Research Center, effective October 1, 2019.  Assoc. Prof. Sedat Nizamoğlu from the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department was selected to serve as the Associate Director of the center along with Asst. Prof. Aydemir.

In February 2020, a new name was assigned to the center as “Koç University Boron and Advanced Materials Application and Research Center (KUBAM)” by the Council of Higher Education in Turkey. Since 2020, the number of board members of the center has been expanded to seven with the appointment of three new members, namely Assoc. Prof. Uğur Ünal, Asst. Prof. Safacan Kölemen, and Res. Asst. Prof. Özge Balcı. KUBAM has been targeting to increase the scope and profoundness of the cutting-edge research being implemented within KU since August 2017. The center devotes particular attention to building a bridge between academia and industry; likewise, the integration of science and engineering through collaborative research and interdisciplinary projects. In conjunction with ongoing studies at the graduate level, undergraduate students from diverse educational backgrounds also participate in a wide variety of research activities. As of today, KUBAM hosts 26 researchers with 4 senior scientists, 3 postdocs, 8 Ph.D. students, 5 MSc students, 4 undergraduates, 1 technician, and 1 visiting scholar.