Sabancı University invited parents to the sixth annual “Family and Education Day.” Families learned more about a wide range of topics from science to entrepreneurship, energy, and politics.

Sabancı University “Family and Education Day” took place at the Sabancı University campus in Tuzla on Saturday, October 24, 2015.   The traditional Family and Education Day event started at the Sabancı University Performing Arts Center with introductory remarks by President Nihat Berker.

President Nihat Berker

The first presentation of the Family and Education Day was delivered by Vice President Sondan Durukanoğlu Feyiz. Sondan Durukanoğlu Feyiz spoke on “Global Energy and Water: Conjoined Twins and Other Siblings." This was followed by Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Dean Yusuf Menceloğlu on “Nanotechnology from Labs to Daily Life; Nanoengineering from Molecules to Material." School of Management faculty member Dilek Çetindamar gave a lecture titled“Being the Top Entrepreneur and Innovator is No Luck." Finally, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Emeritus Professor Ahmet Evin spoke on “Energy, Politics and States.” 

Parents were accompanied by Sabancı University faculty members during lunch, where they found the opportunity to ask questions. The afternoon session included tours of the Information Center and SUNUM, and Faculty Programs. Nanotechnology Research and Application Center Director Volkan Özgüz met parents at SUNUM and gave information about the facility.

Parents received general information about the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences from Assistant Dean Cem Güneri; the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from Dean Ayşe Kadıoğlu, the School of Management from Assistant Dean Burçin Bozkaya, and the School of Languages from Director Jacqueline Einer.

2014-2015 Lecture Awards given

Foundations Development Year Instructor Awards category had Neslihan Demirdirek in first place, Sharon Turner in second and Michael John Thomas in third.

Contribution to First Year University Courses – Class Lectures Category Awards went to David Hill in first place, Brian Rodrigues in second place, and Ekrem Sabit Şimşek in third place.

Contribution to First Year University Courses – Hall Lectures Category Awards went to Hakan Erdem, Cemil Koçak and Akşin Somel in first, second and third places, respectively.

Graduates of the Year Award winners chosen with the votes of senior year undergraduate students were Murat Kaya, Güvenç Şahin and İlker Birbil.

In the First Year Teaching Assistant Awards category, Işın Taylan was first, Abba İbrahim Ramadan second and Hatice Sezer third.

In the Teaching Assistant Awards category for courses other than first-year university courses, first prize went to Marco Chiappetta, second prize to Can Çalışkan, and third prize to  Periklis Tsekouras.

Winners received their awards from President Nihat Berker, SoM Dean Füsun Ülengin, FASS Dean Ayşe Kadıoğlu and FENS Dean Yusun Menceloğlu.

Dance performances during the day

Performances by Sabancı University dance club SUDans livened up the atmosphere.

Applications are now open for the Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program held with the cooperation of Sabancı University and Akbank. The program is open to managing partners or executive directors of companies established in Turkey. The assessment considers the value created by projects and the objectives of the applicants.

The Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program held by Akbank in association with the Sabancı University Entrepreneurship Council will accept admissions until November 2, 2015. The program is open to managing partners or executive directors of companies established in Turkey. The assessment and selection criteria for the program include the value added by the project, the ground covered, growth potential, and objectives.  

Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program is a 5-day training that includes subjects such as strategy, innovation, marketing, operations, finance, human resources, law, intellectual property and government incentives that entrepreneurs need to know. The training will be held at the Karaköy Minerva Palas between November 23 and 27, 2015, and participants will be issued a Sabancı University certificate at completion. The keynote speaker at the certification ceremony will be Mehmet Buldurgan, founder of the active angel investor network Şirket Ortağım and former CEO of Temsa.

"Our support for entrepreneurs is not limited to financing; we offer many solutions that add value to the entrepreneurship ecosystem."

Speaking about the program, Akbank's Vice President of Small and Medium Enterprise Banking, Bülent Oğuz, said that supporting entrepreneurs was instrumental for dynamic and accelerated economic growth, continuing:
"Entrepreneurs play active part in creating new thought and giving rise to new industries, and bring dynamism to the economy they operate in by analyzing customer needs as quickly and accurately as possible. Therefore, Akbank's support for entrepreneurs is not limited to financing; we offer many solutions that add value to the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program we implement with Sabancı University as a mini-MBA for small and medium enterprises aims to pave the way for a long-term development strategy and sustainable growth for participants. Taking a company to healthy growth and sustaining it are supremely important. Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program has given support to a great number of entrepreneurs since established, and this year we will extend our service to 50 carefully-selected entrepreneurs. We hope that the program will enable our entrepreneurs to further grow their businesses and gain an important position in tomorrow's world of business."

Trainings will be given by Sabancı University faculty members and business experts. Trainers and their subjects in the program will include Sabancı University Faculty Member Dilek Çetindamar on “Business Plans and Business Models in SMEs"”, Sabancı University Faculty Member Cenk Kocaş on “Creating value through marketing in SMEs", Lean Institute Specialist Hüsrev Yaman on “SME Operations, Competitive Advantage through Lean Production and Management", Sabancı University Faculty Member Işın Güler on “Making a Difference in SMEs with Strategy and Innovation", Sabancı University Entrepreneurship Council Director Kutlu Kazancı on “SME Growth through Right Finance Management”, Sabancı University Faculty Member on “Leadership and HR Management in SMEs", Diffusion Capital Partners Founding Partner Ömer Hızıroğlu on “Law and Intellectual Property for SMEs”, and Sabancı University Entrepreneurship Council Specialist Başar Kaya on “Government Incentives for SMEs".

Speaking on the Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program, Sabancı University Entrepreneurship Council Director Kutlu Kazancı emphasized the importance of leaps in innovation, speed and effectiveness in Turkish SMEs to compete on an international level, and said: “Akbank and us joined forces for a thorough certificate program to improve the competitive strength of 50 SMEs every year in order to support the backbone of the Turkish economy."

About the Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program:

Established in 2003 and supported by Endeavor, Kagider and Inovent, the Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program is designed to provide entrepreneurs with a sound basis for building an effective business, deliver the necessary training, and complete applied project work. During the 12 years since the first program, the training content was constantly updated and redesigned to reflect the outcomes and experiences around the world and to adapt to the circumstances in Turkey. The program aims to equip entrepreneurs who have started their ventures or ready to grow with knowledge on how growth will be achieved and sustained.

The selection jury for the Sabancı University-led training program aiming at entrepreneurs who want to grow their business determine the participants among applicants who have been in business for at least three years and are having growth issues, as opposed to applicants with only a business idea. SMEs from all over Turkey join the Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program for a week-long training free of charge. Trainings are open to entrepreneurs who already have a business.

Subjects in the Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program cover a wide range of issues from financial calculations in the growth stage of companies to operating and marketing plans varying by business model, and include informative sessions on loan and shareholders’ equity requirements and growth in domestic and foreign markets. Also included in the program are visits to successful entrepreneurs or lectures by visiting entrepreneurs who share their success stories. The keynote speaker in the certification ceremony of the 2014 Akbank Entrepreneur Development Program was Hasan Aslanoba.

The program is free of charge and applications will be open at www.akbank.com until November 2, 2015.   

The graduates of the 12th term of the Turquality Executive Development Program held under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy simultaneously at Sabancı, Koç, Istanbul and Bilkent Universities received their certificates at a ceremony at the Exporters’ Assembly of Turkey’s Foreign Trade Complex with the attendance of the Minister of Economy, Nihat Zeybekçi.  

Speaking at the ceremony, Sabancı University Vice President Sondan Durukanoğlu Feyiz spoke on the significance of the Turquality Program for Sabancı University. Saying that participants received courses from Sabancı University faculty who were recognized as among the best in their fields, Sondan Durukanoğlu Feyiz expressed their desire to expand the program worldwide and said that Sabancı University would continue to contribute to the program towards this objective.

The ceremony concluded with 12th term graduates receiving their certificates. 34 participants from Sabancı University received their certificates from Minister of Economy Nihat Zeybekçi, TİM Chair Mehmet Büyükekşi, and Sabancı University Vice President Sondan Durukanoğlu Feyiz.

UK-based higher education ranking QS revealed the Emerging Europe and Central Asia – EECA Universities Rankings. Sabancı University gained three positions compared to last year and became 14th among the "Top 150 Universities." 

The Emerging Europe and Central Asia-EECA top 100 list compiled by QS University Rankings include 12 Turkish universities. Sabancı University advanced from 17th position last year to become the 14th this year. 

Also included in the rankings were METU and Bilkent University at 11th position, Koç University at 15th, Boğaziçi and Istanbul Universities at 17th, ITU at 30th, Hacettepe University at 34th, Ankara University at 56th, Ege University at 73rd, Gazi University at 83rd and Dokuz Eylül University at 91st position.  

A statement issued by the ranking institution explained that the QS university rankings for European and Central Asian nations were assigned different criteria depending on region, which differentiates the EECA Rankings from the QS World University Rankings.

The list covers universities from 30 countries including Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, FYR Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.  There are 12 Turkish universities in the top 100, and 16 in the top 150.

The Lomonosov Moscow State University and Novosibirsk State University from Russia were first and second, respectively, and Charles University from the Czech Republic was third. 

Survey results had the most weight in determining scores:

A total of nine factors were assessed: academic reputation (30%), employer reputation (20%), faculty/student ratio (15%), papers per faculty (10%), web impact (10%), staff with a PhD (5%), citations per paper (5%), international faculty (2.5%) and international students (2.5%).

Sabancı University School of Management and Istanbul Policy Center hosted the World Conference on Transportation Research Society - Special Interest Group: E1 Transport System Analysis and Economic Evaluation (WCTRS SIG E1 Workshop) on October 5 and 6, 2015. The two-day event at the Karaköy Minerva Palas featured prominent names from academic and business communities as speakers. 

This year's topic was “Sustainability As a New Breakthrough in Transport System Benchmarking: The Climate Change Framework." The workshop brought together academics working on transport systems and climate change with business representatives.

Opening remarks were delivered by Sabancı University President Professor A. Nihat Berker, Istanbul Policy Center Director Professor Fuat Keyman and School of Management Dean Professor Füsun Ülengin. Professor Nihat Berker emphasized the importance of the transport sector in a global world and noted the connection between the development of this sector and sustainability and climate change. Professor Keyman spoke on the climate, energy, environment and sustainability efforts within the Istanbul Policy Center.  Professor Füsun Ülengin said that climate change scenarios were based on a global average temperature increase of 2 centigrade and that the transport sector accounted for 11% of this increase. She said that climate change and sustainability had to be considered when planning transport investments and that a roadmap showing the interactivity among the variables in this area would be prepared as an outcome of this workshop.

The first speaker on the first day of the workshop was Eckhard Szimba from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Szimba spoke on the transport policies of the EU. Ashish Verma from the Indian Institute of Science explained city transport policies in Bangalore and presented solution recommendations developed from a different perspective. Aseem Kinra from the Copenhagen Business School discussed the breakthrough in the national logistics sector from the perspective of the global supply chain. Yves Crozet from the Laboratoire d'économie des Transports spoke on the changes and challenges brought by sustainability on the transport sector. Sabancı University School of Management faculty member Çağrı Haksöz spoke on risk intelligence and supply chain in the Silk Road. Sabancı University School of Management faculty member Tevhide Altekin discussed socially-responsible logistics in sustainable supply chains.

The second day of the workshop began with an industry session led by Unilever Turkey Vice President of Food Marketing, Mustafa Seçkin. Mustafa Seçkin spoke about Unilever’s sustainability project for tea growers in the Black Sea Region through its Lipton brand. Afterwards, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology’s Werner Rothengatter spoke on the design of synchronized sustainable supply chains. Rosario Macario from the Universidade de Lisboa explained the road from a non-sustainable environment to a sustainable one.

A brainstorming session on causality was followed by a panel discussion with Sabancı University Istanbul Policy Center members Ümit Şahin and Ethemcan Turhan. The moderator of the panel was Ömer Madra.  Ömer Madra gave examples of natural disasters caused by climate change worldwide.

The closing speech of the event was delivered by Sabancı University School of Management Dean Professor Füsun Ülengin.

Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Forum held a meeting on Thursday, October 15 to announce that the Forum would continue its endeavors as a Center of Excellence. The first event of the Center was a lecture by Professor Yakın Ertürk from the Middle East Technical University Sociology Department and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women on "Fighting Violence against Women in Peace and War."

Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Forum will continue its pioneering efforts towards gender equality and awareness as a Center of Excellence. 

The first event of the Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence took place at the Cinema Hall on Thursday, October 15.

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean Ayşe Kadıoğlu delivered introductory remarks. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences member Ayşe Betül Çelik spoke on the efforts of the Forum to date. Afterwards, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences members Alev Topuzoğlu and Özge Akbulut, Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum Project Director Sevda Alkan, and School of Management faculty member Nakiye Boyacıgiller provided information about joint efforts with the Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence.

The keynote speaker was Professor Yakın Ertürk from the Middle East Technical University Sociology Department and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women on "Fighting Violence against Women in Peace and War."

"I witnessed the conscience of Sabancı University students in the face of the massacre"

Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Dean Ayşe Kadıoğlu began by remembering those who lost their lives in the bombing attacks in Ankara on October 10. 

Ayşe Kadıoğlu then explained the supra-faculty nature of the Gender and Women's Studies Forum and said that the Center of Excellence was prepared to expand the work of the Forum even further.

Saying that male-dominant structure was at the heart of the suffocating environment in Turkey today, Kadıoğlu concluded, "As Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence, we will continue to embrace each other and work with other institutions."

"Violence against Women in Peace and War"

Keynote speaker Yakın Ertürk began with saying that violence targeted women in times of peace as well as war. She emphasized that the stance of women changed depending on circumstance.  

Ertürk argued that the concept of gender had deviated considerably from its original meaning, and said that analytical concepts lost their substance as they became popular. She said that people used gender to avoid using the word "woman" and to state that women and men are different. Yakın Ertürk drew attention to the significance of the gender concept with regard to feminism.

Yakın Ertürk also discussed how violence against women was brought to the international platform when it appeared to be an isolated form of abuse. Ertürk argued that explaining violence against women by claiming that the perpetrating men were alcohol abusers or unable to resist violent urges needs to stop, and said that one of the subjects in studies on women's status was violence.

Unraveling of the nation-state and women's rights

Ertürk said that violence against women was fed from the same source as other forms of violence, and that violence began when mechanisms of persuasion collapsed.  Ertürk also commented that the unraveling of nation-states in the aftermath of the Cold War had repercussions that introduced violence. Yakın Ertürk said, “When naming types of violence, ethnic differences, urban violence stemming from shifts in class dynamics, and gang violence are singled out. Patriarchal violence goes unmentioned."

Ertürk noted that globalization brought a change in business conduct while the patriarchal system was also changed due to the demands of the women's movement, which exacerbated patriarchal violence, causing violence to be normalized and widespread.

Ertürk said that the unraveling of nation-states provided people access to universal human rights, arguing that the lack of wider adoption of human rights until the 1990s was the result of nation-state structures. She explained that since the establishment of the United Nations, women have been striving to acquire rights that were denied to them on the national level  by resorting to an international platform.

"Laws are important because they are the basis of women's struggle"

Explaining how laws formed the basis of women's struggle, Yakın Ertürk said that when the CEDAW Convention was being prepared, the article on violence against women was what women had to work most to have included. Ertürk said that the gap was gradually closed in the 90s and a provision on violence against women was included in the 1992 recommendations of the CEDAW Committee.

Yakın Ertürk said that the mechanisms introduced and resolutions adopted in the 1990s brought significant freedom of movement. Ertürk mentioned the Vienna Conference in 1993 when violence against women was incorporated, continuing "In fact, informal courts were established. The issue of 'comfort women' was brought up, for example. A declaration on fighting violence against women was adopted. And a rapporteurship was created to check the implementation of the declaration."

Yakın Ertürk emphasized that women improved their own rights by owning up to the human rights system, and that violence against women becoming an agenda item had transforming power. She said that violence against women opened everyday life and a situation that appeared normal to debate.  She noted that the government's appointment of the man as the "head of the house" was a reflection of the patriarchal system.

Yakın Ertürk reminded listeners that the 90s was very important in terms of human rights as well, and that the strategic use of violence against women in wars in Yugoslavia and Rwanda met with great reaction.  Ertürk said that the Rome Statute was adopted in those days and that the security council of the United Nations adopted resolutions on women, security and defense in 2000. Ertürk said this was a turning point, and continued: "It is based on the protection of women against victimization and their empowerment. Turkey has yet to reach that point."

Yakın Ertürk said that until gender analysis was performed, the war on women would continue, and that separating sexual violence from violence against women in war would lead to fragmentation.  As an example she said that Congo was a poverty-stricken country despite all its wealth and that when she was in Congo as a rapporteur, violence against women was turning into sexual violence even though a peace treaty had been signed.

Yakın Ertürk discussed the significance of the 1980s for Turkey. She explained that during the shift to global politics, the women's movement and Kurdish movement began to question the state, and as the foundations of the state hegemony were shaken, this translated to violence.

Ertürk said that human rights were being sacrificed in the name of anti-terrorism and national security, continuing "Reducing violence against women to war and peace is oversimplifying." She said that war was not in men's nature, but was introduced through politics.

The third Akkök Executive Development Program held by Sabancı University Executive Development Unit EDU in association with Akkök Holding conclded with a certificate ceremony held on Friday, September 4, 2015 at the Sabancı University campus in Tuzla.

Attending the ceremony were Akkök Holding Board of Directors Member and CEO Ahmet Dördüncü, Holding HR Director Şerife Füsun Ömür and a number of executive directors.

20 mid- and upper-tier managers from various functions took the training course between March and September 2015. Each month of the Executive Development Program focused on a key aspect of the subject to create a shared culture of leadership, and support the development of Akkök Group of Companies managers through discussion on strategy, leadership and human resources.

The partnership between Akkök Holding and Sabancı University Executive Development Unit EDU extends beyond two years including the design phase of the program. The partnership continues to evolve and improve. Two executive development programs were completed in 2015 under the partnership. 

Melsa Ararat's recommendation submitted to the W20 Summit regarding flexible quotas for women on corporate boards was adopted.

Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum Director Dr. Melsa Ararat spoke to the representatives of the member states at the W20 Summit on “Women Leadership in Public and Private Sectors." Melsa Ararat's recommendation was adopted in the W20 summit and will be presented to the G20 Summit. The W20 is an engagement group fully committed to achieve a gender inclusive global economic growth in the G20 countries through the economic empowerment of women.

Speech delivered by Dr. Melsa Ararat, Sabancı University, at W20 at Istanbul Session 3: Women Leadership Both in Public and Private Sector.

October 17, 2015

Madam chair and honorable delegates,

Thank you for inviting me to speak at the very first W20 meeting on women leadership. I am a scholar, a feminist and a social activist. My work focuses on corporate governance, and specifically on the role of boards in determining firm performance. I am also a member of the board of governors of the International Corporate Governance Network, which includes the worlds’ largest institutional investors from 45 countries among its members. As a citizen of both Turkey and the UK, and a resident of the Netherlands, I am involved in various research and advocacy initiatives internationally around the topics of gender diversity and governance.

My informed opinion is that there is a consensus among researchers and investors around the world, that gender diversity does improve the boardroom performance, and consequentially the economic, social and eventually the financial performance of companies. There is also a consensus, based on research and the experiences of the past decade, that severe underrepresentation of women on corporate boards has little to do with the supply, but is an indication of entrenched boards and bad governance. In order to address the problem some countries rely on ‘comply or explain’ mechanisms, voluntary targets and enabling initiatives, while European states are moving along the legislative quota line. Unfortunately most strategies other than legally binding quotas have failed to deliver results, or improvements have not been sustainable.

I agree that legislative measures are controversial, however persistent overrepresentation of men in boards is hardly justifiable. The draft W20 communiqué recommends G20 states ‘to set targets or quotas’ to help women break the glass ceiling. Targets work, but rather too slowly unless they are legally endorsed and enforced. We should also be aware of the big differences between countries with respect to the current level of gender diversity in boards of the member states, varying from 3% to 29% - excluding Saudi Arabia where the women representation on boards is zero percent, and to the level of participation of women in the work force. These differences suggest that the nature and the amount of effort required for improving gender diversity in boards is different for each member state. With this understanding, I propose to expand the wording of the draft communiqué as follows:

‘W20 invites G20 member states to set nationally determined gender diversity targets for the board of directors of economically and socially important companies, without prejudice to the legal nature of the means of achieving that target, that is no less than 25% for the underrepresented gender and at least 25% higher than the current level in the country, that is publicly disclosed in a manner that facilitates the understanding of the incentives and enforcement mechanisms as well as the intended legal instruments and work programs to facilitate the process of reaching that target, by 2025 or until parity is reached. W20 also suggests that the member states establish their targets, legal instruments and work programs, and be prepared to share them at W20 2016.’

Thank you for listening.

Draft Communiqué:

Preamble:

‘Lack of women on corporate boards has consequences for societies. Studies show that corporations with more women on their boards behave differently. They are more consumers oriented, more transparent, more environmentally conscious and have better human resources policies for women employees. Women employees are better motivated if there are women on the board. Companies with women directors also tend to have less structural layoffs. Empowering women fuels thriving economies, spurring productivity and growth. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, various commentators and government ministers have suggested that the tragic collapse of some major institutions might have been mitigated had there been more women on the boards to moderate the financial performance focused risk-taking culture. This view backed up by a number of research studies on the effect of gender on risk-taking, which shows that women are more stakeholder oriented and more risk averse than men.
Women quotas in political representation aim to encourage improving women’s condition through laws and policies, they would not be effective unless they are coupled with the quotas for women in corporate boards, which have the power to allocate economic / financial resources, to develop human capital and have the capacity to influence laws and regulations through political lobbying. Largest companies listed on the stock exchanges around the world play a significant role in global business as well as contributing significantly to the national economies within which they operate. The decisions taken by these companies have ramifications not only for their businesses and their employees but also for the whole economy. Additionally, education, mentoring and support in the careers, and improving working conditions of women are important pathways to reach diversity in boardrooms.1’

The W20 proposal:

‘A quota or voluntary targets for women in decision making roles needs to be agreed. The W20 proposal is to have 25% women by 2020 in top management of the corporations in the boards and in the number of CEOs to build on the next steps of gender inclusiveness.’

1 Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum (2011), Gender Balance and Women Empowerment at Turkey’s Corporate Boards.

With the invaluable support of Akbank Sanat, Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum is preparing to host “The Sky Event”, a series of conferences and art performences bringing together art, science, technology and architecture on October 23-24, 2015, in conjunction with its latest major exhibition titled “ZERO. Countdown to the Future”.

“The Sky Event” was organized parallel to the revolutionary principles of the German art movement ZERO, which combined cutting-edge technology with art, and will bring together notable names of the art world both in Turkey and the world to discuss ZERO in a variety of aspects. “The Sky Event” will also include an unforgettable performance of the late ZERO founder and Director of Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Advanced Visual Studies Otto Piene’s open-air sculptures, “Inflatable Objects”.

On October 23, Friday at 14:00, “The Sky Event” will kick off with a series of conferences on the present and future of the ZERO movement by art critic and curator Beral Madra, MIT faculty, artist and the late wife of ZERO founder Otto Piene, Elizabeth Goldring Piene along with Laura Knott, who has contributed to curatorial studies as part of the MIT Museum, and Mark Wigley, Dean Emeritus of Columbia Graduate School of Architecture and curator of the 2015 Istanbul Design Biennial.

“The Sky Event” will conclude on October 24, 2015 at 14:00 with a performance of Otto Piene’s “Inflatable Objects”, created in line with his “Sky Art” concept conceived in 1969, led by a group of artists and volunteer students. With the open air sculptures released up in the air in Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s terrace in Emirgan, the Bosphorus sky will be transformed into a limitless canvas.

About “Sky Art”

“Sky Art”, which stands as an extension of ZERO founder Otto Piene’s academic work at MIT throughout his career and his art practice combining art, science and technology, constitutes a reinterpretation of the artist’s shattering experiences of World War II. 

With the idea that the sky, which was the backdrop of night raids and bombings during the war, may be transformed  into the biggest canvas imaginable, ripe for new and positive possibilities, Otto Piene conceived the notion of “Sky Art”, saying: “The enjoyment of the sky was replaced with fear during the war. When the war ended, the joy arose, the impulse, to celebrate the sky – and with that, sky art as well.” In this way, “The Sky Event”, which will take place at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum on October 23 – 24, will meet students and art enthusiasts as a celebration of knowledge and hope, as well as constructive, hopeful wishes to the future. 

Event Program

• 23 October, Friday

14:00 – 17:00 Conferences: Beral Madra, Mark Wigley, Elizabeth Piene, Laura Knott

• 24 October, Saturday 14:00 – 18:00  “Inflatable Objects” Performance

The knowledge gained in Sabancı University  Advanced Composite Materials and Polymer Processing-Structural Health Monitoring Laboratory has resulted with the first place in the Technology category of the TÜBİTAK University Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competion. Graduate students of Material Science and Nanoengineering Program; Çağatay Yılmaz, Çağdaş Akalın in the advisory of Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Yıldız won first prize with their project titled "  In-situ structural health monitoring of composite materials with embedded fiber optic sensors ." 

About the project

The structural integrity of composite materials (carbon, kevlar or glass fiber-reinforced polymeric materials) used in aviation, aerospace and defense industries can be monitored on a in-situ basis with embedded optical sensors. This enables continues monitoring of deformation and vibration in composite structures, which in turn provides a window of opportunity to take action before structural failure occurs. For example, embedded optical sensors may be used to monitor the structural health of a composite aircraft wing or other part without requiring periodical maintenance and downtime, which may help to reduce operational costs.

Çağatay Yılmaz and Çağdaş Akalın

Çağatay Yılmaz is a graduate of Yıldız Technical University Physics Department and Çağdaş Akalın is a graduate of Zonguldak Karaelmas University Mechanical Engineering Department.  Both students are pursuing a graduate degree in the Sabancı University Materials Science and Nanoengineering program under advisory of Associate Professor Mehmet Yıldız.