Sabancı University students Aslıhan Dal, Neslihan Sümer, Begüm Kobanbay and Ali Şimşek focused on the issue of paper waste and paper consumption on campus in the environmental contest held by Yeşilist.

The Students Go Green project is a contest held by Yeşilist for identifying and presenting solutions to environmental issues in universities.  Sabancı, Koç, ITU, Boğaziçi and Özyeğin Universities are involved in the project.

University students received comprehensive information about environmental issues and solutions from Yeşilist at Koç University for three days.  The 16 teams of students were first separated by their universities and then into Consumption, Permaculture, Food and Mobility teams.  After three days, all groups identified the problems on their campus falling under these four categories and began to work on solutions.

Sabancı University students Aslıhan Dal, Neslihan Sümer, Begüm Kobanbay and Ali Şimşek comprising the Consumption Team focused on paper waste and paper consumption on campus.  The team developed ideas to recover used paper.  To this purpose, they applied to the Sabancı University Civic Involvement Projects to start an Upcycle project.  They started working with volunteers for two hours every week to convert waste paper into usable items.  There are now plans to sell these items at the CIP Annual Fundraiser Sale to raise funds for the CIP Sun Day.

“SUgoesGreen” is the social media keyword if you would like to follow the Sabancı University Consumption Team and make a contribution to the environment.

For more information:

Blog: http://www.studentsgogreenproject.com/team11/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sugoesgreen?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SUgoesGreen

Instagram: SUgoesGreen

Sabancı University invited parents to the annual “Family and Education Day” to relive their days as students.  Lectures in sciences and arts discussed a wide range of subjects from organ design and printing to the use of robots and computers by brain signals, the common points of Mexico, Turkey and India, and people, institutions, management and life.

Sabancı University “Family and Education Day” took place at the Sabancı University campus in Tuzla on Saturday, November 1, 2014.  The event kicked off at the Sabancı University Performing Arts Center with introductory remarks by President Nihat Berker.

The first presentation of the Family and Education Day was delivered by Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences member Bahattin Koç on “High Technology in Medical Sciences: Organ Design and Printing.”  Afterwards, Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences member Müjdat Çetin spoke on “The Use of Robots and Computers by Brain Signals.” The next speaker was Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences member Işıl Özel with a lecture on “The Common Ooints of Mexico, Turkey and India: Emerging Markets, Economics and Politics.”  The morning session concluded with Sabancı University School of Management faculty member Nakiye Boyacıgiller on “People, Institutions, Management and Life.”

Parents were accompanied by Sabancı University faculty members during lunch at the Sabancı University Center.  The afternoon session included tours of the Information Center the Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM), and concurrent Faculty Programs.  SUNUM 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 faculty member Çağrı Haksöz, and the School of Languages from Director Jacqueline Einer.

2013-2014 Lecture Awards given

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

Contribution to First Year University Courses – Class Lectures category awards went to Nadire Banu Gümüştüs in first place, Brian Rodrigues in second place, and Ali Nihat Eken in third place.

Contribution to First Year University Courses – Hall Lectures category awards went to Albert Erkip, Saygın Salgırlı and Yusuf Hakan Erdem in first, second and third places, respectively.

Graduates of the Year award winners chosen with the votes of senior year undergraduate students were Ahmet Esen and Yoong Wah Alex Wong tying for first place and Bratislav Pantelic in third place.

In the Teaching Assistant Awards category, Elif Saçıkara was first, Iyad Hashlamon second and Abigail Rood Bowman was in third place.

The Teaching Assistant Awards designed for Teaching Assistants responsible for courses other than first-year university courses went to Serkan Sırlı in first place, İnanç Arın in second place, and Nurşen Aydın in third place.

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

The Müzikus Classical Choir punctuated the day with a number of short concerts.

United States Secretary of Energy Dr. Ernest Moniz spoke to the students of the Sabancı University Graduate Program in Energy on “Energy Security and Climate Change.”

Speaking at a conference attended by Sabancı University Founding Board of Trustees Chair Güler Sabancı, Sabancı University President Nihat Berker and a large group of students in the Graduate Program in Energy, Dr. Moniz said that energy security was a collective issue that needed to be considered on a national level, and that they would have to act in consultation with their allies.  Moniz also mentioned that significant ground was covered in alternative energy solutions, and discussed the importance of technological developments in this matter.

US Secretary of Energy Dr. Ernest Moniz made a short presentation on energy security and climate change at the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum, and answered questions from the floor. 

During the question and answer session, Dr. Moniz received a question on whether the sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia was a factor in the declining oil prices, to which he responded, “No, this has nothing to do with the decline in oil prices.”  Moniz mentioned the increase in petroleum supply, and said that the stagnation of European economies was also a factor.  Dr. Moniz also said that the slowing of the Chinese economy and the recession in Japan pushed prices downward.  Moniz said that the decline in prices was based on market conditions or the supply-demand balance.

The winners of the awards endowed by the Sabancı University School of Management in memory of faculty member Hakan Orbay, who passed away in 2011, were announced.

Designed to encourage original work by young researchers in finance and microeconomics, the first prize went to Boston College Department of Economics Faculty Member and World Bank advisor Mathis Wagner with his work titled “Immigrants versus Natives? Displacement and Job Creation.” 

Gebze High Technology Institute Faculty Member Saadettin Haluk Çitçi won second prize with his work “Agency and Transparency in Financial Markets” while Bilkent University Department of Economics Faculty Member Nuh Aygün Dalkıran won third prize with “Limits Of Reputations.”  Winners received their awards at a ceremony on Friday, November 15, 2014.  The awards are planned to be given every year and include prizes of TL 5000 for first place, TL 3000 for second place, and TL 1000 for third place.

The article award is open to all theoretical and applied studies in finance and microeconomics; however, works in company theory, contract and incentive theories, company financing and corporate governance, as well as research intended to gain insight into emerging markets are particularly encouraged.

This year’s jury was composed of Doğuş University Faculty Member Benan Zeki Orbay, Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences members Eren İnci and İzak Atiyas, and Sabancı University School of Management faculty members Koray Deniz Şimşek, Melsa Ararat, Nakiye Boyacıgiller and Özgür Demirtaş.

The Permanent Wide-Spectrum Disinfectant Approach to Antibiotic Resistance and Hospital Infections (ANTIMIC) project implemented in the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences in partnership with Inovent took first place in the 4th Chemicals R&D Project Marketplace.

The fourth “R&D Marketplace in Chemical Substances and Products” was held at the Haliç Convention Center on November 1, 2014 in order to contribute to high-value production in the chemicals industry.

The 4th R&D Marketplace in Chemical Substances and Products was coordinated by the Exporters’ Assembly of Turkey (TİM) and held by the Union of Chemical Substance and Product Exporters of Istanbul (İKMİB) in association with the Union of Chemical Substance and Product Exporters of the Mediterranean (AKMİB) with the support of TÜBİTAK.

Permanent Wide-Spectrum Disinfectant Approach to Antibiotic Resistance and Hospital Infections

Project Owner: Yusuf Menceloğlu

Project Partners: Hikmet Budak, Ömer Hızıroğlu

Hospital infections are defined as infections that are not in the incubation phase when a patient is admitted to hospital, and develop within 48 to 72 hours after admission or within 10 days of discharge.  According to a 2007 report by the Ministry of Health, the prevalence of hospital infections in Turkey is between 5 to 15%.  Antibiotic resistance occurs as a result of ineffective disinfectant use and cross contamination, which enables microorganisms to develop immunity.

The project envisages a permanent antimicrobial treatment to be applied to masks, gloves, scrubs, separator sheets, walls, ventilation filters and other hospital equipment in order to prevent contamination that leads to hospital infections, which then does not pollute waste water.

The runners up of the 4th R&D Marketplace in Chemical Substances and Products will be displayed during the Innovation Week of Turkey.

Yağız Nizipli, fourth-year Computer Sciences student in the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, was accepted to the Google Developer Festival (DevFest Istanbul '14) seminar as speaker.

Google's GDG Istanbul team will host a great gathering of software developers on December 6th at the Bağlarbaşı Cultural Center.

DevFest Istanbul'14 is on December 6th.

As DevFest season begins, GDGs all over the world prepare to host more than 300 DevFests.  There will be 6 DevFests in Turkey, held by the teams of Düzce, Kütahya, Konya, Eskişehir, Ankara and Istanbul.  düzenlenen etkinliklerde farklı konuşmacılar, Code-labs, workshops and hackathons led by various speakers will create new experiences for participants.  The events are volunteer community events where the common goal is to share, learn, teach, have fun and write code!

The “Nanoplasmonic Device with Nanoscale Cooling” patent of Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences members Ali Koşar and Kürşat Şendur received second prize at the Yıldız Patents Project Marketplace held by Yıldız Technical University.

The Yıldız Patents Project Marketplace contest is held to create awareness about intellectual property and to draw the attention of academic and business communities to this subject.  This was the second time the Patent Awards were given.

Sabancı University Electronic Engineering PhD student Rıza Alp Güler won the ISRA VISION Computer Vision award with his master’s dissertation “Coding Shape Inside the Shape” under advisor Associate Professor Gözde Ünal.

ISRA VISION Computer Vision Award encourages scientific research.

Germany-based ISRA VISION AG, one of the world’s top five artificial vision companies that power production lines around the world, and a global leader in surface scanning systems, has been giving the ‘Computer Vision Award’ since 2011 to encourage prolific researchers looking to expand their careers.

The company acquired VISTEK A.Ş., started by SU faculty member Professor Aytül Erçil in partnership with Inovent, and established its Turkish subsidiary under the title ISRA VISION VISTEK.  The key objective of the company is to expand the use of artificial vision technologies in the manufacturing industry of Turkey, and enable companies to gain competitive edge with the efficiency and quality assurance benefits offered by these technologies.  Extensive research and development activities are also a priority for the company, and awards programs seek to provide support to young entrepreneurs and the industry in general.

Given in Turkey for the first time this year, the 'Computer Vision Award' received great interest from the undergraduate and graduate degree holders of the leading universities in Turkey.

ISRA VISION VISTEK established this award to encourage young scholars of electronics, computer science, mechanical engineering, mathematics and physics to continue their research in digital image processing.  The company is expected to continue its support in Turkey in the future.

Sabancı University members and supporters took part in the 36th Istanbul Marathon on Sunday, November 16 for the benefit of the SU Scholarship Fund and helped to raise TL 1030.

Of this amount, TL 900 will pay for the stipends of three students for one month, and the remaining TL 130 will go towards the support for another student.

We would like to thank all participants for their financial and moral support, and for helping to make a difference and create awareness.

Our campaign will end on November 30 if you would like to support more successful students who are in financial need.

For online donations: http://giving.sabanciuniv.edu/bagis 

For bank transfers:

Akbank

Sabancı Üniversitesi Branch

Branch Code: 713

Account No.: 30727

IBAN: TR870004600713888000030727   

SU Istanbul Marathon entrants:

Zeliha Algül

Matjaz Moser

Özgür Algül

Ulgen Okutgen

Bojan Ambrozic

Metin Arca Öz

Ali Ansari Hamedani

Erkin Özcan

Marco Antonelli

Aygen Öztürk

Nuray Apaydın

Ozan Uğur Öztürk

Arda Çallı 

Matteo Paganin

Ece Çetinkal

Sandra Quarantini

Gizem Dirlik

Mümin Raif

Ezgi Ergören

Sevgi  Şairoğlu

Zain Fuad

Raziye Şen

Çağlar Genç

Veciye Taşcı

Can Kartoğlu

İpek Tuğrul

Fulya Kaya

Zuhal Tümay

Ahmet Kenan

Sami Tümay

Pınar Koçak

Gülekşen Ulusoy

Dong Geon Lee

Leziye Ulusoy

Gökşin Liu

Mustafa Ünal

Ali Mahad 

Mobeen Warraich

Giorgio Marinato

Halil İbrahim Yılmaz

Donors who supported entrants of the Istanbul Marathon for the benefit of the SU Scholarship Fund:

Şule Aktaş

Şükriye Koç

Ceylan Alemdar

Volkan Özgüz

Özgür Algül

Şule Tezgiden

Zeliha Algül

Zuhal Tümay

Gülseren Caşın

Gülekşen Ulusoy

Sezen Gülşen Kama

Bora Uzun

Serpil Gürbüz

Duygu Yalamanoğlu

Ayla Gürleyen

Güneş Yıldırım

Arzu Kıran

Ebru Özgür  Katı

İsminin açıklanmasını istemeyen 4 bağışçımız

The second “Independent Woman Directors Conference of Turkey” was held at Sabancı Center on Wednesday, November 19th as part of the Independent Woman Directors project implemented by the Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum with the financial support of the Consulate of Sweden and the strategic support of Egon Zehnder International’s Turkey office.

Introductory remarks were made by Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for General Economic Coordination, via videoconference.

Also speaking were President of the Corporate Investors Society of Turkey, Mehmet Göçmen; UN Women Europe and Middle East Regional Director and Turkish Representative, Ingibjorg Gisladottir; and Royal Bank of Scotland CEO and 2011 European Diversity Champion, Chris Sullivan.

“Boards Empowered by Women” Awards of Turkey were given to Türk Tuborg, Turcas Petrol, Martı Otel İşletmeleri A.Ş, Burçelik Bursa Çelik Döküm Sanayi and Burçelik Vana Sanayii.  Furthermore, Alcatel Lucent Teletaş Komünikasyon received a Special Award for achieving gender equality in all “Boards Empowered by Women” Index criteria.  The awards ceremony was attended by Vice President of the Capital Markets Board, Ayşegül Ekşit.

The meeting was opened by Mehmet Göçmen, President of the Corporate Investors Society of Turkey.  In his introductory remarks delivered via videoconference, Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for General Economic Coordination, said, “We cannot become a developed country before our women take the places they deserve in economic and social life.  Although we are inspired by the success stories of Turkish women in all areas from the arts to sports, business and science, we need more progress.  We can only achieve this progress through the holistic and coordinated efforts of public institutions and civil society initiatives.”  Babacan noted that regulatory changes were intended to enable the Turkish economy and businesses to benefit from the quality of decisions brought by gender diversity, and expressed his hope that the Woman Directors Conference becomes a tradition.

Keynote speakers were UN Women Europe and Middle East Regional Director and Turkish Representative, Ingibjorg Gisladottir; and Royal Bank of Scotland CEO and 2011 European Diversity Champion, Chris Sullivan. 

Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum Director Melsa Ararat presented the “2014 Report on Woman Directors in Publicly-Traded Companies in Turkey” followed with a lecture by Egon Zehnder Global Diversity Council Cochair Edwin Smelt on “Women on Boards: A Global Perspective.

Capital Markets Board (CMB) Vice President Ayşegül Ekşit attended the event to present awards.

“We believe one of the ways to protect against bad management is boards empowered by women.”

Mehmet Göçmen, President of the Corporate Investors Society of Turkey, said that he viewed democratic participation in management as one of the fundamental requirements of corporate governance and that the Independent Woman Directors project by the Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum will have a critical function in increasing the number of woman directors in company boards.  Mehmet Göçmen commented, “We know how bad management results in waste of resources and costs time and energy for companies, institutions and communities.  Based on both our own experiences and the wisdom we acquire from the world, we believe that one of the ways to protect against bad management is boards empowered by women.”

“As seen in Fortune 500 companies, the presence of women in top management has a positive effect on profitability.”

Ingibjorg Gisladottir, UN Women Europe and Middle East Regional Director and Turkish Representative, said, “We need more women in middle-management and decision-maker positions in business.  Boards are one place where women must be present to ensure that corporate agendas are open to change instigated by differing perspectives.  Women’s presence in boards of directors will support gender equality in business and influence corporate culture in this way.  As seen in Fortune 500 companies, the presence of women in top management has a positive effect on profitability as well.”

Royal Bank of Scotland CEO and 2011 European Diversity Champion Chris Sullivan gave a speech titled “Creating a More Gender-Balanced Environment.”  Chris Sullivan discussed gender balance as seen in developed economies today and gave examples of the sustainable strategies implemented in RBS to expand the female talent pool.

“This is also a human rights matter”

The message of Consul-General of Sweden, Jens Odlander, was delivered by Sevil Özmen.  In his message, Jens Odlander said that gender equality had been one of the key values of Sweden for many years.  Odlander continued, “Companies founded and run by women have greater competitive advantage in supplying services and products suitable for women.  More importantly, gender equality in boards empower women and create positive role models for young businesswomen.  As the Consul-General of Sweden in Istanbul, we support projects like Independent Women Directors which serve this purpose.  It takes time for norms and culture to change.  However, the Independent Woman Directors Project has succeeded in gaining a place in the agendas of boards of directors, regulators, and board-ready women.”

Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum and Independent Woman Directors Project Director Melsa Ararat presented the Sabancı University “Independent Woman Directors Turkey 2014” report.  The foreword of the report was written by Ali Babacan, Deputy Prime Minister Responsible for General Economic Coordination.

The report studied the boards of 422 companies listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange, and determined that, despite the 2012 Capital Markets Board Governance Principles advisory to include women in boards, the number of woman directors remained at the 2013 figures for 2014.  The number of woman directors remained at 352, and accounted for 11.7% of the total number of directors.  This suggests that the voluntary gender regulations and the “comply or explain” approach fails to work in Turkey.

Although the number of woman directors did not increase, the ratio of women among independent directors increased in 2014, with 24% of newly-appointed independent directors in 2014 being women.  This brought the ratio of independent woman directors among all woman directors from 8.8% to 9.3%.  This is partly attributable to the effects of the Independent Woman Directors project.

The report notes that 44.1% of BIST companies have no women on their boards.  In other words, 186 of Turkey’s leading companies have no women in management.

In line with the increase of independent woman directors, the ratio of women serving in Board of Directors committees also increased from 8.5% in 2013 to 8.5% in 2014.  The ratio of women in Audit Committees is 9.5% and woman directors comprise 8.9% of total Corporate Governance Committee membership.  Credit committees, required to be established by banks in Turkey, include 6 women accounting for 9.2% of membership.  When interpreting these figures, Project Director Melsa Ararat said that half of these women were members of the families controlling the respective companies, and only independent members can serve on Audit Committees, showing the confidence in women especially in the matter of auditing.

Turkey’s companies with Boards Empowered by Women

The second “Boards Empowered by Women” Awards of Turkey were given to Türk Tuborg, Turcas Petrol, Martı Otel İşletmeleri A.Ş, Burçelik Bursa Çelik Döküm Sanayi and Burçelik Vana Sanayii.  Furthermore, Alcatel Lucent Teletaş Komünikasyon received a Special Award for achieving gender equality in all “Boards Empowered by Women” Index criteria.  The awards ceremony was attended by Vice President of the Capital Markets Board, Ayşegül Ekşit, who said, “Academic studies show that the presence of women in top management have a positive effect on profitability, help to improve the effectiveness of board of directors meetings, and contribute to risk management.  In order to reap the benefits of new legislation and voluntary efforts, the awareness of all parties must be increased and companies must sustain their efforts in this matter.

The awards were based on index calculations designed by Sabancı University faculty members Melsa Ararat, Işın Güler and Özgecan Koçak.  The index considers “Representation of Women on Boards,” “Representation of Independent Woman Directors on Boards,” “Representation of Women on Committees,” “Presence of Female Board of Directors Chairs and CEOs” and the presence of at least three female members.  The index will be calculated every year.

The “Independent Woman Directors Project” implemented by the Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum with financial support by the Consulate of Sweden and strategic support of Egon Zehnder International’s Turkey office aims to improve the position of women on boards of directors with a view towards making boards more efficient.  As a founding partner of the “Global Board Ready Women” initiative, the project makes regular updates to a database of board-ready women in Turkey, and recommends candidates to companies that wish to appoint a woman to their boards of directors.