An international team including Ersin Göğüş, member of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, and Yuki Kaneko, member of Sabancı University Foundation Development Program, examined intensive X-ray bursts of the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 in the summer of 2020 via NASA’s Fermi/GBM and NICER space telescopes. The results of the comprehensive observations were published in Nature Astronomy journal on February 18, 2021. 

Details of the article are given below.

On 27 April 2020, the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 emitted hundreds of X-ray bursts within a few hours. Just 6 hours later, one of these temporally coincided with an FRB (fast radio burst), the first known detection of an FRB from the Milky Way. It was understood that radio bursts observed in other galaxies in space for more than 10 years are not signals sent by intelligent civilizations in space, but result from neutron stars, at least some of them. 

Magnetars are young, magnetically powered neutron stars that possess the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe. A hallmark signature of magnetars is their emission of bright, hard X-ray bursts of sub-second duration. The bursts are so strong that the energy arising from a one-second burst equals the energy that can be diffused by the whole surface of the Sun in a thousand years. The horizontal axis in the graph below represents time, and we can see that the increase in the number of x-ray photons takes place in just 0.2 seconds.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are extremely intense millisecond-long radio pulses of primarily extragalactic origin, and a leading attribution for their genesis focuses on magnetars. There were no indicators of FRBs observed in remote galaxies other than their radio pulses. Given that nearly all of the communication networks in the world are powered by radio waves, and that recurrent radio signals are received from some galaxies, people had the idea that such signals might be coming from remote civilizations with developed technology. 

On 27 April 2020, the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 emitted hundreds of X-ray bursts. This magnetar had emitted X-ray bursts occasionally over the previous 6 years and the end of April was the peak time of the bursts. Soon after, it was understood that these bursts developed differently. Just 6 hours later, one of these bursts temporally coincided with an FRB, the first known detection of an FRB from the Milky Way. 

Due to this important development, the SGR J1935+2154 neutron star topped the agenda of the astrophysics community in the summer of 2020. An international team including Ersin Göğüş, member of Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, and Yuki Kaneko, member of Sabancı University Foundation Development Program, examined 24 intensive X-ray bursts of the Galactic magnetar SGR J1935+2154 in the summer of 2020 via NASA’s Fermi/GBM and NICER space telescopes. As a result of their spectrum analysis, FRBs are found to be very different spectrally. The figure below clearly shows that model parameters of X-ray spectra that are not associated with FRBs cluster around certain values (in gray) while FRB-associated X-ray bursts (in blue and red) become manifest at very high values. This situation indicates a characteristic difference of the X-ray bursts that coincided with the FRBs. 

Another important conclusion of the above-mentioned study is that the association of FRBs with periodic X-ray bursts was established, and it was proposed that the X-ray bursts observed might have resulted from magnetic poles of the star. The conclusions of the study were published in Nature Astronomy journal on February 18, 2021. 

Barış Bilgit, a student of the Gender Studies PhD Program of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) has won a Fulbright PhD dissertation research scholarship for the term for his dissertation theme. Barış Bilgit will be in the US next year to do research about his dissertation through this scholarship, which Fulbright has recently opened.

The Fulbright PhD dissertation research scholarship is a scholarship program aimed at enabling doctorate level students from various countries of the world, including Turkey, to continue part of their dissertation research in the US. Students receiving the scholarship gain the opportunity to do fieldwork and archive research as visiting researchers at prestigious US universities for one year. To be eligible for the scholarship program, applicants must have completed the courses of their PhD program and set their dissertation subject. It is essential that candidates have the potential to be leading researchers in their field and that their dissertation studies be carried out in the US.

Following the PhD qualifying examination, Barış Bilgit will go to the US as a Fulbright scholar to do his research on his dissertation entitled “Life as a gift: Voluntary Surrogate Motherhood, Reproductive Justice and New Family Relations”. In his study, through qualitative research methods, Barış Bilgit will focus on the solidarity of voluntary surrogate mothers and LGBT individuals who want to be parents, and their fight for equality. About his winning a Fulbright PhD dissertation research scholarship, Bilgit commented, “I am glad that the efforts of my family, starting with my mother, my professors, myself and individuals from any identity trying to be a part of the fight for gender equality has borne fruit. I now feel much closer to reaching my target to become a researcher generating knowledge in the reproductive justice dimension of the search for justice against sexual orientation-based discrimination.”

Ayşecan Terzioğlu, the member of FASS acting as supervisor of Barış Bilgit’s dissertation, said that it was very exciting and inspiring to learn that Barış had won the Fulbright PhD dissertation research scholarship, not only for SU Gender Studies, but also for other PhD students at Sabancı University. Emphasizing that the Fulbright scholarship was an important opportunity so that studies and research at Sabancı University could be better known on international platforms, Ayşecan Terzioğlu added that she was sure Barış, who she supervised as a PhD student, would do academic studies in the US that would greatly contribute to his academic background and dissertation, thanks to his usual hard work, efforts and positive attitude. Ayşecan Terzioğlu pointed out that she congratulated Barış Bilgit again, and hoped that other PhD students would benefit from Fulbright PhD dissertation research scholarships.

About the FASS Gender Studies Program

This is a doctorate level program opened at FASS in the fall of 2017, and currently has 10 students. In addition to having international recognition, the program aims to be the leading program in Turkey in the field of gender studies and hosts many ongoing dissertations in diverse areas, ranging from digital feminism to transforming masculinities with an interdisciplinary approach. Students in this program take lessons and do readings in many different disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, literature, psychiatry, psychology and political sciences to develop their interdisciplinary perspective. Students in Gender Studies also take an active role in the events of SU Gender (Sabancı University Gender and Women’s Studies Center of Excellence). 

Nanografen, a spin-off company of which Burcu Saner Okan from Sabancı University Integrated Manufacturing Research and Application Center (SU IMC) is the founding partner, has become entitled to support by EUREKA for its joint project. 

The coordinator of the Coreback-CFMTech project entitled “Development of New Generation PP Compound and Molding Technology for Chemical Foaming Process and Their Application to Automotive Internal Trim Parts” is Oyak Renault. Partners of the project in Turkey are Nanografen, Farplas and Karel Kalıp, and in Spain the partners are Repsol, a global plastic materials company, and AITIIP Technology Center.

The main priorities of the project are to increase the amount of recyclable materials used in vehicles, and to decrease the rate of additives in compounds to decrease impact on the environment. Thanks to the technology to be developed with this project, vehicles will be lighter, leading to decreased energy costs (shortened production cycle). A contribution will be made to the cyclical economy: domestic industry will be developed and technology transfer will be made. At the end of this 3-year project, the related technology is planned to be productized with OEM support.

Burcu Saner Okan said the following about the importance of the project: “Nanografen is the only company in the world transforming the carbon black obtained from the pyrolysis of waste tires to graphene and carrying our production at the pilot level. Nanographene technology has opened the way for the use of graphene in commodity products. This project will help the use of graphene in engineered plastics in the automotive sector; thus, a new market will be born.” 

Sabancı University and SUNUM are involved in 3 of the 4 SAYEM (Industrial Innovation Network Mechanism Program) projects to proceed to Phase-2. SAYEM is a program designed by TÜBİTAK-TEYDEB to design innovation networks in line with national high-tech targets through collaboration with the private, university and public sectors in order to develop products with higher value added. The program aims to ensure that our country’s R&D resources are used effectively and our current account deficit is decreased thanks to the products developed.

Details of the project, to be implemented under the coordination of Arçelik, NETAŞ and VSY Biyoteknoloji, are given below.

In the framework of the TÜBİTAK SAYEM program, the SAYEM Phase-1 application of Eczacıbaşı’s ‘Smart Bathroom’ and the SAYEM Phase-1 application of Arçelik’s ‘Smart House’ were merged, and the project will continue as SAYEM PHASE II– SMART HOUSE PLATFORM with 16 partners under the leadership of Arçelik. The consortium aims to implement designs for Smart House Solutions involving high-technology tools. The project will last 4 years, including a joint technology development roadmap, and has a budget of 75 million TL. The partners of the project plan to develop products to be integrated into the Smart House platform. Sabancı University will contribute, through its data security-related efforts, to these technologies that will become commercial products.

One of the 4 consortia having successfully completed the Phase-1 project application process in the framework of the TÜBİTAK SAYEM program is the NETAŞ Smart Cities project consortium. NETAŞ is the coordinator of this consortium, which involves 17 companies/institutions in addition to Sabancı University and SUNUM. The project aims to generate an integrated ‘smart city’ solution applicable/sellable to all the cities in the world and in our country, to enable savings in our country and upgrade the living standards of cities. Through its modules, namely smart energy, smart house-building, smart emergency management, smart healthcare, smart environmental and waste management, and smart transport, the project aims to create products to help decrease imports and increase exports, thus contributing to our country’s balance of payments. The project has a budget of 50 million TL and has 36 sub-projects. Sabancı University and SUNUM participate in the consortium to make contributions on data security and secrecy, route planning and optimization, and resource planning, and optimization in big data analyses.

The SAYEM Project entitled "Development and Production of New Generation, High-Stability, Hydrophobic Intraocular Lenses with Sinusoidal Optical Design and Integrated with Front-Loaded Injector System”, implemented under the coordination of VSY Biyoteknoloji, which occupies a remarkable position in the world for the production of intra-ocular lenses, had a positive Phase-1 result. This project aims to draw roadmaps and build the consortium to start production of new intraocular lenses to provide ease to doctors for use in surgical operations and enhance patient satisfaction. The project involves 8 partners including SUNUM and is composed of 5 sub-projects that are planned to cover product development processes such as moving raw material production to an industrial scale, integration of sensitive optical surface processing systems to intraocular lens production, and pre-launch conformity of front-loaded intraocular lens components with regulations. SUNUM will contribute to the consortium through its innovations. 

SAYEM-Industrial Innovation Network Mechanism Program

SAYEM-Industrial Innovation Network Mechanism Program is a program designed by TÜBİTAK-TEYDEB to design innovation networks in line with national high-tech targets through collaboration with the private, university and public sectors in order to develop products with higher value added. The program aims to ensure that our country’s R&D resources are used effectively and our current account deficit is decreased thanks to the products developed. SAYEM is composed of two phases. During the first phase, a roadmap is prepared to transform projects at the level of a technology development prototype (THS5) into high-tech products through a specialized R&D and innovation consortium. The total budget of the first phase is 2 million TL and support is provided to projects with a maximum duration of 12 months. Consortia whose productization roadmaps are found to be satisfactory receive continued support in the second phase. Support to companies in the consortia for their productization projects for the purpose of the development of high-tech products in the framework of the productization roadmap will not only increase their capabilities of working and developing together, but also ensure that public resources allocated to R&D are used more efficiently. For the second phase of the program, the total budget of support for projects is 75 million TL and support will be provided for a period of up to 48 months. 

‘The Report on Working Life and Domestic Violence During the Pandemic’, prepared within the framework of the ‘Business Against Domestic Violence (BADV) Project’ carried out by the Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey (CGFT) and supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Sabancı Foundation in collaboration with TÜSİAD, indicates that domestic violence suffered by working women grew during the pandemic.

According to the report, 62% of working women had been exposed to at least one type of violence over the previous 3 months. The type of violence that working women were exposed to the most was psychological violence, at 58%. The amount of working women experiencing social violence was 15%, physical violence 12%, and sexual violence 9%.

The Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey disclosed ‘The Report on Working Life and Domestic Violence During the Pandemic’ in an online meeting prepared within the framework of the ‘Business Against Domestic Violence (BADV) Project’, started in 2014 by the CGFT and supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Sabancı Foundation in collaboration with TÜSİAD.

According to the report, 62% of working women were exposed at least once to at least one type of domestic violence over the last 3 months. The type of violence that working women were exposed to the most was psychological violence with 58%, followed by social violence at 15%, physical violence at 12%, and sexual violence at 9%.

The BADV Project is aimed at implementing support mechanisms in the workplace and promoting tools, methods and best practices to reduce domestic violence using businesses' managerial and organizational capabilities. As of end of 2020, the number of companies included in the project reached 73, and the number of employees covered reached 183,215. The research on ‘Working Life and Domestic Violence During the Pandemic’, which was the theme of the report, was designed to find out the impact of domestic violence suffered by individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic on their working environment and working life. The research further intends to make additional recommendations to companies to prevent working women from being negatively affected by working from home practices and support gender equality in the workplace in the light of collected data and analyses.

At the beginning of the meeting, Hassan Mohtashami, UNFPA Turkey Representative, Nevgül Bilsel Safkan, Sabancı Foundation General Manager, and Oya Ünlü Kızıl, Chair of TÜSİAD Gender Equality Working Group shared their assessments of the report.

Hassan Mohtashami, UNFPA Turkey Representative, said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, women and girls became more vulnerable to domestic violence, and restricted access to sexual and reproductive health services, in addition to deepening economic and social stress, had added to this. Mohtashami commented on the report as follows:

The ‘Business Against Domestic Violence (BADV) Project’ is a successful project indicating to the private sector that it can play an active role in establishing mechanisms to prevent gender-based violence in workplaces and intervene in such gender-based violence cases. As proven by this report, the companies involved in the BADV project were able to offer more effective and resilient prevention and intervention mechanisms so that their employees could get effective support during the pandemic. However, the report also shows that we are not done yet. It is essential for us to intensify our efforts to eliminate domestic violence and further increase the existing momentum to prioritize the voices, experiences and needs of women in workplaces. It is time to take action and say no to violence every day, not just on one day.”

Nevgül Bilsel Safkan, Sabancı Foundation General Manager pointed out that, with the pandemic, women had a growing burden of domestic and childcare labor, and were exposed to domestic violence to a greater extent. She continued, “To enhance their effective roles in combatting domestic violence, companies should raise awareness of employees about current policies, and inform managers about indications of violence. It is equally important to provide institutional support for women working from home so that they can establish work-life balance. To minimize negative effects of the pandemic on women’s human rights, it is very important to identify needs through scientific research and shape our efforts in the light of priorities. Companies that are trained and develop policies in the framework of the BADV project not only ensure the equality of their employees, but also contribute considerably to social justice. I invite the whole business world to develop and implement policies to fight domestic violence against women, and I hope this report will guide businesses in doing so.”

In her assessment of the report, Oya Ünlü Kızıl, Chair of TÜSİAD Gender Equality Working Group said that one of the most important contributions of the Business Against Domestic Violence Project was regular provision of gender-segregated data about the impact of the pandemic. Oya Ünlü Kızıl emphasized that it was not possible to fully eliminate violence against women before gender equality was secured. She further commented, “Keeping in mind that you cannot manage what you cannot measure, I believe that the inequalities facing women should be visible so that we can design effective interventions. In other words, it is very important to collect gender-segregated data and information about the effects of the pandemic regularly. I think one of the most important contributions of the Business Against Domestic Violence Project is the provision of gender-segregated data regarding this field. In addition, it is very important that strategies and actions of companies to ensure gender equality continue and are further strengthened. It is not possible to fully eliminate violence against women before gender equality is secured. The hierarchy created by social roles and expectations leads to the fact that women are discriminated against and/or face violence in every walk of life, from family life to education, employment and politics. The number of companies that sign WEPs, that are involved in the Business Against Domestic Violence Project, or make efforts for gender equality should grow. We should all make efforts for this to happen. It is very important. It is critical to plan egalitarian and transformative interventions to prevent gender inequalities from deepening further, particularly in times of crisis, and this can only be achieved through cooperation between the private sector, NGOs and the public sector.”

The meeting also featured a panel on ‘Impact of Overlapping Work and Life Venues on Working Women: Lessons from the Pandemic’ facilitated by Melsa Ararat, Director and Principal Researcher of Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum.

Outputs of the Report on Working Life and Domestic Violence During the Pandemic

• 76% of female respondents and 53.5% of male respondents spend more time on domestic work than the pre-pandemic period.

• Survey results indicate that in cases when women work from home, men in some households attribute some tasks that they used to assume before the pandemic to their wives.

• 38.8% of all respondents prefer to go back to work at their workplace when the pandemic is over and social distancing rules are lifted, while 41.7% prefer to work from home a couple of days a week. 

• Post-pandemic work preferences of participants living with their spouse or fiancée vary according to gender and the time they spend on domestic work. Although women in general prefer to work from home more than men, this preference of theirs reduces in proportion to the extent to which they assume domestic work.

• When the survey participants were asked about the importance they attach to the measures taken and support mechanisms offered by their employers during the COVID-19 process, respondents listed the most important means of support as occupational health and safety measures (87.8%), paid sickness leave (84.3%) and paid urgent care leave (76.5%).

• Results show that 62% of working women were exposed at least once to one type of violence over the last 3 months.

• As in previous research, the most frequently faced type of violence was psychological violence (58%), followed by social violence (15%), physical violence (12%) and sexual violence (9%).

• 5% of men declared they had demonstrated violent behavior against their spouse. When asked about the reasons for their violent behavior, they named economic problems and issues about their children, the two leading reasons in half of the cases.

• Nearly half of the women suffering violence said they did not share this situation with anyone, and it is interesting that no woman shared it with their employer.

• It can be understood that women working for companies involved in the BADV project and aware of the workplace policy against violence suffer less from psychological stress than women working in other workplaces and declaring their workplace has no policy against violence.

Research Method:

The survey method was used in the research, and the survey was applied online from June 18 to August 31, 2020. The survey took nearly 10 minutes to complete and links to the survey were sent to 73 companies, which were involved in the BADV project from 2016 to 2020. Managers of these companies forwarded the link for the survey to their employees by email. In addition, the survey was shared on social media and reached employees of companies that are not involved in the BADV project. Employees from 37 BADV-affiliated companies participated in the survey. The total number of participants was 1,261.

You can access all BADV-related work through https://badv.sabanciuniv.edu/library/research-and-publications .

Sabancı University CIP organizes new projects for university staff virtually during the pandemic. 

Some examples of the online projects that the university staff members volunteered in are given below: 

Compost Training was delivered by Ayşe Betül Çelik Kıbrıs, member of Sabancı University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and a permaculture designer, and Barış Kıbrıs, a permaculture designer.

The training highlighted the degree of exploitation of natural resources, which became a major source of pollution threating the lives of all living things, including human beings. The trainers said the current situation was an extreme one. They added that it was possible for us to assume responsibility for our own waste, which we could turn into compost, and contribute to the sustainability of life by generating soil instead of pollution. The training focused on what soil and compost were and how important they were for life, in addition to explaining methods for making compost and using the final product.

Audio Books for the Visually Disabled Project was a project organized to help the visually disabled access books. The volunteers participating in the project made their reading in collaboration with Boğaziçi University Technology and Training Center for Individuals with Visual Disabilities (GETEM). The volunteers, who were Sabancı University staff members, selected from among the books requested by GETEM members and had their readings recorded.

We Knit For Children Project was a project in which Sabancı University staff members knitted scarves and caps with Sibel Kavaklıoğlu, a knitting trainer.

The names and details of the projects to be implemented in Spring are as follows:

• Audio book reading for the visually disabled project
• Sign language learning for staff members project
• We knit for children project
• Environmental awareness permaculture training (10 hours)

Audio Book Reading For The Visually Disabled Project

As was the case in the Audio Book project, Sabancı University staff members will read a book they select from the list of books chosen according to the needs of visually disabled individuals for voice recording applications. The audio books will be recorded and offered to the visually disabled via Boğaziçi University GETEM.

Before starting to read books, staff members will receive a 2-day training for 3 hours on Zoom about “reading, voice and breath techniques”. After the training, there will be demo readings to be sent to GETEM. Following GETEM’s approval, volunteers will select a book from GETEM database and proceed with the reading and recording process.

Sign Language Learning

Sign Language Training will be carried out for 1 day a week for 1 hour. The training will be delivered by Serkan Ural, sign language trainer. The training will last 6 weeks. When the dates and hours of training are definite, a Zoom link will be shared by CIP.

Volunteers to participate in Sign Language Training will be able to

● have information and gain awareness about visual impairment, deafness and Turkish sign language,

● learn Turkish sign language alphabet,

● learn simple introduction signs,

● learn words through letter games. 

We Knit for Children Project

We knit scarves, caps and gloves for children in need

This project will be open to all Sabancı University students, staff members and their families. The meetings will be online 1 day a week and each meeting will last 1 hour. The scarves, caps and gloves knitted will be sent to children in need and to village schools in places with harsh winter conditions in November 2021. CIP determines disadvantaged village schools itself through its own research.

Training sessions will be online on Thursdays from 20.30 to 21.30 and delivered by Sibel Kavaklıoğlu.

With this project, CIP wants to underline that there must be no gender discrimination with regards to knitting, as is the case with cooking, washing clothes, washing dishes, ironing, and cleaning!

Environmental Awareness Permaculture Training (10 hours)

Designing a Restorative Life through the Basics of Permaculture

What can an individual change? We will not say environmental problems are too big, and volunteers are too few. We will take an action and seek answers to the following questions:

●       How can we build a restorative life considering the earth and humans?

●       How can we enrich the environment and life on the basis of self-sufficiency?

●       How can we grow our food by producing without consuming; how can we establish crisis-resilient, sustainable systems?

Permaculture is a science of design that aims to generate sustainable systems intended to feed and restore nature instead of harming it, while meeting human needs for the purpose of establishing a more nature-friendly and healthier life. The training will focus on the ethics and principles of permaculture, and is composed of sessions spread over 5 days, each lasting 2 hours. 

Permaculture training will be delivered by a team called Orman6, which aims to reach everyone who wants to grasp the essentials of permaculture and restorative life. The team members are Evren Yıldırım, Burcu Arıkan and Buket Atlı, who were trained by trainers of the Turkish Permaculture Research Institute in 2017.

To apply, you can fill in the application form.

Students who can take the ELAE  on 16-17^th June 2021:

• Students whose status is inactive/prepared outside and who have submitted petitions to School of Languages Directorate*
• Students who are using their right to study for a second year at FDY and who have completed the survey on surveymonkey to School of Languages Directorate
• Graduate students who have received approval from their institutes

Online ELAE Writing and Speaking: 

Writing Exam: Wednesday, June 16th, 2021, 10.00 - 10.45

Please click to see your WRITING EXAM ZOOM room info.

Grad Students: Enter the e-mail address you provided to SU during in your application to the inquiry screen and your writing exam zoom room info will come up.

Foundation Development Year Students: Please enter your school ID number to the inquiry screen and your writing exam zoom room info will come up.

A trial writing exam will be opened on SUCourse+. Make sure to complete the trial exam by logging into SUCourse+. For GRAD students a username and password to enter SUCourse+ has been sent to the e-mail address you provided during application.

If you have any problems, you can get help from basak.tezcan@sabanciuniv.edu before the actual exam. Access to the trial exam will be closed on Wednesday, June 16, 2021 at 7 am (Turkish Time).

Students will be able to access the ELAE writing exam with the same username and password on SUCourse+ on Wednesday, June 16^th, 2021 at 10 am.

During the writing exam, you must be connected to both Zoom and the university Learning Management System (SUCourse +) simultaneously. Students are required to have one blank A4 paper and one pen with them in order to take notes in the exam.

Students who will take the ELAE writing exam are strongly reminded to be present in the Zoom exam room half an hour before the exam starts in order to have their ID checked on time and to have their official identification (ID card, passport, etc.) with them.

Speaking Exam: one individual 20 minute slot for each student on June 16^th or 17^th , 2021.

Please click to see SPEAKING EXAM ZOOM room info and other details.

Grad Students: Enter the e-mail address you provided to SU during in your application to the inquiry screen and your speaking zoom room info will come up.

Foundation Development Year Students: Please enter your school ID number to the inquiry screen and your speaking zoom room info will come up.

Note: Please have one blank A4 paper and one pen to use in the 1 minute reflection part of Part 1 of the Speaking exam.

In order for the speaking exam identity checks to be carried out on time, students are strongly reminded to be present in the Zoom exam room 5 minutes before the exam, and to have their official identification (ID card, passport, etc.) with them.

The speaking exam will take place via Zoom. SUCourse+ will not be used.

Please click for detailed information about SUCourse + login.

Important: You are strongly advised to read the student information. Please click to see the details.

In case of technical problems, the start and end times of the exam may be later than specified.

Since the ELAE will be carried out online, students need a computer with a working camera, microphone, speaker and a stable internet connection to be able to take the exam.

ELAE Writing and Speaking results will be announced on the Sabancı University website on June 21th, 2021 at 9 pm.

Graduate students will be notified of their ELAE results by the institutes.

No results will not be given out over the telephone to avoid any misunderstandings.

There is no make-up for the ELAE.

ELAE results are announced as alphabetic letters not numeric values.* *

SL – Satisfactory from the ELAE,

UL-Unsatisfactory from the ELAE; 

NA- Non-attendance, 

As stated in our regulations, no results are released as numeric values.

SL and UL scales are only available for the second stage of the ELAE

SL (Satisfactory)* *:  ‘A-SL, B-SL, C-SL’,

EL  (Exempt from the ELAE),

UL (Unsatisfactory): D-UL, E-UL, F-UL,

NA (Non attendance/ evaluated as UL)’

 Scales are as below:

*Students who receive a minimum grade of 65% overall with a minimum grade of 47,5% from each section (writing and speaking) become Freshman students.

You can find detailed information about the ELAE exam and sample exams from the link below. We recommend that all students taking the exam check the information provided in this link.

https://sl.sabanciuniv.edu/students/elae/assessment-exam

For any questions about the exam, contact the School of Languages ​​at 0216 483 91 50.

We wish you success,

School of Languages Directorate

Sabancı University Engineering and Natural Sciences Faculty Member, SUNUM Researcher and EFSUN Center Co-Director Ali Koşar received "µFIP Prominent Researcher Award" in the 2021 micro Flow and Interfacial Phenomena (µFIP) Conference due to his valuable contributions to the science and engineering in single phase and phase change fluid flow and engineering in micro heat sinks and microfluidic devices.   

The scientific objective of µFIP is to bridge phase change and single phase heat transfer, multi-phase flow, bio-chemical and bio-medical engineering, and microflow processes in energy applications with the unifying component of microchannel flow or microscale surface phenomena (e.g., droplets, thin films, etc.).

This award honors a person with significant research record in the field of flow or interfacial transport phenomena at the mini-, micro- and nanoscale, and whose vision, leadership, and/or service have been instrumental in advancing an area pertinent to the scope of the conference.

The study titled "Deconfinement of Majorana Vortex Modes Produces a Superconducting Landau Level", by Sabanci University Engineering and Natural Sciences Faculty Member İnanç Adagideli, is featured on the June 2021 cover of the Physical Review Letters journal.

About the article

Majoranas resist being blown away

Majoranas in condensed matter are collectively moving particles (electrons in this case) that behave as if they are single particles that are their own antiparticles. Once found, they could be used to build noise resistant quantum computers. What makes them interesting, namely being their own antiparticle, having no electric charge, no spin, and zero energy, also makes them very difficult to detect.
What also makes them very hard to detect is that they are usually hiding in hard to reach places: for instance they were predicted to exist in a hybrid structure in which a topological insulator is put on a superconductor. A while ago Liang Fu and Charles Kane predicted that Majoranas will appear when such a heterostructure is placed in a magnetic field. Superconductors push out magnetic fields; the magnetic field lines pierce the superconducting material through tiny regions. In these tiny regions, called the vortex cores, superconductivity vanishes, allowing the magnetic field through. Majoranas will hide in these cores.
Sabancı University and the Leiden University theorists decided to further analyze Fu-Kane materials, and asked if Majoranas can be eased out of their "hiding hole" by blowing a supercurrent through them. It turns out this indeed causes Majoranas to pop out of their homes at the vortex cores and meet each other.  Majoranas, being their own antiparticles, can annihilate each other. But surprisingly, according to the paper published this week in Physical Review Letters, they resist annihilation. The cover of Physical Review Letters this week features the signature intensity profile of this state where Majoranas are deconfined.

Sabancı University and UC Berkeley have signed an agreement for academic collaboration starting in Spring 2021.

Sabancı University and UC Berkeley have signed an agreement for academic collaboration starting in Spring 2021.

Our faculty member, Ayşe Ozil, at Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, will work with Christine Philliou, a leading historian of the Ottoman Empire at the Department of History of Berkeley, where she is also a member of the Institute of European Studies and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. This cooperation will involve joint research projects, workshops, symposia, and seminars as well as the exchange of researchers including faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars.

Ayşe Ozil and an international team of scholars have recently started working on a project coordinated by Christine Philliou about social and cultural diversity in 19th century Istanbul. This collaboration marks the inaugural project of two joint centers at Berkeley: the Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies Initiative and the Modern Greek and Hellenic Studies Program.