The project in which Nurdagül Anbar Meidl, a Faculty Member at the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS), was found eligible for support under the TÜBİTAK 1001 Program. 

Nurdagül Anbar Meidl's project, which was found eligible for support under the 1001 Scientific and Technological Research Projects Support Program, is titled “Generalizations of bent functions and permutation polynomials”.

The popularization of computer use has brought alıng security problems such as illegal access to information and copying and stealing information. These problems have given rise to the science of encryption used to provide us with data/information security (Cybersecurity). The science of encryption uses functions defined over vector spaces on finite bodies.

In this project, it is planned to build the functions used in this field and characterize these functions using techniques of the fields of mathematics such as the generator theory, coding theory, and finite geometry. In other words, the project, which will be conducted using techniques in many different areas of mathematics, will help develop methods that will create solutions to problems in the field of cybersecurity.

Nurdagül Anbar Meidl noted the following regarding the significance of the project: “In addition to the scientific importance mentioned above, we plan to increase the recognition of Sabancı University on these issues through project works. This, in turn, will increase the opportunity of our mathematics graduates in this field to find work abroad.” 

A doctoral researcher and a postdoctoral researcher from Sabancı University will be involved in the three-year project under the leadership of FENS Faculty Member Nurdagül Anbar Meidl. In addition, Oğuz Yayla from Middle East Technical University will provide support to the project as a researcher.   

Ali Koşar, a Faculty Member at the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences and researcher at SUNUM, was selected as an Associate Member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA). 

As an Associated Member of TÜBA for three years, Ali Koşar will contribute to the activities of the Academy including conducting investigations and providing consultancy on scientific issues and to determine scientific priorities, ensuring the dissemination of scientific approach and thought in the society, ensuring the public appreciation and acceptance of the importance of science, and giving awards to encourage being a scientist. 

TÜBA Associate Membership

There are three types of memberships in the Academy: honorary, principal, and associate.  Members are selected to the Academy by the acceptance of the candidates proposed by the Principal Members or the Council of Higher Education or the Board of Directors of TÜBİTAK submitted in a letter by the Academy Council and the approval of the candidates by the General Assembly.

Associate members are selected from amongst the elite scientists of Turkish nationality.

The project in which Mohammad Sadek, a Faculty Member at the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS), was found eligible for support under the TÜBİTAK 1001 Program.  

Mohammad Sadek's project, which was found eligible for support under the 1001 Scientific and Technological Research Projects Support Program, is titled "Some Intersection Problems in Polynomial Dynamical Systems". 

In natural events, there are many processes defined over a period of time. For example, the spread of a certain sample (culture), or even the landing of an aircraft. Researchers study such processes in discrete dynamical systems. A discrete dynamical system is a formula that can describe a given value, for example the size of a (culture) colony or the height of an aircraft at a given time. The idea of iteration is one of the fundamental ideas within discrete dynamical systems. If we know that the size of a colony increases at a constant rate every second, then we can define the size of the colony in a given second by looking at the previous second. In other words, the person repeats the formula as much as necessary, producing a series of values, often called the trajectory of the first value. 

In our project, we are interested in arithmetic dynamical systems. These are discrete dynamical systems in which the formula is defined by a polynomial or rational map, and the values are integers or fractions of integers. The project aims to investigate the common values that occur in the finite trajectories of at least two such dynamical systems. In fact, in this project, we aim to be able to build dynamic systems with many common values. 

Mohammad Sadek noted the following regarding the significance of the project: “Arithmetic dynamics is a young interdisciplinary field of research by nature. It aims at the possibility of enriching different branches of mathematics by conveying ideas, tools, and techniques. We believe that the project will attract the attention of many numerical theorists in Turkey to this field of research.” 

Özlem Ejder from Boğaziçi University will support the three-year project led by Mohammad Sadek, a Faculty Member at FENS.   

Sabancı University Integrated Manufacturing Research and Application Center (SU-IMC) Integrated Manufacturing Webinar Series continues with Charlie C. L. Wang's "Multi-Axis Additive Manufacturing: Support-free, Mechanical Strength and Motion Planning" seminar.

Please click to register webinar. 

Sabancı University Integrated Manufacturing Research and Application Center's (SU-IMC) thematic seminars/webinars series continues at different levels of academia and industry to understand and prioritize the recent institutional, organizational and technical developments for the Additive Manufacturing. 

SU-IMC Thematic Webinar Series program is as below:

17 March 2021- Amit Bandyopadhyay- 3D Printing of Metals and Ceramics for Structural and Biomedical Applications

24 March 2021- Tarek Zohdi - Modeling and Simulation Tools for Industrial and Societal Research Applications: Digital Twins and Genome-based Machine-learning

31 March 2021 - Brent Stucker - Simulation of Additive Manufacturing: Optimizing Geometry and Process Efficiency

7 April 2021- David Rosen - Multi-scale Design of Fiber-Reinforced Composite Structures for Additive Manufacturing

21 April 2021 - Charlie C. L. Wang - Multi-Axis Additive Manufacturing: Support-free, Mechanical Strength and Motion Planning

28 April 2021- A. John Hart - The Trajectory of Metal Additive Manufacturing

5 May 2021- Albert C. To - Modified Inherent Strain Method for Predicting Residual Distortion and Stress in Laser Powder Bed Fusion Parts

12 May 2021- Ibrahim Karaman - 4-D Printing and Functional Grading via Metal Additive Manufacturing

Organized by Sabancı University Foundations Development Directorate, Internal Education Conference will focus on “digitization” − Reflections on Digital Learning and the Future of Higher Education. 4th Internal Education Conference' keynote speaker is Prof. Dr. Eli Noam. 

After last year’s sudden push towards digitalization in higher education due to the global pandemic our annual internal education conference also had to adopt itself to this new digital reality. Unfortunately, the pandemic is still with us more than a year later but there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel. Whatever new direction the pandemic takes, it is clear that some form of digitalization in higher education and distant-work practices are here to stay with us. This is not only very significant for our common core curriculum model, but it is equally relevant for all aspects of the university life. Therefore, we took it upon ourselves to initiate a dialogue about what future holds.

“Digitization” has been a keyword driving higher education institutions globally, with the growing interests in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs; see the brief history) during the last decade. Undeniably, the need for digitized education has been thrusted over the past year by the pandemic. We have lived through highs and lows of online education but what does “digitization” mean to you now? What should it mean for Sabancı University’s future? What is the role of universities and academics in the digital era? How did various institutions around the world deal with the demands of digitization? These questions are increasingly significant for all higher education institutions but especially for Sabancı University since our current strategic plan includes some bold steps towards digitization. 

This year’s keynote speaker is  Prof. Dr. Eli Noam 

This year’s keynote speaker, Prof. Dr. Eli Noam of Columbia University, the director of Columbia Institute for Tele-Information; and the author of very insightful and almost prophetic publication in Science , will shed some light on the nature of the digital transformation that we are witnessing today. He focuses on the economics, management, and policy of media, Internet, and communications, both in America and around the world. 

Prof. Dr.  Eli Noam will be discussing his ideas about the future of universities, the influence of Internet and current trends of digitalization.

Please register to the keynote lecture separately from this link.

The keynote (accessible via registration) will be followed by closed discussions for the members of Sabancı University that are organized around 6 main themes:

1. What do we understand about “digitalization”?
2. Digitalization and Workload
3. Digitalization and Academic Integrity
4. Digitalization and Content Creation
5. Digitalization and Student Life
6. Personal Experiences with Digitalization

The Conference will take place online; it is hoped that even with the virtual format, the Conference will provide an active platform for sharing and nurturing collaborations among all SU educators, as it has been for the last few years. All SU educators and staff are invited to the Conference.  If you are a SU member, please register from the conference website!

We look forward to your presence and contribution to the conference.

Business leaders continue to share their knowledge and experience with Sabancı University students and graduates.  The guests of the “Leader Meetings” include Süer Sülün, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Turkey; Mustafa Bartın, Executive Board Member of Migros; Burak Ertaş, CEO of sahibinden.com; and Ece Aksel, Senior Vice President and General Manager of PepsiCo Turkey.  

The Leader Meetings events organized by the Faculty of Management Sciences of Sabancı University for more than 10 years continue with the participation of leading figures of the business world. The new speakers of the Leader Meetings, where more than 40 senior managers and leaders in different fields have shared their knowledge and experiences so far, between January to April include Süer Sülün, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Turkey; Mustafa Bartın, Executive Board Member of Migros; Burak Ertaş, CEO of sahibinden.com; and Ece Aksel, Senior Vice President and General Manager of PepsiCo Turkey.

In meetings to be held between January and April, Süer Sülün, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Turkey, will share his knowledge and experiences on the Automotive Industry and R&D; Mustafa Bartın, Executive Board Member of Migros on the Impact of E-Commerce on Retail; Burak Ertaş, CEO of sahibinden.com on Online Platform Dynamics; and Ece Aksel, Senior Vice President and General Manager of PepsiCo Turkey on Retail and E-Commerce Strategy. At online meetings, students and graduates will listen to the strategies of the business world from the leading senior managers in the field.

Based on the philosophy of improving knowledge and contributing to social progress in addition to supporting education through curriculum and extracurricular activities, Sabancı University holds events every month in accordance with wishes of students and graduates. It is aimed to share the knowledge and experience of the valuable leaders of business world who participate in the Leader Meetings, as well as the stories, strategies, and visions of the future with students and graduates to ensure the spread of knowledge.

“Leader Meetings”, a special series of the Faculty of Management Sciences of Sabancı University, will continue throughout the year. You can follow the developments on sbs.sabanciuniv.edu/tr/lider-bulusmalari.

As part of TÜBİTAK's call for application published for the 1512 Individual Young Enterprise (BiGG) Program for the 2020/2 period, BiGG4tech began receiving new applications.

The BiGG4tech consortium, formed in partnership with Çukurova Teknokent, Namık Kemal University Teknopark, and Bursa Uludağ University Technology Transfer Office under the leadership of Sabancı University Inovent, continues to support the business ideas of entrepreneurs.

The first cycle applications for the TÜBİTAK 1512 BiGG Program will continue until 15 February 2021, and for the second cycle applications will continue until 24 March 2021. 

TÜBİTAK offers grant support up to TRY 200 Thousand to entrepreneurs with the BiGG Program. The BiGG4tech project offers opportunities such as training, mentoring, introduction to customers, collaboration development and pilot implementation with corporate companies, pre-prototype/MVP manufacturing, and laboratory infrastructure usage support for entrepreneurs to receive support in this context.

Applications can be made on bigg4.tech for BiGG4tech, which will offer special training, programs, and mentoring support to tech entrepreneurs without industry restrictions.

You can find the TÜBİTAK BiGG 2nd call for applications for 2020 here.

You can send your questions related to the project to bigg4tech@inovent.com.tr.

Emre Selçuk, a Faculty Member at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), was found eligible to receive support under the TÜBİTAK Career Development Program (3501).  

Emre Selcuk's project which was found eligible for support under the TÜBİTAK 3501 Career Development Program is titled “Towards Increasing The Potential of Applying Relationship Science through Basic Research: Examining Interpersonal Differences in Support Processes and Their Consequences for Relationship Well-being”.

Emre Selçuk's research program focuses on understanding how we establish and maintain social relationships in general and how these relationships impact our health and well-being. The findings of both Emre Selçuk and colleagues and research groups in different parts of the world reveal that the quality of our social relationships is one of the most important factors affecting our physical health and psychological well-being. Therefore, helping people establish and maintain happy and supportive social relationships is one of the important goals of researchers.  

This project of Emre Selçuk, which will be supported by TÜBİTAK, will investigate this issue in the context of romantic relations. How partners support each other in difficult times affects both how happy they are in their relationship and how they perceive each other. Although the importance of supporting each other in difficult times is known, and we are usually willing to support those we love, it is not always so easy. This is because people's support needs when dealing with challenges can be very different. Therefore, people’s understanding of what their partner needs in which situation develops over time. Emre Selçuk and colleagues predict that increasing the support harmony between partners over time will increase happiness in the relationship. These ideas will be tested in their study, where they will follow new couples for a year. The researchers hope that the results of this project will contribute to the development of implementation programs aimed at helping couples strengthen their relationships. 

Written by Aslı Aygüneş and Oğuz Can Ok, assistants at Sabancı University Gender and Women's Studies Center of Excellence (SU Gender), the “Monitoring Report on Gender Studies During The COVID-19 Pandemic” was a result of the monitoring activities carried out by SU Gender between March-September 2020.

The report prepared by reviewing national and international sources emphasized the importance of increasing the visibility of the research on gender-based inequalities during the COVID-19 pandemic, global and local data collection and monitoring related to this subject, and performing advocacy activities in light of the data. According to studies presented in four sections in the report, violence against women increased during the pandemic period in Turkey, access to basic rights such as healthcare and education was disrupted, and participation in employment and economic inequalities remained negative. 

Hülya Adak, the Director of SU Gender, who invited the entire public to be a part of the solution with the report, said, “We know and see from the reports and the examples we observed during COVID-19 that violence against women, gender-based violence, and harassment increased exponentially during the time when we were in quarantine. As SU Gender of Sabancı University, which is one of the first institutions to draw up a sexual harassment directive in Turkey in 2007 and to host a Sexual Harassment Committee, we wanted to draw attention to this situation at such a time. Additionally, we have started organizing interviews, webinar series, and festivals on ‘Sexual Harassment and Gender-based Violence, Pandemic, Memory and Gender, Digital Theater, Cinema and Art-based Gender Justice’ to be able to conceptualize the current situation together with all our stakeholders. With this report, we have tried to examine the experiences of the pandemic process, the solutions produced against the problems, and the areas that are already waiting for solutions/solidarity.” 

THE MONITORING REPORT CONSISTS OF FOUR SECTIONS

“The Monitoring Report on Gender Studies During The COVID-19 Pandemic” consists of four main sections. The section titled Gender-based Inequalities in The Shadow of The Pandemic addresses different dimensions of the perspective of gender during the pandemic period, experiences of gender inequalities, and advocacy for gender equality. The other sections of the report -unlike the first part- focuses on the common issues identified by the studies reviewed during the preparation of the monitoring report in the light of data and reports specific to Turkey. 

Additionally, more holistic inferences are made by supporting local data with data collected globally. The section titled Gender-Based Violence and Pandemic shares the results of data collection studies on violence against women and LGBTI+ individuals, making these inequalities visible.  The section titled Access to Rights and Pandemic addresses the gender-related problems that individuals face while trying to exercise their health-related and educational rights, the quick solutions produced to solve these problems, and the policy proposals put forward to permanently solve these problems. Finally, in the section titled Economic Freedoms and Pandemic, the economic consequences of gender-based inequalities are investigated in depth. 

The noteworthy findings of the studies included in the monitoring report are as follows:

• Violence, inequalities, and right violations did not decrease during the pandemic, nor did the activities that opposed these violations in the field of advocacy, and nor did the need for these activities. On the contrary, with the new circumstances imposed by the pandemic, this need gradually increased.
• According to a report by the United Nations Women titled “From Insights to Action: Gender Equality in The Wake of COVID-19” published in May 2020, approximately 243 million women were subjected to violence in countries under quarantine in 2019-2020, and this number is expected to increase in parallel with possible security, health, and economic problems due to the pandemic. 
• According to a study conducted by the Socio-Political Field Research Center (SAHA) with 1,843 women living in 28 different cities, violence against women increased by 27.8% during the pandemic period in Turkey. 43% of the women stated that they had experienced violence in quarantine.
• In SAHA's study, women were also asked about the violence suffered by children. 19.3% of the women said their children had been subjected to violence. 45.9% of the respondents said the quarantine process had triggered the violence against children and women.
• According to Bianet, 140 women were killed, 135 suspected deaths occurred, 51 women were raped, 84 women were harassed, and 445 women were subjected to violence in the 6-month period from April to September.
• According to a report published in August by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), at least one-third of school-age children worldwide, about 463 million children, were no able to access distance education.
• In Turkey, it was reported in different studies that disadvantaged children and girls had problems accessing education with the transition to distance education. According to the “TEGV Children’s Distance Education Status Assessment Report”published by the Educational Volunteers Foundation of Turkey (TEGV) in May, 59% of children use mobile phones and 50% use computers to access education, while 4% do not use any tools. In the report published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on access to education during COVID-19, it was stated that only one out of every 4 students in Turkey had a computer.
• Research conducted by KONDA in Turkey showed that women's labor allocated for domestic work increased more than 2 times when compared to 2018 and 2020 data. In parallel, a study conducted by the UN Women in April with 1,508 individuals in Turkey found that 77.6% of women devoted more time to cleaning and tidying the house, 28.7% to support the elderly, 60% to cook, and 41% to grocery shopping compared to the pre-pandemic period.

Click here to access the full report.

Firuze Alpaydın, a team member of the Young Professionals Program of the Corporate Governance Forum, was appointed as Turkey's Climate Ambassador by the World Bank.

The Global Youth Climate Network, an initiative of the World Bank Youth to Youth (Y2Y) Community, announced the 2021 Climate Ambassadors selected from different countries of the world. 165 Climate Ambassadors from 109 countries were selected for the program, to which 2,400 individuals from 153 countries applied. Firuze Alpaydın was the only person chosen as a Climate Ambassador from Turkey.  

As part of the nine-month 2021 Climate Ambassadors Program, participants will support the learning and development of the World Bank's knowledge and experience in climate change and sustainable development.

Alpaydın has been working on “climate change” in the Young Professionals Program of Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum since October 2019. The Young Professionals Program, which intends to help newly graduated young talents rapidly improve themselves in the areas of climate change and women's empowerment in management, thereby allowing them to start their careers in the business world from a better point, also aims to ensure that participants of the program maintain their ties with university in their companies and become leaders of change. Melsa Ararat, the Director of the Corporate Governance Forum, noted that this appointment was proof of the success of the Young Professionals Program, pointing out to that all participants who complete the program are assigned to important tasks.