Ten projects developed by Sabancı University were chosen to receive support from the TÜBİTAK Priority Areas R&D Project Support Program (1003). This makes Sabancı the university that received support for the highest number of projects in the June 2018 call of the TÜBİTAK 1003 program.

56% of the projects submitted by Sabancı University faculty and researchers were granted support within the TÜBİTAK 1003 Program.

Supported projects have a total budget of nearly 15 million TL. The budget is expected to support 20 PhD candidates.

Vice President of Research and Development Mehmet Yıldız said: “Sabancı University's main strategy for research is to resolve select regional and global issues, and train people who will do so. Our research projects supported by the TÜBİTAK 1003 Priority Areas R&D Project Support Program serve this purpose. We aim for our university and research centers to create sustainable value through our high-quality, breakthrough research projects. We are proud of the efforts of our faculty members, researchers and students."

The objective of the TÜBİTAK 1003 Priority Areas R&D Project Support Program is to support domestic R&D projects within priority areas designated by the National Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy that observe the dynamics of their respective scientific or technological field and have traceable targets.

TÜBİTAK 1003 desteği alan Sabancı Üniversitesi projelerine ait bilgiler: 

Kısaltmalar:

IMC: Sabancı Üniversitesi Tümleştirilmiş Üretim Teknolojileri Uygulama ve Araştırma Merkezi (TÜMER)

MDBF: Mühendislik ve Doğa Bilimleri Fakültesi

SSBF: Sanat ve Sosyal Bilimler Fakültesi

SUNUM: Sabancı Üniversitesi Nanoteknoloji Araştırma ve Uygulama Merkezi

Sabancı University Istanbul International Center for Energy and Climate (IICEC) has released the fourth issue of IICEC Energy Market Newsletter. 

Please click to read IICEC Energy Market Newsletter. 

The Sabancı University Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) established with the founding sponsorship of Akbank held another seminar as part of its series with the most influential names in finance.

The speaker of the event was Pamir Gelenbe, a venture partner in Hummingbird Ventures who specifically focuses on digital currency and the blockchain technology. Gelenbe's lecture at the Sabancı Center on Thursday, July 24 was titled “The Impact of the Blockchain Technology on the Internet, Financial Services and Society”.

Pamir Gelenbe said that the internet emerged as a decentralized computer network and changed the way we interacted with money, adding that the internet was still under the control of a few large corporations and the institutions controlling money stayed the same. Gelenbe said that computer scientists had been trying to eliminate intermediaries and build truly decentralized networks since the 1980s, and the first largely working solution to this problem was the Bitcoin blockchain suggested in 2008. Gelenbe noted that decentralized blockchains such as Ethereum also had computational capabilities, concluding that such applications would lead to the finance system becoming more decentralized in the future. 

The Functional Surfaces and Interfaces for Nano diagnostics Workshop by Sabancı University Center of Excellence for Functional Surfaces and Interfaces (EFSUN) was held at Sabanci University Cinema Hall on the 19th June.  

The workshop was specifically designed for graduate students, post-docs, researchers, and  experts from a broad range of industries, who are interested in Functional Surfaces and Interfaces and their applications. Prof. Zehra Sayers, Former President of Sabancı University and Prof. Fazilet Vardar, Director of Sabancı University Nanotechnology and Applications Center (SUNUM) dellivered the opening speeches.

Fazilet Vardar

The invited speakers, Prof. Hikmet Akkız and Prof. Emre Erdem gave inspirational talks.  

Best Paper Award

In addition, there were eight high quality interdisciplinary finalist presentations in the framework of ‘Best Paper Award Competition’ to recognize scientific papers of outstanding young scientists on Functional Surfaces and Interfaces from different disciplines. 

The winners of the Best Paper Competition was determined by an interdisciplinary evaluation commitee consisting of  jury members from different universities/institutions, who are well known and active scientists in the field:

1-Dr. Meltem Sezen, SUNUM

2-Dr. Funda Yağcı Acar, Koç University

3-Dr. Filiz Kuralay, Hacettepe University

4-Dr. Koray Balcıoğlu, TÜBİTAK MAM

The jury members carefully evaluated each article and presentation. Below are the winners of the Best Paper Award:

Winner-Yiğit Akkuş (Atomic Scale Interfacial Transport at an Extended Evaporating Meniscus)

1.Runner Up - Abdolali Khalili Sadaghiani (Pool Boiling Heat Transfer Characteristics of Inclined pHEMA-Coated Surfaces)

2.Runner Up - Müge Yücel (Hand-Held Volatilome Analyzer Based on Elastically Deformable Nanofibers)

People's Choice Award - Omid Mohammad Moradi (Strong Composition Dependence of Resistive Switching in Ba1-xSrxTiO3 Thin Films on Semiconducting Substrates and its Thermodynamic Analysis)

Sabancı University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences Member Kürşat Şendur presented his projects on areospace technologies supported by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) at the NASA Langley Research Center.

Controlling heat increase in equipment and materials is a great challenge in aerospace applications. Radiant heat transfer plays a large part in controlling heat increase in such environments. Kürşat Şendur was invited to the NASA Langley Research Center to present his research on breakthrough aerospace technologies and materials that control radiant heat transfer to a board of scientists.

AFOSR, the world's leading institute on aerospace research, supports 200 academic institutions working in this area. Sabancı University has been conducting two projects with AFOSR support since 2016, and the technologies have potential applications in aerospace as well as energy, information technologies, and infrared solutions.

Sabancı University aims to establish a joint platform with NASA for aerospace research. Kürşat Şendur said, “We discussed possible cooperative efforts between Sabancı University and NASA that are similar in structure to the ongoing Sabancı University and AFOSR joint projects."

Sabancı University signed a cooperation protocol with National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), one of the leading universities in Taiwan. The protocol includes student and faculty exchange, double major programs, joint research activities, academic material and knowledge exchange, and short-term special academic programs.

Edward Y. Chang, Yusuf Leblebici 

At the signing ceremony hosted by Sabancı University, President Yusuf Leblebici noted that Taiwan ranks among the top three countries in microelectronics and semiconductor technologies in the world. He added that NCTU is Taiwan's top university in these areas. Yusuf Leblebici said that Sabancı University and NCTU aim to contribute to developments in this field in a way that the students of both institutions could benefit and intend to expand the cooperation to cover different fields.

Efforts are underway to establish a dual PhD diploma program in Electronics Engineering between Sabancı University and NCTU. The program will reinforce Sabancı University's leadership position in R&D and scientific studies in microelectronics, semiconductor and integrated circuit design and production, while playing a significant part in training qualified human resources in areas that are continuously gaining in importance.

Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) members Özgür Gürbüz Ünlüyurt and İbrahim Tekin won the 2018 Elginkan Foundation Technology Award.  

Özgür Gürbüz Ünlüyurt and İbrahim Tekin received their awards at the ceremony held on June 24, 2019 with their project "Full Duplex Radio Design, Implementation and Full Duplex Medium Access Control".

The novel dual-antenna full duplex radio developed in the project has up to 100 dB of self-interference cancellation, enabling wireless transmission at twice the speed of conventional radios for low and medium power levels, short and medium ranges, and providing up to 10 times higher throughput for wireless networks using the novel S-CW FD protocol.

The International Polymer Processing Engineering Conference, one of the leading events in the polymer industry, took place in İzmir, Çeşme between May 26 and 30, 2019. Sabancı University students held the top three places in the PPS-35 Student Poster Contest which was held in the conference.

The Polymer Processing Society (PPS), whose Turkish representative is Sabancı University’s Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences member Yusuf Menceloğlu, held the 35th annual International Polymer Processing Engineering Conference in Çeşme, İzmir with the attendance of over 500 scientists from 40 countries. 

Subjects explored in the conference were the formulation, processing and forming methods of polymer systems, the entire polymerization process beginning with the monomer and ending with end-user products, and recent technological developments in the industry. 

Sabancı University students held the top three in the PPS-35 Student Poster Contest

The PPS-35 poster contest was open to all students who registered in the conference, and submissions were assessed by 10 faculty members from various institutions. Among 113 submissions in the contest, first prize went to Sabancı University Material Science and Nanoengineering Program student Çağla Girişken with her graduation project “Low Density, High Modulus Polypropylene Wood Composites Prepared by using Thermo Kinetic Mixer” developed in association with RAVAGO Petrochemicals as part of the Industry-Oriented Projects program; second prize to Aleyna Beste Özhan’s poster “The Design and Testing of a Poly(carboxylate ether)-based Viscosity Modifier for Ternary Blends of Ordinary Portland Cement, Calcined Clay, and Limestone”; and third prize to Mehmet Kerem Çıtak’s graduation project “Partially Biodegradable Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU)/ Polylactic Acid (PLA) Blends with Improved Impact Resistance”. The prize for the winners was PPS membership*.

*The Polymer Processing Society (PPS) aims to foster scientific understanding and technical innovation in polymer processing by providing a discussion forum for the worldwide community of engineers and scientists in the field. Membership in PPS is open to all researchers in the field, and to all persons who feel the activities of the society advance their professional development.

The Business Against Domestic Violence (BADV) Project implemented by the Sabancı University Corporate Governance Forum was presented in the Population Dynamics and Evidence-Based Population Policies Regional Conference which was held in Tbilisi on June 14, 2019.

The UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) Country Office in Georgia organized a conference to commemorate the 25th year of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the 50th anniversary of UNFPA, and the 20-year anniversary of its support to the country’s development.

UNFPA Country Office in Georgia in close collaboration with the UNFPA Regional Office for Central Asia initiated the regional conference to mark these important anniversaries with the support of the UNFPA Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and the government of Georgia.

The objective of the conference is to support enhanced understanding of the current population dynamics and trends in the region, including ageing, and of the status of policies and initiatives addressing these dynamics in the countries of the region. Through exchange of scientific evidence and good practices, the evidence-based and people-centered policy making on population and development issues were strengthened in the countries of the region.

BADV Project Director Sevda Alkan presented the project in detail during the "Practices in Countries" session of the conference. Alkan emphasized the role of the private sector in empowering women, and gave examples to collaboration between businesses and academia.

Discussion topics included challenges facing financial markets, the global economic outlook, and the rise and fall of nations.

Sabancı University Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) held its third conference in the "The Future of Financial Markets" series with prominent Turkish and international subject matter experts.

Sabancı University Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) established with the founding sponsorship of Akbank held the third event in its international conference series on Friday, June 28, 2019 at the Sabancı Center. Titled "The Future of Financial Markets", the conference featured prominent academics and professionals who discussed matters including challenges facing financial markets, developing countries and the global economic outlook, and the rise and fall of nations.

Introductory remarks were made by Sabancı University Chair Professor of Finance and CEF Founding Chairperson Özgür Demirtaş, Sabancı University President Prof. Yusuf Leblebici, and Akbank Board of Directors Chair Suzan Sabancı Dinçer.

Prof. Özgür Demirtaş said, “The finance sector must understand and meet the needs of the manufacturing industry. To do so, we need more qualified people. If we want Istanbul to be a financial center, we need to do what is expected of us and CEF is a crucial step in that direction,” and gave information about the accomplishments of CEF.

In his remarks, Sabancı University President Prof. Yusuf Leblebici said, “Established with the founding sponsorship of Akbank, the Center of Excellence in Finance is one of the most successful centers in our university, and this conference will contribute significantly to Turkish and global financial circles. Our speakers will share their valuable opinions on the challenges facing financial markets and what can be done going forward. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Suzan Sabancı and the Akbank Board of Directors for their support, and to our faculty members and esteemed speakers for the privilege of being here today. I hope everyone will find this conference useful."

Saying that the Center of Excellence in Finance has enjoyed great success under the guidance of Prof. Özgür Demirtaş, Suzan Sabancı Dinçer continued, “CEF became an outstanding center with its conferences, lectures and research. We at Akbank are proud of its success and the support of Sabancı University is greatly appreciated.”

Academics and professionals discussed "Challenges Facing Financial Markets"

Following introductory remarks, the first session of CEF's Future of Financial Markets conference was a panel discussion on "Challenges Facing Financial Markets" moderated by Akbank CEO Hakan Binbaşgil. Speakers in the panel were JP Morgan Chairman Sir Winfried Bischoff, Harvard University Professor of International Economics Professor Dante Roscini ve ABN AMRO Bank NV. Supervisory Board Chairman Tom de Swaan.

CEOs discussed developing countries and the global economic outlook

The moderator of the second panel discussion, titled "Developing Countries and the Global Economic Outlook", was Akbank Executive Vice President Levent Çelebioğlu. Panelists SOCAR Turkey CEO Zaur Gahramanov, Tekfen Holding Chairman Murat Gigin and Eczacıbaşı Holding CEO Muharrem Gümrah commented on the global economic outlook in the context of developing countries from the perspective of Turkey's leading groups, and discussed possible developments in the future.

The guest of the discussion titled “The Fall or Rise of Nations" was Massachusetts Institute of Technology Elizabeth and James Killion Professor of Economics Daron Acemoğlu and the talk was moderated by Sabancı University Chair Professor of Finance and CEF Founding Chairperson Professor Özgür Demirtaş

The final event in the CEF Conference was a discussion on “The Fall or Rise of Nations" where speakers discussed recent developments and predictions with respect to regions and countries. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Elizabeth and James Killion Professor of Economics Daron Acemoğlu and Sabancı University Chair Professor of Finance and CEF Founding Chairperson Prof. Özgür Demirtaş offered different perspectives on the fall and rise of nations, and the global implications of such movements.