Sabancı University MBA student Kamil Majeed was a speaker at the 15th Anniversary of the Global Compact and the 4th PRME Global Forum held in New York between June 23rd and 25th, 2015. 

Kamil Majeed took part in the conference for having won the PRME LEAD Video Essay Contest on “The Future Corporation” held as part of the Global Compact PRME LEAD Symposium.   The contest was open to MBA students of “PRME Champion” schools. 27 submissions were received to the contest and the only entrant from Turkey was Sabancı University.

The conference was attended by over 400 academics, university presidents, local institution representatives, civil society leaders, and students. Kamil Majeed's award-winning video and other selected submissions were screened during the conference.

About his video essay Kamil Majeed said: “I started with the nature and core focus of corporations, which is to maximize their profit, and drew my conception of the future corporation.  What I did was to recommend a solution based on the practical nature of the corporation, current technologies and product trends, and the widespread use of information technologies. The vision I came up with creates a win-win situation for corporations and the society as it remains true to its intentions and creates added value on a macro scale.”
90-second videos prepared in English were judged by a panel composed of Ole Hansen, Head of Global Compact LEAD; Jonas Haertle, Head of the PRME Secretariat; Oliver Laasch, Founder of the Center for Responsible Management Education (CRME) and Research Fellow at Manchester Business School; and Divya Singhal, Associate Professor of General Management at the Goa Institute of Management.

About PRME Champions

This new leadership group, launched in September 2013, is working to unlock the next level of responsible management and leadership education, underscoring the role of higher education in addressing sustainable development challenges. Since the inception of the PRME initiative in 2007, there has been increased debate over how to adapt management education to train a new generation of business leaders capable of managing the complex demands faced by business and society in the 21st century. While consensus has been reached by the majority of globally focused management programs that sustainability issues must be incorporated, many questions remain regarding how to change. The PRME Champions group will work to address these questions.

The representatives of PRME Champion institutions have made an ambitious commitment to work collaboratively to develop and promote activities that address shared barriers to making responsible management education a reality. The group is also committed to engaging PRME more actively with United Nations agencies, funds, and programs, as well as participant companies of the UN Global Compact.  

Sabancı University Faculty Members and Researchers Make a Difference

Sabancı University received support for 12 of its projects in the 1001 and 3501 programs of TÜBİTAK for the March 2015 term, achieving a success rating of 40% in the number of applications. This is one of the highest percentages in Turkey.

Projects supported for the March 2015 term within the TÜBİTAK Program to Support Scientific and Technological Research Projects (1001)

Associate Professor Ali Koşar, FENS, “High mass flux flow boiling in microchannel and detailed investigation of flow boiling heat transfer in microfluidic systems by changing surface characteristics with pHEMA  (polyhydroxyethylmethacrylate)  coating and flow boiling visualization”

Professor  Ersin Göğüş, FENS, “Search for spin periods of neutron star in low mass x-ray binaries"

Assistant Professor Fevzi Çakmak Cebeci, FENS, "Development of Stable and High Performance Icephobic Surfaces by LbL Technique”

Associate Professor İlker Hamzaoğlu, FENS, “Low Power High Performance HEVC Video Compression Hardware Designs”

Associate Professor Nilay Noyan, FENS, “Robust risk-averse stochactic programming models for mutlicriteria decision making problems "

Associate Professor Özgecan Koçak, SoM, “The Effect of Structural Configurations on Emergence of Conceptual Pacts in Coordination Games”

Associate Professor Selmiye Alkan Gürsel, FENS, “Synthesis of Novel and High Capacity Graphene Supported Cerium based Mixed Oxide Nanostructures and Development of Three Dimensional Foam Electrodes for Li-air Batteries”

Assistant Professor Şerif Aziz Şimşir, SOM, “Intraday Stock Trading Around Corporate Announcements "

Associate Professor Volkan Patoğlu, FENS, “Development of Pelvis-Hip Exoskeleton Systems for Gait Rehabilitation”

Professor Yuda Yürüm, MDBF, “Morphological Optimization of BNNTs and Their Epoxy Nanocomposites as Potential High Performance and Fast Curing Resins for Structural Composites”

Projects supported for the March 2015 term within the TÜBİTAK Career Development Program (3501) 

Assistant Professor Çağla Aydın, FASS, “The relationship between post-partum depression and memory”

Dr. Sibel Kasap, SUNUM, “Investigation of adsorption behaviour of liquid radioactive waste on magnetic nanoparticles doped graphene foams”

FASS Faculty Member Murat Germen’s exhibition “Ankara: From pioneering modernism to imitative mimesis and faux futurism" will be available for viewing at Erimtan Museum until September 30.

Murat Germen’s exhibition is displayed in the temporary exhibits section of Erimtan, the first private archeology museum of Ankara, located in the historical Castle district.

The exhibition is centered on Ankara as the strategic capital of the new Republic in the wake of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and visualizes the decisions and changes that made an impact on the city and the urban culture through photographs. The exhibition includes panoramas varying between 3 to 8 meters in width, hundreds of A4-size documentary photographs, and some digitally-edited photographic images to enable visitors to compare the present of the city to its past.

Murat Germen uses photography as a tool for research and expression, and deals with the superficial impositions on the city and its culture, disregarding the continuity of cultural heritage, and public and green spaces. According to Germen, the exhibition juxtaposes different urban planning tactics employed throughout Republican history and the traces or scars left on the city by different ideologies for comparison.

Germen says that the outcome is imitative mimesis accompanied by an excessive vertical development, continuing: "Urban culture is shaped by fine arts, literature, performing arts, gastronomy and folkloric tradition - locally sourced productions in various areas of creation. Cities provide the grounds and resources for such production while museums, NGOs, foundations, institutes and similar institutions archive, safeguard and share these. Thinking that cities consist simply of high-rise residences, malls and roads is a tremendous mistake. If a settlement only consumes and cannot produce adequately, calling that place a city has its dangers. If the producers of culture are under constant intimidation by conservative administrations, the city ceases to be an urban space, and turns into a gigantic village where a pseudo-urban, faux-popular culture is manufactured.

One habit that is detrimental to culture in Turkey is the tendency of masses, individuals, administrations and organizations to demolish what was built before, replacing them with new structures that belong in their own customs. Current rulers believe they have the right to destroy things that have been done reasonably well by former generations just because they are the products of a different ideological, cultural or religious perspective. Succeeding generations don't opt to lay another brick on what was built before. This causes fragmentation between various components, heritages and peers within the culture of Turkey, and instills resentment among the denizens of a country. A magnificent estate composed of a fascinating number of layers loses its ability to sustain itself as an essence worthy of respect, and is ousted by provincialism. While several discrete components of the society, deprived of unity and respect for the other, clash with each other, certain groups emerge to reap the benefits. Government authorities and businesses are strong and dominant, while a society of independent and free individuals grows weaker.

A healthy cultural transformation is not possible in the absence of a balance achieved by social components that respect each other, administrations that are willing to lend their denizens an ear, independent individuals that possess responsibility and consciousness, and visionary capital owners who prefer to generate long-term profit through quality rather than going for quick and cheap ripoffs."

Sabancı University School of Management faculty member Nakiye Boyacıgiller moderated a panel discussion titled "Women's Leadership in Turkey" during the 20th International Convention of the Soroptimist International Federation, one of the largest women's civil society organizations in the world. The theme for this year's convention was "Soroptimists Educate to Lead: Fresh Ideas Empowering Women."

Speaking in the panel were TÜSİAD Chair Cansen Başaran Symes, TÜSİAD Gender Equality Working Group Chair and SUTEKS Board of Directors Chair Nur Ger, Vodafone Deputy CEO Hasan Süel, and Intel New Technologies Vice President Ayşegül İldeniz joining via videoconference from the US.

TÜSİAD Chair Cansen Başaran Symes said that they were the only institution in Europe that had three chairwomen in the last 45 years, continuing "Since 2007, three women have chaired TÜSİAD. From this perspective, we can speak of much that has changed in Turkey. But looking at the complete picture as TÜSİAD chair, sometimes I can't help being scared. I think our job is difficult. I recently read OECD 2015 data on skills. It was the result of a survey among individuals between 15 and 29. Unfortunately, Turkey has the highest percentage of people who are neither employed nor in education in this age group: 31 percent. I guess this shows everyone how hard businesses must work to overcome this issue. From women's perspective, this data suggests that 4 million women have no access to work or education."

Vodafone Deputy CEO Hasan Süel and Intel New Technologies Vice President Ayşegül İldeniz discussed the benefits that technology would bring in this area. Ayşegül İldeniz told the story of a meeting she attended in the early 2000s, explaining that women desire to use technology as much as men do. Hasan Süel spoke on the "Red Light" application that won an award in Cannes.

Nur Ger explained the efforts of SUTEKS to ensure gender equality and support women's employment.

Materials Science and Engineering 2007 Master’s Graduate and 2011 Phd Graduate Dr. Burcu Saner Okan participated in the 6th International Conference on Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering held in Roma, Italy between July 16-17, 2015. Her oral presentation entitled as “Fiber Reinforced Self-Healing Composites via Multi-Axial Electrospinning for Load Bearing Applications” has been selected as the best one of this conference in the field of Novel Materials and Processing Technology. 

Her Project is granted in the scope of Tubitak 1001 program and PhD Student Jamal Seyyed Monfared Zanjani, Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Yıldız and Prof. Dr. Yusuf Menceloglu contributed to this work.

Conference website: http://www.icmae.org/

Sabancı University becomes implementer of TÜBİTAK tech venture support

Named “Turkey's Most Entrepreneurial and Innovative University," Sabancı becomes the implementer of the TÜBİTAK tech venture support for the BiGG-SEA Project created with ideEge TGB and Adana ÜSAM.

Sabancı University became the implementer of the BiGG-SEA Project in partnership with the Ege University Technology Development Zone (ideEge TGB) and Adana University-Industry Joint Research Center (Adana ÜSAM), receiving "Technological Venture Capital Support" from TÜBİTAK. Sabancı University also ranked first in the University Entrepreneurship and Innovation Index issued by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Trade.

Sabancı University Entrepreneurship Council Director Kutlu Kazancı said that the project would assist prospective entrepreneurs in 25 provinces in the Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara regions of Turkey to create business ideas, prepare business plans, and apply for the "Technological Venture Capital Support Program."

Explaining that the project name of BiGG-SEA stood for "Individual Young Entrepreneurs Sabancı Aegean Adana," Kazancı noted that the TÜBİTAK grant for projects referred and approved by implementers increased from TL 100,000 to TL 150,000. Kazancı continued, "TÜBİTAK delegated the powers to collect applications, train candidates and refer project applications to a number of implementer organizations. We are among the 18 institutions authorized by TÜBİTAK. In the past three years, the 1512 Program of TÜBİTAK received submissions from more than 3200 entrepreneurs, provided training to over 1100 entrepreneurs for preparing business plans, and granted TL 100,000 each to 350 selected entrepreneurs."

The BiGG-SEA Project will assist prospective entrepreneurs in 25 provinces in the Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara regions of Turkey to create business ideas, prepare business plans, and apply for the "Technological Venture Capital Support Program." Expectations are to reach more than 2500 entrepreneurs in three years, provide pre-incubation and mentoring services to over 500 entrepreneurs, and support over 300 business plan applications.

The BiGG-SEA project serves entrepreneurs with a considerable and expanding network that started with 15+ universities, TTOs, technology parks and chambers of industry; 13+ corporate partners including General Electric, Eczacıbaşı, Netaş, KORDSA and Farplas; and investment groups including 212 Ltd, Arya Women Investment Platform, BIC Angel Investments, Diffusion Capital Partners, Galata Angel Investors Network, Keiretsu Forum Istanbul, Revo Capital and Şirket Ortağım. 

Interested candidates may visit www.biggsea.com for more information and applications.

About the BiGG-SEA Project

The BiGG-SEA Project will collect submissions to the Technological Venture Capital Support Program primarily from the Marmara, Aegean and Mediterranean regions of Turkey, and support candidates in the process from business idea to business plan by offering services in business modeling, mentorship and pre-incubation.

The project is an official implementer of the TÜBİTAK 1512 Program, and will be managed by Sabancı University Inovent, ideEGE-TGB and Adana ÜSAM.

BiGG-SEA is a TÜBİTAK-authorized official implementer that will collect the first stage applications for the program, and is designed to "support entrepreneurs with innovation-focused technological ideas through mechanisms based on lean enterprise and market development methodologies, and accompany the entrepreneur on the journey to commercialization with a business plan prepared after technical and market-worthiness of the business idea is confirmed."

The technology- and innovation-focused business ideas of entrepreneurs will be supported from the idea stage to the market free of charge in order to enable them to convert their ideas to ventures with a high potential for adding value and creating employment opportunities.

Melsa Ararat elected first and only academic member of the International Corporate Governance Network.

Sabancı University Faculty Member and Corporate Governance Forum Director Melsa Ararat was elected to membership of the board of governors of ICGN (International Corporate Governance Network), a community that brings together asset managers and investors representing USD 26 trillion of capital.

Sabancı University faculty member and Corporate Governance Forum Director Melsa Ararat was elected to the Board of Governors of the ICGN (International Corporate Governance Network) in the General Assembly held in London on June 3rd, 2015. Melsa Ararat is the first academic to be elected as a Governor of ICGN, joining a growing number of female Turkish nationals sitting on international boards of directors.

Melsa Ararat was nominated by members from leading institutions such as Aberdeen Asset Management, Deloitte and Harvard Law School, HHL, and Corporate Governance Society of Brazil. Ararat's nomination was vetted by ICGN founder and corporate governance reform pioneer Ira Millstein, and she received 90% of the votes in the General Assembly to be elected to membership.

As a member of the ICGN Awards Committee and Business Ethics Committee, Melsa Ararat said “I am pleased that Sabancı University became visible once again on an internationally recognized platform by this. During my term on the Board of Governors, I will strive to improve the relations of the Network with academia, and make women's empowerment and risks related to climate change more visible to investors." Ararat explained that human rights, diversity in governance and company models, and integrated reporting were among the most important issues in this year's ICGN conference, and that the transition phase in which the global finance sector finds itself became obvious in the annual conference following the general assembly.

Sabancı University School of Management Dean Professor Füsun Ülengin commented, “I congratulate Melsa Ararat for an achievement that advances the international success of our school one step further. I am proud that Melsa Ararat became the first and only academic member of the International Corporate Governance Network Board of Governors at a time when we must work with diligence on issues like women's empowerment and climate change today if we are to provide better living conditions to future generations."
Investor Relations Society of Turkey Chair Özge Bulut Maraşlı said, "Corporate Governance is a prerequisite that strengthens ties with investors and provides depth to capital markets. Dr. Melsa Ararat brought together national and international stakeholders like universities, regulators and industry representatives to nurture corporate governance in Turkey, produced permanent solutions through her work, and continues to provide solutions to pressing needs.  Coming in the footsteps of her latest initiative, the Independent Woman Directors Project, Dr. Ararat's appointment as the first and only academic member of the ICGN Board of Governors and another Independent Woman Director from Turkey serving on international boards delights us, and we would like to commend her success."

Egon Zehnder International Istanbul Office Managing Partner Murat Yeşildere said, "Melsa Ararat's appointment as the first and only academic member of the ICGN Board of Governors makes us proud. Meanwhile, a Turkish national occupying a position of international management is especially inspiring for people like us who fight for gender equality in executive levels. Another important aspect of this appointment is ICGN's steps towards improving diversity in boards. I am confident that Melsa Ararat will enhance the diversity of the ICGN Board of Governors not just as an academic, but as a civil society volunteer liaising between academia and business, and a citizen of the world."

About the International Corporate Governance Network
ICGN is a nonprofit entity founded in London in 1995. ICGN brings together corporate governance professionals led by asset managers and investors representing USD 26 trillion in assets, and issues guidelines, statements and papers to influence investors and financial policies towards better corporate governance. ICGN is an active member of all platforms related to global capital markets and the finance sector.

2nd Sabanci University Microelectronics Workshop successfully organized at our Campus on June 15-17th

Sabanci University Microelectronics Group, in collaboration with Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM) and ASELSAN A.Ş., organized 2th International Workshop on Microelectronics Technology, Circuits, and Systems for Space Applications, held at Sabanci University Campus, Istanbul-Turkey, on June 15th and 17th, 2015. 

The workshop focused on microelectronics, from technology to circuits and systems perspective, and its applications on sensing and processing electronic systems for space applications, addressed through invited lectures given by world-renowned experts in their respective fields from academia, industries and research institutions. Each talk included a brief tutorial, current state of the art and future vision of the respective topic and received by about 200 participants of technology leaders/managers, engineers, researchers, academicians and students from around the world. 

Main Topics Covered

1. Radar and Communication Technologies 

2. Electro-Optical Imaging Systems: Technology and Applications 

3. Micro and Nano Technologies 

4. Terahertz Technology and Systems 

5. Packaging, Testing, Qualification and Radiation Effect

For more details of the workshop, visit

http://sumicro.sabanciuniv.edu/

https://www.facebook.com/sumicro.sabanciuniv.edu

https://twitter.com/sumicroworkshop

The workshop was very successfull on achieving its objectives and received highly positive remarks by all participants and is sponsored by Sabanci University, Aselsan Inc., IHP-Microelectronics-Germany, Vistec Electron Beam, TAI Inc., Spark Measurement Technologies, TUMSIS Inc. Roketsan, Vistec, and IHP were also participated as exhibitors.

Starting in the 2015-16 academic year, Sabancı University will adopt the "4+1" approach to graduate studies. 

Under this new scheme, undergraduate students will be able to apply to MBA or MiF programs at the end of the semester in which they finish third year. By doing so, students will be able to obtain an MBA degree in only 1 year after they complete their undergraduate degree.  The MiF program will be completed in 10 months. Minimum GPA required for application is 2.72. 

Students seeking an MBA degree will be required to take two MBA courses in each semester of their final year. Students' grade in all four courses must be "C" or above, and the point average of the four courses be 3.00 or above. For those seeking an MiF degree, only one course must be taken during the final year, and passing the course is considered adequate. 

There are scholarship opportunities for both programs. MBA applicants will be required to submit their GMAT scores during the interview for scholarship consideration. MiF applicants will need to submit an ALES, GRE or GMAT score. Undergraduate scholarship students will be required to pass the scholarship assessment in order to be considered for scholarship in the MBA or MiF programs.