Dr. Gürsel Sönmez Research Award

Seyyed Hamed Mousavi’s MS work first explored the ground-breaking work of Hardy, Ramanujan, and Rademacher on finding an exact formula for the partition function p(n). He then studied another problem pursuing similar ideas for another partition enumerant, and concluded with an almost complete result of his own. His original result is an exact formula for a certain class of colored partitions. He also has an alternative method to prove the second of the theorems. Hamed showed an outstanding performance and completed his MS course work and thesis in two semesters. He has submitted one journal article out of his thesis work and he has two other articles in preparation for submission. He was won five national and international medals in various venues.

Tolga Çağlar’s PhD work focuses on phase transitions, specifically in spin glasses and other similar systems having quenched random impurities with dimensionality dependence. He took on various original problems where he used hard-spin mean field theory and renormalization group theory to obtain phase diagrams of various degrees of ordering in these systems and their transition characteristics, a topic of deep interest among the statistical physics groups with implications for a variety of other problems including networks. The global renormalization- group calculations are stated to be of the kind that very few people in the world can perform, and Tolga has successfully made original contributions in this area. His work led to novel and interesting results, and publication of four articles in one of the most well-known and prestigious journals in his field of research.

Rebi Daldal, during his MS studies in Sabanci University, worked on modeling and developing algorithms for the batch testing of a series system in the sequential testing problem, a topic which has not been tackled in the existing literature. His work, which also constituted the basis for a TÜBİTAK 1001 project later on, resulted in two research articles in prestigious journals in his field. The first article focuses on the sequential testing problem when the groups of tests that can be performed together are restricted to subsets of given groups of tests. In the second article, he addressed the case where all groups of tests can be performed together. Rebi is the leading author in both articles and had significant contribution in problem modeling, the proof of their NP-hardness, algorithm design, and in particular coding and computer implementation. In addition to his thesis work, Rebi was also involved in a side project where his contribution led to a refereed international conference proceedings paper.

Beyza Vuruşaner doktora çalışmaları, hücrelerde oksidatif stres sinyalleri ve reaktif oksijen kontrolünde ilerlemelere önemli katkıda bulunmuştur. Lipid oksidasyonu, insanlarda kanser, Alzheimer ve atheroskleroz gibi ciddi hastalıkların meydana gelmesinde rolü bulunduğu düşünülen çok önemli bir olgudur. Beyza, uluslararası hakemli ve etkili dergilerde kaliteli yayınlar yaparak bilimsel yetkinliğini ortaya koymuş bir araştırmacıdır. Doktora çalışmalarının ilk yılında bir uluslararası ve disiplinlerarası dergide yayımladığı makalesi, derginin en çok indirilen makaleleri arasında 6. sıraya yükselmiştir. Ayrıca bu makaleye Cell dergisi dahil olmak üzere 100'den fazla atıf yapılmıştır. Doktora teziyle bağlantılı iki araştırma makalesi, saygın hakemli dergilerde yayımlanmıştır. Moleküler biyoloji / moleküler tıp alanında yayımlanmış eserlerdeki işin %90 ila 95'i, birinci yazar tarafından yapılmış olur. Beyza da makalelerindeki çalışmanın tümünün hak sahibidir.

Jamal Seyyed Monfared Zanjani, Malzeme Bilimi ve Mühendisliği doktorası sırasında kompozit malzeme geliştirme ve yapısal sağlamlık takibi alanlarında çalışmıştır. Sabancı Üniversitesi'ndeki çalışmaları sırasında farklı karbon esaslı nano-malzemelerin sentezi ve karakterizasyonu ile bunların kompozitlerde kullanılan farklı polimer matrisleri üzerindeki etkilerine ilişkin araştırmalar yürütmüştür. Çoğul ölçekte takviye olarak karbon fiber/seçici entegre grafen içeren yüksek performanslı epoksi matris kompozitlerin nano-mühendislikle tasarımı ve üretimine ilişkin literatüre önemli katkılarda bulunmuştur. Bu çalışmalarının ardından, grafen esaslı boş ve dolu kürelerin çekirdek-kabuk elektrosprey yöntemiyle tasarlanması ve üretimi için bir teknik geliştirmiştir. Jamal bu görevleri sırasında karmaşık deney verilerinin analizi için işlem sonrası kodlar ve bilgisayar protokolleri geliştirmiş, ayrıca Sabancı Üniversitesi'ndeki dört yılı boyunca 8 dergi yayınının yazarlığını veya eş yazarlığını üstlenmiştir.

Nima Tofighi, Sabancı Üniversitesi'ndeki doktora çalışmaları sırasında pürüzsüz parçacık hidrodinamiği (SPH) yönteminde karmaşık viskoelastik akış problemlerinin sayısal çözümüne önemli katkılarda bulunmuştur. Özellikle, SPH yöntemlerinin doğruluk sorunlarını etkili biçimde gideren sıkıştırılamaz bir yaklaşım geliştirmiş, bunu Newton sıvıları ve Newton olmayan sıvıların sıvı-katı etkileşimine, elektro hidrodinamiğe, çoğul fazlı akımlara ve sert kütlelerin durağan sıvılar içinde yerçekimi ve elektrik sahası gibi dış kuvvetler altındaki hareketlerine başarıyla uygulamıştır. Karmaşık sorunlara çözüm stratejileri geliştirerek, sorunların çözümü için yoğun emek gerektiren adımları tamamlayarak ve katkılarını dikkatli yazılmış bildirilerle belgeleyerek akademik altyapısının sağlamlığını, entelektüel kapasitesini ve araştırma kabiliyetini sergilemiştir. Araştırmalarının sonuçlarından biri olarak, önemli bilimsel dergilere (beşi yayımlanmış) on bir makale ve makale bölümü sunmuş, ayrıca uluslararası hakemli konferans kitaplarında on dokuz bildirisi yer almıştır.

Beyza Vuruşaner doktora çalışmaları, hücrelerde oksidatif stres sinyalleri ve reaktif oksijen kontrolünde ilerlemelere önemli katkıda bulunmuştur. Lipid oksidasyonu, insanlarda kanser, Alzheimer ve atheroskleroz gibi ciddi hastalıkların meydana gelmesinde rolü bulunduğu düşünülen çok önemli bir olgudur. Beyza, uluslararası hakemli ve etkili dergilerde kaliteli yayınlar yaparak bilimsel yetkinliğini ortaya koymuş bir araştırmacıdır. Doktora çalışmalarının ilk yılında bir uluslararası ve disiplinlerarası dergide yayımladığı makalesi, derginin en çok indirilen makaleleri arasında 6. sıraya yükselmiştir. Ayrıca bu makaleye Cell dergisi dahil olmak üzere 100'den fazla atıf yapılmıştır. Doktora teziyle bağlantılı iki araştırma makalesi, saygın hakemli dergilerde yayımlanmıştır. Moleküler biyoloji / moleküler tıp alanında yayımlanmış eserlerdeki işin %90 ila 95'i, birinci yazar tarafından yapılmış olur. Beyza da makalelerindeki çalışmanın tümünün hak sahibidir.

Jamal Seyyed Monfared Zanjani, Malzeme Bilimi ve Mühendisliği doktorası sırasında kompozit malzeme geliştirme ve yapısal sağlamlık takibi alanlarında çalışmıştır. Sabancı Üniversitesi'ndeki çalışmaları sırasında farklı karbon esaslı nano-malzemelerin sentezi ve karakterizasyonu ile bunların kompozitlerde kullanılan farklı polimer matrisleri üzerindeki etkilerine ilişkin araştırmalar yürütmüştür. Çoğul ölçekte takviye olarak karbon fiber/seçici entegre grafen içeren yüksek performanslı epoksi matris kompozitlerin nano-mühendislikle tasarımı ve üretimine ilişkin literatüre önemli katkılarda bulunmuştur. Bu çalışmalarının ardından, grafen esaslı boş ve dolu kürelerin çekirdek-kabuk elektrosprey yöntemiyle tasarlanması ve üretimi için bir teknik geliştirmiştir. Jamal bu görevleri sırasında karmaşık deney verilerinin analizi için işlem sonrası kodlar ve bilgisayar protokolleri geliştirmiş, ayrıca Sabancı Üniversitesi'ndeki dört yılı boyunca 8 dergi yayınının yazarlığını veya eş yazarlığını üstlenmiştir.

Nima Tofighi, Sabancı Üniversitesi'ndeki doktora çalışmaları sırasında pürüzsüz parçacık hidrodinamiği (SPH) yönteminde karmaşık viskoelastik akış problemlerinin sayısal çözümüne önemli katkılarda bulunmuştur. Özellikle, SPH yöntemlerinin doğruluk sorunlarını etkili biçimde gideren sıkıştırılamaz bir yaklaşım geliştirmiş, bunu Newton sıvıları ve Newton olmayan sıvıların sıvı-katı etkileşimine, elektro hidrodinamiğe, çoğul fazlı akımlara ve sert kütlelerin durağan sıvılar içinde yerçekimi ve elektrik sahası gibi dış kuvvetler altındaki hareketlerine başarıyla uygulamıştır. Karmaşık sorunlara çözüm stratejileri geliştirerek, sorunların çözümü için yoğun emek gerektiren adımları tamamlayarak ve katkılarını dikkatli yazılmış bildirilerle belgeleyerek akademik altyapısının sağlamlığını, entelektüel kapasitesini ve araştırma kabiliyetini sergilemiştir. Araştırmalarının sonuçlarından biri olarak, önemli bilimsel dergilere (beşi yayımlanmış) on bir makale ve makale bölümü sunmuş, ayrıca uluslararası hakemli konferans kitaplarında on dokuz bildirisi yer almıştır.

Alperen Acemoğlu has been active in the research area of microswimming robots which promise new methods of targeted drug delivery. He has transversed the complete spectrum of the field from modeling microswimming robots, to design and finally their experimental implementation using advanced and novel techniques. The research has culminated in several research papers in high-impact journals and conferences. It is realistic to expect that the results of his research will have a significant impact on human health. Görevi: Doktora Öğrencisi, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia

Nurşen Aydın, in her Ph.D. thesis, has made important contributions to the operations research revenue management area. She has already published two articles in a highly prestigious journal in the field of transportation and logistics. In her first paper, she studied single-leg airline revenue management problems considering overbooking and cancellation. She developed both static and dynamic stochastic programming models which are hard to solve and introduced computationally tractable models that provide tight upper and lower bounds. In her second paper, she addressed contingent commitment options in revenue management. She developed an exact dynamic programming model, which suffered from curse of dimensionality, and proposed an efficient approximation approach. Ms. Aydın also co-authored a conference paper on sensor networks which received the best paper award in the 2011 International Symposium on Performance Evaluation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems. Görevi: Öğretim Üyesi, Warwick Business School

Rüştü Umut Tok, in the course of his Ph.D. research, has made significant contributions to the design, manufacturing, and characterization of nanoantenna surfaces with a broadband absorption, reflection and transmission response. His work involves not only designing such systems, but also has applications in several different disciplines such as solar energy research and femtosecond pulse shaping. He has authored a total of five papers in leading journals in his field and 11 conference papers. His papers have already been cited over 40 times. Mr. Tok is also the recipient of the 2013 Leopold Felsen award and a 100K Tubitak 1512 fund, which led to his founding a spinoff company. Görevi: Doktora Sonrası Araştırmacı, University of California, Los Angeles

Sinem Şaşmaz Muş, during her Ph.D. work has contributed significantly to the worldwide collection of observational data on magnetars, which are highly magnetized neutron stars. Such data provide clues to the inner structure of these very rare celestial objects. In particular, by analyzing the data from the space-based Fermi gamma ray telescope and the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, she was able to obtain new results on magnetar glitches and anti-glitches, and properties of the X-ray spectrum of magnetars. She was in fact the first person in the world to use the Fermi telecope data to study magnetars. The glitches, which are sudden tiny changes in the spin rates, shed invaluable light on the inner dynamics of neutron stars, the incredibly highly compressed leftovers from supernova explosions, and, more generally, on the properties of matter under extreme conditions. This has led to her being the lead author in three articles in highly prestigious astrophysics journals. In her last paper, Ms. Muş initiated the study and successfully led a beginning graduate student to this research area. 

Görevi: Doktora Sonrası Araştırmacı, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi

Süleyman Kardaş, Ph.D. thesis contributes to the fields of communication security and applied cryptography, specifically considering security and privacy problems of radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. He proposed a generic privacy model using physically unclonable functions and developed two security and privacy protocols achieving highest protection, while also addressing the practical concerns of implementing them in real products. He also investigated the optimal security limits of distance bounding protocols, and security and privacy models for RFID/cloud integration. Mr. Kardaş’s works have a shaping effect to the field, since he not only solved existing problems, but he defined new problems, attack models, evaluation models and application areas for RFID security/privacy. These resulted in five published, two submitted articles in highly prestigious journals and 13 conference publications. His works have been cited over 160 times, which shows significant impact to the field. Görevi: Öğretim Üyesi, Batman University

Beyza Vuruşaner doktora çalışmaları, hücrelerde oksidatif stres sinyalleri ve reaktif oksijen kontrolünde ilerlemelere önemli katkıda bulunmuştur. Lipid oksidasyonu, insanlarda kanser, Alzheimer ve atheroskleroz gibi ciddi hastalıkların meydana gelmesinde rolü bulunduğu düşünülen çok önemli bir olgudur. Beyza, uluslararası hakemli ve etkili dergilerde kaliteli yayınlar yaparak bilimsel yetkinliğini ortaya koymuş bir araştırmacıdır. Doktora çalışmalarının ilk yılında bir uluslararası ve disiplinlerarası dergide yayımladığı makalesi, derginin en çok indirilen makaleleri arasında 6. sıraya yükselmiştir. Ayrıca bu makaleye Cell dergisi dahil olmak üzere 100'den fazla atıf yapılmıştır. Doktora teziyle bağlantılı iki araştırma makalesi, saygın hakemli dergilerde yayımlanmıştır. Moleküler biyoloji / moleküler tıp alanında yayımlanmış eserlerdeki işin %90 ila 95'i, birinci yazar tarafından yapılmış olur. Beyza da makalelerindeki çalışmanın tümünün hak sahibidir.

Ayşe Özlem (Sezerman) Aykut Malzeme Bilimi ve Mühendisliği Doktora Programı, 2012- 2013 akademik yılı bahar dönemi mezun adayıdır. Ayşe Özlem Aykut’un çalışmasının sonuçları alanında ileri gelen Biofizik dergisinde yayınlanmıştır. Ayrıca 3 yayınlanmış, 2 yayınlanmakta olan makalesi ve 3 konferans bildirisi bulunmaktadır. 

Görevi: Doktora Sonrası Araştırmacı, University of Basel

Elif Özden Yenigün Malzeme Bilimi ve Mühendisliği Doktora Programı, 2012- 2013 akademik yılı bahar dönemi mezun adayıdır. Elif Özden Yenigün’ün alanında saygın dergilerde 3 adet yayınlanmış, bir yayınlanmak üzere olan makalesi ve 4 konferans bildirisi bulunmaktadır.
Görevi: Öğretim Üyesi, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi

Göktuğ Karpat Fizik Doktora Programı, 2012- 2013 akademik yılı güz dönemi mezunudur. Göktuğ Karpat’ın alanında 7 yayınlanmış, bir tane de yayınlanmakta olan makalesi bulunmaktadır. 

Görevi: Doktora Sonrası Araştırmacı, UNESP

Zeynep Altintas completed her PhD degree in February 2012 with a thesis titled "Development of nanoparticle-modified sensor platform for cancer marker detection." As an Erasmus exchange student, she went to Cranfield University in England, where she studied capacitive sensor platforms for cancer diagnosis at the beginning of her Ph.D. education at Sabanci University. Upon her return, she proposed a thesis on the development of high- sensitivity capacitive biosensors for the detection of cancer markers with novel nanomaterial- modified sensor platforms, and successfully demonstrated that biosensors with the improved sensitivity are very effective in detection of cancer types with multiple marker assays and have great potential for clinical use. She demonstrated the quality of her work with four published and three submitted articles in highly esteemed journals. Görevi: Öğretim Üyesi, Cranfield University

Nurdagul Anbar finished her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Henning Stichtenoth in three years which is unusually short. During her PhD studies, she visited Prof. Massimo Giulietti for a year at University of Perugia, where she enriched her research by working in new topics. Nurdagul's PhD thesis is titled "On Algebraic Curves in Prime Characteristic" and it consists of two parts. In the first part, for a fixed q and g, she studies the number of rational points that an algebraic curve of genus g defined over the finite field Fq can have and considerably improves the result of Elkies et al from 2004. For this she constructs explicit curves, and uses techniques from the arithmetic of function fields and towers of function fields. In the second part of the thesis, a nonsingular plane curve X over an algebraically closed field K of positive characteristic is considered. It is proved that if the automorphism group of Xhas more elements than a certain constant in terms of the genus of X then the curve must be birationally equivalent to the Hermitian curve. This result improves a result of Henn from 1978. Various methods such as the ramification theory in algebraic curves, Stohr- Voloch theory on Weierstrass points and group theory are used in the proof of this result. In addition to the results in her thesis, Ms. Anbar learned finite geometry, a topic different than the ones mentioned above, and constructed small complete caps from algebraic curves. These efforts led to four articles all of which have been submitted to very prestigious journals. Variety and depth of the techniques used and the number of articles produced, in only three years, are rare and remarkable in a field like mathematics. Görevi: Doktora Sonrası Araştırmacı, Technical University of Denmark

Tolga Dinc's MS thesis titled "SiGe BiCMOS Front-end Integrated Circuits for X-band Phased Arrays" contributes to the field of RF/Microwave integrated circuits and system technologies, by introducing novel designs of several SiGE BiCMOS circuits for next generation phased array radars, such as, a high linearity switch with the highest power handling capability compared to the existing works reported in the literature, a slow-wave switch which employs the slow-wave concept for the first time in any BiCMOS technology, a two stage low noise amplifier (LNA) with the highest figure of merit reported in SiGe BiCMOS technologies, and an X-band switched LNA employing the resistive body floating technique for the first time in switched LNA design to improve power handling capability. All designed circuits were fabricated and tested for first time success, and the entire transmit/receive module was also implemented to be produced as a low-cost and light weight silicon-based fully integrated solution for next generation phased array radars. Tolga's MS work resulted in three accepted, one submitted articles in respected journals, and six conference proceedings. Tolga is a graduate of Sabancy University Electronics Engineering program and he also has a published article from his senior design project. 

Görevi: Doktora Öğrencisi, Columbia University

Feysel Yalçın Yamaner Elektronik Mühendisliği Doktora Programı, 2010-2011 akademik yılı bahar dönemi mezun adayıdır. Feysel Yalçın Yamaner, tez çalışmasıyla patent başvurusunda bulunmuş ve iki makalesi saygın dergiler tarafından kabul görmüştür. Ayrıca bir çok konferans yazısı ve sunumu bulunmaktadır. 

Görevi: Öğretim Üyesi, İstanbul Medipol Üniversitesi

Halit Erdoğan Bilgisayar Bilimi ve Mühendisliği Yüksek Lisans Programı, 2010-2011 akademik yılı bahar dönemi mezun adayıdır. Halit Erdoğan’ın iki yazısı alanında mühim dergilerde yayınlanmıştır. Ayrıca altı uluslar arası konferans ve beş uluslar arası çalıştayda çalışmalarını sunmuştur. Halit Erdoğan Wisconsin-Madison Üniversitesi’nde doktora eğitimine devam edecektir. 

Görevi: Mühendis, Google Amerika

İbrahim Muter Endüstri Mühendisliği Doktora Programı, 2010-2011 akademik yılı bahar dönemi mezun adayıdır. İbrahim Muter’in çalışmalarından yaptığı üç yayını oldukça saygın dergilerde yayınlanmıştır. Ayrıca daha öğrenci iken yaptığı tüm yayınlarında kendisi ilk yazardır. Yaptığı çalışma ile alanına önemli katkılarda bulunmuş ve önemli bir başarı sağlamıştır.

Görevi: Öğretim Üyesi, Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi

Nilay Duruk Mutlubaş Matematik Doktora Programı, 2010-2011 akademik yılı bahar dönemi mezun adayıdır. Nilay Duruk Mutlubaş'ın lisansüstü eğitimi esnasında saygın dergiler tarafından yayımlanan üç makalesinin olması büyük bir başarıdır. Nilay Duruk Mutlubaş'ın çalışmalarına birçok atıfta bulunulmuş, ulusal ve uluslar arası toplantılara davet almıştır. Gelecek yıl TUBİTAK desteğiyle doktora üstü araştırma görevlisi olarak Sabancı, Işık ve İstanbul Teknik Üniversiteleri ile ortak proje çalışmasında bulunacaktır. 

Görevi: Öğretim Üyesi, İstanbul Kemerburgaz Universitesi

Lütfi Taner Tunç by his Ph.D thesis titled "Identification and modeling of process damping in turning and milling using a new approach". Lutfi Taner Tunc graduated from the IE program and Erdem is graduating from the ME program. Taner came to our university from METU Mechanical Engineering Department for graduate studies. He also got his MS degree at Sabanci University. He has been working with the supervision of Erhan Budak. Taner has 5 accepted or published SCI-E indexed articles one of which is from his master's thesis. He has one more article in an international journal. He has three more articles in preparation. He worked in TUBITAK and industrial projects. He supervised Graduation Projects and helped to run the Manufacturing Research Lab. 

Görevi: Doktora Sonrası Araştırmacı, University of Sheffield

Erdem Öztürk by his Ph.D thesis titled "Modeling of 5- Axis Milling Forces and Form Errors". Erdem Ozturk graduated from the ME program. Erdem came to our university from METU Mechanical Engineering Department for graduate studies. He also got his MS degree at Sabanci University. He has been working with the supervision of Erhan Budak. Erdem has 4 accepted or published SCI-E indexed articles one of which is from his master's thesis. He has one more article in an international journal. He has 4 more articles in preparation. He in TUBITAK and industrial projects. He supervised Graduation Projects and helped to run the Manufacturing Research Lab. 

Görevi: Doktora Sonrası Araştırmacı, AMRC (Advanced Manufacturing Research Center BOEING) The University of Sheffield

Taner Aytun by his M.Sc thesis titled "Determining the Architecture of ZnO Polystyrene-block-Poly (2-vinylpyridine)Micellar Reactor for ZnO Nanoparticle Synthesis". Taner's work at Sabancy University contributed to number of scientific articles. Two of them were published in a well respected journal Langmuir (impact factor of 4.0). Another one is submitted to Applied Physics Letters and currently under review (impact factor of 3.7). He was involved in seven conference papers (four international and three national). For his presentations and a short research visit to MIT, Taner was three times recipient of Insitute for Complex Adaptive Matter junior travel grant. Taner is a graduate of Sabanci University, Materials Science and Engineering program, and he has been actively involved in research projects since his undergraduate years at SU. Additionally, Taner trained and supervised undergraduate students through their senior design projects. 

Görevi: Doktora Öğrencisi, Northwestern University

Abdulkadir Akın by his M.Sc thesis titled "One-bit Transform Based Motion Estimation Hardware Designs". Abdulkadir's work at Sabancy University has produced four papers/presentations in prestigious conferences, two journal articles, which have been published in IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics (in SCI), and one article which has been recently accepted for publication in the same journal. Abdulkadir is a graduate of Sabanci University, Electronics program, and he has been imposed to research since his undergraduate years. One of his articles, where Abdulkadir is the second author is from his senior design project, where he helped a Sabanci graduate student Ozgur Tasdizen. In his articles as the first author, Abdulkadir had full contribution in the work, for proposing ideas, completing the implementation and performance analysis. Abdulkadir also trained and supervised undergraduate students through their senior design projects. 

Görevi: Doktora Öğrencisi, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Çınar Öncel by his Ph.D. thesis titled "Novel Production Technique for Electrolyte Assembly Leading to High Power Density". Cinar Oncel's PhD thesis investigates LSGM electrolyte-based solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). As a result of this study, SOFC with the highest power density in the literature is realized. Cinar also has publications in SCI indexed articles that are not related to his thesis topic. In total, he has five articles that are in SCI indexed journals (1 article, 1 review and 3 proceedings papers) with Sabanci University address. 

Görevi: Öğretim Üyesi, Muğla Üniversitesi

Elif Damla Arısan by her Ph.D thesis titled "Molecular Mechanism of Drug Induced Apoptosis and Chemoresistance in Estrogen Receptor alpha +/- Breast Cancer Cell Lines: MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231". In Elif Damla Arisan's PhD thesis, she focused on investigation of the role of Bcl-2 in drug-induced apaptosis mechanism. Her results suggest that alteration of other pro-apoptotic or anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members may dictate the apoptotic response when Bcl-2 inhibitor is combined with chemotherapeutic drugs. She already published eight papers in journals, indexed by SCI, out of which one article is on her PhD work. She has numerous other papers / presentations, that appeared in national international journals, and in various conference proceedings. 

Görevi: Öğretim Üyesi, İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi

Mustafa Parlak by his Ph.D. thesis titled "Low Power H.264 Video Compression Hardware Designs". Mustafa Parlak's Ph.D. thesis focuses on energy-saving low-power hardware architectures for video compression algorithms. As a result of this study, he proposed a novel idea which reduces the amount of computation in H.264 video compression standard significantly. Mustafa has three Science Citation Indexed (SCI) publications including ''Low Power H.264 Deblocking Filter Hardware Implementations'' which is an output from his Ph.D. work. He has already found his next research position in Georgia Institute of Technology as a Post-Doctoral Fellow. Görevi: Doktora Sonrası Araştırmacı, Georgia Institute of Technology

Canan Dağdeviren by her "Smart Composite Materials and Structures: Development, Characterization and Engineering Design Applications". Canan Dagdeviren's M.Sc. thesis, focuses on integration of micro- and nano-sized fibers with piezoelectric properties into a polymer matrix. Such structures are recently in demand for a variety of applications including aerospace technologies. During her M.Sc., Canan published two papers in two respected SCI journals as well as submitting one to Journal of Applied Polymer Science, another respected, high-impact SCI journal. In addition to being a highly motivated researcher and a very hard-working student, Canan also attended meetings and conferences to present the results of her research including a presentation at Materials Research Society Fall Meeting in 2009, a very important gathering for the materials science community. Canan was also awarded a highly prestigious Fulbright Scholarship in support of her Ph.D. study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign starting in Fall of 2009. 

Görevi: Doktora Sonrası Araştırmacı, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Emre Özlü by his Ph.D. thesis titled "Analytical Modelling of Cutting Process Mechanics and Dynamics for Simulation of Industrial Machining Operations". Emre Ozlu's work contributes to the area of machining process modeling and simulations in order to improve the process capability in terms of increased productivity and quality. All the derived models were verified by experiments. The developed models can be applied to industrial applications to increase productivity and reduce manufacturing costs. The thesis work resulted in 5 SCI-indexed articles in respected journals at the time of the application to the award and many more articles related to this work were in preparation. 

Görevi: Öğretim Üyesi, Sabancı Üniversitesi

Osman El Atwani by his M.Sc. thesis titled "Diplock Copolymer Micelles for Zinc Oxide Formation Via Exchange Reactions: Preperation and Characterization, Loading and Dynamics". Osman El Atwani's work aims to study the use of micelles to synthesize nanoparticles and develop techniques to characterize the materials systems. As a matter of fact, Osman started working with Gursel Sonmez and he was able to publish an article from his work with Gursel Sonmez. Afterwards, he completed his thesis under the supervision of Cleva Ow Yang.

Görevi: Doktora Öğrencisi, Purdue University

Ahmet Fatih Tabak by his M.Sc. thesis titled "Simulation Based Experiments of Traveling-Plane Wave Actuator Micropumps and Microswimmers". In this work, Ahmet Fatih Tabak explored ways for self-propulsion in micro realm. He also derived the mathematical framework for modeling micropumps encompassing fully submerged and anchored waving film inside a microchannel using physical governing equations followed by simulation-based experiments. This work emerged as his own idea to design and build a microswimming robot and it lead to a well-received journal publication in 'Microfluidics and Nanofluidics' and to five top conference papers. 

Görevi: Doktora Sonrası Araştırmacı, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems

Funda Çelebi İnceoğlu by her Ph.D. thesis titled "High Performance Biodegradable Starch/Polyethylene Nanocomposites Prepared via Twin Screw Extruder" Funda Celebi Inceoglu`s thesis provided a way to produce biodegradable plastics exhibiting optimum combination of high mechanical properties, low cost and biodegradability. By using nanotechnology, the properties of the product are highly improved and it became a potential environmentally friendly material to replace conventional polyethylene and also other biodegradable polymers especially in packaging sector. This work emerged as her own idea. At the time of the application, the idea was in the process of commercialization, and there was an international patent application, one journal paper and four conference paper submissions. The project also received $850,000 fund from the industry. 

Görevi: Mühendis, Kale Grubu