Information Session for Information Technology Non-Thesis Masters Degree Program: April 17th, 2025 Thursday

Siber Güvenlik Tezsiz Yüksek Lisans Programı Tanıtım Toplantısı 16 Nisan 2025 Çarşamba

Information Session for Cyber Security Non-Thesis Masters Degree Program: April 16th, 2025 Wednesday

Information Session for Data Analytics Masters Degree Program: April 15, 2025 Tuesday

A century later, we are witnessing exciting technological developments that directly use quantum mechanics. Among these, quantum computing has a special place due to its potential major impact on our daily lives. In this talk, after touching on important milestones in the century-long history of quantum mechanics, we will see how quantum computing can solve some problems faster than classical ones.

Abstract: One of the central questions in number theory and Diophantine geometry is to understand how solutions to polynomial equations are distributed among the rational numbers. The behavior is closely related with the geometry of the space - the variety - defined by the equations. Depending on certain properties of the variety, different mathematical theories are used to analyze it. The case where rational solutions are abundant is addressed by Manins conjecture, proposed by Yuri Manin and collaborators in the early 1990s. This conjecture provides a precise prediction for the number of solutions when counted according to their arithmetic size. Over the years, it has been widely studied and has become one of the central problems in the field. Recently, we have investigated a new environment for the conjecture - that of stacks - the geometric objects generalizing varieties. This perspective has led to unexpected applications beyond its original scope, offering insights into phenomena related to the occurrence of Galois extensionsa topic that, at first glance, seems unrelated to counting solutions of polynomial equations.

In arithmetic and in its emerging branch called arithmetic dynamics, height functions have been ubiquitous objects of study and have important properties, characterizing sets of integral points in orbits and often detecting preperiodic points. In this talk, we aim to review some results about the sparsity of integral points lying in orbits of morphisms in varieties over number fields in light of the theory of heights, and present some of their consequences on sparsity in multiplicative dependence results and arithmetic dynamics.

Abstract: Optical thin film filters are essential for modifying the overall optical properties of glasses. These filters often consist of complex layer stacks to attain a target spectral characteristic, requiring the use of various dissimilar materials, including elemental metals, nano-alloys, simple dielectrics, and wide bandgap semiconductors. The formation of multiple interfaces between these individual layers adds complexity to the overall design and material selection stages of development. Additional challenges arise when dealing with materials possessing naturally unattainable properties, such as very low refractive indices at optical frequencies through structural modifications. Finally, the large area deposition (millions of m2/year) of such coatings fundamentally limits the applicable range of deposition technologies. This talk aims to provide an overview of the current state-of-the-art in the large-area glass coating industry, highlighting new applications, process challenges and material discovery requirements brought about by the market-push and technology-pull dynamics of a competitive market.

Fusarium oxysporum is a cross-kingdom pathogenic fungus that can cause vascular wilt disease in many economically important plants and local or disseminated infections in humans. F. oxysporum can adapt to a wide range of hosts because of accessory chromosomes (ACs) which are enriched in host-specific genes and repeat content. We first compared the phenotypes and genomes of a plant pathogenic isolate F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici 4287 (Fol4287) and a human pathogenic isolate F. oxysporum MRL8996. Fol4287 and MRL8996 differ in both morphology and AC gene and repeat content. Then, we used experimental evolution to observe the quick adaptation of this fungus to different environments. Following whole genome resequencing of evolved populations, we detected many copy number variations, single nucleotide variations, insertions, deletions, and transposable element insertion variations (TIV). While transposons are the major cause of variation in both strains, the active transposons are different and encoded in their ACs. In addition, the Velvet complex, which is a major regulator of growth and mutated in multiple independent populations, has an important role in the adaptation of F. oxysporum.

Today, a thermal camera can be bought for 150 and used to track the heat traces your fingers produced when entering your password on your keyboard. We recently found that thermal imaging can reveal 100 of PINs entered on smartphones up to 30 seconds after they have been entered. Other ubiquitous sensors are continuously becoming more powerful and affordable. They can now be maliciously exploited even by average non-tech-savvy users. The ubiquity of smartphones can itself be a threat to privacy with personal data being accessible essentially everywhere, sensitive information can easily become subject to prying eyes. There is a significant increase in the number of novel platforms in which users need to perform secure transactions (e.g., payments in VR stores), yet we still use technologies from the 1960s to secure access to them. Mohamed will talk about the implications of these developments and his work in this area with a focus on the challenges, opportunities, and directions for future work.