GTU Promotes Its Graduate Programs

The event titled "Graduate Research Symposium and Introduction Days 2018", which aims to promote the graduate programs offered by GTU to academicians, students, representatives of the industry and private and public sector organizations, has recently been held. 

Graduate Research Symposium and Introduction Days, the 3rd of which was organized by GTU's Institute of Natural and Applied Sciences and which is traditionally held at the end of the spring semester every year, took place on May 14-15, 2018 at the event hall of GTU's Faculty of Architecture. The event aimed to promote GTU's graduate programs, to create awareness with the project ideas or works within the scope of the graduate studies carried out at GTU as shared by the grad students, and to lead to possible collaborations with sector representatives. The opening ceremony of the event was attended by Prof. Babür Özçelik (PhD), Vice Rector, GTU; Assoc. Prof. Abdurrahman Akyol (PhD), Acting Secretary General, GTU; Prof. Arif Çağdaş Aydınoğlu (PhD), Director, Institute of Natural and Applied Sciences, GTU; Prof. Mehmet Çelik (PhD), Vice President, ASELSAN; academicians; representatives of the industry and public organizations; and students.

"REGIONAL AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ARE OUR PRIORITY"

Director of GTU's Institute of Natural and Applied Sciences Prof. Arif Çağdaş Aydınoğlu (PhD) delivered the greeting speech of the opening ceremony. In his speech, Aydınoğlu said that they try to create an environment where students can present their thesis topics and project ideas at the end of every spring semester, which paves the way for students to come together with sector representatives in a way that establishes an environment for collaboration. He commented that they are aware of the need to produce technology, ensure interdisciplinary collaboration, conduct activities in newly-emerging fields, and produce the human resource that will meet these needs. Aydınoğlu also stated that as a university, they also aim to innovate more by encouraging young entrepreneurs. Remarking that all the activities carried out toward taking concrete steps to improve university-industry collaboration would contribute to regional and national development, Aydınoğlu provided the following information about the graduate programs offered by GTU:

"WE MEET INDUSTRY'S NEEDS"

“With its mission as a Research University, GTU offers graduate programs at 4 of its institutes, and its grad students make up  the half of its entire student population. As of May 14, 2018, the application period for the graduate programs offered by GTU has started. With its highly qualified academic faculty and infrastructure, GTU offers thesis master's and PhD programs in Management, Economics, The Science of Strategy, Computer Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Civil Engineering, Physics, Geodesy and Geographic Information Technologies, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mathematics, and Architecture; and thesis master's programs in Molecular Biology and Genetics and City and Regional Planning. The master's program in Glass Science and Technology, which was started with the support of Şişecam two years ago, and the master's programs in Metrology and Cyber Security are to produce their graduates this year. Non-thesis master's programs in Information Systems and Architecture are among the programs started with the aim to meet the related sectors' needs for qualified employees. Also this year, the non-thesis master's program in Civil Engineering played an important in fulfilling the demands of local administrations and several affiliates. The PhD program in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology was started in 2017-2018 fall semester. In addition, the CBRN defense program, which is a unique program for Turkey and our university, has started student admission.

UNIVERSITY AND INDUSTRY COME TOGETHER AT THE SYMPOSIUM

Aydınoğlu said in his speech that the demand for the symposium is increasing every other year, and that the oral presentation topics and prospective speakers are determined by matching the highly demanded areas with the national areas of priority and subjecting them to evaluation by the Scientific Committee. This year's symposium received 132 applications, and 30 of them were accepted for oral presentation, whereas 88 were accepted for poster presentation. Thus, up to now, in the course of 3 years, a total of 310 research study has been presented and shared with sector representatives. 

Aydınoğlu added that the participation of sector representatives in the symposium constitute a very good example of university-industry collaboration. In the symposium, Prof. Mehmet Çelik, PhD, Vice President, ASELSAN, made a presentation titled "University-Industry Collaboration and ASELSAN Academy" as an invited speaker. During the talk sessions within the symposium, Assoc. Prof. Ahmet Fazıl Yağlı, PhD, Director, ASELSAN Research Center; Assoc. Prof. Seda Artış, PhD, Medical Director, ONKO KOÇSEL; Cüneyt Tüzün, PhD, Chair, Turkish Association for Seismic Isolation; A. Erhan Atalan, R&D Project Manager,  Pürplast; Tolga Bildirici, Technology Transfer Office Director, Gebze Organized Industrial Zone Technopark; Murat Tunç, Environment Responsible, Gebze Plastics and Manufacturers Organized Industrial Zone; and Kürşat İnce, R&D Coordinator, Havelsan, also delivered their speeches as panel moderators. 

"SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS MADE BY GTU"

GTU's Vice Rector Prof. Babür Özçelik, PhD, also spoke at the event. Thanking the academics and students who contributed to the organization of the event, Özçelik stated: "As a result of the evaluations made by Turkish Council of Higher Education, GTU was designated as one of the 10 research universities in Turkey in 2017. GTU was also listed the 3rd in TÜBİTAK's Entrepreneurial and Innovative University Index for 2017. In April 2018, GTU hosted an industrial fair at its campus, becoming the first university in Turkey to do so. GTU student societies organize events every year and contribute both to their peers and GTU's stakeholders. GTU's Entrepreneurship Summit, which was also recently held, is a major step forward to create awareness of entrepreneurship in every segment of the society. Another important development is the fact that the establishment of a technopark within the GTU campus has been approved by law."

Prof. Özçelik also remarked that there are 9 institutes in total within GTU and that the Institute of Natural and Applied Sciences and the Institute of Social Sciences provide graduate education; the Institute of Nanotechnology and the Institute of Biotechnology conduct both graduate education and research; the Institute of Information Technologies and the Institute of Energy Technologies conduct research and projects; whereas, the Institute of Defense Technologies, the Institute of Transportation Technologies, and the Institute of Earth and Marine Sciences are in their establishment phase. Following the opening speeches, graduate studies and project topics were presented orally under the moderation of sector representatives of leading organizations at sessions, and with posters.