​ Career Days

The guest of EMU's 6th International Career Days at 10:30 a.m. of March 16, 2018 was one of the world-renowned theoretical physicists of Turkey, Prof. Dr. Bayram Tekin of Middle East Technical University (METU).  Following a brief background of Prof. Dr. Tekin read by Prof. Dr. İzzet Sakallı, the Head of the Physics and Chemistry Departments of EMU, Mr. Tekin was invited to the stage to make his speech on "The Importance of Science in Today's World". Among the attendants in Mustafa Afşin Ersoy Hall where the seminar was held were not only the undergraduates, postgraduates or academicians of EMU, but also the teachers and students of Nicosia and Famagusta Turkish Colleges as well as many fans of Prof. Dr. Tekin.

Prof. Dr. Bayram Tekin began his speech by asking "Which invention do you think is the most important one in the history of science?", thus integrated his audience into the lecture and explained significant physical events throughout his speech by giving examples from the daily life. Prof. Dr. Bayram Tekin explicated hard-to-understand concepts such as black holes to the audience fluently and humorously. Mr. Tekin amazed his audience with his skillful information transfer, his general cultural level, the deep passion he had for his field, his contact with the audience and particularly his addressing the audience in both languages (English and Turkish).

At 14:30 a.m. of March 16, 2018 (venue: Mustafa Afşin Ersoy Hall) within the scope of its 6th International Career Days, EMU welcomed one of Turkey's most renowned chemists, Prof. Dr. Oğuz Okay of Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Chemistry. Along with many undergraduate and postgraduate students, academicians of EMU also attended the presentation.

Upon EMU Physics and Chemistry Departments' Head Prof. Dr. İzzet Sakallı's inviting Prof. Dr. Oğuz Okay to the stage, he began his speech titled "Science and Career". Prof. Dr. Okay stated that making a career meant going further in life and not becoming an assistant professor or professor and also that it could be made in any professional field. Science according to him, on the other hand, means focusing on one part of the universe, getting information about it, draw a conclusion from that information and find out the mistakes.

Stating that "career in science" could be defined as progressing by finding out the mistakes, Prof. Dr. Okay emphasized that such a career is a long walk. He also said that all postgraduate students should write scientific articles and that such articles must be of the quality to qualify for evaluations in order to be published in high-effective-value magazines in the literature. Also touching on "Career Planning", Prof. Dr. Okay underlined that the individual had to attend a reputable university and get immersion program.

Touching on his projects in the field of polymer in the 2nd part of his speech, Prof. Dr. Okay explained that chemical products could also be prepared by cooling and not only by heating, and that this gave good results especially in "cryogels". Due to their being easy-to-prepare and having a large-volume structure thanks to their porous structure, cryogels have been the focal point of his own research group. He then talked about his study on the gels which absorb oil from water and also benthic organic toxic substances and recommended that further researches must be done in this field.