SABANCI UNIVERSITY, FAC. OF ENG. & NAT. SCI., MAT. SCI. & ENG.
Description
Sabanci University (SAB) is located in Istanbul, Turkey. Under the direction of one of Turkey's leading family-run foundations, the Haci; Ömer Foundation (VAKSA), the Sabanci; Group established Sabanci; University in July 1994. Soon after its establishment, Sabanci; University succeeded to become one of the most dynamic and productive education and research institutes in the country. In October 1998, once its overall structure was set, Sabanci; University applied for membership in European Foundation Quality in October 1998. Our university is the first university in Turkey that applied for and was accepted for membership.Sabanci University has attracted staff of the highest calibre and many are internationally recognised scholars in their fields. Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (FENS) is one of the three faculties in the campus, and about 60 professors and more than 150 graduate student strong. The absence of departments in the structure of the faculty enables fertile collaboration among different scientific programs. Under our Materials Science and Engineering program several projects are conducted in collaboration with the other FENS programs, mostly with microelectronics, chemistry, physics and biological sciences.As a field, materials science and engineering deals mainly with synthetic and biological polymers, ceramics and composites thereof. Strong polymers, ceramics and their composites with polymers are now replacing conventional materials in many industrial and technological applications, including optical devices. Material quality is a key issue for the performance of all optical devices since many of the optical and other physical properties are strongly dependent on the chemistry and microstructure. Hence, not only the optical characterization of the products but also the material characterization is crucial in the field of optics. Along with our polymer and ceramic processing facilities, our highly developed material characterization laboratories enable top quality characterisation of these materials in terms of their atomic, molecular and microstructure, thermal and mechanical behaviour, crystal phases and surface topography.Collaboration with industry is also a key element in research projects undertaken by FENS, the aim being to create mutually beneficial partnership, to secure funding, to facilitate technology transfer and the effective exploitation of the research results. There are currently more than 10 externally funded projects active in the Materials program that is 22 graduate students strong (9 masters and 13 PhD students).
