Within the scope of the 6th International Career Week organised by the Eastern Mediterranean University Graduate Communications and Career Research Directorate in collaboration with faculty members and experts in EMU, EMU Arts and Sciences Faculty, Department of Physics and Chemistry hosted one of the most renowned professors of chemistry in Turkey, İstanbul Technical University, Chemistry Department faculty member Prof. Dr. Oğuz Okay.
Commencing with EMU Department of Physics and Chemistry Chair Prof. Dr. İzzet Sakallı’s speech covering the biography of Prof. Dr. Oğuz Okay, the event continued with Prof. Dr. Okay’s presentation titled “Science and Career”. At the start of his speech, Prof. Dr. Okay defined the concept of career and stated that career is proceeding in life and becoming a professor does not mean building a career, as a career can be built in different fields. Prof. Dr. Okay also provided a definition of sciences and stated that science means focusing on a specific part of the universe, gathering information, making deductions and finding errors.
Putting forth that career is a distant walk, Prof. Okay recommended each and every postgraduate student to write a high quality scientific article, which would be published in the best journals in the literature. Touching upon the importance of career planning, Prof. Dr. Okay stated the necessity of studying at a respected university at a program which has medium of instruction other than Turkish.
During the second phase of his presentation, Prof. Dr. Okay talked about polymer projects of his own. Prof. Dr. Okay stated that chemical products may be prepared both by heating and cooling processes and cryogels yield good results in this respect. Cryogels have become a focal point for Prof. Dr. Okay’s research group due to their porous structure, ease of preparation and large volume. Prof. Dr. Okay went on to talked about gels absorbing petrol and organic toxic material under the sea and recommended further research in these fields.
At the end of his speech, Prof. Dr. İzzet Sakallı thanked Prof. Dr. Oğuz Okay and presented a gift to him. The presentation had a very remarkable turnout of academicians and students.
Who is Prof. Dr. Oğuz Okay?
Prof. Dr. Oğuz Okay is a successful academician, professor of physical chemistry and polymer and, most importantly, a scientist who has environmental awareness. Born in İstanbul in 1955, he attended standard schools, as defined by him, falling outside his career plans. Having obtained his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in chemistry engineering, he completed his second postgraduate degree in Vienna Technical University. In 1981, he obtained his doctoral degree in Vienna Technical University in the field of Macromolecular Chemistry. He gained his associate professorship in 1987 and his professorship degree in 1985 in Kocaeli University. Starting from 1988, Prof. Dr. Okay has been a faculty member in İstanbul Technical University and has successfully been carrying out research in the field of polymer chemistry with “Okay Research Group (http://www.polymergellab.itu.edu.tr/)”.
As a prominent academician and researcher, Prof. Dr. Oğuz Okay has 4 patents, web of science h-index of 42, over 170 articles and numerous awards some of which are TÜBİTAK NATO Doctoral Fellowship (1977-1981), ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT Research Award (1998), TÜBİTAK Incentive Award (1990), Sedat Simavi Natural Sciences Award (1994), TÜBİTAK VAM Science Award (1995), Kocaeli University Science Award (1996) , TÜBİTAK Science Award (2005), İTÜ Foundation Science Award (with D. Ceylan, 2007) , Georg-Forster Research Award (Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, 2014).
