I wish to welcome you all to a new academic year. This year, about 2,400 high school graduates have entered Bilkent. I am glad to report that most of the University's departments have improved the quality of their student intake as measured by the entrance exam scores. It is worth noting that this year more than 65 percent of the incoming students are on full or half scholarships.
An experimental scientist, working on silicon nanoparticles to make printable electronics, once half-jokingly summarized her lab work as "baking and cooking." She wasn't far from the truth. For example, compare this recipe for "pişmaniye," a traditional candy made of thin fibers, to another process, that of making very thin wires, reported by Asst. Prof. Mehmet Bayındır and his team in Nature Materials' July issue as the cover story. First, the halvah fiber making: an annular dough made from sugar and oil is gradually elongated by an axial reverse roll followed by folding into a double ring.
Each year, as summer comes to an end and the fall semester begins, Bilkent welcomes a new class of students to campus. To help ensure a successful transition to the academic, intellectual and social life of the university, all new students participate in Bilkent's orientation program, GE 100 - Introduction to Academic Life. This year, orientation was held from September 15 to 19.
During GE 100, students collect the points necessary to receive credit for completing the program by attending workshops, seminars, classical music concerts, movies and department introductions. These offerings are designed to acquaint new Bilkenters with the campus and its resources, including academic options, library facilities and other features of the university.
With the arrival of the new academic year, the Table d'Hote restaurant is now serving the Bilkent community with a variety of dishes for both lunch and dinner. The daily set menu is listed weekly at http://www.bilkent.edu.tr/~kafemud/monu_tr.html
Bilkent University had the pleasure of hosting distinguished guests from the Bangladesh Shahjalal University of Science and Technology on Wednesday, September 21.
Prof. Dr. Orhan Aytür, vice rector of Bilkent University, and Prof. Dr. Md. Elias Uddin Biswas, the treasurer of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). After visiting with Prof. Aytür, the guests toured the Engineering Building, the Faculty of Science and Nanatom.
Under the terms of the MOU, Bilkent University and the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology will promote cooperation in the area of recruiting Bangladeshi students who have fulfilled requirements toward a B.Sc. or B. Eng. degree to Bilkent University for M.S. and Ph.D. studies in the fields of science and engineering. Faculty members and researchers at both institutions in the fields of science and engineering will be encouraged to establish collaborative research endeavors.
