Theme: Life Tree

For the upcoming TEDxIzmirInstituteofTechnology event, the theme "Tree of Life" has been chosen. The Tree of Life symbolizes the integrity of life and the journey of existence with its roots, trunk, branches, and leaves, representing all segments of society with the diverse colors of its leaves.

The selected sub-theme is "Truth." The sub-topics of this theme include renewable energy, neuroscience, artificial intelligence (AI), and the art of nature. Speakers will endeavor to express these themes to the audience. Each speaker is envisioned as a leaf of the Tree of Life, covering various aspects of society, akin to the diversity represented by the tree's leaves.

Izmir Institute of Technology
Gülbahçe Street
Urla, İzmir, 35433
Turkey

Deniz Ulaş Yılmaz

Nerodetail

Born in İzmir in 1987, Deniz Ulaş graduated from Büyük Çiğli High School. She earned her degree in Italian Language and Literature from Ankara University in 2011. After working in the tourism industry for six years, she has been actively involved in the automotive industry since 2016. With a resilient and fighting spirit, Deniz Ulaş is a woman who has not hidden her motherhood behind her professional life. Her greatest supporters are her mother and her spouse.

Doç. Dr. Aykut Coşkun

Director, Researcher

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aykut Coşkun is a faculty member in the Department of Media and Visual Arts at Koç University and the director of the Koç University-Arçelik Creative Industries Research and Application Center. He earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in Industrial Design from METU .Between 2014 and 2015, he joined the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University as a Fulbright Researcher. He worked as a research assistant in the Department of Industrial Design at METU, he served as a user experience researcher at METU's UTEST Product Usability Unit. Dr. Coşkun has been involved as a principal investigator and researcher in various international and national research projects. In 2023, he received the Science Academy Young Scientist Award (BAGEP). His areas of expertise include, user experience design, and design methodologies. His research interests encompass sustainability in design for behavior change, and design for healthy living.

Doç.Dr. Şebnem Özdemir

Investigator, Consultant, and Researcher

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şebnem Özdemir earned her bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Yıldız Technical University. She completed two master's degrees at Istanbul University. Subsequently, she moved to MIT CSAIL, where she continued her work in artificial intelligence. Currently, Özdemir serves as the head of the Department of Management Information Systems and the Department of Data Science at İstinye University. She is also the founder of Usight Software and Artificial Intelligence Technologies. In 2016, she was awarded the "Human Development Research Award" by Koç University's UNESCO Chair for her machine learning model. In 2020, she received the "Leader Creating Awareness in Artificial Intelligence Award" from CIO Turkey, and in 2021, the "Artificial Intelligence in Social Benefit" award. Assoc. Prof. Özdemir has been involved in numerous national and international projects focused on data science and AI, serving as a principal investigator, consultant, and researcher.

Dr. Atakan Ekiz

Scientist and academician

Dr. Atakan Ekiz is a distinguished scientist and educator with an artistic spirit. He completed his undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology at Izmir Institute of Technology and subsequently earned his Ph.D. in Oncological Sciences/Molecular Biology and a concurrent Master's degree in Clinical Research from the University of Utah. He is recognized with prestigious awards such as the Fulbright Scholarship, the Turkish Academy of Sciences Distinguished Young Scientist Award, the Turkish Society of Immunology Işıl Berat Barlan Award, the EMBO Installation Grant Program, and the TÜBİTAK International Young Researchers Program. Dr. Ekiz manages his own laboratory at his alma mater, İYTE, where he and his students investigate how tumor cells evade immune responses and develop visual data analysis interfaces to facilitate access to biological big data. Outside the laboratory, he enjoys tango and Latin dances, playing various musical instruments, and spending time in nature.

Dr. İskender Kökey

Co-Founder

Dr. Kökey completed his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in Mechanical Engineering at Dokuz Eylül University. During his undergraduate studies, he received applied physics training in France on photothermal radiometry. His master's thesis focused on an exergy analysis of a real case study of wind energy analysis. Immediately after completing his undergraduate degree, Dr. Kökey entered the wind energy sector in 2010 as an entrepreneur by founding his first company, IME-World. Initially, he worked on off-grid renewable energy systems and later provided products and services for the measurement and feasibility processes of wind power plant sites. Since 2017, under the brand XGEN Enerji, he has focused on manufacturing the mechanical parts needed by wind turbine manufacturers. Dr. Kökey continues to serve as an executive at XGEN Enerji, which he co-founded.

Dr. Şevval Karadağ

Co-Founder, Entrepreneur

Şevval Karadağ is a young, enthusiastic entrepreneur and medical doctor, passionate about innovations. She graduated from Koç University School of Medicine in 2022. During her time as a medical student, she founded two startups. One of these, a remote patient monitoring system initiative, received significant investments and advanced her entrepreneurial journey. At the age of 21, she was selected for the Health Innovation program at Harvard Medical School and MIT Sloan, being the only participant from Turkey and one of the youngest in the program. Currently, Dr. Karadağ works full-time at VivaSmartCare, the company she co-founded. Additionally, she established and serves as the founding president of Medipreneurs Association Turkey. Dr. Karadağ aims to inspire and develop healthcare entrepreneurship. In 2023, the Medipreneurs Association received the Social Responsibility Award from the Healthcare Volunteers Turkey Association.

Eda Ocak

Neuromarketing

Eda Ocak graduated from the Industrial Engineering Department at Middle East Technical University and began her career as a management consultant at Accenture. She provided consultancy services in human resources and marketing to leading companies in Turkey. Later, she co-founded ThinkNeuro, Turkey's first and leading neuromarketing company. Focusing on neuromarketing during her master's studies, Eda Ocak pursued an academic career, publishing numerous academic articles and contributing to prestigious marketing journals. She has been a speaker at significant international marketing and research conferences both domestically and abroad. Eda Ocak continues to teach neuromarketing to graduate students. With her company, ThinkNeuro, she has won 1 Platinum, 56 Gold, 26 Silver, and 10 Bronze Owl awards from the Turkish Researchers' Association, and she is also a recipient of the International Esomar Eureka Award.

Prof. Dr. Yusuf Baran

Rector of Izmir Institute of Technology and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Izmir Technology Development Zone

Prof. Dr. Yusuf Baran was born on December 11, 1977. He graduated from Dicle University, Faculty of Education, Department of Biology Teaching in 1998. He received his Master's degree in 2002 and his Ph.D. degree in 2006 from Middle East Technical University. During his doctoral studies, he worked as a visiting researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina in the USA with a NATO scholarship. Prof. Dr. Yusuf Baran's research areas focus on cancer molecular biology and genetics, science and technology policies, and science diplomacy. As of November 28, 2018, Prof. Dr. Yusuf Baran has been serving as the Rector of Izmir Institute of Technology and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Izmir Technology Development Zone. Additionally, since June 21, 2022, he has been a member of the Executive Board of the Interuniversity Council, and since April 27, 2023, he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Bilişim Vadisi AŞ.

Tülin Akın

Social Entrepreneur

Tülin Akın, a social entrepreneur who combines agriculture with technology, founded TABİT in 2004 while she was a student in the at Akdeniz University. She launched Turkey's first agricultural social communication and information network as well as the first agricultural e-commerce system. By modeling Turkey's first farmer credit card, she enabled farmers to secure financing without incurring losses. She also established the world's first Smart Village, which provides hands-on technology training for farmers. This initiative has connected approximately 7 million farmers in Africa and the Middle East with information and technology. Continuing her education, Tülin Akın has pursued studies in Business Administration, Micro MBA at Boğaziçi University, and Leadership for System Change at Harvard University.In 2018, she was named the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the World Economic Forum.In 2022, she was selected for the Bloomberg New Economy 2022 Class of Catalysts.