2023 Lise Projeleri

Faculty Member	Department	Project Title	Research Center or Lab Affiliated (if applicable)	Dates (Expected start and end date)	Specific Requirements (if any)	Project Description
Didem Unat	Computer Engineering	Sparse Tensor Reordering Algorithms	Parallel and Multicore Computing Laboratory	June 2023	C programming, knowledge of graph algorithms	In this project, your goal is to implement sparse tensor reordering algorithms to improve cache utilization of CPD and other sparse tensor operations. You will also compare the performance of these algorithms on state-of-the-art multicore architectures.
Alptekin Küpçü	Computer Engineering	Blockchain	Cryptography, Cyber Security, and Privacy Research Group	TBD	Interest in cryptography and security. Programming experience (Java, C++). Completed Data Structures and Algorithms type of coursework. Knows basic probability and discrete mathematics. Network Programming or Solidity Programming is a plus.	Multiple blockchain related tasks are available, including implementation on Ethereum, implementing a Blockchain simulator, as well as preparing materials for course slides.
Gözde Gül Şahin	Computer Science and Engineering	Automatic Learning of Procedural Language from Natural Language Instructions for Intelligent Assistance	KUIS AI Lab	TBD	Basic background in NLP and ML required	A programmable personal assistant requires, at minimum, the ability to understand the procedural language to be able to follow and execute the instructions. This project aims to enable it by a) introducing robust and generalizable techniques to map natural language utterances to well-formed procedures, b) creating annotated corpora of complex instructions and procedures to foster research in understanding human-written procedures, c) developing suitable evaluation measures to assess progress in this novel research direction. Intern(s) will work on one of the three aforementioned problems. The details will be discussed later.
Seda Ertaç	Economics	Improving Non-Cognitive Skills and Achievement Outcomes in Education: An Experimental Study		TBD	None	sedaertac.com/field-experiments
Hakan Ürey	Electrical and Electronics Engineering	Augmented Reality Summer	Optical Microsystems Lab (OML)	TBD	None	Hakan Urey’s lab will be hosting several high school and University students. Students work in teams of 4-6 and develop Augmented Reality and metaverse software and apps using 3D rendering tools, AI, and machine learning.
Cem Veziroğlu	Law School	Sustainability and Commercial Law	law.ku.edu.tr/arastirma/arastirma-alanlari/	TBD
Çağatay Başdoğan	Mechanical Engineering	Modeling of Human-Robot Interaction Behavior	Robotics and Mechatronics Laboratory	25.07.2023 – 25.08.2023	Some background in programming (Matlab/Python) is necessary	Human and robot, working together, are expected to play an important role in the foreseeable future. The increasing demand for high-quality and more flexible systems to carry out complex tasks put this dyad firmly in the field. Integrating human’s dexterity and problem-solving skills along with robot’s precision, strength, and repeatability into tasks involving physical interaction between them, pHRI, could be quite beneficial. Such a collaborative interaction may result in significant improvements in task performance and reduction in physical human effort. In order to make pHRI more effective, we need robots to anticipate the human partner’s behavior and act accordingly. For example, in collaborative manipulation of heavy objects, if the robot anticipates the human motion trajectory, it can contribute to the acceleration/deceleration of the manipulated object more effectively. In this project, you will develop model to estimate the motion trajectory and force response of the human collaborating with a robot.
Ismail Lazoglu	Mechanical Engineering	Artificial Heart Pump	Manufacturing and Automation Research Center	TBD	Strong interest and motivation in Biomedical, Mechatronics, Design and Manufacturing	Development of an artificial heart pump (Left Ventricular Assist Device)
Ismail Lazoglu	Mechanical Engineering	Additive Manufacturing	Manufacturing and Automation Research Center	TBD	Strong interest and motivation in 3D Printing Technologies	3D Printing TechnoFüsun logies
Füsun Can	Medical Microbiology	Emerging viral infections	Koç University İşbank Center for Infectious Diseases	TBD
Sami Gülgöz	Psychology	Memory transmission across generations	Koç University Research in Applied Memory (KURAM)	19.06.2023 – 04.08.2023	Native speakers of Turkish	We will study the transmission of memories from one generation to the next, their functions for the sharing and shared generations, their usability for the younger generations, and the consistency in the interpretation of memories by different generations.
Tilbe Göksun	Psychology	Language and Thought Interactions	Language & Cognition Lab (https://lclab.ku.edu.tr/)	03.07.2023 – 20.08.2023	Turkish native speakers	In Language and Cognition Lab (https://lclab.ku.edu.tr/), we examine the relation between language (multimodal – gesture and speech) and many cognitive domains. We work with different populations and age groups. We also examine young children’s early language and cognitive development using techniques such as eyetracking, parent-child interaction, standardized tasks, and experiments for specific cognitive domains. For these lines of research, the project assistants will help running participants, coding and analyzing data as well as designing new studies.
Tamer Önder	School of Medicine	Identification of epigenetic factors in naive pluripotent stem cells	Stem Cell Laboratory	01.07.2023-15.08.2023		It will soon be possible to generate human naive stem cell lines in a personalized and disease-specific manner through epigenetic reprogramming of somatic cells. However, almost none of the epigenetic factors that play a role in this process is known. In the EpiKök, we will investigate the function of three specific chromatin factors (DOT1L, P300/CBP, BRD9) in naïve reprogramming using novel chemical inhibitors. In doing so, we will test the hypothesis that these factors prevent reprogramming to naïve pluripotency. Using these inhibitors, a high-efficiency protocol to generate naïve stem cells will be established.