STRUCTURAL LUBRICITY UNDER AMBIENT CONDITIONS

A team of Bilkent researchers led by Mehmet Z. Baykara has published an article titled “Structural Lubricity under Ambient Conditions” in Nature Communications.

Specifically, Bilkent researchers have shown that it is possible to create atomically flat interfaces formed by nanometer-sized gold and carbon-based surfaces that exhibit vanishing friction under ambient conditions, a phenomenon termed “structural lubricity”. While structurally lubric sliding was theoretically expected under molecularly-clean vacuum conditions, friction researchers have long thought that the phenomenon was impossible to realize under ambient conditions.

AN INTEGRATED MICROFLUIDIC DEVICE FOR PARTICLE MANIPULATION

A new article on an integrated microfluidic device in which acoustophoresis and dielectrophoresis are utilized to combine the two different operations, namely, particle wash (buffer exchange) and particle separation has been published in Biomicrofluidics, a top-tier journal in the field of microfluidics published by the American Institute of Physics. In this study, the unique fabrication capability of Bilkent University Micro System Design and Manufacturing Center has been utilized for the fabrication of the mold of integrated microfluidic device. The article represents a collaborative effort by researchers from TOBB-ETÜ and Bilkent University as a part of a TÜBİTAK Career project led by Asst. Prof. Barbaros Çetin.

WEIGHING AND IMAGING MOLECULES ONE AT A TIME

A new paper on advancing the capabilities of nanomechanical sensors has been published in Nature Nanotechnology, widely considered the top journal in the field.

Building on their creation of the first-ever mechanical device that can measure the mass of individual molecules, one at a time, a team of scientists have created nanodevices that can also reveal their shape. Such information is crucial when trying to identify large protein molecules or complex assemblies of protein molecules.

The work has been developed in collaboration between Bilkent University, Caltech and the University of Melbourne. The lead author of the work is Asst. Prof. Selim Hanay of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and UNAM.

TUTORIAL SESSION ORGANIZED BY ASST. PROF. YILDIRAY YILDIZ AT ECC 2015

Asst. Prof. Yıldıray Yıldız is organizing a tutorial session together with Professor Anouck Girard from University of Michigan on 'Game Theoretical System Modeling and Control: Theory and Applications' for European Control Conference, which will be held in July 2015 at Linz, Austria.

In this tutorial session, prominent researchers and practitioners will provide a review of game theory, which investigates the strategic decision making among intelligent agents, together with its engineering applications from automotive industry to aerospace and mobile robots.

The speakers of the session are:

  • Tamer Basar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
  • Ilya Kolmanovsky, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA
  • Clement Dextreit, Jaguar Land Rover, Jaguar Cars, U.K.
  • Yıldıray Yıldız, Bilkent University, Turkey
  • Anouck Girard, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA
  • R. Srikant, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

SEMI-PLENARY LECTURE BY ILKER TEMIZER

Asst. Prof. İlker Temizer has recently delivered a semi-plenary lecture titled “Computational Contact Mechanics: Isogeometric Analysis, Mortar Methods, Mixed Formulations” at COMPSAFE 2014, the 1st International Conference on Computational Engineering and Science for Safety and Environmental Problems held in Sendai, Japan.

Dr. Temizer’s current research efforts are focused on computational multiscale mechanics, with emphasis on homogenization, friction and contact problems. His research is funded by the European Commission as well as TÜBİTAK.

MICROREACTOR FOR NANOPARTICLE SYNTHESIS

An article titled “Multi-Temperature Zone, Droplet-based Microreactor for Increased Temperature Control in Nanoparticle Synthesis” co-authored by Asst. Prof. Yegân Erdem has been recently published in Small, one of the leading scientific journals in the area of micro- and nanotechnology.

Nanoparticles show different properties that depend extensively on their size and shape, therefore the ability to produce monodisperse size and shapes is very crucial for nanotechnology applications. This article focuses on a microfluidic reactor that aims to produce monodisperse titanium dioxide nanoparticles in a controlled environment. Small size of the system allows precise temperature and residence time control which results in uniform size distributions.

Dr. Erdem is currently leading a research group aiming to bring microfluidic solutions to nanomaterial technology.