15/12/2025
Nil Nida Yaman, a 3rd-year Electronic Engineering student at Sabancı University's Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, has been accepted to the KAUST Microelectronics Winter Camp. Achieving a great success by being selected from among thousands of applicants from world-renowned universities, our student will participate in the 6-week camp, which will take place at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) from January 12th to February 19th, 2026.
The KAUST Microelectronics Winter Camp, organized annually by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, one of the world's leading research universities, provides opportunities for final-year undergraduate students, recent graduates, and graduate students, selected from among thousands of applicants, to advance their studies in the field of microelectronics.
Nil Nida Yaman, our Electronic Engineering Program student who was selected from among thousands of applicants to participate in this year's camp, shared her acceptance process and plans with GazeteSU:
“A valuable step demonstrating the correctness of the academic path I am following.”
“The central role that electronics plays in the development of today's technologies, combined with the rapidly expanding impact of artificial intelligence and machine learning, has been decisive in shaping my academic interests. Throughout my education, my exposure to microelectronics, signal processing, embedded systems, and electronic design-focused studies allowed me to gain experience in both software and basic hardware, and helped me see more clearly how these fields complement each other. This further increased my interest in the research opportunities offered by electronic engineering. In this regard, being accepted into the Microelectronics Winter Camp program at KAUST, one of the world's leading research universities, is a significant step in my academic development.
My application process for the program was shaped by my academic background, the studies included in my CV, and my research motivation. Following the academic evaluation, in a meeting with Dr. Abdulrahman Alhamed, who will be my project advisor, we conducted a comprehensive assessment of my research interests and technical background. The fact that I have been accepted is a valuable piece of feedback showing that the academic path I am following is progressing in the right direction.”
“Being part of an international research community will contribute to my collaboration skills.”
“Within the scope of the program, I will have the opportunity to directly experience microelectronic design processes, the implementation of antenna arrays on hardware, and the transfer of beamforming principles to physical systems. Investigating how these structures can be supported by machine learning-based optimization methods will also be an important part of the work. Working on these issues firsthand in KAUST's advanced research infrastructure will both improve my technical competence and contribute to my approach to engineering problems from a more holistic perspective. In addition, working as part of an international research community will significantly contribute to my scientific communication and collaboration skills.
“My education at Sabancı University provided a strong foundation.”
My theoretical and practical education at Sabancı University provided a strong foundation to prepare me for this program. The knowledge I gained in signal processing, electronic systems, and machine learning courses, the practical experience I gained in laboratories, and the projects I conducted on datasets based on physical processes, clarified my academic orientation. In this process, the guidance of my academic advisor, Prof. Dr. Yaşar Gürbüz, and especially his encouraging me to apply by informing me about this program, were among the most important factors in taking this step. I sincerely thank him for his support.
Although I haven't definitively chosen a subfield for my graduate studies, I believe this experience at KAUST will give me a much clearer framework for my research interests. I think the technical knowledge, the work environment that strengthens research discipline, and the international perspective that the program will offer will be a decisive point of reference in my academic journey. I aim to meaningfully utilize the experience I gain both in my individual studies and in projects conducted at Sabancı University.”
