Yusuf Leblebici is the new President of Sabancı University

Yusuf Leblebici, Chair Professor and Director of the Microelectronic Systems Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), consistently among the best fundamental sciences, engineering and technology schools of the world, is the new President of Sabancı University.


Sabancı University's new President Yusuf Leblebici was Chair Professor and Director of the Microelectronic Systems Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), an institution that is consistently among the best fundamental sciences, engineering and technology schools of the world. Before that, from 1999 to 2002, he also served as the Microelectronics Program Coordinator at Sabancı University. Yusuf Leblebici is an outstanding scientist who will be returning to Turkey from Switzerland.

His predecessor, Zehra Sayers, was among the founding members of Sabancı University as a member of  Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences for 20 years, and was the Foundations Development Program Director before being appointed  as President. Zehra Sayers will remain a member of faculty at Sabancı University, and  also will continue her research studies on Molecular Biology at the EMBL Laboratory in Hamburg, Germany. 

Speaking on behalf of the Board of Trustees, Sabancı University Founding  Chair of Board of Trustees,  Güler Sabancı said: “It is  our honor that, as a professor who made great contributions to the unique and pioneering system of education at Sabancı University during its foundation, Yusuf Leblebici returns to our university after his outstanding achievements and experience in Switzerland. We are delighted that a distinguished scientist has chosen to return to his country after his tenure at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, an institution that is recognized as one of the best worldwide. We are confident that, under his guidance, our university will take even stronger steps towards its objectives.  The Board of Trustees would like to thank Zehra Sayers for her exceptional endeavors, and wish Yusuf Leblebici great success." 

About Professor Leblebici: Yusuf Leblebici received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, in 1984 and 1986, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), IL, USA, in 1990. Between 1991 and 1999, he worked as a faculty member at UIUC, at Istanbul Technical University, and at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) where he established and directed the VLSI Design Laboratory. From 1999 to 2002, he also served as the Microelectronics Program Coordinator at Sabancı University.

Since 2002, he is a Chair Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and Director of the Microelectronic Systems Laboratory. His research interests include design of high-speed CMOS digital and mixed-signal integrated circuits, computer-aided design of VLSI systems, intelligent sensor interfaces, modeling and simulation of semiconductor devices, and VLSI reliability analysis. He is the coauthor of seven books (including two internationally acclaimed textbooks), as well as more than 250 articles published in various journals and conferences.

Yusuf Leblebici has been the recipient of the prestigious Young Scientist Award of the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council in 1995, and the "Joseph S. Satin Distinguished Fellow Award" in 1999. He was elected as an IEEE Fellow in 2009, and as a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society for 2010–2011. 

Handing Over of Presidency Ceremony 

Prof. Dr. Zehra Sayers who has valuable contributions to Sabancı University’s being a “World  University” will hand over Presidency to invaluable academician Prof. Dr. Yusuf Leblebici. We cordially invite all SU members and students, as well as retirees and alumni to the ceremony.

Date: 5 November 2018, Monday 

Time: 11:00 – 12:30  

Place: Sabancı University Performing Arts Center, Tuzla, İstanbul