Dual degree program reaches the two-dozen mark
The Dual Diploma Program (DDP) at the State University of New York at Fredonia reached a milestone when Baris Can Secim, clutching his newly minted Fredonia degree, walked across the Steele Hall Arena stage to shake hands with President Virginia Horvath at Fredonia’s May 16 commencement.
Mr. Secim became the 24th student from the Republic of Turkey to complete a Dual Degree Program that enables high-achieving students to simultaneously earn degrees from either Izmir University of Economics or Ege University and Fredonia.
Like four other Izmir Fredonians who graduated in 2015, Secim utilized his time here to familiarize himself with another culture and enhance English language skills. His major was Computer and Information Sciences.
Having a father who was a civil engineer allowed Secim to travel abroad during adolescence. “I was always interested in different cultures, so I traveled a lot,” he said.
Secim, initially drawn to Izmir by its strong academic reputation and closeness to home, was attracted to the DDP because it would allow him to explore different cultures and places. He considered the United States to be the “perfect place to study” computer engineering.
SUNY began a system-to-system partnership with the Turkish Council of Higher Education in 2000 that ultimately resulted in relationships between 11 SUNY institutions and seven Turkish universities. The undergraduate DDP, the star of the partnership, has enrolled more than 3,300 Turkish students in 16 academic fields.
Fredonia, which joined the program in 2008, is believed to be the only SUNY campus in Western New York with an Izmir partnership, according to Dr. Ziya Arnavut, professor of Computer and Information Sciences at Fredonia and advisor to the Turkish Association student organization. Fredonia has expanded its DDP curriculum to include software engineering, public relations and psychology.
Graduates of the program, Dr. Arnavut noted, are prepared to work for national and international companies.
During his four semesters at Fredonia, Secim enrolled in a variety of Computer Science courses, such as systems programming, mobile application development and computer game design, in addition to liberal arts offerings in economics and American cultures. He also served two semesters as a computer lab proctor and was president of the Turkish Association as a senior.
Under Arnavut’s guidance, Secim completed a senior thesis devoted to the exploration of autonomous cars — a topic of increasing attention among major automakers.
During the spring semester, Secim worked on robots with distance sensors to create autonomous, self-directed robots. With support from Fredonia’s Computer Science department, Secim bought a robot that he programmed to sense and avoid obstacles as the robot moved around.
That passion for robotics will take Secim to his next educational destination — a doctorate program in Computer Science at Catholic University of America — and forge a new connection to Fredonia. His advisor will be Dr. Erion Plaku, a 2000 Fredonia graduate who published his first work under Arnavut at an international conference in 1999.
It’s a great fit for the new Fredonian. Dr. Plaku’s research includes motion planning and enhancing automation in human-machine cooperative tasks in complex domains, such as robotic-assisted surgery, mobile robotics, manipulation robotics, and hybrid systems.
Dr. Plaku, who earned undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science at Fredonia and a doctorate in Robotics at Rice University, is remembered by Arnavut as the best student he ever had.
Secim will become part of Plaku’s research team that is working on ways to increase the ability of robots to plan and act on their own or provide assistance in human-machine cooperative tasks in complex domains. He has been awarded a research assistantship, valued at $71,000, which will cover tuition and student fees and provide a monthly stipend.
A previous DDP partnership with Ege University, also in Izmir, brought 13 Turkish students (11 who studied Computer and Information Sciences and two who chose International Studies) to Fredonia. And like Secim, three 2012 DDP graduates are currently enrolled in doctorate programs in Computer Science: two in the United States and one in Germany.
