 |
Professor Dr. Yildiz Bayazitoglu Rice University 7th of February, 2023 |
|
ICHMT President's Address to Membership It is very humbling serve as the next president of the International Center of Heat and Mass Transfer (ICHMT) for the next four years. I look forward to leading and representing this incredible organization on your behalf. I thank each and every member of the Nominating Committee, comprised of the outgoing president and all past presidents, for placing their confidence in me. I am honored and pleased to also have so much wonderful support from my colleagues in the ICHMT General Assembly. I would also like to thank our departing president, my friend, Professor Dr. Terry Simon of the University of Minnesota, for his leadership and contributions during the last four years and passing the baton to me to continue in his steps. I acknowledge and express my appreciation of all the past presidents, officers, and executive committee members, many of whom were my mentors, professors, colleagues and friends. Finally, I acknowledge our general secretary Professor Emeritus Dr. Ilker Tari of the Middle East Technical University (METU) for his dedication and hard work, especially for keeping the organization functioning during the difficult pandemic years. I also thank him for agreeing to continue for another four years as the general secretary. For more than 55 years ICHMT provided a platform to academicians, scientists, engineers, and all researchers to publish their work, communicate and collaborate with each other, to discuss their findings and other technical issues, and to form friendships, share knowledge and knowhow. I hope to continue advancing ICHMT’s goal of advancing technical advancement and excellence. Our previous presidents big foot steps to achieve and advance these goals will be followed. I attended my first ICHMT meeting in Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, in September of 1988. During that meeting, I was overwhelmed with the abundance of knowledge, mentorship and encouragement. Challenged with stimulating discussions in the meeting rooms, in the corridors and during meals or cultural trips, this meeting had a positive effect on me for many years to follow. I consider myself very fortunate to have had the connections I developed while attending this and following ICHMT meetings. Due to our collective hard work and dedication to ICHMT, the international community we serve will have ample opportunities to benefit from the planned conferences and short courses via in person and online meetings. At ICHMT, I became the first female to serve as the chair of the Executive Committee (2013-14) and as a vice president (2021-23), and now I will serve as the first female ICHMT president (2023-2026). My goal is to leave a positive footprint with my outmost sincere service. I plan to further encourage more females and more diversified members to become active in the ICHMT, and to provide students and young scientists opportunities to become involved with ICHMT functions as executive council and scientific committee members or as observers. I have always been proud of seeking ways to advance diversity and inclusion by fostering a supportive learning environment that can benefit our heat and mass transfer scientific and engineering community. The ICHMT officers, the Executive Council and the Scientific Committee members with such a diverse set of beliefs, background, skills, wisdom, experience and brilliant minds will be harvested for the necessary innovative and collaborative solutions needed to slip through any possible barriers in our community. We are fortunate to have two new esteemed members serving as vice presidents, each from a different hemisphere. Professor Dr. Peter C. Stephan of Technische Universität Darmstadt and Professor Dr. Emeritus Hideo Yoshida of Kyoto University. I think that I as a Turkish-American help to round out our global representation. I intend, as was done in the past, to work closely with them, to build on the momentum created from the change implemented over the past few years and to improve our governance structure, internal structure and strategies to serve all international communities. I plan to organize virtual meetings to encourage and facilitate discussions among us, so that we can better serve and reach ICHMT members. I am aware of the fact that accepting this position comes with great responsibilities. I would like to encourage everyone in the ICHMT organization to be transparent, listen to debates, consider the critiques, to be kind and supportive, and caring and finally to reach out for assistance when needed. I am excited to be able to contribute the core functions of ICHMT to achieve its long-term vision. I know the role, as the next president of the ICHMT, will be an intellectually stimulating and enjoyable experience. With your kind support, I hope the ICHMT will further foster research, development and learning, and advance our field beyond what we can imagine. |
|