The First Meeting of the Organizing Committee of TASSA 2016 was Held in Chicago on January

Preparation of the TASSA 2016 meeting is already underway. Organizing committee composed of eleven Turkish scientist/scholars from different universities or research laboratories (whose names and affiliations listed below), and the vice consul of Chicago Turkish Consulate, Ahmet Ferda Karadeniz, attended the meeting. 

1. Ahmet Alatas (Argonne National Laboratory, Physics)
2. Ercan Alp (Argonne National Laboratory, Physics) (Chair)
3. Elif Alp (Columbia University, Sociology)
4. Handan Acar (University of Chicago, Molecular Engineering)
5. Faruk Güder (Loyola University, Business)
6. Gökhan Memik (Northwestern University, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)
7. Seda Memik (Northwestern University, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science)
8. Aytekin Oto (University of Chicago, Medicine, Radiology)
9. Serdar Öğüt (University of Illinois at Chicago, Physics)
10. Burhanettin Sandıkçı (University of Chicago, Business)

The main goal of the meeting was to determine the structure and the format of the meeting, as well as to determine the subject areas that will be covered during the 2016 TASSA meeting.  The committee agreed on the following subject areas for the panels;
1. Turkey’s position in the scientific world
2. Turkish Study programs in Universities in the United States
3. Chicago school  and our understanding of economics
4. The changing face of health care industry and Turkey
5. Manufacturing in the 21st Century
6. Chicago in arts and design
7. Current social and political issues (A possible Panel) 

The committee will review the progress on the preparation of the meeting this coming May.  We wish them good luck and looking forward to another successful TASSA meeting.