Serim is the founder of Simply Complex Lab, which focuses on understanding, controlling, and predicting emergent phenomena that occur far from thermodynamic equilibrium. The lab's research is at the intersection of soft condensed matter, complexity, nonequilibrium, and nonlinear physics, and it also interfaces with materials science, nanotechnology, and mechanobiology. The lab's research program is inherently interdisciplinary, driven by experiments while strongly guided by theory.

• Mediterranean Science Team
• For Women in Science (FWIS)
• Young Academy of Europe (YAE)
• Turkish Physical Society (TFD)
• American Physical Society (APS)
• Materials Research Society (MRS)
• AcademiaNet

Colloquia, Lectures, Seminars, and Invited Talks

2024

• “The universality of self-organisation – a path to an atom printer?” SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, US, January 2024.

2023

• “A conceptual mapping of the uncharted far-from-equilibrium territories,” The Cluster of Excellence Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS), Freiburg, Germany, December 2023.
• “A conceptual mapping of the uncharted far-from-equilibrium territories,” Faculty of Physics and Astronomy, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, October 2023.
• “How to control far from equilibrium self-assembly of atoms, colloids, microorganisms, and cells: A rough guide,” The Cluster of Excellence RESOLV, Bochum, Germany, July 2023.
• “A conceptual mapping of the uncharted far-from-equilibrium territories,” The Center of Excellence in Life Inspired Hybrid Materials (LIBER), Helsinki, Finland, May 2023.
• “How to control far from equilibrium self-assembly of atoms, colloids, microorganisms, and cells: A rough guide,” Humboldt Kolleg 2023, Ankara, Türkiye, April 2023.
• “Universal dissipative self-assembly: From quantum dots to colloids, microorganisms, and human cells,” Materials Chain Seminar Series, Research Center Future Energy Materials and Systems (RC FEMS) of Ruhr University Bochum, University of Duisburg-Essen and Technical University Dortmund, virtual seminar, January 2023.

2022

• “Universal dissipative self-assembly: From quantum dots to colloids, microorganisms, and human cells,” 16th Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Conference (NanoTR 16), Ankara, Türkiye, August 2022.
• “The birth, life, and death of dissipative colloidal crystals,” Turkish Physical Society Annual Symposium (TFD 38), Bodrum, Türkiye, August 2022.
• “The birth, life, and death of dissipative colloidal crystals,” International Materials Research Congress (MRS Mexico), Cancun, Mexico, August 2022.
• “Disordered hyperuniform configurations from artificial atoms to exotic 2D materials,” 8th International Workshop on Nanocarbon Photonics and Optoelectronics (NPO2022), Polvijärvi, Finland, July 2022.
• “Driven dissipative self-assembly: From fundamental science to engineering applications,” Faculty of Electrical and Information Engineering, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, July 2022.
• “How to control far from equilibrium self-assembly of atoms, colloids, microorganisms, and cells: A rough guide,” Institute of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, July 2022.
• “The birth, life, and death of dissipative colloidal crystals,” Department of Physics, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland, May 2022.
• “Can the complexity of life be simplified? And to what extent?” Young Academy of Europe 10th Anniversary Seminar Series, virtual seminar, May 2022.
• “The birth, life, and death of dissipative colloidal crystals,” Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, April 2022.

2021

• “The birth, life, and death of dissipative colloidal crystals,” School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, virtual seminar, October 2021.
• “Looking at the complexity of biological systems from a physics perspective and the importance of dissipative self-assembly,” Biotechnology Institute, Ankara University, virtual seminar, March 2021.
• “Dissipative self-assembly from simple to complex,” Middle East Technical University (METU) Physics Society, virtual seminar, February 2021.

2020

• “Universality of dissipative self-assembly from quantum dots to human cells,” 2nd Türkiye-Israel Nano Meeting, virtual seminar, November 2020.

2019

• “Living matter from the physics point of view: A Tribute to Schrödinger’s ‘What is life?’,” Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Bilkent University, Ankara, Türkiye, December 2019.
• “Flow controlled emergent phenomena far from equilibrium,” 23. Sıvı Hal Sempozyumu, Piri Reis University, İstanbul, Türkiye, December 2019.
• “Universal dissipative self-assembly: From quantum dots to colloids, microorganisms, and human cells,” School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, November 2019.
• “Universal dissipative self-assembly: From quantum dots to colloids, microorganisms, and human cells,” Department of Physics, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Türkiye, November 2019.
• “Ultrafast lasers as a tool to study complex, dynamic, adaptive phenomena,” International Conference on Ultrafast Optical Science (UltrafastLight-2019), Moscow, Russia, October 2019.
• “From fluctuations to emergent patterns: Universal dissipative self-assembly,” Department of Physics, Boğaziçi (Bosphorous) University, İstanbul, Türkiye, February 2019.

2018

• “Mikroorganizma ve kanser hücrelerinin dinamik ortamda anlık fiziksel uyaranlara tepkilerinin gözlemlenmesi,” Hacettepe – Bilkent UNAM Sağlık Bilimleri ve Teknolojileri Bilim Çalıştayı ve Stratejik İşbirliği, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Türkiye, November 2018.
• (Plenary) “Ultrafast laser-driven self-assembly and self-organisation far from equilibrium,” International Conference on Ultrafast Optical Science (UltrafastLight-2018), Moscow, Russia, October 2018.
• “Ultrafast laser-driven self-assembly and self-organisation far from equilibrium,” Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), August 2018.
• “Towards universal self-assembly: The role of nonlinearity, fluctuations and feedback mechanisms,” Gordon Research Conference (GRC): Oscillations and Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems, Les Diablerets, Switzerland, July 2018.
• “Ultrafast laser-driven self-assembly and self-organisation far from equilibrium,” Department of Physics, Sabancı University, İstanbul, Türkiye, May 2018.
• “Looking at biological systems from a physicist's perspective: Can control of complex systems, at times, be ‘simple’?” Institute of Neurological Sciences and Psychiatry, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Türkiye, May 2018.
• “‘Simple’ control over self-assembled and self-organised complex systems,” Alexander von Humboldt Foundation-Young Women Scientist Network Meeting, Ankara, Türkiye, May 2018.
• “Toward universal self-assembly: The role of nonlinearity, fluctuations and feedback mechanisms,” Center for Soft and Living Matter (CSLM), Institute of Basic Science (IBS) & UNIST, Ulsan, South Korea, January 2018.

2017

•  “Simply Complex: A novel approach to engineering complex materials and behaviour,” 1st Israel-Turkey Workshop on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel, December 2017.
• “Basitçe Karmaşık: Karmaşık Yapı ve Davranışların Kontrol Edilebilmesi için Yeni Bir Yaklaşım,” 23. Yoğun Madde Fiziği Toplantısı, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Türkiye, December 2017.
• “Simply Complex: A novel approach to engineering complex hierarchical materials,” Department of Materials Science and Nano Engineering, Sabancı University, İstanbul, Türkiye, October 2017.
• “Simply Complex: A novel approach to engineering complexity,” National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM), Bilkent University, Ankara, Türkiye, August 2017.

2013

• “Multiscale self-assembly of silicon quantum dots into an anisotropic three-dimensional random network,” EAGER Conference, Ankara, Türkiye, July 2013.

• Elected Member, Mediterranean Science Team, 2023
• Elected Board Member, Young Academy of Europe, 2022
• International Special Honor Prize, Turkish Physical Society, 2022
• Elected Member, AcademiaNet: Profiles of Leading Women Scientists (Nominated by the Swiss National Science Foundation: SNSF), 2021
• Emerging Leader, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (Elected by the Editorial Board), 2020
• Fellow, Young Academy of Europe, 2020
• Awardee, European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (StG), 2019
• Awardee, L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science (FWIS) Award, 2018

1- Ü. S. Nizam, G. Makey, M. Barbier, S. S. Kahraman, E. Demir, S. Galioglu, D. Vahabli, S. Hüsnügil, M. H. Güneş, E. Yelesti, S. Ilday “Dynamic evolution of hyperuniformity in a driven dissipative colloidal system” J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 33, 304002 (2021)

• Featured in the J. Phys.: Condens. Matter "Emerging Leaders 2020 Special Issue“.
• Featured in the MathWorks website “When Order Hides in Plain Sight.” 

2- G. Makey, S. Galioglu, R. Ghaffari, E. D. Engin, G. Yıldırım, Ö. Yavuz, O. Bektaş, Ü. S. Nizam, Ö. Akbulut, Ö. Şahin, K. Güngör, D. Dede, H. V. Demir, F. Ö. Ilday, S. Ilday “Universality of dissipative self-assembly from quantum dots to human cells” Nature Phys. 16, 795-801 (2020).

• Featured in the news & views piece “Dissipate your way to self-assembly.”
• Highlighted in the feature article “15 Years of Nature Physics.”
• Highlighted on the cover of the October issue “Sweet Fifteen.”
• Listed in Wikipedia’s “2020 in science” selection (April section; 20 April).
• Critiqued in an article in Inference: International Review of Science “Complexity Far from Equilibrium” (DOI: 10.37282/991819.21.5).
• A response letter is written by Dr. Tanja Schilling, “Universality in Self-Assembly Processes” (DOI: 10.37282/991819.21.50).
• Our response letter titled “Mapping Uncharted Territory” has also been published (DOI: 10.37282/991819.22.10).
• In the media: “Scientists uncover principles of universal self-assembly” ERC News & Views, Phys.Org, Nanowerk, Science Bulletin, Heritage Daily; “Desvelan los principios matemáticos universales del ensamblaje de átomos y células” ABC Spain, ABC de Sevilla, La Voz de Cádiz; “باحث سوري يشارك بكشف أسرار البناء الذاتي للخلايا الحية” Al Jazeera; “Effect of Basic Principles of Self-Assembly Process on Quantum Dots” Azo Quantum; “Türk bilim insanlarından Kovid-19 araştırmalarına katkı verecek yeni keşif” Anadolu Ajansı, TRT Haber, CNN Türk, NTV.

3- G. Makey, Ö. Yavuz, D. K. Kesim, A. Turnalı, P. Elahi, S. Ilday, O. Tokel, F. Ö. Ilday, “Breaking crosstalk limits to dynamic holography using orthogonality of high-dimensional random vectors,” Nature Photon. 13, 251-256 (2019).

• Highlighted on the cover 
• In the media: “Physicists create Star Trek-style holograms” Phys.Org; “Gli ologrammi di Star Trek sono più vicini” la Repubblica; “Physicists Create Star Wars Style Holograms” Scienmag; “A real step towards the virtual holodeck” The Engineer; “Bilkentli akademisyenlerden ‘Uzay Yolu’ hologramı” Hürriyet.

4- O. Tokel, A. Turnali, G. Makey, P. Elahi, T. Colakoglu, E. Ergeçen, Ö. Yavuz,  R. Hübner, M. Zolfaghari, I. Pavlov, A. Bek, R. Turan, D. K. Kesim, S. Tozburun, S. Ilday, F.Ö. Ilday, “In-chip microstructures and photonic devices fabricated by nonlinear laser lithography deep inside silicon” Nature Photon. 11, 639–645 (2017).

• In the media: “In chip devices enable truly 3D silicon photonics” Laser Focus World; “New laser technique promises photonic devices inside of silicon” IEEE Spectrum; “From on-chip to in-chip” Optics&Photonics News; “Silicon is liberated from Abbot’s Flatland” Nanowerk; “Researchers fabricate 3-D silicon structures with a focused infrared laser” Phys.Org; “Nanotechnologists discover how to carve tunnels beneath the surface of silicon chips” MIT Technology Review.

5- S. Ilday, G. Makey, G. B. Akgüç, Ö. Yavuz, O. Tokel, I. Pavlov, O. Gülseren, F. Ö. Ilday “Rich complex behavior of self-assembled nanoparticles far from equilibrium” Nature Commun. 8:14942 (2017).

• Featured in the “Supramolecular Chemistry” collection of Nature Communications.
• Featured in the book “Parallel Minds: Discovering the Intelligence of Materials” by Laura Tripaldi.
• In the media: “No, complex is not complicated — it is rather simple!” ScienceDaily; “Identifying the minimum requirements for the emergence of complexity” phys.Org.