Computer Vision News - May 2019

29 Computer Vision News Women in Science meet with my professors. After 19 years, I still go visit them. Some of them became department chairs. Some of them retired, and I actually collaborate with them on some projects. I bring their students here. I always loved my teachers at university and high school, back home. Can you see yourself living again in Turkey? Unfortunately not. But I miss Turkey and I go there every summer for the Mediterranean Sea. [ laughs ] So, you are a Mediterranean girl? Yes [ laughs again ]. And I am a Mediterranean boy. We have something in common. What is the best thing that you have found here in America? It’s going to be cliché maybe, but people are encouraged to do learning at any age, which is not our eastern culture. It doesn’t matter how old they are, or it doesn’t matter which career they are in, they are encouraged to choose a different area or to keep learning. Also for innovation, you can come up with different ideas because people here don’t think you’re crazy to think out the very different opinions on a product. So, I think that is the best thing. There is something interesting that you keep saying. You talk about yourself saying, “Now I am learning to do also this.” You talk about your kids saying, “They are learning this and this.” Then I ask you about America, and you say, “Here, people learn at any age”. Is learning so important in your life? Is it so central to you? [ laughs ] Oh, you are a psychologist! Yes, it is true actually. When I was doing my PhD, I used to tell my friends that studying is the best thing that anybody can do in this life. Some people like to travel in their life. Some people like to eat for their life… The title of this interview will be: “ Studying is the best thing that anybody can do in this life ”. [ both laugh ] You live for learning. Yes, I live for learning. What is the one thing that you have not learned yet that you would dream of learning, possible or impossible? I would love to play an instrument, which I cannot play. I would love to play piano. Why can’t you? I took classes when I was a child, and I stopped. Now, I am turning 40 this year, so I want to start again. Also painting, I Photo: Dave Dove Gulcin Caner