Computer Vision News - May 2019

31 Computer Vision News “Home is here now: California!” Women in Science Jessica Sieren told me in her interview that if you don’t have a crisis during your PhD, you are not doing a PhD. Do you agree with that? [ both laugh ] Yeah, my mom just told me at lunch: “ Do you remember, Gulcin, you wanted to go back to Turkey during your PhD? ” Is that true? Yeah. So, I had a crisis. [ laughs ] However, you got your degree. How did you solve the crisis? It was in 2003, 3 years into my program, and I was very frustrated or upset, so I went to Turkey all of a sudden. My parents were very, very surprised. They were like: “ What are you doing here? It’s not Christmas or summer [laughs], and you came. ” I think the change in weather and the change of people worked. So there’s a treatment called traveling or seeing different people. It helped me, staying in Turkey for a few weeks with my family. Then I came back to Rochester. Family or other important points in your life are a good trigger to help you react to a crisis. Is that right? Yes. Also, maybe distractions. I used to play squash once a week with a friend from Singapore. I wasn’t competitive, and, at the time, my husband was making fun of my squash playing because I wasn’t playing very hard. But I played every Friday with the same person for six years. It was so relaxing and distracting. So when you’re in a PhD, trying to solve very difficult problems, it’s important to let the mind get empty or calm. Either by going out of town, seeing family, or by playing a sport, or maybe an instrument… distractions! Gulcin, it seems that your life is very good and you are very lucky. What you wanted to achieve, you are achieving. Is there any dream that you haven’t fulfilled yet? [ laughs ] I mean, maybe I will have my own company one day, which I never thought about. My dad had his own company for thirty years in the construction business, and my mom was a lawyer for thirty years. She had her own business. They always encouraged me to be independent. We’ll see. I still love teaching, so I would love to teach at any place. Probably it will be in California? Oh, yes. Where is home? Home is here now: California! [ laughs ] Gulcin Caner