Sema Çömez is a PhD Student in Industrial Engineering & Operations Management at Koç University in Turkey. She earned a master of science degree at Boğaziçi University and bachelors degree at Istanbul Technical University also in Industrial Engineering. She is the 2020 Lupina Young Researchers award winner and earned an honorable mention for the Dana Meadows Award of the System Dynamics Society for her work modeling heart failure.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/SD-cast-Ep7-Transcript

Sema and other young modelers were inspiring to watch in the 2020 International System Dynamics Conference. The 2021 conference is July 25th - 30th. See the link below for more information: https://systemdynamics.org/conference/

Please also consider attending the free Student-Organized Colloquium which is on Sunday, July 25th: https://systemdynamics.org/2021-colloquium/

Below are links to Sema’s works and the Lupina Award (which we referenced in the interview):
https://proceedings.systemdynamics.org/2020/papers/P1353.pdf
https://youtu.be/EJCWOm3MAxY
https://systemdynamics.org/lupina-young-researchers-award/

Now, here is a poem I wrote about Sema:

Sema Çömez

Students should do what she says
Start simple and learn the terminology
Before you jump into physiology
Sema won the Lupina Young Researcher award
And models the dynamics of health issues
To help prevent events that are untoward
By simulating our bodys’ mechanisms
To suggest treatment for our heart tissues
(Which can aid humans and other organisms?)
But we should exercise on a regular basis
To prevent problems like heart disease 
Diseases like cancer create unease
Messes up our natural homeostasis processes
Vicious cycles can bring us to our knees
(No reinforcing loops, please!
Unless it is virtuous and creates an oasis)
So we must screen and act early
(Else some patients may become surly)
In order to prevent a potential tragedy
From this unfortunate malady
We can model these diseases that one abhors
To focus on treatment like Sema and her mentors

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Music:

Intro and End

“Limelight” by Podington Bear is licensed under the Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License. I cut and moved the music track to fit the intro and ending.
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Podington_Bear/Haplessly_Happy/Limelight
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/