Good evening to all of our distinguished guests and friends, to the banquet reception of the 13th International Summer School on Biocomplexity, Biodesign, and Bioinnovation! This has been a very intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking week. We’ve been asked to share a few of our thoughts on this experience.

We would first like to thank our hosts, especially Onur, who have welcomed us to the Kilyos campus with its terrific views of the Black Sea.

We’ve been overwhelmed by the welcoming nature of the Turkish people, and the willingness of everyone to share the beauty of their country. We’ve been enthralled with the rich history and greatly enjoyed visiting the Dolmabache palace and the Blue Mosque. Additionally, we’re very grateful to have had the chance to see the most beautiful building ever built in human history—the Hagia Sofia!

This is the second banquet already—at the last banquet, we were fortunate to experience the beautiful and uniquely-placed Bogazici University. We’d like to thank everyone who has made this week a unique experience.

First, we’d like to thank the organizing committee who made this week possible. First and foremost, the Akay family. Your love and passion for your home country is infectious. You’ve inspired vacations for years to come—and also inspired a new passion for many of us, baklava! Your time and effort invested to continue this event is most appreciated.

We would also like to thank Professor Ozcan Gulcur for sharing his close ties to the Turkish Mafia with us and providing such a memorable night at the Hagia Irene with it’s terrific acoustics. Your years of wisdom in BME (and insightful soccer comments) greatly contributed to our experience.

Dr. Andrei Dragomir, thank you for interesting conversations, documenting the entire week, and keeping us all entertained!

Professors Hess and Guzman, we would like to thank you for opening our eyes to the beauty of small things sometimes overlooked, be it the incredibly efficient motor proteins or the many applications of nanoparticles. Like all of the other professors this week, we’re appreciative of you exposing us to new tools and ideas to help us to advance in our own research.

We would like to acknowledge the funding sources who’ve made this week possible: the NSF, EMB, University of Houston, Bogazici University, Arizona State and IEEE. Most importantly, we would like to thank you, our fellow students. The talks have all been excellent and it’s been fascinating to see the wide variety of ongoing research. We’ve greatly enjoyed having constructive discussions about science, be it others or our own ideas, as well as just getting to know each other. Thanks to everyone for being flexible, respectful, and engaged. Let’s try to keep this open exchange of ideas ongoing throughout our careers.

Finally, we would like to raise our glasses to Allyson, who has made this entire Summer School as smooth and organized event. Thank you for handling so much behind the scenes and for making this Summer School possible! Cheers.