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SOUND OF SILENCE<br />
By Georgina Johnson<br />
D<br />
r Jeff Steinhauer recently<br />
created an artificial<br />
black hole in his lab in<br />
the Faculty of Physics, paving<br />
the way for proving Stephen<br />
Hawkins’ prediction of radiation<br />
that is said to be emitted by black<br />
holes due to quantum effects.<br />
The groundbreaking finding was<br />
published on the physics Web site<br />
arXiv.org in June 2009. Steinhauer<br />
followed a suggestion made in<br />
1981 by William Unruh of the<br />
University of British Columbia<br />
and created an analogue of a real<br />
MEET<br />
Prof. Peretz Lavie<br />
In this issue…<br />
03<br />
Smart<br />
Ventures<br />
Q&A<br />
T TE E CC H N I IO ON N<br />
World-first<br />
observation<br />
of an acoustic<br />
black hole<br />
black hole in the laboratory, using<br />
an extremely cold form of matter<br />
called a Bose-Einstein condensate.<br />
This analogue is dubbed a “dumb<br />
hole” because it swallows sound<br />
rather than light.<br />
The light-swallowing abilities of real<br />
black holes make them notoriously<br />
difficult to observe directly, though<br />
their gravitational effects on their<br />
surroundings can be seen. Some,<br />
such as those around which<br />
galaxies are believed to accrete,<br />
formed just after the beginning of<br />
N E W H O R I Z O N S<br />
THE PRESIDENT<br />
Prof. Peretz Lavie was inaugurated as the 16th president of<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> on October 1, 2009. Lavie, a world-renowned authority<br />
on the psychophysiology of sleep and sleep disorders, heads the<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> Sleep Laboratory. He is the incumbent of the André<br />
Ballard Chair in Biological Psychiatry. Between 1993 and 1999,<br />
Lavie served as dean of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, and<br />
more recently, between 2001 and 2008, as <strong>Technion</strong>’s vice<br />
president for resource development and external relations. Lavie<br />
is the author of the acclaimed books, The Enchanted World of<br />
Sleep, and Restless Nights: Understanding Sleep Apnea and<br />
Snoring. Lavie is one of the founders and directors of Itamar<br />
Medical Ltd., SLP Ltd., and Sleep Health Centers Ltd.<br />
05<br />
the universe. A lot, though, are the<br />
result of huge stars collapsing in<br />
on themselves at the end of their<br />
lives. Whatever their origin, all black<br />
holes have an “event horizon,”<br />
within which gravity is so intense<br />
that nothing can escape.<br />
Steinhauer and his colleagues<br />
created a condensate out of<br />
a gas of rubidium atoms held<br />
in a magnetic trap. They then<br />
decompressed part of the gas,<br />
resulting in high-speed flow. They<br />
took photographs and used them<br />
For an exclusive interview with incoming<br />
President Lavie, see page 2<br />
Water the<br />
World<br />
06<br />
Big<br />
Drama<br />
to calculate both the speed of<br />
flow and the speed of sound<br />
within the condensate. Their data<br />
showed that the speed of part<br />
of the condensate exceeded the<br />
speed of sound, and they had<br />
therefore made an acoustic event<br />
horizon. Sound waves should be<br />
trapped in the supersonic region<br />
of the flow. “It’s like trying to swim<br />
slowly against a fast current,” says<br />
Steinhauer. “The sound waves are<br />
never able to escape the sonic<br />
event horizon and fall behind<br />
08<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> - Israel Institute<br />
of Technology<br />
www.focus.technion.ac.il<br />
OCTOBER 2009<br />
because the current is moving<br />
faster than the waves.”<br />
The next step is to look for<br />
sound waves emitted by the<br />
sonic black hole — the yet<br />
unobserved Hawking radiation,<br />
predicted by theoretical physicist<br />
Stephen Hawking. “This is about<br />
understanding the basic laws of<br />
physics,” Steinhauer said. “What<br />
this research is good for in dayto-day<br />
life I’m not sure, but we as<br />
humans want to understand how<br />
the universe works.”<br />
With the opening of the 2009-10 academic year at <strong>Technion</strong> City, new discoveries are underway on a cosmic scale. New initiatives to protect the planet, international ventures, and the burgeoning<br />
fields in which to discover, understand, and apply the science and technologies of tomorrow are bringing an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation to the New Year.<br />
EnergyFlow<br />
Paint it<br />
Green<br />
Dr Jeff Steinhauer<br />
The ultimate solution<br />
to diminishing fossilfuel<br />
reserves, and their<br />
increasing cost, is the<br />
development of noncarbon-based<br />
energy<br />
cycles and improved<br />
utilization of existing<br />
hydrocarbons.<br />
Stories by Amanda Jaffe-Katz<br />
on page 4<br />
1
News<br />
2<br />
OCTOBER 2009<br />
Prof. Mordechai (Moti) Segev of<br />
the Faculty of Physics was awarded<br />
the top rank of Distinguished<br />
Professor by the <strong>Technion</strong> Senate.<br />
Segev, who holds the Trudy and<br />
Norman Louis chair, is a worldacclaimed<br />
expert in nonlinear<br />
optics. He joins the ranks of<br />
Nobel Laureates Distinguished<br />
Profs. Avram Hershko and Aaron<br />
Ciechanover. The first such title was granted in<br />
1977 to the late Nathan Rosen, former student of<br />
Albert Einstein.<br />
Published by the Division of Public Affairs and Resource Development<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel<br />
Tel: 972-4-829-2578 > focus@tx.technion.ac.il<br />
www.focus.technion.ac.il > http://www.youtube.com/<strong>Technion</strong><br />
VP Resource Development<br />
and External Relations: Prof. Raphael Rom<br />
Director, Public Affairs and<br />
Resource Development: Shimon Arbel<br />
Head, Department<br />
of Public Affairs: Yvette Gershon<br />
Editors: Amanda Jaffe-Katz, Barbara Frank<br />
Design: CastroNawy<br />
Photo Coordinator: Hilda Favel<br />
MEET<br />
THE PRESIDENT<br />
…continued from page 1<br />
Incoming president, Prof. Peretz Lavie (r), networks with Ben Rothman (l),<br />
participant at SciTech 2009 summer research program.<br />
By Barbara Frank<br />
What are the challenges you face<br />
assuming office at this time?<br />
When the last administration, which I was a part of,<br />
came into office it was right after the crisis of 2001.<br />
The financial “bubble” had burst and I really believe<br />
that the economic climate was no better than today.<br />
The first challenge is how to continue to develop<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> during the present economic reality that<br />
includes budget cuts in education in Israel, and the<br />
reduction of gifts from our supporters abroad as a<br />
result of the difficult global economy and the Madoff<br />
scandal in the USA.<br />
Another<br />
League<br />
Photographers: Yoav Bachar, Keren Grinberg, Gustavo Hochman,<br />
Miki Koren, Shimon Okun, Shlomo Shoham,<br />
Yosi Shrem, Haim Zach, and others.<br />
The second challenge is to further develop<br />
interdisciplinary research at <strong>Technion</strong>. We have<br />
excellent research programs in nanotechnology,<br />
life sciences, autonomous systems, and energy.<br />
Interdisciplinary research is the future: we have made<br />
good inroads in this area and want to expand with<br />
nanomedicine.<br />
What are your top priorities<br />
for your term in office?<br />
I would like to see the formation of a campuswide<br />
graduate program for interdisciplinary research. This<br />
would be an umbrella program where graduate<br />
students would take basic courses from a wide variety<br />
of disciplines and then find their niche research<br />
program and receive a <strong>Technion</strong> Interdisciplinary<br />
degree. It would provide a true merging of different<br />
research fields.<br />
Another important priority is to bring <strong>Technion</strong> closer<br />
to the public and improve its image. In Israel, the<br />
perception of the university and higher education<br />
in general has been eroded. <strong>Technion</strong> plays an<br />
unparalleled role in the history of the country and we<br />
need to bring this message to the public in general<br />
and to our potential students, in particular. We have<br />
to emphasize that <strong>Technion</strong> not only helps build and<br />
defend Israel but that <strong>Technion</strong> affects each and every<br />
person in the world. Examples are how <strong>Technion</strong><br />
research helps Parkinson’s sufferers worldwide and the<br />
cell phone user everywhere. <strong>Technion</strong>’s Nobel Prize for<br />
the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation<br />
led to the discovery of drugs, most notably Velcade ® ,<br />
Forward<br />
Vision<br />
The striking sculpture, Vision, was<br />
dedicated in September 2009<br />
in tribute to devoted friends of<br />
<strong>Technion</strong>, Dr Irwin and Joan Jacobs,<br />
in honor of their far-reaching<br />
contributions to <strong>Technion</strong> over<br />
the years, and most recently to<br />
the Graduate School that bears<br />
their name. The stainless-steel<br />
sculpture, mounted on a 12ton<br />
basalt rock, alludes to the<br />
imagination, ingenuity, and vision<br />
of <strong>Technion</strong>; its soaring bird-like<br />
form draws the <strong>Technion</strong> to new<br />
heights. The latticed sculpture that<br />
merges with the environment was<br />
created by Israeli artist Yaël Artsi.<br />
She explains that the local basalt<br />
stone symbolizes the ancient, a<br />
starting point, and flight symbolizes<br />
the first condition for the evolution<br />
of science.<br />
Dr Irwin and Joan Jacobs, <strong>Technion</strong><br />
Guardians, are renowned patrons of<br />
“My personal vision is that every young person in<br />
Israel, when thinking about a future in science and<br />
technology, should believe that <strong>Technion</strong> is an<br />
exciting place to be that is within his or her reach.”<br />
the Arts. Joan Jacobs said that while<br />
she and her husband have many<br />
buildings named for them, they had<br />
never dedicated a piece of art and<br />
that this was an important moment<br />
in their lives. Dr Irwin Jacobs said<br />
that although they had previously<br />
seen pictures of the concept, it was<br />
a wonderful sight when, coming<br />
down the road, they caught their<br />
first glimpse of the installation. “I<br />
hope that students, faculty, and<br />
visitors for many years to come will<br />
enjoy it,” he said. “Sculpture causes<br />
us to think more broadly.”<br />
Dr Irwin Mark Jacobs is a<br />
groundbreaking entrepreneur<br />
who co-founded LINKABIT and<br />
QUALCOMM. These companies<br />
have employed hundreds of<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> graduates – in Israel and<br />
in the U.S. In 2000, Irwin Jacobs<br />
received an Honorary Doctorate<br />
from <strong>Technion</strong>.<br />
]<br />
which help cancer patients. I have no doubt that other<br />
current exciting research programs in many faculties<br />
will bear similar results in the future.<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> graduates are the turbo engine for global<br />
high-tech and are sought after everywhere. I want to<br />
close the gap between <strong>Technion</strong>’s actual contributions<br />
– what we do – and how we are perceived. I would<br />
like to see an interactive <strong>Technion</strong> Web site for<br />
youth. We have two new English-language degree<br />
programs to attract international students to <strong>Technion</strong>,<br />
the International School of Engineering and the new<br />
Executive MBA program. It was heartwarming to meet<br />
the first class of 23 international students who just<br />
started their studies in the <strong>Technion</strong>. To attain our goals<br />
we must continue to attract the very best students and<br />
faculty to join us. I intend to be personally involved in<br />
this effort.<br />
After 85 years, what is <strong>Technion</strong>’s role in Israeli<br />
national life today and how may this change?<br />
At <strong>Technion</strong> there is an excellent mixture of applied<br />
and basic research. This has enabled <strong>Technion</strong> to play<br />
a leading role in the development of the country, and<br />
to advance knowledge in general for the benefit of<br />
mankind. <strong>Technion</strong>’s model of the balance between<br />
applied and basic science must continue and available<br />
funds must go to advance excellence in both areas.<br />
What is your personal vision for <strong>Technion</strong>?<br />
My personal vision is that every young person in<br />
Israel, when thinking about a future in science and<br />
technology, should believe that <strong>Technion</strong> is an exciting<br />
place to be that is within his or her reach.<br />
Knight Star<br />
Prof. Anath Fischer (right) was<br />
awarded the Star of Italian<br />
Solidarity with the rank of<br />
Knight from the President of<br />
Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, for<br />
her important contributions in<br />
promoting academic research<br />
collaboration between Israel<br />
and Italy. She received the<br />
order of merit at a ceremony<br />
held at the residence of<br />
H.E. Luigi Mattiolo (left),<br />
ambassador of Italy to Israel, in<br />
June 2009 in honor of Italian<br />
National Day.
Smart Ventures<br />
By Amanda Jaffe-Katz<br />
A<br />
unique partnership aimed at taking<br />
management in Israel to new heights was<br />
signed by <strong>Technion</strong> and the U.S.-based Andre<br />
and Katherine Merage Foundation. The Andre<br />
and Katherine Merage – <strong>Technion</strong> Institute for<br />
International Business will offer an English-only international<br />
executive MBA (I-EMBA) program designed to develop the<br />
skills of Israel’s future high-tech leaders. The new institute,<br />
established with a $12 m. gift and slated to launch its<br />
first programs in 2010, will also house three centers for<br />
international business development aimed at training<br />
high-tech executives how to infiltrate the U.S., Asian, and<br />
European markets.<br />
Dean of the Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and<br />
Management, Prof. Boaz Golany, noted that <strong>Technion</strong> needs<br />
not only to educate and train scientists, engineers, and<br />
physicians, but also the future managers of Israel’s scienceand<br />
technology-related firms and organizations. “<strong>Technion</strong> is<br />
delighted to work in partnership with the Merage Foundation<br />
and we are determined to make the new institute a success<br />
story and a role model for others in Israel and abroad to<br />
follow,” Golany said at the July 2009 inauguration.<br />
Capital Scholars<br />
I<br />
n a July 2009 ceremony in Jerusalem, 57<br />
undergraduate and graduate students received<br />
scholarships from the Fund for Jerusalem Students at<br />
the <strong>Technion</strong>, headed by Dr Erel Margalit – founder<br />
and managing partner of Jerusalem Venture Partners<br />
(JVP). The fund acts as an umbrella for different scholarships<br />
given in honor of Jerusalem entrepreneurs, business leaders,<br />
and supporters. Before the ceremony held at The Lab – JVP’s<br />
media center – JVP delivered a presentation about The<br />
Lab’s activities in the field of animation to show the students<br />
some of the opportunities that exist in Jerusalem combining<br />
creativity and technology. Margalit said, “It is important to<br />
send a message to young Jerusalemites who are going to<br />
study at the <strong>Technion</strong> that they can go out into the world,<br />
get their education and come back to Jerusalem. Things are<br />
Winning<br />
Entrepreneurs<br />
The winners of the annual national BizTEC<br />
entrepreneurship competition, led by <strong>Technion</strong> and<br />
leading financial newspaper TheMarker, were recently<br />
announced. BizTEC is open to students and staff from<br />
all Israeli institutes of higher learning. The winners<br />
receive cash prizes and start-up business services.<br />
Coming in first this year was 2.5-Touch/Point<br />
Technology, a project that aims to enable every<br />
screen to perform as a touch screen at minimal<br />
cost. The concept was developed at Ariel University<br />
Center of Samaria by an R&D group led by Leonid<br />
Minutin. Second place went to Vizmo for a patentpending<br />
technology that creates a new and efficient<br />
way for businesses to serve their mobile calling<br />
customers. Founded in 2008 by Tomer London and<br />
Asaf Revach, Vizmo is a member of the <strong>Technion</strong><br />
Innovation Lab – a pre-incubator for <strong>Technion</strong><br />
students with promising ideas. Third-place winner,<br />
T E C H N I O N<br />
]<br />
(l-r) Katherine Merage and<br />
her son Paul Merage at the<br />
inauguration of the Andre and<br />
Katherine Merage – <strong>Technion</strong><br />
Institute for International<br />
Business<br />
[<br />
“<strong>Technion</strong> is head and<br />
shoulders above anyone else.”<br />
Paul Merage, president of the foundation which bears<br />
his parents’ names, said that it was a “truly deep honor<br />
to be associated with the <strong>Technion</strong> – one of the most<br />
wonderful institutes of higher learning throughout the<br />
world.” Merage explained his involvement in business<br />
schools – a commitment commensurate with his own<br />
background and knowledge. Over the last five years, the<br />
foundation has taken more than 250 Israeli executives to<br />
the U.S. for intensive workshops in which they learnt how to<br />
penetrate their products and their services into the United<br />
States. These executives received a completely new outlook<br />
on international business and suggested extending the<br />
opportunity to many more executives.<br />
“We went through an exhaustive and competitive search<br />
process to find the appropriate partner and found that<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> is the right place,” Merage said. “<strong>Technion</strong> is head<br />
and shoulders above anyone else in the approach and in the<br />
vision, and I have to applaud you for that and thank you for<br />
that partnership.”<br />
happening here. Today when we look at our country after<br />
61 years we can be very proud of what’s been created here.<br />
During the past 20 years Israel has become a focal point for<br />
research and development in the world. This is very much<br />
due to <strong>Technion</strong>.”<br />
Gen (Res.) Amos Horev, chairman of the Israel <strong>Technion</strong><br />
Society, said that he had had the privilege in 1976 to suggest<br />
to former Mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek, to establish this<br />
fund with an aim to change the socioeconomic fiber of the<br />
city. In 1977, the Eliahu Sochazewer Fund for Jerusalem<br />
Students at the <strong>Technion</strong> was set up as a way to encourage<br />
talented students from Jerusalem to study engineering and<br />
technology at the <strong>Technion</strong> and then return to the capital.<br />
To date more than 1,300 scholarships have been awarded.<br />
Every recipient signs a non-binding agreement to return<br />
to the city upon completion of studies and, according to<br />
representatives of the fund, most do relocate to the capital.<br />
Pan VR, is developing a product targeted to the PC<br />
accessories and hardware/DIY market.<br />
Among BizTEC’s supporters are the <strong>Technion</strong>’s<br />
Bronica Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center,<br />
Faculty of Computer Science and the Israel<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> Society. BizTEC’s sponsors include Intel<br />
Capital, Canaan Partners, and Luzzatto & Luzzatto<br />
patent attorneys.<br />
Merage continued, “We are living in a new global village…<br />
Capital basically flows freely and often fleetingly in search of<br />
the best technology. The only place that Israel can really be<br />
in years to come is as a technology center – if you will,<br />
a technology workshop and technology powerhouse.”<br />
Israel is less adept as a business and management base<br />
for marketing the byproducts of that technology throughout<br />
the world, and this is where this new institute comes in,<br />
Merage explained. “Unlike his U.S. counterpart, the Israeli<br />
businessman from Day One has to learn how to market<br />
outside the country. It takes a tremendous amount of<br />
education and know-how,” he said.<br />
“<strong>Technion</strong> will bring a high level of excellence that it has<br />
always manifested in everything it has done to this Institute<br />
as well, and we are very much looking forward to this<br />
partnership for years to come,” concluded Merage.<br />
Also announced at the ceremony was the establishment<br />
of a joint program between <strong>Technion</strong>’s Faculty of Civil and<br />
Environmental Engineering and the Jerusalem College of<br />
Engineering (JCE). Students in this unique program will study<br />
two years at JCE followed by two years at <strong>Technion</strong> for a BSc<br />
degree in civil and environmental engineering.<br />
Drug for Heart Disease<br />
CardiAmit, the first company<br />
established by the Alfred Mann<br />
Institute for Biomedical Development<br />
at <strong>Technion</strong> (AMIT), is developing<br />
a new drug to protect the heart<br />
muscle. The drug is based on a novel<br />
cardioprotective molecule that can<br />
protect heart cells against damage and<br />
death from ischemia and reperfusion injury. Profs. Moussa Youdim, Ofer Binah,<br />
Zaid Abassi and Dr Yaron Barac of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine began<br />
developing the molecule in 2004. The drug will be able to provide heart-attack<br />
patients with a complementary treatment to percutaneous coronary intervention<br />
(PCI) to improve clinical results and in cases where PCI is unavailable or<br />
unsuitable for the patient.<br />
The new drug is a derivative of the anti-Parkinson’s drug rasagiline (Azilect ® )<br />
developed by <strong>Technion</strong> Profs. Moussa Youdim and John Finberg with Teva<br />
Pharmaceuticals. Youdim comments, “It is apparent that in both cardiac<br />
myocytes and neurons this new drug’s protective activity is related to its<br />
activation of a key signal transduction protein. We have great hope for this<br />
cardioprotective drug that may have disease-modifying activity similar to<br />
rasagiline.” First clinical trials should begin in 2010.<br />
Business<br />
3
Energy<br />
4<br />
OCTOBER 2009<br />
Here Comes<br />
the Sun<br />
“Solar energy is abundant, while fossil fuels are limited<br />
in supply,” says Prof. Gershon Grossman, the Sherman-<br />
Gilbert Chair in Solar Energy. At <strong>Technion</strong>’s Research<br />
Center for Energy Engineering and Environmental<br />
Preservation in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,<br />
Grossman is perfecting techniques for solar AC (air<br />
conditioning), using solar energy to dehumidify the<br />
air. “Unlike solar space heating, AC is a very good<br />
application for solar energy,” says Grossman.<br />
Back in 1980, Grossman was part of a team that<br />
pioneered one of the biggest solar AC projects in<br />
Hydro Power<br />
Fuel Cell System<br />
Hydrogen is one of the natural candidates for<br />
alternative fuel, yet the costly infrastructure required to<br />
store and transport it safely is uneconomical.<br />
Dr Valery Rosenband and Prof. Alon Gany’s research<br />
in the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering represents a<br />
Benny and the Jets<br />
Prof. Benny Natan develops a gel fuel, which is hydrocarbon plus metal particles,<br />
to achieve superior performance in rocket or ramjet propulsion applications.<br />
EnergyFlow<br />
]<br />
“Solar energy is abundant, while<br />
fossil fuels are limited in supply.”<br />
the world at Tel Hashomer Medical Center. Hospitals<br />
require AC year-round, thereby giving maximal return on<br />
capital-intensive investment.<br />
There are two basic functions of AC: one is to cool the<br />
temperature and the other is to lower the humidity.<br />
Typically, the consumer is not given separate control<br />
over these two factors, and in humid climates, such as<br />
Florida or Israel’s Coastal Plain, reducing the humidity<br />
is more important. “A person can feel comfortable<br />
in 90°F (32°C) if the relative humidity is, say, 30<br />
percent, and will feel very uncomfortable at the same<br />
temperature if the humidity is 70 percent,” Grossman<br />
points out. “In our solar-powered system we dehumidify<br />
fresh or recirculated air that is then injected into the<br />
conditioned space. We bring the air into contact with a<br />
“Hydrogen is the most attractive<br />
alternative fuel… and the aluminum<br />
used in the process can be recycled.”[<br />
revolutionary milestone in the search for its practical<br />
utilization. For their novel approach, Gany and<br />
Rosenband received the 2009 Hershel and Hilda Rich<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> Innovation Award.<br />
Hydrogen is attractive because of its enormous<br />
combustion heat and its environmentally friendly<br />
byproduct — water vapor. The most efficient utilization<br />
of hydrogen energy is in fuel cells, where chemical<br />
energy is converted directly to electrical energy. “Our<br />
invention consists of original chemical treatment<br />
and activation of aluminum powders,” explain the<br />
researchers. The activated aluminum then reacts with<br />
water, generating hydrogen.<br />
Initial experiments have revealed that a fast, selfsustained,<br />
complete reaction of the activated aluminum<br />
with water can take place at room temperature. This<br />
Prof. Benveniste (Benny) Natan of the Faculty of<br />
Aerospace Engineering is improving rocket or ramjet<br />
propulsion performance with a jelly-like substance,<br />
based on gasoline. “Gel fuel is a liquid fuel to which<br />
you add a gelling agent, and you get something that<br />
looks like the Jell-O in your kitchen,” he explains. The<br />
addition of metal particles to the gel – analogous to the<br />
fruit segments added to Jell-O – leads to much better<br />
performance than regular fuel. “We’ve calculated that<br />
it’s feasible for a ramjet air-breathing engine, using gel<br />
and metal particles, to cover large distances.”<br />
“I address the safety of gel propellants, as well as<br />
performance issues,” says Natan. “If the fuel storage<br />
tank is hit, then the fuel won’t leak because the gel<br />
forms a crust and keeps it in place. Even if it does leak,<br />
it’s at a reduced rate – so it’s a safer fuel.”<br />
“With the gel alone, you just get the advantage of<br />
safety. For performance, you need the metal particles,”<br />
he says. Boron and aluminum are the metals of<br />
desiccant material which absorbs the humidity from the<br />
processed air in a special reactor called a dehumidifier.<br />
Then we regenerate – or dry – the desiccant in a<br />
second reactor, where we apply solar heat, pretty much<br />
like in a laundry drier. The dry desiccant can now go<br />
back to the dehumidifier to dehumidify more air.”<br />
“If we make this technology work, people will be able<br />
to use solar air conditioning in the middle of the day,<br />
during hours of peak demand,” Grossman advises.<br />
method has been tested systematically revealing 100<br />
percent yield of the reaction and patent application has<br />
been filed. Applications include fuel cells and power<br />
generation on Earth, Sea, Air and Space; energy storage<br />
for emergency power generation, battery replacement;<br />
and direct automotive and marine propulsion.<br />
“Of all available methods for hydrogen production<br />
based on a reaction of metals with water, our method is<br />
superior in most relevant parameters,” says Gany, who<br />
holds the Lena and Ben Fohrman Chair in Aeronautical<br />
Engineering. The production method offers significant<br />
advantages: safe and compact hydrogen storage<br />
(four times more compact than liquid hydrogen) and<br />
controlled in-situ production, using pure water, tap<br />
water or seawater; energy bonus: not only does the<br />
aluminum reaction with water not consume energy, but<br />
it releases 17 kJ of heat per gram of aluminum, which<br />
can be harnessed; non-polluting solid-state residues<br />
(aluminum oxide or aluminum hydroxide); and, in<br />
contrast to oil, the aluminum used in the process can<br />
be recycled.<br />
choice. “You get much more from the metals than<br />
from the regular hydrocarbon; the problem is that they<br />
sink down in a liquid fuel. But with gel, there is no<br />
sedimentation. They stay in place, like the banana stays<br />
in Jell-O.”<br />
]<br />
Prof. Gershon Grossman<br />
[<br />
“The result is a device that gives you<br />
more mileage with less fuel.”<br />
This, Natan maintains, is a unique solution. “It’s<br />
important from every aspect, and there is simply no<br />
additional damage to the environment. If you compare<br />
with regular hydrocarbon,” Natan explains, “the particles<br />
can give you 30 to 40 percent more energy per unit<br />
mass when they burn, and sometimes three times<br />
more per unit volume. This means you get a more<br />
compact motor and save space, and thus reduce the<br />
aerodynamic drag. The result is a device that gives you<br />
more mileage with less fuel.”
Eden at <strong>Technion</strong><br />
By Amanda Jaffe-Katz<br />
Step out of the state-of-the-art labs and networked<br />
offices and take a trip round the 24-dunam (6-acre)<br />
plot of unspoiled Nature on campus. And if it happens<br />
to be the last Wednesday of the month, you’ll enjoy<br />
a guided tour conducted by the Ecological Garden’s<br />
manager, Daniella Kopel.<br />
Midsummer, with Israel’s enduring drought and ensuing<br />
water regulations, and Kopel discusses the necessary<br />
measures to cut watering to a minimum while<br />
maintaining healthy private gardens. She begins her<br />
tour, attended by participants who braved the extreme<br />
heat, on the terraces of the “amphitheater” constructed<br />
entirely from recycled materials—plaster-covered tires<br />
filled with building rubble. She then leads the group of<br />
students, researchers, and administrative staff through<br />
the wooded areas, explaining the role of each plant in<br />
the food chain, the effect that every leaf in the canopy<br />
has on the growth or absence of other species. Her<br />
observations have prompted her to make forestation<br />
recommendations to the relevant authorities.<br />
Kopel, who graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry in<br />
1994, explains the location of this unique north-facing<br />
part of Mount Carmel and its native flora. In the earliest<br />
written record of the area that she found, dated 1858,<br />
the vines covering this area were abundant—Carmel,<br />
she points out, means God’s Vineyard.<br />
Water the World<br />
Using wastewater to ease the<br />
region’s water shortage<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> researchers from the Grand Water<br />
Research Institute (GWRI) recently installed an<br />
advanced membrane system for the ultimate effluent<br />
purification, yielding water for unrestricted use.<br />
Sustainable agriculture is conditional upon irrigation<br />
with good quality water, yet farmers are rapidly losing<br />
their share of this precious resource. Irrigating with<br />
recycled wastewater fills this loss and presents an<br />
environmentally acceptable way for wastewater disposal.<br />
This system is located at the Carmel Coast Regional<br />
Council’s secondary wastewater treatment Nir Etzion<br />
site. It is the second stage of a Palestinian–Jordanian–<br />
Israeli Project supported by the Peres Center for Peace<br />
and the USAID–MERC program, jointly. Prof. Emeritus<br />
Josef Hagin, coordinator of the project, says,<br />
“A similar membrane system is under construction at<br />
the Jordanian National Center for Agricultural Research<br />
and Extension – within our cooperative project. We<br />
expect that within a year, the tertiary and quaternary<br />
wastewater treatment processes will be optimized<br />
and our membrane plant will serve as a model for<br />
constructing larger scale plants at most secondary<br />
wastewater treatment plants operating in Israel and<br />
the region. This will make a considerable contribution<br />
toward increased availability of high quality water and<br />
will ensure irrigated agriculture sustainability.”<br />
T E C H N I O N<br />
Sitting in the shade of the vines by the water-lily pond,<br />
the group learns how to keep their gardens alive with<br />
reduced water consumption. Kopel recommends:<br />
1. Water early in the morning – not at night –<br />
so that the leaves can dry and not get sick;<br />
2. Teach the plants to make do with less watering,<br />
gradually reaching the optimal dose of<br />
once every 10 days;<br />
3. Plant only local Mediterranean vegetation<br />
or boost this with flora from Australia;<br />
4. Do not fertilize lawns during the summer,<br />
only when autumn approaches;<br />
5. Sprinkle with potassium nitrate;<br />
6. Cover any exposed area of soil<br />
to eliminate evaporation.<br />
The tour ends alongside the bubbling Ben Dor<br />
stream which flows through the Gutwirth Ecological<br />
Garden, where Kopel describes her efforts to help<br />
the indigenous salamander population find a friendly<br />
breeding ground, and where she points out the river<br />
bank flora that grows abundantly such as creeping<br />
cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans) and willows (Salix alba<br />
and Salix acmophylla).<br />
“Come back late winter and you’ll be able to see<br />
the first flowering of the orchids which we saved<br />
from areas on campus undergoing construction,”<br />
Kopel promises. A local patriot, she qualifies this by<br />
]<br />
Magical Mystery Tour:<br />
Daniella Kopel leads an<br />
educational visit round<br />
<strong>Technion</strong>’s Ecological Garden.<br />
“A considerable contribution<br />
toward increased availability<br />
of high quality water.”<br />
According to Hagin, most of Israel’s effluent undergoes<br />
secondary treatment and is used for irrigation. It typically<br />
contains salt and some contaminants, which, with<br />
time, damage agricultural soils and groundwater. For<br />
example, avocado yield near Acre declined with the<br />
use of secondary treated effluent, due to the presence<br />
of contaminants and water salinity. In Palestinian and<br />
Jordanian agriculture, even less efficiently treated<br />
wastewater is used for irrigation.<br />
At the Nir Etzion site, the new membrane system<br />
pumps secondary treated wastewater and removes salts,<br />
bacteria, viruses, and other contaminants from it. The<br />
system was conceived by Prof. Raphael<br />
Semiat, head of GWRI and a renowned<br />
water desalination scientist, in cooperation<br />
with Prof. Carlos Dosoretz, who specializes<br />
in the removal of pharmaceuticals and<br />
similar compounds from wastewater. It<br />
was constructed at the Wolfson Faculty of<br />
Chemical Engineering by expert technician<br />
Albert Bin-Nun.<br />
Engineer Ilan Katz, who planned and<br />
now supervises the advanced wastewater<br />
treatment and reuse project, explains how<br />
it works: “The membrane units, pumps and<br />
control units are installed in a closed container,<br />
[<br />
saying that the indigenous Ophrys or Carmel bee<br />
orchid although smaller, “is no less beautiful than<br />
the imported orchids. Good things come in small<br />
packages, like me!” she laughs.<br />
Green Day<br />
A special Wednesday Afternoon happening took place in<br />
June 2009. Organized by the <strong>Technion</strong> Students Association,<br />
there were stands explaining <strong>Technion</strong> research in Energy,<br />
Transport, and Water; stations about Consumerism and<br />
Recycling; and activities such as bicycle acrobatics, a<br />
free second-hand market, the art of composting, and a<br />
workshop on how to save Israel’s rivers. The event was held<br />
in conjunction with the Green Campus project, and was<br />
sponsored by environmental organizations. Some 1,000<br />
students participated in this event – the 5th year that Green<br />
Day was held at <strong>Technion</strong>.<br />
outside of which storage tanks are located.<br />
Particles – even nanosized ones – are<br />
removed by an array of ultra-filtration<br />
membranes, followed by reverse osmosis<br />
membranes for removal of salts and other<br />
soluble compounds. Organic fouling and<br />
inorganic scaling are also reduced.”<br />
A data-logging unit and cellular connection also enable<br />
control and monitoring from remote computers.<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> graduate student, Dan Peled, monitors the<br />
membrane system’s performance in real time, both in<br />
situ and remotely in the lab, adjusting the operational<br />
parameters where indicated. Katz further noted that<br />
because the salinity level of the wastewater is much<br />
lower than that of seawater, it is cheaper, using less<br />
energy, to purify it.<br />
Researchers from <strong>Technion</strong>’s Grand Water Research Institute in the membrane<br />
room of the advanced wastewater treatment facility: (l-r) Engineer Ilan Katz,<br />
Profs. Carlos Dosoretz, Josef Hagin, and Raphael Semiat.<br />
Environment<br />
5
Science Communication<br />
6<br />
OCTOBER 2009<br />
Talk Science<br />
By Amanda Jaffe-Katz<br />
Dr Ayelet Baram-Tsabari is flying the banner for a science<br />
communication track within the Department of Education<br />
in Technology and Science. “This is my vision,” she says,<br />
“to train scientists how to reach the public via the mass<br />
media, and train journalists in speaking to scientists.”<br />
Baram-Tsabari, a year-and-a-half into her appointment,<br />
gives a science communication course at <strong>Technion</strong>, which<br />
is open to all <strong>Technion</strong> students. Science Communication:<br />
Theory and Practice is, to the best of her knowledge, the<br />
only such course in Israel.<br />
3 Minutes of Fame<br />
The local heat of the British Council initiative<br />
FameLab, organized by PhD student Roey Tzezana,<br />
was held at <strong>Technion</strong> in March 2009. Judges,<br />
including Dr Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, listened to<br />
some one dozen contestants under the age of 32,<br />
including winner Ravid Barak, pictured, 28-yearold<br />
third-year student of Nanotechnology. She<br />
described “The Green Flash” that may appear at<br />
sunset when the Earth’s atmosphere acts<br />
as a prism.<br />
“I really enjoyed being a judge at FameLab,” says<br />
Baram-Tsabari. “It was inspiring to see young<br />
scientists who are aspiring to speak about true and<br />
clear science – all in the space of three minutes.”<br />
Big<br />
Drama<br />
“A holistic learning experience<br />
that connects the twin cultures<br />
of science and the humanities.”<br />
]<br />
Learning by Theater:<br />
(l-r) Ran Peleg and Ruti Tamir<br />
perform Atom Surprise<br />
On her wavelength: Dr Ayelet Baram-Tsabari leads the Interest Group: (l-r) Magi Mualem, Alaa Kaadni, Galit Hagay,<br />
Dr Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, Esti Laslo, and Ran Peleg discuss science teaching and science communication.<br />
“The media is a tool we<br />
[<br />
have to learn to use in<br />
order to reach the public.”<br />
The course discusses models of communication through<br />
the media. For example, the Deficit Model which holds<br />
that it is solely the fault of the media that any gaps exist<br />
between what the layperson and the scientist think.<br />
Baram-Tsabari explains that the public requires context to<br />
assimilate scientific information. For example, in order to<br />
become interested in a specific breakthrough, the man in<br />
the street needs to know its relevance. For the practical<br />
work, students are required to write a scientific news<br />
item; to interview a scientist; film a TV-news item; and to<br />
prepare a TV script for a non-news or feature program. The<br />
best interview from each of the two courses so far taught<br />
were published on the Web by the science editor of the<br />
leading daily, Ynet.<br />
“The public owns the knowledge since it partially funds the<br />
university and its research,” says Baram-Tsabari. “Divulging<br />
this information is what we owe to the public. We need<br />
the public to be on the same wavelength as us – and this<br />
is important not just for funding.”<br />
“The media is a tool we have to learn to use in order to<br />
reach the public. We have to keep the public – and the<br />
government – on our side,” she advises. “Maintaining the<br />
distance? That’s a privilege we don’t have!”<br />
By Amanda Jaffe-Katz<br />
Ran Peleg, doctoral student in the Department of<br />
Education in Technology and Science, brings drama<br />
to the learning process – not to literature class, but<br />
rather to explain science. Peleg’s philosophy holds that<br />
theater is a means to increase children’s motivation<br />
and boost their learning experience.<br />
While living in England, Peleg earned two degrees<br />
in Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University<br />
as well as becoming an accomplished ballroom<br />
dancer. The switch from full-time chemical engineer<br />
to performer came about after Peleg had returned<br />
to Israel in 1999. After a brief career in the chemical<br />
industry, Peleg received an offer he could not refuse<br />
from an internationally performing dance company.<br />
Further training in dance, theatre, and mime and<br />
several years of science teaching experience later,<br />
Peleg led a group that created Atom Surprise, a play<br />
inspired by the need to raise interest and scientific<br />
literacy among youngsters. “Through this play, I aim<br />
to teach elementary school children about different<br />
aspects of materials including atoms, molecules, and<br />
the states of matter… but with plenty of humor and<br />
fun,” he says. Taking his comic, interactive show on<br />
the road, Peleg tours schools, community centers, and<br />
science museums and provides an experiential lesson<br />
in scientific principles for the primary school age-group.<br />
“Theater and drama allow for emotional involvement,<br />
opening the door for cognitive learning and increased<br />
Baram-Tsabari organized the first conference of its kind<br />
on science and the media in Israel, and is now planning<br />
the second one. “Just think,” she exclaims, “There’s not<br />
a single journalist in the Israeli Hebrew-language press<br />
whose only job is to write about science. In the Egyptian<br />
newspaper Al-Ahram, on the other hand, there are 20!”<br />
Baram-Tsabari is also spearheading <strong>Technion</strong>’s<br />
involvement in the 2009 Researchers’ Night European<br />
Union initiative to be held at MadaTech – The Israel<br />
National Museum of Science, Technology and Space. She<br />
explains, “To commemorate 400 years of Galileo and<br />
200 years of Darwin, the two subjects we are highlighting<br />
are Astronomy and Evolution.” In addition to lectures on<br />
astronomy and a simulation of the moon, she is involving<br />
members of the Faculty of Biology in direct dialog with<br />
the public who will attend the September event. The<br />
museum-goers will have unmediated access to discuss the<br />
issues they find interesting regarding Evolution. “Lecturing<br />
to the public is important, but talking to the public is more<br />
important,” she says.<br />
Having completed her PhD at the Weizmann Institute<br />
of Science in 2008, Baram-Tsabari chose to join<br />
the <strong>Technion</strong> faculty for its internationally acclaimed<br />
department of science education. In spring 2010, joined<br />
by her husband and two preschoolers, she will embark on<br />
a one-year postdoctoral stint at Cornell University, “to learn<br />
from the world expert, Bruce Levenstein.”<br />
motivation. They pave the way for a holistic learning<br />
experience that connects the twin cultures of science<br />
and the humanities. In addition they also court the<br />
current obsession with celebrity by putting science in<br />
the spotlight,” explains Peleg.<br />
Peleg’s doctoral research interests are the application<br />
of theatre and drama in science education. “The aim<br />
of my research is to characterize science education<br />
plays from the perspectives of the viewers/students,<br />
creators, and teachers,” he says. Peleg has already<br />
analyzed preliminary findings regarding kids’ reactions<br />
to the play and attitudes toward science, finding gender<br />
differences that in some cases favored girls’ improved<br />
learning. He is also formulating research-based design<br />
principles for the creation of future plays.<br />
His advisors are Prof. Avi Berman, head of the<br />
department, and new faculty member, Dr Ayelet<br />
Baram-Tsabari. She heads the Interest Group within<br />
the department whose members – including Peleg –<br />
study what people want to know about science and<br />
technology using novel methodologies. Baram-Tsabari<br />
says, “In the past decades we changed our goals from<br />
science education for future scientists to ‘science for<br />
all’. It is naïve of us as science educators to change<br />
the goals of science education without changing the<br />
means. Ran’s novel approach gives us another tool that<br />
wasn’t there before. Ran – a Cambridge graduate – is<br />
doing good, solid science, but he is also a professional<br />
actor. Thanks to Ran, we can now strive to teach real<br />
science in a new way, catering for as many as possible,<br />
and matching the aims with the methods.”
T E C H N I O N<br />
Summer “Science is not a profession,<br />
Science ] it is a way of life.”<br />
- Prof. Peretz Lavie[<br />
By Amanda Jaffe-Katz<br />
High school students from Bulgaria, Canada,<br />
Israel, Italy, Serbia, Turkey, the UK and the<br />
USA participated in this summer’s SciTech<br />
science and technology research program,<br />
working with <strong>Technion</strong> researchers.<br />
Acceptance into the program is highly<br />
selective, and this year 35 youngsters took<br />
part. The participants live in dormitories and<br />
experience cultural and social activities, as well<br />
as off-campus trips.<br />
At the closing ceremony when prizes for best<br />
posters and presentations were awarded,<br />
Minister of Science and Technology and<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> professor of mathematics, Daniel<br />
Hershkowitz, told the youngsters that his<br />
career essentially started in a similar camp,<br />
The <strong>Technion</strong>-coached Chemistry Olympics<br />
team brought home gold and bronze medals<br />
from the July 2009 international competition.<br />
Some 250 competitors from 64 countries<br />
convened in the UK — the first time in the<br />
contest’s 41-year history — at the University<br />
of Cambridge, which this year celebrates<br />
its 800th anniversary. The Olympiad tests<br />
the theoretical and practical abilities of<br />
international competitors who must be under<br />
20 and have yet to start university education.<br />
Students compete as individuals and form part<br />
of a typically four-person national team. The<br />
winner of Israel’s gold medal was 17-year-old<br />
Assaf Mauda, who also earned a silver medal<br />
in last year’s competition. The bronze medal<br />
was won by the youngest competitor on<br />
Israel’s national team — 15-year-old Eviatar<br />
Degani. Together with team-mates Michael<br />
Michelachvili and Neta Caspin, the team was<br />
some 40 years ago. “Seeing the level of<br />
things you did here, I don’t think today I<br />
would even be admitted to the math<br />
group!” he said.<br />
Speaking on behalf of the participants, Dobri<br />
Dobrev from Bulgaria thanked everyone who<br />
had made it possible for them to experience<br />
Israel, “that wonderful country,” he said.<br />
SciTech is held within the framework of the<br />
Harry and Lou Stern Family Science and<br />
Technology Youth Activity Unit.<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> president-elect Prof. Peretz Lavie<br />
said, “It is a great pleasure to make my<br />
first appearance as president-elect with<br />
youngsters. I believe each one of you,<br />
being exposed to science, has endless<br />
opportunities.” He continued, “Science is not<br />
a profession, it is a way of life.”<br />
Chemists 2Cambridge<br />
accompanied by Prof. Asher Schmidt, head<br />
mentor of the delegation, and team mentor<br />
Dr Iris Barzilai, both from the Schulich Faculty<br />
of Chemistry. The Faculty selects the team via<br />
a national competition and prepares them for<br />
the international event. Prof. Gabriel Kventsel<br />
serves as academic director and financial<br />
support for this activity is given by the Ministry<br />
of Education and the Chais Family Foundation.<br />
Schmidt commented, “This is our fourth<br />
participation at the international Olympiad,<br />
where the youngsters have been improving<br />
their achievements steadily every year. The<br />
recent success is a tremendous step up as it<br />
has placed Israel at the international summit.”<br />
He added, “Both Assaf and Eviatar should be<br />
able to compete at the 2010 Olympiad<br />
in Tokyo.”<br />
Sheikh Muwaffak Tarif (center left), the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, receives a<br />
modest token of appreciation from MK Ayoob Kara, deputy minister for development of the Negev and<br />
the Galilee. From the right, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, MK Majalli Whbee and MK Hamad Amar; on<br />
the left, Dr Hussein Zarka, principal of the Peki’in High School and Mayor of Peki’in, Nasrallah Kheir.<br />
MAX<br />
GET THE<br />
Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz, Minister of Sicence and Technology, congratulates SciTech<br />
participant Amal Zoabi of Israel, for her winning project, “We Want Borate!”<br />
Israel’s delegation to the International Chemistry Olympiad in Cambridge, UK: (l-r)<br />
Prof. Asher Schmidt, head mentor, Neta Caspin, gold medalist Assaf Mauda, Michael<br />
Michelachvili, and bronze medalist 15-year-old Eviatar Degani.<br />
By Barbara Frank<br />
The three-year anniversary of the<br />
“Poalim From 3 to 5” program was<br />
celebrated in the Druze village of<br />
Peki’in in the Galilee in July. Poalim<br />
From 3 to 5 is a tutoring and<br />
mentoring initiative where <strong>Technion</strong><br />
graduates help high school students<br />
from the periphery all over Israel.<br />
It is sponsored by Bank Hapoalim,<br />
and <strong>Technion</strong> – through its Alumni<br />
Association and the Israel <strong>Technion</strong><br />
Society – operates the program,<br />
with pedagogic support from the<br />
ORT education and vocational<br />
training schools. The program aims<br />
to enable the students to raise<br />
their mathematics and science<br />
matriculation scores from three<br />
points to the maximum five points,<br />
to meet the entrance requirements<br />
for <strong>Technion</strong> and other universities.<br />
Today 2,000 high school students<br />
from disadvantaged areas take part<br />
in the program with great success.<br />
The spiritual leader of the Israeli<br />
Druze community, Sheikh Muwaffak<br />
Tarif, together with the three Druze<br />
Knesset members addressed<br />
the audience. All the speakers<br />
congratulated those involved in<br />
making the program such a success.<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> graduate Salach Shaanan<br />
tutors two high school students<br />
from Peki’in and reported that both<br />
of them scored 100 percent on<br />
their 5-point matriculation exams.<br />
Outreach<br />
7
International<br />
8<br />
OCTOBER 2009<br />
Planners<br />
By Barbara Frank<br />
A group of invited urban planning scholars<br />
from distinguished universities around the<br />
world (Harvard, MIT, Berkeley, UCLA, UBC,<br />
Westminster, U. of Milano and others),<br />
participated in an international workshop at<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> in June 2009 convened by the<br />
Philip and Ethel Klutznick Center for City and<br />
Regional Studies. The workshop — Planning<br />
for/with People — was initiated and headed<br />
by Prof. Naomi Carmon, incumbent of<br />
the Joseph Meyerhoff Chair in Urban and<br />
Regional Planning at the <strong>Technion</strong> Faculty<br />
of Architecture and Town Planning. It was<br />
dedicated to the social concerns at the<br />
core of urban research, policy-making and<br />
planning. The international experts decided<br />
Bridge<br />
to the<br />
4<br />
WORLD<br />
New international<br />
school opens<br />
By Amanda Jaffe-Katz<br />
The first intake of 23 students in the newly<br />
launched International School of Engineering<br />
(ISE) made its debut on campus at the<br />
end of July. Greeted by Dean of the Faculty<br />
of Civil and Environmental Engineering,<br />
Prof. Arnon Bentur, the group of young<br />
students were introduced to campus life and<br />
learned about each other. The international<br />
Paint it Green<br />
T<br />
echnion graduate Dr Joseph Cory’s<br />
conceptual design “Contour - Umm al-<br />
Fahm Museum for Modern Art” was chosen<br />
among the 20 winners of the World Architecture<br />
competition.<br />
“This competition aims to publicize remarkable<br />
projects around the world (realized and conceptual)<br />
that have the potential to inspire exciting questions<br />
about contemporary architectural discourse,”<br />
says Cory, who holds a PhD from the Faculty of<br />
Architecture and Town Planning. “Even though<br />
we got the second prize in the original design<br />
competition for the museum in 2008, it is great to<br />
know that this project has a positive impact on the<br />
architectural community worldwide.”<br />
Together with Cory on the Contour Museum design<br />
team were <strong>Technion</strong> alumnus Farah Farah and<br />
Flavio Adriani. They used sustainable architecture in<br />
People<br />
to adopt the principle of Looking Back for<br />
the Future, reflecting on their decades<br />
of experience researching, teaching and<br />
practicing with “people in mind,” aiming at<br />
delivering their conclusions and lessons to<br />
the next generation of students, scholars and<br />
practitioners of urban and regional planning.<br />
More than 30 participants gave<br />
presentations over the five-day period which<br />
also included on-site visits to villages and<br />
organizations in the Galilee, the National<br />
Water Carrier, the new town of Yokneam,<br />
and Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Lively discussion sessions<br />
included topics such as Urban Planning<br />
as a Social Endeavor; Democracy, Public<br />
Participation and the Planning Process;<br />
Poverty, Housing and Urban Renewal; and<br />
“pioneers” – as Bentur called them – hail<br />
from 15 countries on five continents. At<br />
the festive ceremony launching the school,<br />
Bentur said that this group represents<br />
“the nucleus for realizing the vision of<br />
establishing an international school in all the<br />
fields of engineering at <strong>Technion</strong>,” at which<br />
1,000 students from all corners of the world<br />
will study within a decade.<br />
Following a week of orientation on<br />
campus and in the country, the students<br />
will commence their 4-month intensive<br />
preparation course before starting the<br />
4-year study program that will award them<br />
the BSc degree in Civil and Environmental<br />
Engineering. All studies will be conducted in<br />
English. The Academic Head of the program,<br />
Prof. Amnon Katz, explained that the first<br />
year of instruction will be dedicated to<br />
basic science after which studies will move<br />
gradually into the multidisciplinary topics<br />
the entire design via minimal impact on the ground,<br />
creating clean energy, green roofs and using energy<br />
efficient systems inside the museum.<br />
“The museum allows synergetic dialog between<br />
urban and nature, tradition and modernity, old and<br />
new, east and west. The landscape architecture has<br />
a minimal design approach in the spirit of the local<br />
identity, giving contemporary interpretation to local<br />
terms such as terraces, Mediterranean groves and<br />
plantations,” explains Cory, whose Geotectura studio<br />
specializes in sustainable architecture.<br />
The project was exhibited in the 40/40 promising<br />
young architects in Israel exhibition in Jaffa in<br />
July 2009.<br />
International participants at the Planning for/with People workshop.<br />
Front row, 3rd and 4th from left: Co-Academic Heads Profs. Susan<br />
Fainstein of Harvard and Naomi Carmon of <strong>Technion</strong>.<br />
Planning for Diverse Social Groups. The<br />
group addressed questions pertinent to all<br />
represented countries such as, “What does<br />
planning for people mean, if a plan makes<br />
some people winners and some losers?”<br />
and “Planning for the aged and children, is it<br />
the same everywhere?”<br />
Conference co-academic head Prof. Susan<br />
Fainstein of Harvard explained that this<br />
university has a very strong professional<br />
relationship with MIT and Harvard. “The<br />
general theme of this conference of social<br />
justice and planning could be repeated in<br />
other international forums. It is up to the<br />
people in planning to change their focus to<br />
one that encompasses social equity. This is<br />
a senior group of planners and researchers<br />
within the Faculty of Civil and Environmental<br />
Engineering. “We have allocated you tutors<br />
and have translated all the material for you,<br />
laying the best infrastructure to ensure your<br />
success,” he told the students. Katz added,<br />
“We will turn graduates of the program into<br />
leaders in their field and ambassadors of<br />
goodwill for Israel.”<br />
Shayma Sharif, age 18, who lives in East<br />
Jerusalem, said that she was recruited from<br />
her high school. Fjordi Bisha and Andi Basha,<br />
classmates from Albania, just completed<br />
their final school exam at home days before<br />
coming here to embark on their new<br />
studies at <strong>Technion</strong>. Akshay Vajpayee, age<br />
18 from India, said that although he was<br />
accepted to the well-known Indian Institute<br />
of Technology (IIT) he chose <strong>Technion</strong> as it<br />
is “a top-class university.”<br />
The concept for the Umm<br />
al-Fahm art museum<br />
includes minimal footprint<br />
using floating structure<br />
frames above the main<br />
street. The interior lets in<br />
optimal natural light and<br />
glass walls allow maximum<br />
exposure to the view.<br />
<strong>Technion</strong><br />
Thespians<br />
The <strong>Technion</strong> Theater’s production<br />
of An Enemy of the People – an<br />
1882 play written by Norwegian<br />
playwright Henrik Ibsen – will<br />
feature at the international<br />
university theater festival in<br />
Benevento, Italy, in October 2009.<br />
Eight theater groups from all over<br />
the world are participating at<br />
Universo Teatro. <strong>Technion</strong>’s novel<br />
and contemporary production,<br />
directed by Dr Ouriel Zohar, places<br />
who are looking backward in order to look<br />
forward,” she commented.<br />
Dr Ken Reardon, director of the Graduate<br />
Program in City and Regional Planning,<br />
University of Memphis commented: “The<br />
conference was a remarkable assembly<br />
of people and viewpoints. It was an<br />
honor to have had the opportunity to<br />
participate in the program. I left with a<br />
deeper appreciation of the complexities<br />
and challenges on building peace in the<br />
region and many new insights into the role<br />
planners can play in building a more just<br />
and democratic planet.”<br />
“We’re very glad that you are here,” said ISE<br />
Director, Ariel Geva, as he welcomed the<br />
inaugural group and outlined the special<br />
extracurricular activities that he has lined up<br />
for them. “You will receive individualized<br />
mentoring in academic and social areas and<br />
a hands-on program for getting to know<br />
Israeli society and the country.”<br />
Akshay Vajpayee (second from right), and fellow students<br />
at the International School of Engineering<br />
the social-ethical drama within<br />
a scientific setting. The cast of<br />
three, who perform on a stage<br />
void of scenery, includes two<br />
former engineering students, Olga<br />
Shatsman and Naama Elissar,<br />
and Prof. Ronie Navon of the<br />
Faculty of Civil and Environmental<br />
Engineering. The drama group<br />
functions under the auspices of<br />
the Department of Humanities and<br />
Arts. Zohar has directed numerous<br />
plays, ranging from classics, via<br />
modern theater, to original plays<br />
written by himself and his students.<br />
(l-r) Prof. Ronie Navon<br />
and Olga Shatsman