AFHU News Fall 2022

PAGE 22
HU News & Updates
NEW ALBERT EINSTEIN MUSEUM TO BE
BUILT AT HEBREW UNIVERSITY
The Israeli government announced the
establishment of a new Albert Einstein Museum
at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Edmond
J. Safra Campus with $18 million in funding (64
million NIS).
One of the Hebrew University founders, Einstein
bequeathed his archives to the university, which
houses the world’s most extensive collection of
his documents.
UCLA AND HEBREW UNIVERSITY
RECEIVE GRANT FOR INTERNATIONAL
COLLABORATION TO DETER SCHOOL
VIOLENCE
A $650,000 grant from The Rosalinde and
Arthur Gilbert Foundation will support a new
partnership between UCLA and the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem (HU). Experts from
both institutions will work together to develop
strategies to prevent school violence.
The program will operate in both California and
Israel under the leadership of two internationally
recognized experts in school safety: UCLA
Prof. Ron Avi Astor and HU Prof. Mona Khoury-
Kassabri.
HEBREW UNIVERSITY RETAINS TOP
RANKING
The Hebrew University maintained its status as
the leading academic institution in Israel and
was ranked number one in half of the academic
subjects assessed by Shanghai Ranking’s Global
Ranking of Academic Subjects. Further, Hebrew
University was ranked among the 50 best
academic institutions in the world in mathematics,
law, communications, and public policy.
HIGHER POTENCY: HEBREW UNIVERSITY
ENGINEERS ENHANCE CANNABIS STRAIN
WITH 20% MORE THC
A higher power: researchers at the laboratory of
Professor Alexander (Sasha) Vainstein at HU’s
Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food,
and Environment, in partnership and with funding
from Mariana Bioscience Ltd., successfully
engineered a cannabis plant with higher levels
of medically important substances, such as THC.
Prof. Vainstein said, “These study results will be
valuable both to industry—to increase the yield of
active substances—and to medical researchers—
to cultivate and develop new strains for medical
cannabis users.”
HEBREW UNIVERSITY APPOINTS NEW
RECTOR: PROFESSOR TAMIR SHEAFER
HU’s Senate chose Professor Tamir Sheafer as
the university’s new rector. For the last six years,
Sheafer has served as Dean of HU’s Faculty of
Social Sciences, and his field of expertise is digital
and comparative communications. Over the past
two decades, Sheafer has led several international
research groups to study the impact of political
systems and the strength of a democracy on a
country’s political processes and communications.
HU STUDY EXAMINES ‘DIVERSITY
ILLUSION’ OF STUDENTS ON CAMPUS
Do you see what I see? Attempts to build a
more equitable and inclusive society took a step
forward with the discovery of a “diversity illusion”
by a team of researchers at Hebrew University.
Their findings clearly show that within a social
setting, most people significantly overestimate the
presence of a minority—and this overestimation
is made not only by the majority, but also by the
minority themselves.