REPORT OF THE OVER 70 PRESIDENT 2018 YEARS OF INNOVATING ISRAEL “It’s fortunate that the Technion existed before the State of Israel. If it had been the other way around who knows what would have happened.” TECHNION I REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE PRESIDENT TECHNION I REPORT - Shimon Peres “You– the people of the Technion- have led the way for the wider public in technology, science and engineering. You have made a tremendous contribution.” - Yitzhak Rabin “ ” “The Technion is a powerhouse of innovation, creativity and “Technion has aided in science. This is where Israel 2018 transforming a tiny country should be and this is where the into a great center of science Technion is taking us.” and technology.” - Benjamin Netanyahu - Golda Meir “The Technion is one of the cornerstones of Israel’s development. Its achievements in “I have seen with great satisfaction the last forty years and even more how the Technion has been its future tasks are the mainstay of indispensable to Israel’s our progress and strength, our agriculture, industrial security and pride.” development, economic growth ”- David Ben-Gurion and national security. Its engineers, ” scientists and architects “have literally built the State of Israel.” - Albert Einstein Table of Contents From the President 3 Governance 2018 9 Academic Affairs 11 Faculty Recruitment 11 International Review Committees 15 Department of Humanities and Arts and Enrichment Studies 16 Center for the Promotion of Learning and Teaching (CPT) 17 Equal Opportunities for Minorities 18 Technion – Open University Joint Program for Haredi Students 19 Israeli Hope 20 Undergraduate Studies 23 Irwin and Joan Jacobs Graduate School 27 Technion International and Strategic Projects 29 Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology (GT) 29 Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institutes 30 Technion International 33 Pre-University Education Center 35 Student Affairs 39 Technion Students Association – TSA 40 Research 47 External Aid for Research 48 Internal Technion Financing 48 International and Industrial Collaboration 48 Awards 49 Research Institutes 50 Technion Research and Development Foundation (TRDF) 59 Financial Management 59 The Israel Institute of Metals 59 The Azrieli Division of Continuing Education and External Studies 60 The Unit for Business Development and Commercialization of Intellectual 62 Property 63 Technion Accelerator 63 1 Faculty Research Achievements 65 Administration and Finance 73 Israel’s Economy in 2017 73 Budget and Finance 74 Development Projects 75 Investments 75 Pension Payments and Actuarial Liability 76 Physical Development 77 Sustainability Hub 81 Human Resources 83 Computing and Information Systems - CIS 87 Organization and Systems Unit 89 Safety and Health 91 Security Department 95 Public Affairs and Resource Development 97 PARD Leadership 97 Resource Development Unit 98 Communication And External Relations Unit 99 Events and Hospitality Unit 102 Technion Alumni Association 107 MadaTech – The Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space 109 Awards and Honors 113 2 From the President Visitors to Technion’s campus invariably admire the stunning panoramic view. Indeed, from Mt. Carmel one can observe a microcosm of modern-day Israel: a sprawling urban landscape that is home to a diverse population, alongside the sea, forests and hills. Looking even farther afield, one can’t help noticing that Technion is strategically situated in more ways than one. The trailblazing research and initiatives carried out by Technion students, faculty and alumni are at the very epicenter of Israel’s DNA; and as Israel celebrates 70 years of independence, I am proud of the central, pioneering role Technion has consistently played within Israeli society throughout its history. In fact, Technion’s vision has always paralleled Israel’s development. As early as 1905, when there were only roughly 60,000 Jews in Palestine, a committee of three – that included Martin Buber, then a Viennese philosophy student and political writer, Chaim Weizmann, who was then a chemistry student and a lecturer at the University of Geneva, and Berthold Feiwel, a journalist and editor from Berlin – envisioned opening an Engineering school to educate the builders of the future Jewish State. At the time, when Jews were excluded from most technological studies in Europe, these early visionaries were planning for a distant and extremely remote future. Unbelievably, the original far- fetched dream of establishing a world-class center of science and technology in the Holy Land was fulfilled even before the founding of the State. Since its cornerstone was laid in 1912, Technion has nurtured an environment of forward-thinking audacity. Although in 1924 the first class consisted of only 17 students, the university grew rapidly in the 1930s following large waves of immigration and has continued to grow ever since. Technion Cornerstone Ceremony 1912 3 When Israel achieved independence in 1948, Technion was expected to play a seminal role in building the new country. The post-State vision was that Technion grads would fill key positions in industry, would be responsible for the new country’s infrastructure and would be at the forefront of developing its military capabilities. In 1951, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion articulated the Technion’s crucial role in a letter to Colonel Jehiel Elyachar, who was the president of the American Society for Technion: “The value that the Government of Israel places on higher education and scientific and technological research, regarding the State of Israel’s security and growth, obligates the Government to do everything it can to cultivate and support the Technion in Haifa as an outstanding technological institute in Israel.” Clearly, Ben-Gurion and the other leaders counted on Technion and its graduates to build the country, and the Prime Minister was personally involved in the university’s development. Technion did not disappoint Ben-Gurion. The university continued to expand, always one step ahead of what seemed sensible. When the Department of Aeronautical Engineering (later renamed the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering) was founded in 1954, skeptics scoffed since Israel had a handful of airplanes and no aerospace industry. Yet, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) was founded that same year, and Technion’s grads were instrumental in developing Israel’s Air Force. In fact, since its inception, Technion alumni from every faculty have held high-level positions in all of Israel’s vital industries and have played decisive roles in turning Israel into the tech giant that it is today. At Rafael, Israel’s main developer of advanced defense systems, founded in 1948, 75% of its engineers are Technion grads; and it was a group of Technion alumni at Rafael who developed the Iron Dome missile-defense system. Iron Dome was recently named the greatest Israeli invention of all times in a contest held by the Ministry of Economy and Industry in honor of Israel’s 70th birthday. In the 21st century, Technion has continued to fulfill its vision as a pioneering institution that is attuned to the country’s needs. It has been at the forefront of the “start-up nation,” actively encouraging entrepreneurship through a range of initiatives. To date, thousands of start-up companies have been established by Technion alumni, some of which are extremely successful on a global scale. It is safe to say that no university in any country has ever enjoyed such a symbiotic relationship with the community at large. In fact, seven out of the 12 “Industry Leaders” selected by the Ministry of Economy in honor of Israel’s 70th Independence Day are Technion alumni. On a global level, Technion has definitively affirmed its stature at the vanguard of science and technology. Nothing symbolizes the university’s global recognition more than the fact that three faculty members and one alumnus have received the ultimate distinction – the Nobel Prize. In 2004, two Technion scientists became the first Israelis to bring home the Nobel Prize in science. Profs. Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover – together with colleague Irwin Rose – won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation. In 2011, the Nobel Prize Technion Nobel Laureates (L to R): Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, Prof. Avram Hershko, Prof. Dan Shechtman 4 for Chemistry was awarded to Prof. Dan Shechtman, for his discovery of quasiperiodic crystals; and in 2013, Prof. Arieh Warshel, a Technion grad, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems. However, I am equally proud of our numerous other alumni and faculty members who, over the years, have been responsible for so many remarkable scientific breakthroughs and have been honored with an array of prestigious awards. Their cumulative work has made our world a better place and has had a significant impact on humanity as a whole. One example is Prof. Marcelle Machluf, Dean of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, who was one of the distinguished honorees invited to light the 12 torches at Israel’s official 70th Independence Day ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Her research has led to a new drug delivery system for cancer therapy that targets cells in a non-toxic manner. Another example is Prof. Mordechai (Moti) Segev, the Robert J. Shillman Distinguished Professor of Physics, and his team, who have recently developed a groundbreaking semiconductor laser system that paves the way towards a new class of active topological