Summer 2008

TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW

Releasing Energy from Nature Combat-Related Trauma New Solar System Jewish Humanitarian Aid Conference Officers of University

Robert Goldberg Chairman of the Board of Governors Dov Lautman Chairman of the Executive Council Prof. Zvi Galil President Prof. Dany Leviatan Rector Mordehai Kohn Director-General Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron Vice President for Research and Development Dr. Gary Sussman Vice President for Development and Public Affairs Yehiel Ben-Zvi Vice President

STOP PRESS Dr. Raymond R. Sackler, Michael H. Steinhardt Honorary Chairmen of the Board of Governors Dr. h.c. Karl Heinz-Kipp, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Governors Dr. h.c. Josef Buchmann, Stewart M. Colton, Dr. h.c. Raya Jaglom, John Landerer CBE AM, Hugo Ramniceanu, Adolfo Smolarz, Melvin S. Taub Vice Chairmen of the Board of Governors

Prof. Raanan Rein Vice Rector Prof. Shimon Yankielowicz Pro-Rector Prof. Hannah Naveh Gore, Oz and Stoppard among 2008 Dean of the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts Dan David Prize Winners Prof. Ehud Heyman Dean of the Iby and Aladar Fleischman The Dan David Prize, administered by Tel Faculty of Engineering Aviv University, has announced this year’s Prof. Haim J. Wolfson Dean of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler winners: In the Present Time Dimension, for Faculty of Exact Sciences Prof. Shlomo Biderman social responsibility with particular emphasis Dean of the Lester and Sally Entin on the environment, the prize goes to former Faculty of Humanities Prof. Hanoch Dagan US Vice President ; in the Past Time Dean of the Buchmann Faculty of Law Dimension, for creative rendering of the past Prof. Yoel Kloog Dean of the George S. Wise in literature, theater and film, the prizes go to Faculty of Life Sciences writer Amoz Oz, playwright Sir Tom Stoppard Prof. Asher Tishler Dean of the Faculty of Management—Leon and filmmaker Atom Egoyan; and in the Future Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration Time Dimension in geosciences, the prizes go Prof. Yoseph Mekori to Prof. Geoffrey Eglinton of the UK and Prof. Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine Prof. Noah Lewin-Epstein Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Prof. Lonnie G. Dean of the Gershon H. Gordon Thompson of the USA. Faculty of Social Sciences Prof. Yoav Ariel Dean of Students Prof. David Menashri Dean for Special Programs Cover Story: Renewing Our Thinking about Soothing the Energy 2 Trauma 10 With concerns for global TAU leads the way in the warming on the rise, TAU development of effective and scientists are pioneering new humane psychological first aid for forms of energy that could combat veterans. overcome the limitations of current technologies.

Hillel Breaks the Mold 9 As the new head of TAU’s Hillel REVIEW

Summer 2008 Center, Ethiopian immigrant Pnina Gaday has a vision: to help more Issued by the Marketing Communications Office Ethiopian-Israelis gain access to Development and Public Affairs Division higher education. Tel Aviv University 22 Minutes with Ramat Aviv 69978 Tel Aviv, Lior Geller 13 A TAU film graduate wins prizes Tel: +972 3 6408249 for his moving film about an Israeli Fax: + 972 3 6407080 soldier and Arab boy. E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.tau.ac.il

Editorial staff for TAU Review and Insider Editor: Louise Shalev Contributors: Rava Eleasari, Talma Agron, Pauline Reich, Ruti Ziv, Karin Kloosterman, Ilana Teitelbaum, Gil Zohar, Judith Sudilovsky, Shoshana Kordova For Justice’s Sake 14 Graphic Design: Dalit Pessach Dio’olamot sections A joint law program with Graphics: TAU Graphics Design Studio/ Northwestern University is providing Michal Semo-Kovetz an important step to career Photography: Development and Public Affairs Division innovations 16 advancement for attorneys in Photography Department/Michal Roche Ben Ami, public law. Michal Kidron Additional Photography: Yoram Reshef; Jennifer Taylor digest 21 Illustrations: Raffael Blumenberg Administrative Coordinator: Pauline Reich Administrative Assistant: Roy Polad newsmakers 27 Translation Services: Sagir Translations, Eva Vaintrob Printing: Eli Meir Printing books 28 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW Summer 2008 Renewing Our Thinking cover story

Unlimited, cheap air conditioning, about biofuel grown in the desert, electricity created through photosynthesis – Energy these are a few of the unexpected advances being made by TAU scientists in the field of renewable energy. The goal:Leapfrogging over current technologies that create more problems than they solve to find truly reliable, long-term solutions.

searchers at TAU are making ofThe hiking combination oil prices and fears of great strides toward developing a Prof. Avi global warming has scientists variety of new energy technolo- Kribus racing to produce a viable alter- gies that are efficient, affordable pictured with his solar native to fossil fuels that will be and practical. Their goal is noth- collector. clean, renewable and generated ing less than a technological rev- Its solar radiation by natural resources. The energy olution. The multidisciplinary re- intensity is provided by such resources is usu- search is being carried out across 500 times

By Ilana Teitelbaum By Ilana higher than ally environmentally-safe and the the campus as well as under the normal resources themselves are either auspices of TAU’s Porter School sunlight. renewable – such as plant matter of Environmental Studies, Israel’s for biofuels – or unlimited, such leading think tank in environ- as wind and sunlight. mental research. Unfortunately, the renewable “With some 30 senior faculty energy-generating technologies members and dozens of doctoral that are currently in place are and master’s students all working inefficient and costly, and in the intensively on renewable energy, case of biofuels, riddled with con- TAU is already making a global troversy. name for itself,” says the TAU Driven by their passion to re- President, Professor Zvi Galil. solve this global dilemma, re- 2 Renewing Our Thinking about Energy project, which has re- the tune of $400 billion. Meanwhile ceived funding from the Kribus is working on a device that is European Union for the small, efficient and cheap. next three years. “The Kribus is using the principle of EU considers his project concentration to collect sunlight a top priority,” says Prof. from a large surface area and direct Yehuda Benayahu, Head it onto a very small area, where the of TAU’s Porter School of light is then converted into energy. By Environmental Studies. using concentration, Kribus explains, While solar energy is the photovoltaic cells can be made in already used worldwide as much smaller sizes, thereby signifi- a source of electricity, its cantly reducing the cost of manufac- use is limited for a number ture. of reasons. One is ineffi- Kribus has also found a way to ciency: Even the most ef- dramatically increase the efficiency fective photovoltaic cells of the solar device. About 70% of (the devices which con- solar energy collected usually goes to vert light into energy) are waste, in the form of heat. Kribus has only 15%-30% efficient, developed the technology to trap this with the rest of the solar heat and use it as an additional energy energy going to waste. product. Additionally, these cells “This lost part of the solar energy are extremely costly to that we capture can’t be used as elec- manufacture, since they tricity, but it can be used as heat,” are made of the same ma- explains Kribus. “It can be used for terial as computer chips. water heating and space heating, and An example that dem- more interestingly we can use this onstrates the current heat as a form of energy for air condi-

Dr. Hadas New under the Sun Al Gore to Speak at TAU Renewable Mamane is Imagine if air conditioning came searching Energy Conference for new, without the hefty price tag of electric environmen- bills – if it was, in fact, freely available The former US Vice President and Nobel laureate will be in tally friendly Israel to accept the 2008 Dan David Prize at TAU technologies on a wide scale. Now imagine that un- to treat and limited air conditioning produced by TAU is convening a high-profile international conference on re- disinfect newable energy – the first in Israel – that will promote the research water non-polluting and affordable technol- ogy is a reality that is just around the and implementation of sustainable energy solutions for the benefit corner. Prof. Avi Kribus, a mechanical of all. Environmental responsibility guru Al Gore will give the open- engineer at TAU’s Fleischman Faculty ing address. Other speakers include figures representing the scien- of Engineering, has created a solar en- tific, industrial, financial and political aspects of renewable energy. ergy device that can power air condi- A special session will address Israel’s energy policy and future ener- tioning and heating while producing gy independence. The conference is being sponsored by the Pears electricity at the same time. Israel is Foundation, the Consensus Business Group and Ampal. a world leader in solar technology, having invented solar-powered water plight of solar energy technology can tioning. When you have strong sun- heaters, and Kribus’s research signi- be found in a recent issue of Scientific light you also need air conditioning, fies a new milestone on that historic American. The cover story advocates so it makes sense.” path. a national solar energy plan which But heat can’t be transported over A flurry of international inter- would involve building a solar plant large distances, and that leads to the est has been generated by Kribus’s on 30,000 square miles of land to next stage of Kribus’s plan: to devel- 4 Summer 2008 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW

bines require high wind speeds to op- Developing countries don’t erate. This limits the applicability of turbines in general, and also restricts have money – where turbines can be placed. what they have is sunlight. Seifert and Kribus are working to develop a wind turbine that will turn at lower wind speeds. Seifert ex- op solar collectors in small units that Kribus has another project in the plains that the technology developed would be attached to the roof or wall works, in collaboration with former at the TAU Meadow Aerodynamics of a home or office, replacing or at least Porter Fellow Dr. Hadas Mamane. Laboratory for more than two dec- complementing massive solar plants. Using the solar energy technology ades, called Active Flow Control, What to do when there is no sun- developed by Kribus, they are devel- "can change the flow near the surface light? Kribus’s response is that in that oping a method of disinfecting large of the turbine blades with a small case, consumers can still connect amounts of water in one go. Such an amount of energy injection in the to the local electrical grid. At times innovation would have tremendous right place and at the right time with when no one is at home, consumers benefits for developing countries a concomitant increase in the overall can sell surplus solar electricity to the where contaminated water causes performance." If developed to maxi- grid to offset their electricity bills. disease and where money is scarce. mum efficiency, the wind turbines The heat, on the other hand, can be Currently the only similar technology operating with Active Flow Control stored until it is needed for heating or in place, called SODIS (solar water technology could be placed even in air conditioning purposes. disinfection), can only clean small areas where there is little wind, open- While Kribus began his own star- amounts of water at a time and is con- ing thousands of new opportunities tup company three years ago and has sequently inefficient and costly. for the utilization of wind energy. a unit running in his lab, the project The system developed by Kribus In addition to their inefficiency, is not yet ready to enter the commer- and Mamane involves what Mamane another problem with current tur- cial phase. calls a “synergy” of thermal heat and bines is that they are noisy and often “From a technological point of view ultraviolet rays. “The idea is to find a have to be placed far from populated there are no major problems,” says disinfection system that is cheap and areas. Seifert is collaborating with will take advantage of the natural Prof. Touvia Miloh of the School properties of solar heating,” she ex- of Mechanical Engineering, who is plains. also a researcher at IAG Stuttgart She adds, “Developing countries University in Germany, to reduce the don’t have money – what they have is noise of wind turbines using Active sunlight.” Flow Control. Quieter turbines could be placed in many areas, even residen- tial neighborhoods, without creating a disturbance. Throwing Caution Seifert views wind energy as a vir- to the Winds tually untapped resource with vast Another bounty of nature is wind, potential. “If wind turbines would be- “which is one of the cleanest energies come more efficient, could be placed that we can use," says Prof. Avi Seifert closer to homes and be smaller and of TAU’s School of Mechanical have more flexibility, our capability to Engineering, Fleischman Faculty of harness energy from wind would sub- Engineering. stantially increase,” he concludes. Kribus. “Now the only question is how Wind energy is closely related to Seifert and Miloh are collaborat- to make it as cheaply and efficiently as solar energy because all winds are ing with Prof. Thorsten Lutz from the possible, and how to make it reliable. generated by solar heating of the at- Aerodynamics Institute at Stuttgart We want to install these devices and mosphere. Unfortunately, the tech- University. have them work for 20-30 years, which nology that produces wind energy is needs very careful engineering.” currently inefficient, since wind tur- 5 containers or tanks outside the fuel The fuel cell Peled has developed Storing the Sun cell. When the need arises, the fuel could also overcome a major disad- cell transfers the chemical energy vantage of wind power, which blows and Wind back into electric energy and sends it strong at night when the demand for Another researcher making great to the grid or to the customer. electric energy is low. Wind energy strides in the field of clean, renewable The TAU system incorporates low- could be trapped during the night energy is Prof. Emanuel Peled of the cost materials and boasts a high ener- and supplied during the day when de- Raymond and Beverly Sackler School gy conversion efficiency rate of 75%, mand is high. of Chemistry. Peled is developing fuel cells that could potentially store large amounts of wind and solar energy and divert it to the national electric- We might reach the point where wind and ity grid. This energy storage system is based on a low-cost, high-perform- solar farms could supply 50% or more of the ance technology that he and his group country’s total electricity. have developed and patented. A fuel cell is a device similar to a battery but with one crucial differ- making it attractive for cases in which “By dealing with the intermittent ence: its chemicals are stored out- very large amounts of electric energy nature of solar and wind power, sta- side, and not inside, the device. Prof. need to be stored. In the future, Peled bilizing it and storing it, we might Peled’s system takes wind or solar- believes, it could be scaled up to mul- reach the point where wind and solar generated electric energy and converts ti-megawatt systems that could stabi- farms could supply 50% or more of it into chemical energy. The resulting lize and store the excess energy gener- the country’s total electricity. In prac- chemicals are stored in appropriate ated by solar and wind farms. tice we would use many hundreds of

Power Plants Photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert sunlight into food and oxygen, represents some of the most advanced technology engineered by Mother Nature. Now TAU researcher Prof. Chanoch Carmeli of the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences has found a way to har- ness the process of photosynthesis to create electricity. Carmeli explains that since plants are the earliest source of energy on the planet, they have had the most time to develop a perfect proc- ess of energy production. “In the course of hundreds of millions of years, the process of photosynthesis was fine-tuned to become ex- tremely efficient,” says Carmeli. As technology becomes more advanced, the electronic devices we use, such as computers and cell phones, become smaller and smaller. The same holds true with photosynthesis: the process takes place in a tiny nano-sized protein acting as a photocell – something that converts A protein light into electricity – within plant cells. Plant molecules act as “wires” chlorophyll that channel the energy between photocells. complex that Carmeli’s idea was to isolate the plant protein where sunlight is converts converted into electricity, fabricate layers of dry proteins, and place light into electricity them between two electrodes. These electrodes are transparent so that sunlight can pass through them and into the protein, galvanizing the process of photosynthesis. The result is a renewable, pollution-free method of producing energy. This device is also potentially cheaper to manufacture than conventional solar cells, which are made of expen- sive materials. “After we develop this device, it will come out cost-effective and possibly even cheaper than the electricity we get today,” says Carmeli.

6 A salt cedar tree experimental plot at Kibbutz Yotvata

50 kilowatt regenerative fuel cells in our renewable energy storage system,” Peled says. Peled’s project is being commer- cialized through TAU’s technology transfer company, Ramot. A start- up company was recently established aiming to complete the technology’s development and bring it to the mar- ket.

Seeds of Change Energy from biomass – renewable organic material such as crops – has become popular in the United States Making the Desert Bloom for Biofuels in recent years. This has led to a dra- A few times a month, Professors Amram Eshel and Yoav Waisel of TAU’s George matic increase in the use of liquid S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences get up at 5 in the morning to cultivate plants in the The latex- transportation biofuels such as etha- extreme heat of the Yotvata Desert, 220 miles south of TAU. They have shlepped there producing nol and biodiesel, which are derived for the past three years because their project may solve one of the toughest ethical shrub, Euphorbia primarily from agricultural crops. issues in the production of biofuels today: the imperative to grow biomass for fuel tirucalii Biofuels, however, are plagued with without usurping arable land and fresh water needed for food production. controversy: crops such as corn, wheat, Eshel explains that while some crops developed for biofuel are inedible, such as and soybeans, which were once only switchgrass and Jatropha, they are grown on land that could be used for growing used for food, are now being used for agricultural crops. These biofuel crops are also diverting water that could be used for fuel as well, and the result is that the other purposes, say the researchers. price of these crops has risen tremen- The team’s great discovery is that trees in the salt cedar group – a local species that dously. Since crops are used as animal is extremely hardy – can be nurtured in the unrelenting heat and inhospitable soil of fodder in the meat industry, prices the desert. Perhaps most notable of all is that the trees are nourished with saline and for meat are skyrocketing. An addi- sewage water, which would be useless anywhere else. “Our idea was to divert from tional problem is that crops such as agricultural production, make use of unexploited desert areas, and cultivate plants corn are only 15% efficient as a source that have potential to produce materials for fuel substitutes,” says Eshel. of biofuel, which means that massive The trees the researchers have grown on an experimental plot in the desert live on amounts of corn must be used. the saline and sewage water that is discarded by desalination plants. According to TAU’s Manna Center for Plant Eshel, the disposal of saline water has been “an unsolved problem in all inland desali- Biosciences is committed to expand- nation plants. We have shown that we can use it to make our trees grow very well. It’s ing the world’s horizons on how the first time someone has found a way to use this water,” he says. biofuel can become an efficient and While Israel is too small to be a significant source of biomass for fuel, Eshel and cheap source of energy. Wiesel are aiming to apply their technology to larger areas of desert, such as in Africa. “TAU is developing plants that Now the only obstacle is that the technology for converting tree biomass into fuel is will be cost-effective, together with still in development. “We’re thinking long-term,” says Eshel. “We’ll be ready with the the technology to convert them into raw material once the technology is ready for converting wood into fuel.” biofuel,” says Prof. Bernard Epel, The project is being carried out within the framework of a partnership between the Head of the Manna Center at TAU’s Porter School of Environmental Studies and Italy’s Ministry of the Environment, Land Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. The and Sea. future, says Epel, lies in using plants The same team is now examining the utilization of a latex-producing desert shrub that are high in cellulose for biofuel, from East African deserts named Euphorbia tirucalii as a potential source for biodiesel since such plants are inedible and production. The idea was broached some 20 years ago, but was uneconomical at a would therefore not compete with ag- time when the price of a barrel of oil was only $20. The current economic situation has ricultural crops. But cellulose, which changed the picture completely and the researchers are now investigating the produc- is usually the stems and tougher parts tivity of this plant under Israeli desert conditions. 7 of the plant, is difficult to break down is an effective cellulose degrader. This in an energy-efficient manner. strain of bacteria, called Clostridium One possible solution to this prob- thermocellum, contains a complex of lem is to put to work a fungus that many proteins which attacks the cel- produces and secretes cellulose-de- lulose and breaks it down. Lamed and grading enzymes. Applied to solid his colleague Prof. Edward Bayer of Energy: plant material, the fungi can convert the Weizmann Institute of Science Create It cellulose into glucose, which can then coined the term “cellulosome” for the and Save It be processed into biofuel. complex. According to Lamed, using Reducing dependence on fossil fu- A major obstacle, though, is the cellulosomes to degrade cellulose is els is an imperative, says Prof. Yehuda sensitivity of fungi. Explains Prof. up to 20 times more effective than us- Kahane (pictured), Head of TAU’s Alfred Amir Sharon of the Manna Center: ing fungi for the same purpose. Akirov—ALROV Institute for Business “When you apply the fungus to the Now, Lamed and his team are re- and the Environment at the Faculty of plant material, degradation releases searching whether the bacterial strat- Management. Kahane stresses that while toxic material, which usually ends up egy has a potential for the bio-conver- we make the costly and time-consuming killing it.” sion process. "An important topic of effort to develop alternative energies, we In response, Prof. Sharon has de- current debate is whether cellusome should seek an immediate interim solu- veloped a genetically-modified fun- systems display greater ability to tion for the reduction of oil consump- The longevity gus that is resilient to stresses and has break down complex biomass materi- tion. This could easily be done if each protein improved growth and survival capa- al, such as plant cells and plant walls," individual and business were to trim their (stained green) within bilities. Modified with an anti-death says Lamed. The method he and his energy use by reducing mileage, switch- mitochondria gene to prolong life, the fungus could colleagues are using is the creation of (stained ing off unneeded lighting, restricting air- red) of the be used under exceptionally harsh “designer cellulosomes” by putting conditioning, lowering the temperature transgenic fungus conditions, including the extreme together different components from of washing machines, and saving water. environment that develops during various types of bacteria. “These steps, which involve little effort, the conversion of plant cellulose into “An artificial cellulosome has a de- will lead to an immediate cut in global bioethanol. fined structure so I can control what oil consumption and enhance quality of “This trans- is what,” explains Lamed. “We hope life,” says Kahane. genic fungus to create a ‘super-degrading’ hybrid of “We should carefully select the right is more toler- different bacteria.” technologies for renewable energy, since ant so it can not all renewable energy solutions are w i t h s t a n d  100% ‘green,’” cautions Kahane. “Some heat and can have harmful effects such as using toxins, mak- up land and water resources, affecting ing the plant Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron, TAU food production and prices, and harm- degradation Vice President for Research and ing wildlife and nature. We must adopt a process more Development, sums up: “TAU’s com- more consistent, accurate and transpar- e ffi c i e n t , ” prehensive strength, with nine facul- ent pricing mechanism to evaluate such Sharon says. ties covering all academic disciplines projects,” he says. on one campus, encourages the type Yet another reason for reducing oil of multidisciplinary approach needed consumption is that high oil prices enrich The Devil to develop renewable energies correct- oil-producing countries that support ter- ly. This includes expertise in econom- rorism, notes Kahane. “A $70 increase in Wears Designer ics, business, law and social sciences, the price of a barrel of oil means a daily Cellulosomes as well as the hard sciences. TAU is gain of about $7 billion or $2.5 trillion a Another solution may come from the right place to lead renewable en- year to these non-democratic regimes,” the research of Prof. Raphael Lamed ergy R&D in Israel.” he points out. “Some of this money fi- of the Department of Molecular nances terrorism, and some is used to Microbiology and Biotechnology, gain substantial holdings in the world’s Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, who financial institutions, which increases glo- has discovered a strain of bacteria that bal instability.” 8 Summer 2008 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW

Perhaps even without being sion and am capable of accomplishing Gaday has introduced a pilot aware of it, Pnina Falego-Gaday is things." program on campus for Ethiopian following in her mother’s footsteps, Gaday held both volunteer and students, the Guzo (Amharic for unafraid to meet challenges. In 1984 professional positions in Hillel at the "journey") Empowerment Project for Gaday’s mother set out alone with her Hebrew University of prior Ethiopian Students, run jointly with and her younger sister on the difficult to joining Hillel in Tel Aviv. Of her the Ruth and Allen Ziegler Student

journey from Ethiopia to Israel via first encounter with the organization, Services Division. community Sudan. Gaday doesn’t recall the hard- she says: “I came to Hillel with mixed Through Guzo, some 20 Ethiopian ships of the journey but she does re- feelings, but I quickly realized that students meet once every three weeks member how hard it was to be among my background is only one of many to hear a lecture given by a member of the first Ethiopians in Israel. Often, in the social fabric of Israel, every the Ethiopian community about their

TAU Hillel Breaks the Mold Pnina Gaday, the first Ethiopian Jew to direct a Hillel Center worldwide, is an inspirational role model for Ethiopian-Israelis up until the second wave of Ethiopian part of which is unique and vital to heritage and traditions. The intimate immigration in 1991, she was the only the whole.” size of the group allows the students Ethiopian in her school. Last year Gaday, who is active in to connect with each other, notes Pnina Gaday Last year Gaday, now 26, was ap- the Ethiopian-Israeli community, Gabay. pointed Head of Hillel at Tel Aviv was invited to attend the annual University. She is the first Ethiopian United Jewish Communities General Personal journey to serve as a center director for Hillel, Assembly meeting in Nashville, Two years ago Gaday felt the need the largest Jewish campus organi- Tennessee, where she shared the po- to return to her birthplace, and un- zation in the world. In addition to dium with US Secretary of State dertook her own guzo into her roots. bringing students closer to their Condoleezza Rice. “I was curious about my mother’s ex- Jewish heritage, Gaday hopes to en- periences. What made her decide to courage Ethiopian-Israeli students to Journey to higher education leave everything she knew to fulfill a continue with their higher education Only about 3,000 Ethiopian young 2,000-year-old dream? and be proud of their roots as well. people study in institutions of higher “My return to Ethiopia two years Gaday’s position as Hillel direc- education in Israel, says Gaday, out ago closed the circle of aliyah for tor defies people’s preconceptions of a total of some 200,000. Many me. The trip was all about getting to about her on three different levels, Ethiopian students who begin stud- know who I am, where I came from says Gaday: she is young, female, and ies end up dropping out and returning and, most of all, where I want to go. Ethiopian. “Sometimes people are to the workforce to help support their Today, I am more confident in myself shocked when they first meet me,” families. “We have to change their at- and trying to use my new position says Gaday, who with her nose ring titude,” says Gaday. “We have to push as Hillel director to educate people and stylish clothing could easily be them to contemplate their responsibil- about the potential we all have to mistaken for a student at the univer- ities as Ethiopians who have reached influence the Jewish people and the By Judith Sudilovsky sity. "But then they see I have a vi- this level of academic education.” world around us.” 9 ies have included IDF veterans and former prisoners of war, Israeli and Palestinian youth, and Holocaust survivors. She has served as an ad- PTSD Soothing viser to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the “bible” of mental health profes- sionals published by the American the Trauma Psychiatric Association, which docu- ments mental disorders. American soldiers serv- Solomon, a professor of psychi- ing today in Iraq and Afghanistan atric epidemiology and social work, may never have heard of Tel Aviv and director of TAU’s Renata Adler University, but the G.I. Joes there Memorial Research Center for Child owe a major debt of gratitude to Welfare and Protection, joined TAU By Gil Zohar Prof. Zahava Solomon of TAU’s Bob in 1992 after serving as a lieuten- Shapell School of Social Work and ant colonel in the IDF, where she her colleagues. The Israeli research- headed the research branch of the ers – world experts in combat stress army’s medical corps. When the 1982 reaction (CSR) and its related pathol- Lebanon War broke out, she initiated ogy, post-traumatic stress disorder a groundbreaking study of combat (PTSD) – have made a significant stress reaction causalities. For nearly contribution to the understanding three decades she has been follow- After seven wars and treatment of combat trauma in ing hundreds of traumatized soldiers, many Western countries, and have reevaluating them one, two, three and and endless made TAU a world center for the 20 years after the 1982 war. terror, what study of the issue. Commonly known in the past as Whereas in World War I “shell- shell shock or battle fatigue, a CSR is the state of shocked” Allied and German soldiers were sometimes executed at dawn for mental health cowardice, today the US and other armies have copied the Israel Defense in Israel today? Forces (IDF) in offering more effec- A look at TAU’s tive and humane front-line psycholog- ical first aid. Military mental health pioneering officers now recognize that CSR is a normal reaction to an abnormal situa- research on post- tion. They treat affected soldiers with traumatic stress food, liquid refreshment and sleep. Dressed in clean uniforms, CSR vic- disorder. tims are kept busy, and their ties with their unit are maintained. After 48 hours of such treatment, most sol- diers are able to process their imme- diate trauma, and are re-attached to their original unit with no long-term impairment. Prof. Solomon, a former adviser to numerous armies, has been research- ing CSR and PTSD for a quarter of a century. The subjects of her stud- 10 Summer 2008 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW

diagnosis covers a range of paralyzing Predicting Trauma through Brain Imaging behaviors resulting from the anxiety Brain imaging is revealing differences in the way traumatized and healthy brains of battle. Affected combatants typi- respond to the world, and is enabling researchers to detect the covert reactions cally display symptoms such as weari- of traumatized patients. Dr. Talma Hendler of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and ness, slower reaction time, indecision Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences is examining the hypothesis that some people and disconnection from their sur- have a predisposition to CSR and PTSD in the way their brains process stimuli roundings. Left untreated, CSR may under extreme stress. turn into PTSD, a more chronic and Using non-invasive brain imaging methods such as functional MRI, Hendler debilitating stress disorder which also and her team examined 20 IDF combat veterans, half of whom were suffer- affects non-combatants, including ing from PTSD. When exposed to subliminal visual stimuli that were combat terror survivors. related, the PTSD group demonstrated hyperactivity in the visual areas of the Solomon compares the two disor- brain. “This suggests that the brain is highly sensitive to certain types of con- ders to concrete, which when poured tent even when it is barely perceptible,” says Hendler. The study further revealed is malleable but turns hard when it changes in the amygdala – the part of the brain that processes emotions – among dries. “We found that, by introducing PTSD sufferers, suggesting it is a major indicator of susceptibility to PTSD. a very simple treatment – allowing the These and other studies being carried out by Hendler and her team at the body to rest while the brain processes Function and Brain Mapping Unit of the Levie-Edersheim-Gitter Institute of TAU the experience – most trauma can be and the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center could help identify abnormal brain re- dealt with while still fresh and won’t sponses that would enable the IDF to single out soldiers with CSR who might be ‘harden’ into PTSD later on. This in danger of developing the more severe PTSD. “A simple and low-cost EEG brain technique, applied with immediate in- scan could help direct early intervention for traumatized patients,” says Hendler. tervention, can save agony and pain.” The research, which has been armies,” she notes. But the treatment and relatively high rates of combat- published in the American Journal is not always effective, and not all af- ants continue to suffer from PTSD. of Psychiatry, is “the only document- fected soldiers receive immediate and They continue to experience the war ed empirical study supporting this appropriate care. in nightmares and flashbacks,” she doctrine that has been used by the “The war does not end for a con- acknowledges. “We liken it somewhat American, British and other Western siderable portion of these individuals to cancer of the soul.” Today, Solomon and her students are continuing to study the link be- tween acute and chronic reaction to war trauma, which they and the IDF believe can improve therapeutic inter- vention for war veterans.

Changing attitudes According to Solomon, Israel is a “natural laboratory” for conducting studies on soldiers because of its small size and general conscription. But it has not always been easy for Solomon to get IDF soldiers’ cooperation be- cause of the stigma of mental illness. Many traumatized soldiers were initially reluctant to participate in her studies, she explains, because “seeking help for combat-induced psychiatric disorders was often seen as failure in Israeli society.” Today, mental health is viewed dif- ferently, says Solomon. “People now 11 reveal their stories and ask for compen- subjects are doctors and psychologists fered from sleep deprivation, 37 per- sation and help right away. There’s been who spent time as POWs. cent repeatedly relived events, and 27 a complete change of heart,” she says. Prof. Ohry is especially interested percent suffered temporary memory Like many mental health profes- in premature aging, as well as issues loss and a sense of alienation. sionals, Solomon’s interest in CSR of self-medication with alcohol and “PTSD remains a serious prob- lem for Israel’s Jewish majority,” says Solomon. “But at the same time Israel is a very resilient, close-knit so- ciety. Families are strong, and so is the army. Soldiers pretty much know someone is looking out for them. “Israel is a nation that has a sense of destiny. The ideology and com- mitment has been eroded but it’s still strong. It’s a sustaining force,” says Solomon.

and PTSD grew out of her personal drugs among trauma victims. His re- Delayed Onset PTSD background as a means of gaining search in collaboration with Solomon Can symptoms of trauma appear for the Prof. Zahava Solomon self-understanding. “My mother spent has led the Ministry of Defense to first time many months or even years and Danny her youth in Auschwitz. Trauma has revise its procedures for dealing with after the initial traumatic event? Some Horesh not just been an academic issue but ex-POWs, notes Solomon. experts reject the notion and think also a real-life personal matter that that soldiers sometimes provide false has shaped my consciousness and my The impact of terror on non- reports of the late onset of symptoms in career,” she says. combatants a bid for financial compensation. Danny Similarly, many of Solomon’s col- Solomon cites her research into the Horesh, a doctoral student in psychol- leagues have pursued their academic effects on the Israeli public of the 2002 ogy, believes otherwise. In a study of research as part of their efforts to gain chain of suicide bombings and terror combat veterans from the first Lebanon insight into their own trauma. Prof. attacks that left hundreds dead and in- War, Horesh found that delayed onset of trauma was in fact quite common Avi Ohry of TAU’s Sackler Faculty jured. According to the study, which among more than 20 percent of of Medicine, for example, was cap- was carried out together with Prof. those sampled. His research exam- tured by the Egyptians at the onset Avi Bleich of the Sackler Faculty of ines whether the delay is a function of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. That Medicine, one out of 10 Israelis exhib- of soldiers’ psychological resilience. experience led him to devote years to ited PTSD symptoms. Fifty-seven per- “Soldiers who are strong mentally and studying prisoners-of-war, including cent of the Israeli public felt despond- socially tend to maintain psychologi- those who fell into captivity in ent, 55 percent avoided public places cal wellbeing for longer periods after a or Syria. Among the ongoing study’s and did not ride buses, 50 percent suf- traumatic event, thus delaying the onset of PTSD,” says Horesh, whose research is supervised by Prof. Giora Keinan After the War of the Department of Psychology and Six hundred TAU students who served in the Second Lebanon War by Prof. Zahava Solomon. The study were monitored for early symptoms of PTSD through the “After the also examines whether delayed-onset War” project of the Student Welfare and Psychological Services units trauma is a unique subset of PTSD of TAU’s Ruth and Allen Ziegler Student Services Division, in coopera- involving less severe symptoms. This tion with NATAL – the Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War. could have important practical implica- Demobilized reservists who were identified with early symptoms tions for groups in Israel with known received follow-up counseling and treatment by TAU therapists. delayed trauma symptoms such as Holocaust survivors and war veterans. 12 Summer 2008 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW

“I believe that everyone is anti- nominated for the 2008 Honorary ment in Tel Aviv for about two weeks war,” says Lior Geller, 29, one of Foreign Film Award, given by the US while shooting. They came with a Motion Picture Academy, which be- goat, one of the character’s pets in Israel’s rising stars in film. “No?” arts Speaking without irony or sarcasm, stows the Oscars. the film, on loan from a nearby kib- Geller leans in intensely. He’s sitting Some four years in the making, butz. in a café in Tel Aviv and describing Roads’ storyline was painstakingly his final student project at TAU’s weaved together with real-life research An unlikely friendship Department of Film and Television, into the hard-knock life of drug dealing Shot mainly in Arabic with the 22-minute film, Roads. It tells the families in Lod. “Nobody ever looks at Hebrew and English subtitles, the story of an Israeli soldier and his rela- these people. They just don’t count. I movie hinges on the encounter be- tionship with an Arab boy who is try- wanted to tell their story,” says Geller. tween Ishmael and an ex-Israeli sol- ing to escape a life of drugs and crime Ideally Geller would have shot the dier, Daniel. Ishmael and his brother in the Arab-Jewish of Lod. entire film in Lod to tell his fictional both work for one of the biggest drug lords in town, but want a better life. They befriend Daniel, who is buy- ing drugs to cope with the trauma of having accidentally shot an Arab 22 Minutes child while on military duty. “Here, deep in the sewers of Israeli society, with Lior Geller they just might find in each other By Karin Kloosterman An interview with the TAU film graduate on his prize-winning short film, Roads “Young filmmakers at TAU are encouraged to give voice to Israel’s unique cultural and artistic identity and challenging reality,” says Dr. Dubi Rubinstein, Chairperson of the Department of Film and Television at TAU’s Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts. The department, which is ranked among the world’s top 15 film schools, has had more impact than any other institution in Israel on the quality, creativity and story of 13-year-old Arab boy Ishmael. their way out,” writes Geller in the But both filming and onsite research film’s synopsis. international standing of film-mak- Director Lior ing in the country. “Students and became too risky. A cameraman was Geller concludes: “At every film Geller (left) alumni have won numerous awards pelted by stones one day while shoot- festival I go to now in Europe and in on the set worldwide including at Cannes and ing, and Geller was given a warning the United States all eyes are now on the Oscars,” says Rubinstein who, to- by a drug family to leave. Israeli filmmaking. And with each gether with colleague Reuven Hecker, Moving the production over to successful Israeli film on the interna- mentored Geller. Tel Aviv wasn’t simple, but Geller be- tional scene, we, as the newest gen- Roads, which has won Geller eight friended the young Arab cast of four eration of Israeli filmmakers, have to international awards, was recently and invited them to stay at his apart- take it up a notch.” 13 The group at the Northwestern

society campus

For Justice’s Sake For Rania Haddad Sruji, joint conferences. It was designed to Israeli 33, an Arab-Israeli criminal lawyer broaden the academic horizons and and prosecutor in the District and professional skills of distinguished, attorneys State Attorney’s office in Haifa, com- mid-career Israeli lawyers. pleting TAU’s joint master’s degree According to the Dean of Law, weigh in on with Northwestern University’s law Prof. Hanoch Dagan, “The TAU- school has become an important step Northwestern Program furthers TAU’s new in advancing her career. TAU’s strategy to upgrade the quality Sruji was one of 37 young lawyers of legal education in Israel and train master’s degree – most of them leaders in their fields professionals to face the increasing – to graduate from the program’s first complexity of the global legal envi- in public class. Now in its second year of opera- ronment.” tion, the program is the only one of its Alumni of the program include law awarded kind in Israel to offer a joint master’s lawyers from the , degree in law from both an Israeli and the Supreme Court, the Ministry of jointly with a foreign institution. Justice and non-governmental organ- “Northwestern’s joining with TAU izations. The highly diverse group of Northwestern is an expression of confidence in graduates range from an Ethiopian- TAU’s standing as the top law school Israeli lawyer to a lawyer representing University in Israel and one of the top 20 in Palestinian rights. the world,” says TAU President Zvi Galil. Global relevance The program operates within the For lawyers like Sruji who are al- framework of an ongoing coopera- ready experienced in their field, the tion agreement between TAU and collaboration with a top American law Northwestern University that in- school like Northwestern University cludes annual student and faculty was key to the decision to enroll in exchange, as well as the hosting of the program. Explains Sruji, “It is 14 population and has also been in the the in been also has Arab-speaking and population the from interview to witnesses on called often is she courts: the to in asset big a are skills Arabic verbal Her kindergarten. Hebrew-speaking a in daughter her a point to makes integrate area, Haifa the in neighborhood Jewish predomi nantly a in husband doctor her she notes. tougher, was woman Arab an as law practicing lawyer, own their choose could clients and sector private the in was she when career her in Earlier says. push,"she a us give and unique as women Arab at look They Justice. of Ministry the in Arabs promoting been has government Israeli the years few last the “During system. justice Israeli the to expertise certain a lends countries." other of law the consideration into take to me for important is it ecutor pros a as and environment global a in working now are we that obvious The mother of one, who lives with with lives who one, of mother The she says Sruji Arab, Israeli an As who willshapethefaceofpublicserviceinIsrael.” In oneortwodecadestheselawyersarethepeople - - program have proved extremely use extremely proved have program Movement Israel. in arm of and advocacy legal the Reform public the Center, Action Religious Israel the of director as rights human champions who attorney outspoken an is Kariv TAU program. the in roll en to chose Kariv Gilad Rabbi why reasons the of one was lawyers Israeli also,” she says. discussions political many and cases about sions discus good “Wehad lifetime. a last solidify doubtno will that bonds professional and forge helped Chicago to trip the program, the on lawyers ways.” intelligent and peaceful in Rather, violence. through not but it, fight should we dis and face crimination Israel in Arabs think also “I says: Sruji Israel, in group nority mi Arab own her with Identifying Court. Supreme US the in rights its for fought population underdog how this and black on lecture a by taken particularly was she before, law. rights human and environmental al, administrative, by subjects included course constitution Taught English, in professors Chicago. Northwestern in campus Northwestern the at learning legal of month other a for program the the on lawyers joined and summer last defend perpetrators of hate crimes crimes Arabs. against hate of perpetrators defend to having of position uncomfortable Minority rights rights Minority Networking opportunities opportunities Networking “The connections I made on the on made I connections “The top with bonds build to desire A other and her for that notes Sruji Although Sruji had been to America courts the from off Srujitime took ------public service in Israel.” in public service of face the shape will who people the are lawyers these decades two or one “In him: peoplethe with who studied to Sruji. like He about says meet lawyers opportunity the had have never probably would he program, not the for If Kariv. says work,” my to ful te dnr wo rec who donors other and Fund Legacy the to win a fellowship from eligible are publicsector who come from the low wage-earning those par, on sectors private and lic community.” tion to influence wellbeyond the legal posi a somein – of whom leaders are legal future Israel’s teaches and cruits re program new This issues. these of heart the at are lawyers, mid-career promising as students, Our periences. in the world country ex other no that intensity face public law issues with an lawyers “Israeli program. ofHead the Harris, Ron Prof. notes Israel, in profession gal of the program to the le contribution the ognize Fellowships available available Fellowships population to maintain its special special character,” Kariv. says its maintain to population this of right legitimate the sideration con into take must I that nowknow I system, school Ultra-Orthodox the in English and mathematics of ing teach the enforce to Court Supreme the petition to want I example, for “If, law,”says. he constitutional with rights legitimate balance to me bling ena is that knowledge gained have “I work. his in with deals he issues multicultural the of understanding his Israel, sharpened has program facing the says challenges consti tutional the on discussions Kariv, who is involved in current current in involved is who Kariv, To help put lawyers from the pub the from Tolawyers puthelp Says Prof. Harris, Harris, Prof. Says Summer 2008 Summer - - - T E L A V I V U N I V E R S I T Y R E V I E W ------15 Haddad Sruji Rania By Karin Kloosterman & Louise Shalev Bringing Government to Every Computer E-government is growing as a means Forecasting (ICTAF) as part of the of providing more flexible municipal European Union’s ELOST project services to citizens, but a TAU study (E-government for Low Socio- finds that negative attitudes to the Economic Groups). Internet and to government are pre- Dr. Tal Soffer of ICTAF said the venting disadvantaged populations project was initiated by the European A TAU study on Union as part of its goal of closing the from making use of these services. e-government in Europe The study was conducted by TAU’s digital divide in member countries by Netvision Institute for Internet the year 2020. “Our final goal was to found a growing gap Studies and Interdisciplinary Center formulate policy recommendations to between the digital for Technological Analysis and boost e-government use among low “haves” and “have-nots”

A drug candidate based on research has been investigating the function Over 12 weeks, 144 patients at by TAU’s Prof. Illana Gozes was of natural brain proteins for many several sites in the United States were shown to significantly improve the years. Together with colleague Dr. divided into three groups and given memory of patients suffering from Douglas Brenneman of the US a placebo, a low dose or a high dose the mild cognitive impairment that National Institutes of Health (NIH), of the drug. Their functioning was precedes Alzheimer’s disease. The she discovered new compounds with tested at regular intervals through- successful clinical trials were for a the unique ability to defend brain out the 12-week trial and 4 weeks drug called AL-108, given in the cells against damage by Alzheimer’s following cessation of treatment. form of a nasal spray, which not disease. The active component of the The group treated with a high dose only improved functioning but was AL-108 drug is a fragment derived showed a significant improvement confirmed to be safe and well toler- from a naturally occurring neuro- in tests that checked short-term and working memory. Significantly, the improved functioning was shown to remain with the high-dosage pa- tients for four weeks after the end of Improving the trials. “It is important to note that the Memory trials confirm ADNP as a human validated drug development target, Function meaning that other therapies we are developing based on this platform ated by participating patients, dem- protective brain protein known as have clear relevance for other cen- onstrating its potential to serve as an activity dependent neuroprotective tral nervous system diseases,” says effective therapy for the disease. protein (ADNP), which Gozes and Gozes. Prof. Gozes, Director of both her colleagues discovered in 1999. AL-108 and other brain protec- the Adams Super-Center for Brain The active protein fragment has tive drug candidates discovered and Studies and the Levie-Edersheim- been shown to restore the function studied by Prof. Gozes at TAU are Gitter Institute for Functional Brain of structures in the brain – known licensed exclusively for development Imaging and the incumbent of the as microtubules – which are critical to the Canadian company Allon Lily and Avraham Gildor Chair for for communication in and between Therapeutics, of which Gozes is the Investigation of Growth Factors, brain cells. founder and Chief Scientific Officer. 16 Summer 2008 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW

wage earners, the un- in Austria, Israel and Finland. From main reasons. This can be improved employed, immigrants this group of users, only 10% in all through education and the use of user- and people with disabili- of the countries used e-government, friendly technologies such as interac- ties,” said Dr. Soffer, who although awareness of these services tive TV, advanced language process- coordinated the TAU-led was as high as 80% in Finland. Forty ing techniques and virtual kiosks, say project. percent of Israelis demonstrated a the researchers. They also recommend The study, which surveyed willingness to learn the skills needed teaching digital skills through com- disadvantaged populations to use e-government compared with munity centers and subsidizing use of in Israel, Austria, France, 25% in the European countries. The the Internet and other services. Bulgaria, Finland and most common reasons for not using According to Soffer, one of the Germany, found that age, the Internet were lack of need, lack of most important outcomes of the poor education and low computer skills and lack of financial project is the launching of an inter- income were major fac- resources. active website, called the “e4 Expert tors underlying the digital So why isn’t e-government catch- Exchange System,” which addresses divide in those countries. In ing on among disadvantaged groups? e-government policy and technologies France only 8% of those sur- Distrust of both new-fangled tech- in European countries, and provides a veyed said they use the Internet, nologies and government, as well as platform for sharing information on compared to between 24% and 27% computer illiteracy, were among the e-government (www.e4-info.eu).

A possible link between intense light- ning in eastern Africa and hurricanes in the United States could help experts Making Atmospheric Waves predict the nature and severity of fu- A study linking lightning in Africa with hurricane Katrina was ture hurricane seasons, say a team of ranked 25th best science story of 2007 by Discover Magazine TAU-led atmospheric scientists. Prof. Colin Price of TAU’s Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, which can stretch 1,500 miles long Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty – that race across Africa and into the of Exact Sciences, and colleagues Atlantic, producing lightning and from Israel’s Open University com- rain storms. pared lightning activity over Africa “If you know there’s a lot of light- with tropical storm formation in the ning in East Africa today, there’s Atlantic ocean during the 2005 and nearly a 100 percent chance that one 2006 hurricane seasons. The findings of these atmospheric waves will hit showed that hurricane formations can the Atlantic Ocean in a week’s time,” be predicted three weeks in advance says Price. And if other factors, such by tracking thunderstorms over the as sea surface temperature and wind African continent. patterns above the Atlantic, are just The research, which was pub- right, that wave will grow into a hur- lished in Geophysical Research Letters, ricane. showed that 90 percent of Atlantic The research could help meteor- hurricanes formed following a pe- ologists predict the origins of some riod of above-average lightning ac- of the most devastating hurricanes tivity over the Ethiopian highlands. on record, notes Price. “This would The thunderstorms in East Africa enable people to prepare before an- disrupt the flow of winds in the other Katrina-sized hurricane hits the lower atmosphere that stream west- United States.” ward over Africa, say the research- The research was partly supported ers. The resulting turbulence cre- by the Open University Research ates “atmospheric waves” – some of Fund. 17 A new technology for diagnosing to atherosclerosis. The condition is people at high risk for heart disease often asymptomatic and can go un- has been developed by Dr. Giora noticed for several years until a full Amitzur of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of blown heart attack occurs. Medicine, Prof. Shmuel Einav of the The device works by attaching pres- Fleischman Faculty of Engineering sure sensors to the patient’s arms and and Eran Peleg of the Hadassah wrists and temporarily blocking the Medical Center in Jerusalem. blood flow. Gauging the expansion of The device tests the endothelial arteries as a response to this pressure health of patients. Endothelial cells, will indicate endothelial health. The which line the inner layer of the ar- test is as simple as taking blood pres- tery, release substances that enable sure and just as fast. the artery to contract and expand “All the products on the market while transporting oxygen to the cannot diagnose cardiovascular dis- body. Among these is nitric oxide, an ease at such an early stage,” says Dr. important blood vessel relaxant that Amitzur. “Other methods make the protects against atherosclerosis – the diagnosis at much later stages of arte- disease that commonly precedes heart rial blockage.” attacks and strokes. The monitor, Endotect, is being de- Malfunctioning of the endothe- veloped by Cardiatec, and has success- Saving Hearts lium due to risk factors such as hyper- fully completed the first round of clin- A non-invasive device for early tension, obesity and diabetes reduces ical trials at the TAU-affiliated Chaim detection of cardiovascular disease is or prevents the release of nitric oxide . It is now un- being brought to the marketplace in the arteries, which in turn can lead dergoing a second round of trials.

Women may be more skilled at busi- ness negotiations than men, finds a TAU study on the role of gender WomenThe are readyFeminine to go that extra mileTouch to clinch in management. Despite this, fewer the deal, finds a TAU researcher women than men are involved in high- profile international business deals. ment. Additionally, women were good Dr. Yael Itzhaki of TAU’s Faculty at facilitating interaction between the of Management—Leon Recanati parties. “Women are more generous Graduate School of Business negotiators, better cooperators and Administration carried out simula- are motivated to create win-win situa- tions of business negotiations among tions,” says Itzhaki. 554 Israeli and American manage- Paradoxically, says Itzhaki, these ment students at TAU and at Ohio days men have been incorporating State University in the USA. feminine strategies into their nego- The simulations involved nego- tiating styles. “Women in mid-man- tiating the terms of a joint venture, agement positions are criticized for including the division of shares. The being too ‘cooperative’ and ‘passive’ point of the simulations was to exam- so they don’t get promoted; then men ine how women behave in business come in and use the same tactics that Itzhaki is the founder of Netta, situations requiring cooperation and women are criticized for!” a non-profit organization that pro- competition. Itzhaki’s conclusion: More women motes the advancement of women in The results indicated that in cer- should be promoted and given the the workplace through enrichment tain groupings, women allotted more opportunity to take a leading role in programs, networking opportunities shares than men to reach an agree- business negotiations. and research. 18 Summer 2008 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW

The possibility of life on another The new solar system, which ap- was absolutely critical in the discov- planet might sound like it belongs pears to be a mini version of ours lo- ery and interpretation of the second to the sci-fi world of UFOs and little cated an estimated 5,000 light years planet in the system,” said Dr. Scott green men, but data collected by two away, includes a Saturn-like planet Gaudi of Ohio State University, who TAU astronomers could help lay the and a Jupiter-like planet that orbit led the project. groundwork for hard evidence of such a star about half the size of our sun. The discovery of the solar system – a phenomenon. Prof. Dan Maoz and The planets are smaller than Saturn and the implication that such systems Dr. Shai Kaspi of TAU’s Raymond and Jupiter but have a similar mass are likely common in our galaxy – has and Beverly Sackler Institute of ratio, and they orbit their star at dis- encouraged the astronomers to find

Astronomy played a critical role in tances roughly proportional to those planetary systems that are even more By Shoshana Kordova the discovery of a new solar system of Saturn and Jupiter from the sun. similar to ours in the sense that they that bears a striking resemblance to The findings, made by an interna- could have Earth-mass planets, said ours, setting the stage for discoveries tional team observing the same part Maoz. “This is a precondition for life as of other solar systems that might con- of the sky for a two-week period in we know it, to have a planet similar to tain Earth-like planets and, possibly, 2006, were recently reported in the Earth – meaning a solid, rocky planet Earth-like life forms. journal Science. at a distance from its star that would

on LifeAnother Planet? Not So Far-Fetched. TAU astronomers play key role in discovery of mini solar system similar to our own

“The 21st century is a golden age of The Jupiter-like planet was detect- enable the existence of liquid water. astronomical discovery, and TAU sci- ed from TAU’s Florence and George “Certainly at the back of every- entists are making a significant con- Wise Observatory in Mitzpe Ramon. body’s minds when they’re doing this tribution. Discoveries of new planets, “The time that we were carrying out is the question of is there life in the measurements of black hole masses, the observations in Israel was exactly universe outside the Earth,” he said. observations of the most distant super- the time when the planet left its sig- “And before you answer that ques- novae, and insights into the properties nature,” said Kaspi, referring to the tion, you have to find out if there of dark matter are only some exam- effect the planet had on the light of a are conditions for life anywhere else, ples of our internationally recognized very distant star, which led the scien- and conditions for life as we know it achievements,” says Prof. Hagai Netzer, tists to deduce the planet’s existence. means an Earth-like planet.” incumbent of the Jack Adler Chair of “The Israeli contribution of data Extragalactic Astronomy at TAU. taken from the Wise Observatory 19 can be readily oxidized without us- ing solvents. The team has used the Water could replace method to prepare carboxylic acids, environmentally important chemicals used in the resin trade and other industries. harmful organic Vigalok and Shapiro belong to solvents used by the a new brand of chemists working chemical industry, to introduce greener thinking into say TAU scientists the design of chemical compounds. Known as green chemistry, its devo- tees advocate chemical reactions that produce as little hazardous waste as possible. “When solvents first be- came widespread, environmental Greener, Cleaner Chemistry concerns were not a factor,” says It can take from between 10 to 20 grams of waste for every kilogram Vigalok. “However, if society de- chains of chemical reactions to pro- of chemical compound it produces. mands safer processes then chemists duce a chemical compound, and Disposing of the waste is a major must deliver the solutions.” each step in the process usually uses problem,” says Prof. Arkadi Vigalok “I am not saying that water can organic solvents. However, organic of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler replace every organic solvent in every solvents, which are also used in paint, School of Chemistry, who, together chemical process, but if we can use nail lacquer remover and other house- with PhD student Nelly Shapiro, has water to replace some of them, this hold products, generate considerable discovered a way to replace the use of would be a step toward a better fu- amounts of hazardous waste that can solvents with water. The research was ture,” says Vigalok. cause widespread soil and water con- published in Angewandte Chemie. Nelly Shapiro’s doctoral research tamination. The team found that when com- was supported by the Israel Science “The pharmaceutical industry, mon chemical compounds known as Foundation and the Porter School of for example, can generate 100 kilo- aldehydes are mixed with water, they Environmental Studies at TAU.

All Seeing Eyes Dr. Arieh Solomon, Head of Experi- requires patients to look at the center mental Ophthalmology at TAU’s of a field in a machine and activate a Goldschleger Eye Institute, Sackler button every time they see a flicker of Faculty of Medicine, has achieved a light on the screen. Lack of concentra- breakthrough in eye tests with a com- tion during testing can result in nu- pact device that can be worn over the merous false-positive results, making eyes like goggles. it almost impossible to test children. The device automates a process The new TAU-developed device, called “visual field testing,” which is a by contrast, performs the test auto- method of examining an individual’s matically without requiring the pa- entire scope of central and peripheral tient’s active participation by pushing developed by Iview Ltd. at the Orit vision. The test is used by eye doctors the button. Furthermore, the test can Incubator by a team of engineers led and neurologists to examine the func- be carried out on people with disabili- by Arieh Bar-Zeev. To date two proto- tion of the retina, optic nerve and ties who are confined to their beds or types have undergone successful clini- pathway to the brain, and to detect wheelchairs. cal trials at medical centers in Israel. disease. It is also required for driving The device, VIP – Virtual Perimetry, The project received support from licenses and piloting. Although pain- was patented by Ramot, the technol- the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of less, the test is time-consuming and ogy transfer arm of TAU, and was Trade and Industry. 20 Summer 2008 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW

The largest number of Jewish and ity that serving in such a framework Israeli aid groups ever assembled in could be deemed an official form of Israel was brought together by TAU Coming civil service. to discuss a common mission: the A survey commissioned by the imperative to take part in the global Hartog School revealed that 65% of effort to overcome the world’s most Together Israelis – both Arabs and Jews – be- serious afflictions of poverty, hunger lieve that providing humanitarian aid and disease. One hundred and twenty to developing countries strengthens representatives of more than 50 Jew- to Mend Israel’s international image. Surpris- ish and Israeli humanitarian groups ingly, 70% of the Israeli Arab public participated in the two-day workshop felt proud when hearing that Israel entitled, “Faith and International De- the World has helped needy people somewhere velopment.” around the globe. “This capacity to The event A workshop of identify with the State could open up was organized TAU’s Hartog School significant opportunities for bringing by TAU’s Har- of Government and Policy together Arabs and Jews around this tog School of issue,” said Fried. Stanley Government and sets a new humanitarian Stanley Berg- Bergman Policy, which agenda for 21st century man, who heads is researching world Jewry the Hartog Israel’s interna- School’s inter- tional aid policy national advisory Dr. Eli Fried and looking at board, argued ways to forge a that humanitar- joint agenda between Israel and the Trevor Pears, Executive Chair of ian efforts bring Jewish world in international develop- the Pears Foundation, the primary Diaspora youth ment. The workshop’s goal was to supporter of the event, said, “The closer to Israel: “Today they are losing deepen the academic and spiritual workshop builds on the current their connection to Judaism and to content of the work done by Jewish momentum of placing issues of social Israel and this thing can help them and Israeli groups and to investigate justice and social action at the heart connect to Jewish values. platforms for boosting existing efforts. of Jewish iden- “We’re not just talking about volun- Policy analyst and projects director Eli tity.” teers, but also about the generation Fried of the Hartog School said, “The Ruth Messing- of younger donors, for whom the core of the project is to encourage er, President of Holocaust and the establishment of Jews to fulfill their personal respon- the American the State of Israel are part of their his- sibility to humanity in the spirit of Jewish World tory books,” he said. “There is a very Ruth Jewish tradition. We believe that this Service, said large amount of money that at the Messinger agenda can also give rise to a new that despite moment is not budgeted and is not age in the relations between Israel objections by reaching Jewish causes, and this is a and the Jewish world,” he said. people that the way of connecting the two,” Bergman Highlights of the conference Jews have enough troubles of their stressed. included a keynote address by Ad own, she believes that “the Jewish Chairman of the TAU Board of Gov- Melkert, UN Under-Secretary Gen- community in the US has attained a ernors Robert Goldberg praised the eral and Associate Administrator of level of wealth that our grandparents Hartog School for the event’s huge the United Nations Development could never have imagined and that success, which he said had made Program; interactive sessions with obligates us.” a considerable contribution to the faith-based development organiza- One of the proposals to emerge university’s impact and standing. tions; a discussion with major Jewish from the conference was the estab- The conference was supported by foundations on augmenting coordi- lishment of an international service numerous Jewish foundations, among nated Jewish and Israeli endeavors corps that would send thousands of them the Andrea and Charles Bronf- in the developing world; a session young Jewish and Israeli volunteers man Philanthropies, the Charles and aimed at formulating a new Jewish- for service in the developing world. Lynn Shusterman Family Charitable humanitarian vocabulary; and an ad- Dr. Reuven Gal, Head of the Civilian Foundation, the Pears Foundation, dress by Katherine Marshall, a senior Service Administration in the Prime and the Stanley and Marion Bergman Tikkunadvisor at the World Bank. Minister’s Office, raised the possibil - OlamFamily Charitable Fund. 21 Visualizing Jewish Art TAU Launches New Is there such a thing as Jewish art? What makes an object or picture Four-Year Med School Program Jewish? Do Jewish art objects draw TAU has taken a significant step in boosting the number of physicians in their inspiration from Jewish tradition Israel by introducing the country’s first US-style medical school program. The or from changing contexts of time or program, which will open next academic year, will qualify medical students place? Is Jewish art made only by with bachelor’s degrees in the sciences as physicians in four years instead of Jewish artists? six. Both programs have a mandatory one-year These and other issues are ad- rotating internship. dressed by the new Jewish Art and The program is based on the American and Visual Culture Research Project at Canadian medical school model and existing TAU’s Goldstein-Goren Diaspora programs for American students at Israeli uni- Research Center. versities such as TAU’s New York State/Ameri- The project was initi- can Program, which admits students who have ated by Dr. Simha Goldin, completed their undergraduate degrees. Head of the Goldstein- Dean of Medicine Yoseph Mekori says the Goren Center, and Dr. program’s added value will be to “admit medical Naomi Feuchtwanger-Sarig, students with more diverse academic back- the project’s principal grounds who are mature and confident about investigator. According to entering the profession.” Feuchtwanger-Sarig, Jew- The program has been approved by the ish visual art has only been Council for Higher Education to address the shortage of physicians in Israel recognized as a distinct and reverse the trend of Israeli students pursuing medical degrees abroad. research field for about one According to published estimates, the number of doctors in Israel will decline hundred years. “Before the from its current level of 3.5 per 1,000 residents to 2.5 per 1,000 in less than 10 emancipation there was no years – a dangerously low level. The new MD program is designed to increase secular Jewish art. Jewish art the number of young physicians graduating from TAU by 50%-75% annually. was not regarded as worthy The Sackler School of Medicine currently trains 120 students each year and as mainstream art and was the number will rise to considered an inferior mode 180 once the new pro- of representation or ‘folk gram is underway. The art,’” says Feuchtwanger-Sarig. number could increase As part of an awakening of Jew- further if a current ish studies pursued as an academic shortage of clinical discipline by Jews, there was an training opportunities in attempt to prove that Jewish culture hospital departments is did not cease with the bible but made redressed. Prof. Mekori a major contribution to mainstream anticipates that if suc- world culture, she says. The subject cessful, the program combines the study of several fields: could replace the cur- Jewish studies, art history, folklore rent six-year system. and popular culture and other areas affecting life in the Diaspora. The project was inaugurated at a conference held by the Goldstein-Go- TAU Technology Innovations Cited ren Center on “Jewish Art in Context: Two technologies developed at TAU were among the top 100 technology The Role and Meaning of Artifacts transfer innovations to be cited by the Better World Report of the AUTM (As- and Visual Images,” attended by 46 sociation of University Technology Managers.) scholars from 10 countries. Among the The technologies, which were commercialized by Ramot at Tel Aviv Univer- topics discussed were the discovery of sity, include a cinnamon extract with anti-viral properties developed by Prof. an ancient synagogue in Israel, illustra- Michael Ovadia of the Department of Zoology, which has been licensed to Fru- tions in Hebrew manuscripts, syna- tarom Industries, and a new drug for treating Alzheimer’s disease developed gogue architecture and the conserva- by Prof. Ehud Gazit of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotech- tion of Jewish sites around the world. nology, licensed to Merz Pharmaceuticals.

22 Remembering through Sounds In a profoundly moving statement in the program notes, “The students culture that expresses the universal on Jewish culture and renewal, TAU’s embody a link between our genera- hope for man’s redemption in his Buchmann-Mehta School of tion and a dynasty of distinguished struggle with fate.” Symphony Orchestra performed a Jewish musicians who flourished in Lev noted that the Fifth Sympho- Holocaust memorial concert under Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. ny’s famous four-note motif was used the baton of Zubin Mehta at the These musicians, who headed the by the BBC during World War II to United Nations General Assembly in continent’s most important orches- introduce its radio news broadcasts New York. tras, academies and ensembles, and because it evoked the Morse code Zubin Mehta The event, marking the UN’s third formed Europe’s cultural elite, were letter “V,” for victory. conducts the annual observance of the Internation- nevertheless doomed to perish in the Addresses at the event were given Buchmann- al Day of Commemoration in Memory ghettos and extermination camps. by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- Mehta School of the Victims of the Holocaust, was The Buchmann-Mehta School stu- moon, through video message; Per- Orchestra at sponsored by major TAU benefactor dents are thus continuing the artistic manent Representative of Israel at the the UN. Josef Buchmann, himself a Holocaust legacy of the few who managed to UN Daniel Gillerman; and US Senator survivor, and his wife Bareket. escape to Israel. They are a living, Tom Lantos, through his daughter Ka- breathing monument to an entire trina Lantos Swett generation of Jewish musicians lost in (he passed away the Holocaust.” shortly thereafter). In selecting the works for the The Buchmann- evening’s program, Maestro Mehta Mehta School wished to communicate a message orchestra is about the continuity of Jewish music the preparatory and culture in the land of Israel after orchestra of the the Holocaust. Prof. Lev described Israel Philharmonic The 90 students in the TAU orches- the works as having deep symbolic Orchestra. The tra, among them third generation meaning, “starting with Psalms, a orchestra has per- descendants of Holocaust survivors, work by a founding father of Israeli formed in central performed to enthusiastic acclaim. music, Paul Ben-Haim, who fled from venues worldwide One of the students was 24-year- Munich to Tel Aviv in 1933 and be- with Zubin Mehta, old Julia Garfinkel, a new immigrant came one of the early founders of the Gustavo Dudamel, from the United States, who said that Mediterranean School of Composi- cellist Yo-Yo Ma, despite all the dignitaries present, tion; through Max Bruch’s Kol Nidre, and violinists her main audience were her grand- a work by a non-Jewish composer Itzhak Perlman and Maxim Vengerov, parents, Ilse and Walter Loeb – both who lovingly appropriated one of the among others. All orchestral training Holocaust survivors. most sacred prayers in the Jewish lit- program students receive full schol- Prof. Tomer Lev, Head of the Buch- urgy; to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth arships to study for bachelor’s and mann-Mehta School of Music, wrote Symphony, a cornerstone in human master’s degrees in music at TAU. 23 As environmental concerns become ronmental poetry in Israel; ecocritical the course of thousands of years. increasingly central on the world readings of gender and colonization; One environmental researcher stage and start to permeate daily life, local and global perspectives on who lectured at the conference is Dr. it’s hardly surprising that they should society and the environment; and the Tovi Fenster of TAU’s Department of also influence art. The fast-growing environment and visual arts. Geography and Human Environment. field of “ecocriticism,” which is the Hass, who is nearly as renowned Fenster’s work analyzes the human study of literature through the lens of for his environmental activism as he experience of living in urban set- current ecological awareness, was is for his poetry, is an example of a tings – which she refers to as “human the focus of a Tel Aviv University meeting point of art and the sciences. ecology” or “built environment.” Her By Ilana Teitelbaum By Ilana conference that brought together the As poet laureate, Hass initiated lecture explored the emotions that seemingly contradictory worlds of art the educational program “River of people experience as a result of living and ecology for the first time in Israel. Words.” The program encouraged in human-constructed environments. Dr. Milette Shamir, Chairperson children in schools across America to Emotion, Fenster noted, is an impor- of the Department of English and write poetry about their experience of tant element in the arts as well. American Studies and co-organizer the environment, thereby heightening While the connection between the of the event along with their environmental awareness. arts and environmental studies may colleague Dr. Karen appear tenuous, Shamir argues that Alkalay-Gut, said the Are Science and Art both fields have great potential to idea of the confer- enrich one another. As an example, ence was “to provide Natural Partners? Shamir cites the idea of interrelat- a meeting ground for A TAU conference edness in ecology and how it can environmental scientists on literature and the influence the perspective of the and two other groups: environment makes for humanities. “Everything is related in scholars in the humani- ecosystems – various natural ele- ties who are interested strange bedfellows ments or organisms are all connect- in the environment, and ed,” says Shamir. This idea, she says, also practitioners – poets In Hass’s view, environment is can be applied to the arts by viewing and artists who are producing work intrinsically connected with literature the human being in the larger context about the environment.” because people are affected by their of ecological surroundings, rather Robert Hass The result was a conference that surroundings and this effect is trans- than as a discrete entity that stands put researchers from TAU’s Porter muted into the language they choose out of context. School of Environmental Studies to express themselves. Hass gives Conversely, literature can send on panels alongside artists, poets the example of Israeli and American messages to the field of science. and academics from the humani- writers as artists who are still in the “There’s a tradition of literary writing ties. Guest lecturers included former process of discovering their coun- that imagines nature as speaking,” United States poet laureate Robert tries’ landscape and how to write remarks Shamir. “That’s very different Hass and Dr. Una Chaudhuri of New about the land. He contrasts them from science, which regards nature as York University’s Department of Eng- with the Japanese, who have been a silent, passive object.” At its most lish and Drama. living in the same place for so long insightful, she adds, ecocriticism can Among topics discussed were the that they have developed a literary lead people to “rethink the cores of environment in Jewish writing; envi- perspective of their environment over both disciplines.”

Despite a major increase in the number of fe- male graduates in computer science and related Tapping Women fields over the last decade, few women hold top- Power in the Sciences level positions in either industry or academia. A TAU workshop To raise awareness of this situation, TAU held a encourages aspiring female workshop, “Women in Computer Science,” that brought together women in high-level posts with computer scientists to aim female students in the field. The women gave for leadership positions in technical lectures on their area of expertise. academia and industry “This was an opportunity for women in leader- ship positions to provide a role model for aspir- ing female computer scientists,” said Dr. Julia Dr. Orna Berry 24 Summer 2008 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW

Kempe of TAU’s Blavatnik School of Partner at Gemini Israeli Funds, and for women scientific interests often Computer Science, who co-organized former Chief Scientist at the Ministry prevail over career goals,” she said. the workshop together with Dr. Svet- of Industry and Trade. These results Other speakers at the workshop lana Olonetsky, also of the school. indicate the large untapped potential included Sophie Cluet, Chief Scientist The statistics are worrying. In of women and show that “industry is for Information and Communication Germany, for example, almost 25% of missing out on a huge pool of highly at the French Ministry of Science; women PhD graduates specialized in qualified people,” said Berry. Michal Geva, General Manager of Sun computing, mathematics, science and Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron, Vice Israel Development Center; Yoelle engineering in 1999, while only 9% President of Research and Devel- Market, Head of Google Haifa; Prof. were employed in industrial research opment at TAU and founder of the Daphne Koller of Stanford Univer- in that country. In France, against National Council for Women in Sci- sity; and Prof. Eva Tardos of Cornell 50% of women graduates with ence, explained that for men, career University. doctorates in the sciences, a mere goals are based on competitiveness The workshop was supported by 20% were employed by industry. The and power gain, while for women they the Marc Rich Foundation through data were presented at the workshop mean acquiring competence and re- the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler by Dr. Orna Berry, Chairperson of sponsibility. “For men scientific inter- Institute of Advanced Studies at TAU Israel Venture Association, Venture ests and career aspirations coincide; and by Sun Microsystems, Israel.

Number One in Europe prizes Dr. Julia Kempe of TAU’s Blavatnik School of Computer Science, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, was ranked highest in a group of over 9,000 junior researchers of 88 nationalities who submitted research Ziegler Merit Scholarships proposals to the European Research Council. Dr. Kempe received a perfect Forty outstanding TAU under- score of 10 for personal excellence and for the high qual- graduate students were awarded ity of a research proposal she submitted to the council on scholarships by the Ruth and Allen quantum computing. Ziegler Student Services Division. Other high-ranking TAU researchers were Dr. Oded The merit scholarships, donated by Regev, also of the Blavatnik School, who scored 9.76 and Ruth Ziegler, were awarded for the placed 56th; Prof. Nissan Itzhaki of the Raymond and first time as part of a new initiative by Beverly Sackler School of Physics and Astronomy, who Dr. Julia the Dean of Students to encourage scored 8.9; and Dr. Miriam Shefer-Mosenzon of the Entin Kempe high-achieving undergraduates at the Faculty of Humanities, who scored 7.9. beginning of their academic studies. The European Research Council was founded by the The students were selected by the EU in 2007 to support frontier research and encourage the very best, truly cre- deans of the various faculties and on ative scientists. It awarded Kempe and Regev a $1 million grant each as part the basis of strict academic criteria. of its first ever round of research funding.

Research Prize Rewards High Output Prizes recognizing the competitive partment of Molecular Biology and standing of TAU researchers within Biotechnology, Wise Faculty of Life the university were awarded for the Sciences, for his large number of second year by TAU Vice President research proposals and grants, and for Research and Development Hagit to Prof. Illana Gozes of the Depart- Messer-Yaron. The prizes reward ment of Clinical Biochemistry, Sackler researchers who have submitted an Faculty of Medicine, for success in unusually high number of research applied research and large number of proposals, received substantial re- patented inventions. Special recogni- search funding from outside sources tion was given to Dr. Nurit Guttman of or filed for numerous patents. the Department of Communication, The prizes for 2007 were awarded Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, From left: Dr. Nurit Guttman, Prof. Martin Kupiec and Prof. Illana to Prof. Martin Kupiec of the De- for her numerous research grants. Gozes 25 Young Scholars Forum UNESCO Chief Pays a Visit at Israel Academy people Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General Dr. Orna Harari of the Department of UNESCO (United Nations Educa- of Classics and Dr. Tamar Herzig of tional, Scientific and Cultural Organi- the School of History, both at the London Calling zation), visited TAU and was hosted Entin Faculty of Humanities, and Dr. by Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron, Vice Lord Mayor of the City of London Eran Neuman of the Azrieli School President for Research and Devel- David Lewis arrived on the TAU cam- of Architecture, Katz Faculty of the opment. In his address, Matsuura pus as part of a visit to strengthen business links between London and Israel. He toured laboratories special- From left, Dr. Tamar izing in renewable energies at the Herzig, Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Eran participated in a round-table discus- UNESCO Neuman Arts, were three of 10 young scholars Director- and Dr. Orna sion with scientists led by TAU Vice General Harari from throughout Israel to be elected Koichiro to the Young Scholars Forum of the Matsuura Israel Academy of Sciences and the stressed UNESCO’s goal of preserv- Humanities in the humanities division. ing cultural diversity and heritage and Members of the forum take an noted that in 2006 UNESCO estab- active part in determining future lished a chair in modern heritage at research areas of preference in the TAU’s Azrieli School of Architecture humanities, social sciences, arts for enhancing public awareness of the and law. “This is a carefully selected link between architecture, culture and group of ten academics in the early community. The chair operates within stage of their careers who meet regu- the framework of the school’s Tel Aviv larly to discuss topics of academic Institute for Architecture, Environ- interest,” said Prof. Benjamin Isaac, Lord Mayor of London David Lewis (center) ment, Culture and Community, which being informed about solar energy by PhD Chairperson of the Classics Depart- student Mordechai Arenson (far left) also provides assistance and study ment and 2008 Israel Prize laureate. programs in urban and rural planning All three lecturers said that mem- President for Research and Devel- to communities in Africa, Asia and the bership in the forum has given them a opment Hagit Messer-Yaron, and Middle East. UNESCO recognized Tel fresh multidisciplinary perspective on met scientists in the exact and life Aviv’s “White City” as a World Heri- fields of specialization. sciences. tage Site in 2003.

Technology mentoring for high school pupils community

Cisco Israel, TAU’s Blavatnik School learning centers in the central region of Computer Science and the Unit for run by Cisco, the Jewish Agency, Social Involvement of TAU’s Ruth and Keren Hayesod-UJA and the Tapuach Allen Ziegler Student Services Divi- organization as part of Net@ – a TAU student sion have joined forces in a technol- program for fostering excellence and Shuki ogy mentoring project for high school leadership in Israel’s social periphery. Kapon (left) teaching pupils. The project, which is now in “The project is in high demand among a pupil at its second year, matches TAU student TAU students, and the feedback we the Cisco mentors with high school pupils learn- received from the learning center learning center in ing communication network manage- instructors indicates that this is a Ramle ment in Cisco’s Certified Entry Net- winning combination,” says Prof. Dan working Technician Program. The TAU Halperin of the Blavatnik School, who students are granted scholarships for initiated the project together with their activity as mentors. Prof. Yehuda Afek, also of the school This year 10 TAU students are and a senior executive at Cisco Israel. mentoring 50 high school pupils at The project is funded by Cisco Israel. 26 Summer 2008 TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW

Four TAU Faculty Receive 2008 Israel Prizes Prof. Noga Alon – Prof. Anita Shapira – Israel Prize for Mathematics Israel Prize for Jewish History Noga Alon specializes in pure math- Anita Shapira is one of the most ematics and computer science, with a fo- influential historians of 20th century cus on combinatorics and graph theory Jewish, Zionist and Israeli history. applications. He was recognized for his Shapira was recognized for her impact work in these areas, which has changed the face of mod- on intellectual discourse concerning the establishment

ern combinatorics and has led to new concepts, structures of Israel and the history of Zionism; her outstanding makers and methodologies. Alon is an influential world author- biographical works; and her important contribution as ity on the applications of probability methods in discrete an educator in training generations of students and re- mathematics, and has solved mathematical problems that searchers in the field. had previously remained unanswered for years. Prof. Rina Yerushalmi –

Prof. Benjamin Isaac – Israel Prize for Theater news Israel Prize for General History Choreographer, director, teacher and An authority on the history of Rome theatrical innovator, Rina Yerushalmi is and its eastern provinces, including the a trailblazer in the study and perform- Land of Israel, Benjamin Isaac is one ance of theatrical works. She was cited of few classicists worldwide to combine for her work with the “Itim Ensemble,” a theatrical labo- expertise in Greek and Roman sources, archaeological ratory that she founded in 1989 and whose productions finds and Talmudic literature. He was additionally cited have gained worldwide acclaim; her inimitable directing for his findings on the roots of racism in the ancient style that encourages dialogue between director, actors world, which have had sweeping implications in the and the audience before finalizing a production; her role field; his in-depth and systematic analysis of Roman in bringing back the Bible to mainstream Israeli culture; rule in the Middle East; and his standing as an excep- and her contribution to fostering generations of actors tional teacher. and creative artists in Israel.

Elam Kott has been appointed Head Prof. Lily Vardimon, Life Sciences, Head of the Switzerland of the Development and Public Affairs Institute for Developmental Biology • Prof. Ram Zamir, Division. Kott was deputy spokesperson Engineering, Director of the Advanced Communication for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from Center • Prof. Dvora Barnea, Engineering, incumbent 1997 to 2002, dealing with, among oth- of the Nathan Cummings Chair of Mechanics • Prof. er things, media and communications. Akiva Cohen, Social Sciences, incumbent of the Moshe Theumim Chair in Communication • Prof. Shimon Efrat, His most recent position was Deputy Medicine, incumbent of the Nancy Gluck Regan Chair in President of the UJC (United Jewish Communities – The Juvenile Diabetes • Prof. Shimon Levy, Arts, incumbent Federations of North America) in New York, USA, re- of the Hannelore Kipp Chair in the Study of Art History • sponsible for the Israeli Education Fund. Prof. Billie Melman, Humanities, incumbent of the Henri Glasberg Chair in European Studies • Prof. Yaron Oz, Appointments: Prof. Gad Ariav, Management, Director Exact Sciences, incumbent of the Yuval Ne’eman Chair in of the Max Perlman Center for Global Business • Prof. Zvi Theoretical Nuclear Physics• Prof. Freddie Rokem, Arts, in- Fogel, Medicine, Director of the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon cumbent of the Emanuel Herzikowitz Chair for 19th and 20th G. Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases • Century Art • Prof. Yossi Shain, Social Sciences, incumbent Dr. Orly Lubin, Humanities, Head of the Porter Institute of the Romulo Betancourt Chair in Political Science • Prof. for Poetics and Semiotics • Prof. Alexander Plaveski, Exact Yossi Shavit, Social Sciences, incumbent of the Zalman and Sciences, Director of the Gordon Center for Energy Studies • Sima Weinberg Chair in Political Sociology Honors: Research Prize of the Jacqueline Seroussi Memorial Foundation for Cancer Research, Prof. Arnon Nagler, Medicine • Honorary Fellow of the Open University, Prof. Arie Vardi, Arts, • Juludan Prize, Prof. Meital Zilberman, Engineering • Yeager Award for Lifetime Achievement, Prof. Emanuel Peled, Exact Sciences • Landau Prize for Science and Research, Prof. Yair Aharoni, Management, and Prof. Israel Gershoni, Humanities • 2008 Krill Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research,Dr. Shiri Artstein-Avidan, Exact Sciences 27 Fading Corporatism: Kinship and Diasporas Call It English Israel’s Labor Law in International By Hana Wirth-Nesher, Princeton University Press (2006) and Industrial Affairs Relations in By Yossi Shain, University of Named as one of two finalists for the Transition Michigan Press, USA (2007). 2007 National Jewish Book Award By Guy Mundlak, Cornell in the category of Modern Jewish This book analyzes the University Press, USA (2007) Thought, and selected by Choice as changing role of diasporas one of the most significant books of Examining the changing na- in international relations ture of labor law and indus- 2006, this work identifies the distinc- trial relations in Israel, from tive voice of Jewish American literature European-style corporatism by recovering the multilingual culture to a pluralist model familiar that Jews brought to the US in their to North America, this work creative encounter with English. Prof. explains seemingly paradoxi- Hana Wirth-Nesher holds the Samuel L. cal outcomes of transforma- and Perry Haber Chair on the Study of the Jewish Experience in the United States and heads the Goldreich Family Institute for Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture.

Recurrent Pregnancy Israeli Society, the against a backdrop of glo- Loss: Causes, Holocaust and Its balization, international Controversies and Survivors terrorism and mass changes Treatment By Dina Porat, Valentine in migration patterns. The By Howard J.A. Carp, Mitchell, UK & USA (2008) Informa Healthcare, UK and author’s “politics of belong- USA (2007) This collection of 20 essays ing” provides a much-needed analyzes the encounters of framework for understand- the Yishuv (the Hebrew- ing the power of pan-Islam- speaking community in pre- ism, organized crime syndi- state Israel) and Israeli socie- cates and other transnational ty with the Holocaust and its tion in the spheres of legal political phenomena. Prof. survivors, touching on pain- norms, human rights, eco- Yossi Shain holds the ful topics that still resonate nomic regulation and civil Romulo Betancourt Chair in the Jewish world today. society. Guy Mundluk is in Political Science at TAU Prof. Dina Porat heads the Professor of Law and Labor and also holds a position at Chaim Rosenberg School of Studies at TAU. Georgetown University.

The Invading Body: Reading This book traces advances Illness Autobiographies in the understanding and By Einat Avrahami, University of Virginia management of recurrent Press, USA (2007). pregnancy loss, with re- This work analyzes autobiographical gard both to basic science testimonies of the terminally ill. Part and clinical application. of the emerging field of narrative med- Prof. Howard Carp of the icine, the book gives a voice and plat- Sackler Faculty of Medicine form to the sick, provides insight into is a member of the TAU- Jewish Studies as well as the the dying process for patients, their affiliated Department of Stephen Roth Institute and families and medical practitioners, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Alfred P. Slaner Chair for and sheds light on the autobiography genre. Einat Tel Hashomer Hospital, the Study of Contemporary Avrahami is Adjunct Professor of English at TAU. Sheba Medical Center. 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Atlantica 2856/801 Tel.+972 3 640 8055/6401 Tel. +510 444 6000 Rio de Janeiro RJ 22070-000 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Tel. +55 21 2549 9236 E-mail: [email protected] MEXICO American Friends of Tel Aviv University – Western Asociacion Mexicana de Amigos de la Region Rua Dr. Eduardo de Souza Aranha 99/92 9° Universidad de Tel Aviv 9911 West Pico Boulevard – Suite 1010 04543-120 Sao Paulo SP Seneca 307 Polanco 11560 Los Angeles Tel. +55 11 3849 3336 Mexico DF CA 90035 E-mail: [email protected] Tel. +52 55 5280 5030 Tel. +310 553 5232 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Rua Antonio Parreiras 322, Apr. 802 Cep. 90450-050 NORWAY VENEZUELA Porto Alegre RGS Norwegian Friends of Tel Aviv University Asociacion de Amigos de la Universidad de Tel Tel. +55 51 3330 0236 Bogstadveien 8 Aviv en Venezuela E-mail: [email protected] Oslo 3 Edificio Bet Am Tel. +47 22 603190 Avda. Washington CANADA San Bernardino Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University – Montreal SWEDEN 1010 Caracas Decarie Square Swedish Friends of Tel Aviv University Tel. +58 212 550 2234 6900 Decarie Boulevard – Suite 319 POB 7647 E-mail: [email protected] Montreal S10394 Stockholm Quebec H3X 2T8 Tel. +46 8 997195 Tel.+514 344 3417 E-mail: [email protected] Tel Aviv University Germany Lay Leadership Dr. h.c. Ernst Gerhardt President Worldwide German Friends of Tel Aviv University Israel Amos Shapira Argentina President Polly Mizrahi de Deutsch Israeli Friends of Tel Aviv University President Argentinean Friends of Tel Aviv University Mexico Jorge Adler Australia President John Landerer CBE AM Mexican Friends of Tel Aviv University President Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University Switzerland New South Wales Chapter (Sydney) Anette Bollag-Rothschild President Ronald D.M. Krongold Swiss Friends of Tel Aviv University President Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University UK Victoria Chapter (Melbourne) David Meller Chairman Austria Tel Aviv University Trust in Great Britain Dr. Hannes Androsch President Uruguay Austrian Friends of Tel Aviv University Ing. Carlos Spiller President Brazil Uruguayan Friends of Tel Aviv University Dr. Mario Arthur Adler President USA Brazilian Friends of Tel Aviv University Sao Paulo Chapter William F. Cohen National Chairman American Friends of Tel Aviv University (AFTAU) Eng. Luiz Chor President Venezuela Brazilian Friends of Tel Aviv University Rio de Janeiro Chapter Dr. Lia K. de Merenfeld President Venezuelan Friends of Tel Aviv University Eng. Pedro Simon Gus President Brazilian Friends of Tel Aviv University Porto Alegre Chapter

Canada Judge Barbara Seal, CM National President Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University (CFTAU)

Hon. Herbert Marx President Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University Montreal Chapter

Martin Peskin President Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University Toronto Chapter

France François Heilbronn President French Friends of Tel Aviv University (AFAUTA)

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