Printable version - Technion Focus Magazine

Nano Kudos
Creative landmark
transforms campus
By Amanda Jaffe-Katz
A slender, kinetic construction designed by world-renowned
architect, sculptor, and engineer Dr Santiago Calatrava stands
tall on campus and is dedicated to the memory of Russell
Berrie – humanitarian, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The
sculpture recognizes the unprecedented contributions made
by the Russell Berrie Foundation to Technion in establishing
the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, which reflects
Russ’s vision of Israel as a world leader in transformational
science. Its official inauguration, in the presence of
esteemed representatives from the Berrie Foundation, will
take place during Technion’s annual Board of Governors
session in June 2009 as the first event of Technion’s 85th
anniversary festivities.
Famous for his bridges, Calatrava is also noted for his
innovative moving constructions such as the Tenerife Opera
House and his addition to Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Museum
of Art, as well as the entrance to the Olympic stadium in
Athens. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from
Technion in 2004, where he also holds the appointment
of Distinguished Visiting Professor. Calatrava donated
03
T TE E CC H N I IO ON N
Continued on page 4
Sensing the Future
By Georgina Johnson
In this issue…
Evolution
Explored
Porous silicon/hydrogel
hybrids for nano biosensors
Mad-cow disease, listeria, e-coli, salmonella… there
is no shortage of threats to our health and safety at
the human end of the food chain. Whether through
deliberate acts of sabotage or human error occurring
in the blind swell of mass production, the need
Continued on page 7
05
Zielony Day
The Technion Nano Bible
On May 11 at the official welcoming
ceremony at the President’s Residence in
Jerusalem, President Shimon Peres
presented the unique gift of the Technion
Nano Bible to Pope Benedict XVI when
His Holiness commenced his pilgrimage
to the Holy Land.
The Nano Bible, created at the Russell
Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI),
was cased in a leather-bound replica
of a 13th-century Bible, and included
a technical description of its creation, a
magnifying glass, and a 10,000-times
magnification of the first 13 verses of
the Book of Genesis. The entire pointed
Hebrew text was etched using a
focused ion beam (FIB) on a 0.5 mm 2
gold-plated silicon chip, 20 nanometers
President of Israel
Shimon Peres gives
Pope Benedict XVI the
Technion Nano Bible,
specially created at
the Russell Berrie
Nanotechnology Institute
(RBNI) by Prof. Uri Sivan
(bottom left) and his
doctoral student, Ohad
Zohar (bottom right).
Birth: November 2008
Height: 28+ meters
Weight: Above ground – 25 tons;
Underground structure – 150 tons
Design: Dr Santiago Calatrava
Sponsor: Angelica Berrie and the
Russell Berrie Foundation
thick. This involved shooting a beam of
gallium ions onto the surface, causing
gold atoms to bounce off it and expose
the underlying silicon layer, leaving over
1.2 million letters engraved on the chip.
Physics Prof. Uri Sivan, head of RBNI,
conceived the idea to inscribe the
Bible on such a tiny surface as part of
an educational program to introduce
nanotechnology in an accessible
way to high school students. Sivan’s
doctoral student, Ohad Zohar, who also
serves as RBNI’s scientific advisor for
educational programming in the field of
nanotechnology, managed the project.
“The Nano Bible project demonstrates
the miniaturization at our disposal,” said
07
Man-of-War
Hydrodynamics
08
Technion - Israel Institute
of Technology
www.focus.technion.ac.il
MAY 2009
Photo: Joseff Avi Yair Engel
Sivan. “This research could lead to the
creation of more advanced miniature
structures – and imaging – on a
nanometric scale, advances in storing
information in very small spaces, and
the use of DNA molecules to store
information.”
We Have Lift-off
1

News
2
MAY 2009
Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig
President’s
Message
In his campaign for the U.S.
Presidency, then Senator Barack
Obama published a plan titled,
“Science, Technology, and
Innovation for a New Generation”.
In his plan, the Senator wrote,
“Revolutionary advances
in information technology,
biotechnology, nanotechnology
and other fields are reshaping
the global economy. Without
renewed efforts the United States
risks losing leadership in science,
technology, and innovation.”
The Democratic Party candidate
consequently proposed an
ambitious and visionary program
for investment in the sciences and
university-based research.
The program called for a
doubling of federal funding for
basic research over ten years;
expanding research at colleges
and universities; and funding
young researchers. It also called for
billions of new dollars in climate,
biomedical, stem cells, and other
fields of scientific research. Major
parts of this plan have already
been approved by Congress and
are being implemented. This
includes an addition of nearly $20
b. to science grant agencies such
as the National Institutes of Health,
the National Science Foundation,
and the Department of Energy.
A new government has been
formed recently in Israel, faced
with the task of addressing
unprecedented challenges
BORN WINNER
Physics Prof. Mordechai
(Moti) Segev receives
the Optical Society
of America’s Max
Born Award
T he Max Born Award is presented
by the Optical Society of America
(OSA) to a person who has
made outstanding contributions
to theoretical or experimental
physical optics. Prof. Mordechai
(Moti) Segev receives this special
honor for “making groundbreaking
contributions in the field of optical
spatial solitons.”
Max Born made distinguished
contributions to physics in general
and to optics in particular, and
for these he received the Nobel
Prize in Physics in 1954. This OSA
award was established in 1982,
the centenary of Born’s birth. It is
considered the highest professional
award of the OSA.
In winning the 2009 Max Born
Award of the OSA and the 2007
Published by the Division of Public Affairs and Resource Development
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel
Tel: 972-4-829-2578
focus@tx.technion.ac.il
www.focus.technion.ac.il
VP Resource Development
and External Relations: Prof. Raphael Rom
Director, Public Affairs and
Resource Development: Shimon Arbel
Head, Department
of Public Affairs: Yvette Gershon
Editors: Amanda Jaffe-Katz, Barbara Frank
Design: CastroNawy
Photo Coordinator: Hilda Favel
Photographers: Yoav Bachar, Gustavo Hochman, Jacqui Jaffé,
Miki Koren, Shimon Okun, Shlomo Shoham,
Yosi Shrem, Eugene Weisberg and others
caused by the global economic
slowdown and continued – and
even growing – existential threats
from Israel’s neighbors, both near
and far. Israel’s universities, and
Technion in particular, contend
that a strong and vibrant highereducation
system is critical to the
country’s growth and progress.
Indeed, considering Technion’s
vital role in the development and
continued growth of Israel’s hightechnology
and defense industries,
infrastructure, and scientific
research, the universities’ place
in securing Israel’s future is of
strategic importance and urgency.
The new U.S. president
understands that science,
technology, and innovation can
be employed to solve many of
America’s most pressing problems.
It is our hope that the new Israeli
government will again set the topic
of education as its highest priority
and will rediscover the potential
and creativity of the nation’s
universities, and invest in the
state’s most precious resource –
its human capital.
Quantum Electronics Prize of the
European Physics Society (EPS),
Segev, who holds the Norman and
Trudy Louis Chair in Engineering,
has won the most prestigious
professional awards in the entire
field of optics/lasers/quantum
electronics of both the American
and the European societies.
Uniting more than 70,000
professionals from 134 countries,
OSA brings together the scientists,
engineers and business leaders
in the global optics community,
promoting the science of light and
the advanced technologies made
possible by optics and photonics.
Segev joins an esteemed group of
past recipients recognized for their
perseverance, novelty and foresight
in the field of optics.
JACKPOT!
Technion researchers received three of the
eight 2008 Landau Awards for Sciences
and Research. These prestigious prizes were
awarded by Israel’s National Lottery – Mifal
Hapais – in Tel Aviv in March 2009. Prof.
Rachelle Alterman of the Faculty of Architecture
and Town Planning received the award in
the category of Urban Studies; Prof. Yaacov
Rubinstein, current dean of the Faculty of
Mathematics, earned the prize in the category
of Applied Mathematics; and Prof. Emeritus
Giora Shaviv of the Faculty of Physics won the
Landau Award in the field of Astrophysics.
Triumph of Rome
Dr Shulamit Levenberg of the
Faculty of Biomedical Engineering
received the Excellence for Israel
Prize, given under the aegis of the
Italian Ministry of Culture, in Rome
in March 2009. The prize was
conferred within the framework
of events held in Italy for Israel’s
60th anniversary, as a tribute to
men and women involved in the
arts, cinema, music, economics
and scientific research who have
contributed to Israel’s development
and to the growth of its culture
throughout the world. Levenberg is
a world leader in tissue engineering
who joined Technion in 2004 as a
Landau Fellow.
Other honorees included artist
Dani Karavan, who is to receive
an honorary doctorate from
Technion in June. Prizes were
also given to Italian personalities
who have committed themselves
to promoting friendship and
cooperation between Israel and
Italy, notably Nobel Laureate
Senator Prof. Rita Levi-Montalcini.
Queen of the Sea
Dr Debbie Lindell, a senior lecturer
at the Faculty of Biology, received
the Wolf Foundation’s Krill Prize for
Excellence in Scientific Research
and gave the acceptance speech
on behalf of all six awardees
at the April ceremony. The Krill
Prizes, first awarded in 2005, are
given annually to excelling faculty
members at Israel’s universities,
who hold positions of lecturer
or senior lecturer and have not
yet been granted tenure. Lindell
joined Technion in 2006, and she
holds the Robert J. Shillman Career
Advancement Chair. She was also
Dr Debbie Lindell (l) is
congratulated by Dina
Berniker (r), Deputy
Chairperson of the Wolf
Foundation Council and
by Krill family representative,
Ionit Beer-Maarabi.
chosen by the European Research
Council as one of the recipients of
its prestigious Starting Grants that
target promising young scientists
who have the proven potential
of becoming the next-generation
research leaders. Her research
focuses on studying the interactions
between marine viruses and their
globally important phytoplankton
hosts (primarily cyanobacteria)
and includes investigating the
impacts of host-virus interactions
on the physiology, photosynthesis,
population dynamics and genome
evolution of both hosts and viruses.
Harvey Prize
The 2008 Harvey Prize ceremony took place at
Technion in March 2009. The recipient in the
field of science and technology was Dr Charles H.
Bennett from IBM Research Laboratories in New
York and Prof. David Eisenberg of the Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of
California, Los Angeles, accepted the prize in the
field of human health.
Bennett, who received the prize in recognition
of his seminal role in founding and advancing
the fields of quantum information and quantum
computation, said, “It gives me great pleasure to
come back here to Technion.” Here, he continued,
his subject, “got its beginnings in some ways by
my mentor, Prof. Asher Peres, and one of the
discoverers of entanglement, Nathan Rosen.”
Eisenberg was recognized for his contributions –
pushing the technical limits of crystallography – that
elucidated the structure of amyloid fibrils and the
understanding of fundamental properties of proteins.
The prestigious Harvey Prize is considered a good
predictor of the Nobel Prize, with 10 of its recipients to
date going on to win the Nobel in the past 25 years.

the
By Prof. Shlomo Maital
Academic Director of TIM –
Technion Institute of Management
February 12, 2009, marked the 200th
anniversary of the birth of Charles
Darwin, discoverer of the principle of
natural selection and the theory of
evolution. And in November we will
mark the 150th anniversary of the
publishing of his landmark book On the
T E C H N I O N
Innovate
DARWIN WAY
]
“Innovators should follow
Darwin… and constantly seek
new ideas and information.”
]
Origin of Species, a book that changed
the way we think about the world.
What can we learn from Darwin’s life
and discoveries about innovation?
1. Curiosity: Darwin was exceptionally
curious about everything, from the time
he was a small child. In his long fouryear
voyage on the Beagle, he visited
Chile. He made extensive notes on
everything he saw. There, he noted how
layers of soil had been pushed up to
form mountains. In the layers he found
fossils of seashells and crustaceans. Aha!
he thought. These layers were once,
therefore, under the sea. How did a
layer under the sea become a 12,000
ft. mountain? Later, he found the answer
in a book by geologist Charles Lyell, who
theorized (against conventional wisdom)
Evolution
Explored
Sept. 14, 2009
that earthquakes pushed the earth up,
twisting horizontal layers into nearvertical
mountains. This process must
have taken millions of years, Darwin
thought. He filed this insight away —
for later use.
2. Integration: Darwin read widely. He
read about geology. And he read about
economics. In 1798 an economist
named Thomas Robert Malthus wrote
An Essay on the Principle of Population,
in which he observed that population
expands rapidly, geometrically, while
food expands only as an arithmetic
series, meaning that food per person
declines, leading to a struggle for
survival. Darwin later remembered this
idea and integrated it, along with his
geology readings, into his theory. The
theory of evolution owes its discoveries
to Darwin’s ability to understand and
use ideas very far from biology.
3. Courage: Prevailing theory about
how species evolved attributed them
mainly to Divine Providence. At
the time Darwin lived, the Church
was very powerful. Theories that
contradicted doctrine were labeled
as blasphemy. Nonetheless, Darwin
The 3rd World Innovation Summit will be held in
September 2009 in Tel Aviv. This international
gathering includes over 80 presentations focusing on
such technology innovations as mobile and wireless
communications; virtualization and cloud computing;
alternative energy; robotics; medical devices; visual
computing and multimedia; multi-core and highend
computing; and automotive and aerospace
technologies. Along with many start-ups, NASDAQlisted
company CEOs and chairmen will present.
Participants from the venture capital community will
exchange ideas with top technology experts. As in
previous years, participants from the Far East, Europe
and North America are expected – the last summit
hosted over 900 high-profile attendees.
Following two successful Innovation Summits held in
Haifa dubbed, “the tribe’s campfire,” “the mastermind
published his insight, published in 1859,
despite the consequences. Species
evolve, he wrote, as they struggle for
survival; only species that have traits
that help them survive to reproduce
will endure and pass on those traits. He
used his observations of mockingbirds,
collected in the Galapagos Islands,
whose beaks had adapted according
to conditions in different islands. This
process, he noted, took many thousands
of years. It contradicted the literal
Biblical theory of creation (though,
not entirely — the sun and stars were
created only on the fourth day, so the
first three “days” could have lasted for
many millions of years). But Darwin
wrote what he believed was the
truth, regardless of Church sanctions.
Innovators should follow Darwin, as
a role model, and constantly seek
new ideas and information. One day,
perhaps, you will take a piece from
geology, a piece from economics, and
a piece from botany and zoology, like
Darwin, assemble it, integrate it, and find
something so beautiful, so insightful,
and so earthshaking that the world will
never again be the same.
Reproduced with permission from Shlomo
Maital’s blog http://timnovate.wordpress.com.
M
arking the exact 150th anniversary of the publication on November
24, 1859, of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Technion is
hosting a 2-day symposium with the participation of internationally
renowned scientists who work at the interface of evolution and
other life sciences. Researchers from Germany, Ecuador, Ireland,
the USA, and universities throughout Israel, who specialize in fields that include
molecular, genetic, ecological, bacterial, botanical, zoological, as well as human
aspects of evolution, will present their research. Session topics are Systems Biology;
Evolutionary Ecology; Developmental Networks; and Evo-Devo.
Posters are also being solicited from graduate and postdoctoral students on
research associated with Darwin and On the Origin of Species, and these will be
exhibited in the foyer of the Butler Auditorium. Winning posters – selected by
the prestigious scientific committee – will be generously remunerated.
The symposium (http://Darwin.technion.ac.il) is sponsored by Technion and the
Faculties of Biology and Biotechnology and Food Engineering, the Lorry I. Lokey
Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering, the Technion Graduate
Students Organization, the Israel Technion Society, and the Israel Society for
Developmental Biology, who invite you to join in celebrating Darwin’s legacy
and its enduring applicability 200 years since his birth.
Discover the Future.
summit” and an “extremely influential gathering”
by PC Magazine, Technologies Magazine, and
EE Times respectively, this inspirational event is a
singular opportunity to meet an exotic blend of Israeli
companies for partnership and investment prospects.
Technion serves as the summit’s academic sponsor
and Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig, president, will be Honorary
Chairman. Keynote speaker is Technion Guardian,
Dr Irwin Jacobs, co-founder and chairman of
Qualcomm. The event is organized by high-tech
investment opportunity consultant Olive Bay Ltd.,
spearheaded by Technion alumnus Dr Joseph Gilor, in
collaboration with global partners including Intel, Cisco,
and Qualcomm.
For further details, see
www.worldinnovationsummit.com.
Innovation
3

Campus
4
MAY 2009
…continued from page 1
the design for the free-standing
structure, known as The Obelisk,
which is located at the very heart of
the campus.
Its installation – the first of its kind,
says Project Manager Dr Michael
Polonsky, involved changing the
existing infrastructure and adding
new arteries for feeding, operation
and lightning protection of The
Obelisk.
Comprising a subterranean
reinforced-concrete foundation,
topped by a stone, 3-meter-high
cone-shaped pedestal and crowned
with a 25-meter glinting tower, this
singular structure is surrounded by
a circular pavement made from
local off-white dolomite, 10.5 m
in diameter. The tower houses
an external skin of 224 moving
stainless-steel ribs, arranged in
eight levels. These elements are
designed to permit a wave-like
motion generated by the electric
motor that sits atop the mast; each
moving rib induces the sequential
motion of the next, from the top
level to the bottom. The effect of
this sinusoidal movement, explains
Polonsky, is an illusion of the whole
monument rotating on its axis;
actually, the movement is more
akin to our ribcage moving in and
out during the process of inhalation
and exhalation.
The entire structure, lit by 10
illumination points set in the
pavement, stands more than 28 m
high, over 200 m above sea-level.
BOG
Honorary Doctors:
Joseph Ackerman, Israel
Zahava Bar-Nir, USA
Dr Igor Dawid, USA
Reinhard Frank, USA & Germany
Dani Karavan, Israel
Dr Stephen A. Laser, USA
David Polak, USA
Dr Yossi Vardi, Israel
Honorary Fellows:
Victor Asser, Greece
Ilse Blumenfeld, USA
André Deloro, Monaco
Carol B. Epstein, USA
Sandy Hittman, USA
Scott Leemaster, USA
Tzvi Neta, Israel
Bennett Rechler, USA
Hannah Rechler Rabinowitz, USA
Chaim Yaron, Israel
T
he 2009 International
Board of Governors
session which takes
place at Technion
between May 31 and
June 3 will celebrate the 85th
anniversary of the opening of the
university in 1924.
The Festive Opening and
the presentation of Honorary
Fellowships to 10 devoted
Technion friends from Greece,
Israel, Monaco, and the United
States will take place on May 31.
The following evening, Honorary
Doctorates will be conferred on
eight eminent public figures from
Israel and around the world.
New facilities to be dedicated on
campus include the ATS Women’s
Division Polymer Research
Laboratory in the Schulich Faculty
of Chemistry and Microbiology
Teaching Laboratory in the Louis
and Bessie Stein Foundation
Biotechnology Complex; the Annita
John Levi Financial Engineering
and Risk Management Laboratory,
and the Haim and Eugenie Pardo
Enterprise Systems Modeling
Laboratory in the Davidson Faculty
of Industrial Engineering and
Management.
The highlight of the Technion’s
85th anniversary celebration will be
marked by the inauguration of an
Obelisk designed by internationally
renowned architect and engineer,
Dr Santiago Calatrava. The obelisk,
which has been erected in the
heart of the campus, is a gift of
the Russell Berrie Foundation.
The dedication ceremony will take
place in the presence of Angelica
Berrie and representatives of the
Foundation.
The Board program will include
the launching of the André Deloro
Career Advancement Chair in
Engineering which will enable the
Technion to enlist a talented, new
faculty member to its Faculty of
Computer Science. Outstanding
faculty will be recognized with the
Muriel and David Jacknow Awards
for Excellence in Teaching, the
Salomon Simon Mani Awards for
Excellence in Teaching, the Hershel
and Hilda Rich Technion Innovation
Awards and the Henry Taub Prizes
for Academic Excellence. Guest
speaker at the awards ceremony
2009 Nano Kudos
is Technion alumna Dr Yoelle
Maarek, who will speak on “The
Democratization of Innovation on
the Web.” Student awardees will be
celebrated at the Norman and Barbara
Seiden Family Prize Ceremony.
On-campus visits to priority sites
include research laboratories
in Aerospace; Nanotechnology;
Autonomous Systems; Life Sciences
and Engineering; and Electrical
Engineering. Technion’s research
achievements over the last 85 years
will be showcased at a gala event.
Artwork by Technion employees
and faculty will be displayed at an
exhibition in the Sherman Foyer of
the Churchill Auditorium.
The final plenary of the Board of
Governors will include the election
of the next president of the
Technion. The annual international
gathering will close with a lecture
by Distinguished Visiting Professor
Santiago Calatrava who will deliver
the Yitzhak Modai Annual Lecture
on Technology and Economics.
* All details correct to May 1, 2009

ZIELONY DAY
The inauguration of the Stanley Shalom Zielony Student Union Building
March 18, 2009 was declared
Zielony Day at Technion when
three important projects were
named and dedicated for Stanley
Shalom Zielony, a longtime
Technion friend, visionary, and
supporter. Technion President
Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig said, “The
Technion and its students will be
forever grateful to you, Shalom,
for your friendship and for your
unparalleled devotion and support.
First the cornerstone was laid for
the new Stanley Shalom Zielony
Graduate Student Village. The
22,000 square meters, 215-unit
village will provide the highest
quality dormitory housing for
students pursuing advanced
degrees at the Technion and
their families. Ori Avi-No’am,
chair of the Graduate Students
Organization, said: “A true visionary
understands that a community
rarely self assembles without
proper foundations and that
without a strong community a
university cannot hope to take its
place as a leader in the academic
world. Mr Zielony, your actions
cannot be described simply; you
are a true visionary. You have
provided us with the tools for
genuine development. You have
given us the foundations for our
community. Thank you for giving
our campus a heart and our
students homes close to that heart.
We truly feel blessed.”
After the ceremony that was
packed with appreciative graduate
Leumi Group General Manager, Galia Maor, gets close to
Mishka Monsters, the robot which Tamra’s Abu Romi High
School entered in the 2008/2009 FIRST Robotics contest.
To her left, Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig, and on the right, Prof. Moshe
Shoham, head of the Leumi Robotics Center.
“It is the supreme art of the teacher
to awaken joy in creative expression
and knowledge.”
- Albert Einstein
T E C H N I O N
students and also attended by
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, the
action moved down the hill to
the inauguration of the Stanley
Shalom Zielony Student Union
Building. Technion faculty, Zielony’s
guests from Israel and overseas,
FIRST
For the May 2009 inauguration of the Leumi Robotics
Center in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,
the Israel Technion Society organized an impressive
ceremony in the Coler-California Visitors Center
attended by a large number of participants including
Galia Maor, the general manager of the Leumi
Group, representatives of the Ministry of Education,
and Technion President, Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig. Also
participating were many groups of young people
associated with the Center, who demonstrated their
robots to the visitors.
“The heads of the bank already comprehended a long
time ago, that which – unfortunately – many others
have still not grasped: that without science
and technology the State of Israel has no future,”
said Apeloig.
and students cheered as the
renovated student union building
was officially opened with a
trumpet fanfare and celebratory
balloons were released. Situated
in the heart of the main campus,
the modernized Student Union
Prof. Moshe Shoham heads the Leumi Robotics
Center, which is directed by Dr Evgeny Korchnoy. Its
activities will enable the Technion to further its support
of robotics contests.
“We are proud to be a part of this important industry,”
said Maor, in the course of her greetings. “These days,
in particular, the collaborative efforts of Bank Leumi and
the Technion are of special significance, a collaboration
which exemplifies the contribution of the business
Building provides a one-stop-shop
with cafeterias, a cinema, music
room, retail outlets, and social halls.
Apeloig announced that the
Technion orchestra and choir
would now be known as
the Stanley Shalom Zielony
Technion Orchestra and Choir.
Entertainment at the inauguration
was provided by the orchestra
and choir ensemble and the
Technion Student Dance Troupe.
Zielony’s many gifts to Technion
include the Shalom Zielony Plaza
that transformed the center of
campus with attractive waterfalls,
a scenic promenade and an
expansive central lawn; the
Faculty Recruitment Program;
and the Stanley Shalom Zielony
Distinguished Women in Science
Lecture Series. In 2003, Zielony
received an Honorary Doctorate
from Technion.
Hundreds of students showed their
appreciation to their benefactor,
kitted out in green (Zielony means
green in Polish and Russian)
“Thank you, Mr Zielony” T-shirts.
ROBOTICS
sector to the strengthening of Israel’s educational and
higher education system.”
Dr Alon Wolf explained to the audience that he
himself is not only a product of high school technology
education, but also of the Technion. “Robotics,” said
Wolf, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering, “stimulates the imagination and creativity,
which leads to fun.” Wolf quoted Albert Einstein who
said, “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy
in creative expression and knowledge.” Wolf described
Technion’s ongoing and successful involvement in such
robotics events as FIRST, RoboCup, Fire Fighter Robot,
and a new initiative, RoboTraffic.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and
Technology) was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen
in the United States. It has taken place in Israel for the
last five years – with the encouragement of President
Shimon Peres.
School principals participating in the Center’s
activities welcomed its establishment, saying that
they attach great significance to the fact that primary
and secondary school pupils will thus enhance their
technology knowledge and subsequently partake in
science and technology higher education at Technion.
Campus
5

Energy
6
]
MAY 2009
Planning
for Climate
Uncertainty –
a Win-Win
Prospect?
Dr Daniel Orenstein is a Neaman Fellow at the
Klutznick Center for Urban and Regional Studies.
Biofuel
By Barbara Frank
]
The rising cost of fuel, the need for
alternative fuel sources, the lack of
agricultural water worldwide, all of
these problems, daunting as they may
seem, are being tackled head on by
Biology Prof. Shimon Gepstein. Within
“A platform technology… to grow various
[
species for biofuel extraction on marginal lands
with minimal requirements for water supply.“
the framework of the new Technion
Energy Program (TEP), he leads a
team of researchers developing a
revolutionary technology to grow
plants for biofuels. TEP brings together
science and engineering researchers
to work on alternative and renewable
energy sources, develop non-carbonbased
fuels, seek solutions for more
efficient energy use, and to reduce the
environmental damage caused by the
use of fossil fuels.
By Dr Daniel Orenstein
As evidence continues
to mount supporting
anthropogenic (human)
driven climate change, it
is well worth considering
what Israel is going to do
about it.
True, our contribution to
global atmospheric carbon
budgets is about as small
as our geography. But
climate change scenarios
predict a tough situation
[
“We have to stop
living on the edge.“
for Israel, including hotter
temperatures and more
sporadic and intense
rainfall events. This means
more evaporation, more
floods, and less usable
precipitation, posing a
real problem for our
country which habitually
lives on the edge with
regard to water supplies.
Our groundwater is
Biofuels, such as bioethanol and
biodiesel, are derived from biomass –
agricultural products specifically grown
for conversion to biofuels. But a moral
dilemma arises: should we be growing
plants (such as corn and sunflowers)
for biofuels, taking into
account worldwide food
shortages and limited
water resources? It is
true that plants absorb
carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, which helps
to decelerate the increase in the carbon
dioxide levels that threaten our planet,
but cultivating these plants requires
land and water.
Gepstein’s technology delays the
aging of the plants allowing the
increase of plant biomass and yield
especially for plants grown with
minimal water requirements. By
isolating and manipulating the gene
involved in the aging of tobacco (the
Prof. Shimon Gepstein
(2nd from right) and
students in the Faculty
of Biology greenhouse.
Gepstein is developing a
platform technology to grow
plants with minimal water on
marginal land (land which
is difficult to cultivate) for
biofuel extraction.
increasingly polluted and
over-pumped and the
Sea of Galilee is already
stretched beyond its
limits. Hotter summers
also mean higher energy
demands: as citizens turn
up their air conditioners
to combat the heat,
electric plants that already
operate at peak capacity
on the hottest summer
days will be further
stretched.
There is a large amount
of uncertainty with
regard to climate model
predictions. We are facing
high uncertainty regarding
what’s in store for Israel
and it’s this uncertainty
that we must prepare
for. The good news is
that, in preparing for the
unknown, we’ll be doing
things that need doing
anyway. Water and energy
conservation measures,
for example, will not
only buffer us against
unforeseen changes in
our hydrological cycle or
in our energy demands,
but will help us manage
our present resources
model plant for his research) he
managed to double the life span of
the plant while also extending the
plant’s shelf life. Aging begins, as in
humans, when hormone levels drop.
In plants this is known as cytokinese.
By happy accident, Gepstein
uncovered another exciting result.
Some of the plants he was developing
were left out of the greenhouse and
were not watered, yet these plants
continued to live. Further study under
controlled conditions proved that
the plants lived longer and did not
lose biomass even when watered 30
percent less. In other words, a 70
percent saving of water was achieved.
The researchers plan to carry out their
experimentation in growth chambers
in the laboratory, in greenhouses on
a larger scale, and eventually in the
field. Gepstein proposes to establish a
consortium of five European partners
more robustly to meet
demand. We have to stop
living on the edge.
An excellent example of
preparing for uncertainty
is the package of planning
steps recommended by
Prof. Naomi Carmon of
the Faculty of Architecture
and Town Planning
and her colleague, Prof.
Emeritus Uri Shamir
of the Faculty of Civil
and Environmental
Engineering, in their new
research publication,
“Water Sensitive
Planning.” Here, they
set out comprehensive
guidelines on how Israel
can construct buildings
and organize urban
areas in such a way
that will both conserve
existing water and exploit
future precipitation
more efficiently. Their
inspiration was to protect
Israel’s water sources
and to improve quality of
life by providing cleaner
rivers, reliable water
supplies, and decreased
fear of flood damage.
They weren’t thinking
about decreased water
supplies due to climate
change, yet this is another
important reason why
their recommendations
should be implemented.
We can apply the same
logic to our energy
systems with better
planning, improved
exploitation of existing
resources, conservation
measures, and alternative
technologies for energy
production. As with water,
this will assist our ability
to deal with future climate
change by increasing
robustness in the face
of uncertainty. But it will
also go far to improve
our day-to-day quality of
life by lowering pollution
levels, decrease carbon
emissions, insure us
against energy and water
shortages, and improve
our competitive edge in
the global marketplace.
That is a win-win policy.
and five partners in Brazil and is
applying for funding for this project.
Candidates for bioethanol production
include sugar cane, and candidates
for the production of vegetable oil for
biodiesel production include canola,
sunflower, and inedible plants such as
Jatropha and Ricinus (castor oil bean).
Gepstein explains, “Our goal is to
develop a platform technology for
conferring new genetic traits to plants
that will allow us to grow various species
for biofuel extraction on marginal lands
with minimal requirements for water
supply. Developing such crop plants
should provide a net energy gain, have
environmental benefits, be economically
competitive, and be producible in large
quantities for biofuel production without
reducing food supplies.”

Dr Ester Segal, Faculty of
Biotechnology and Food
Engineering
Sensing the Future
…continued from page 1
for effective, fast and economic
methods to keep our food safe was
indicated in new legislation drawn
up by the European Community
known as “from farm to fork”. Yet
food and water monitoring is just
one potential application of the
exciting nano-bio-materials research
going on at Dr Ester Segal’s new
lab at the Faculty of Biotechnology
and Food Engineering. By drilling
nano-sized pores in hard matter
porous silicon and filling them with
specific organic polymers, she is
lighting the way for the biosensors
and drug delivery systems of
tomorrow.
Photo: Jinsuk Kim
]
“Porous silicon itself can be
designed with unique optical
structures,” explains Segal.
“Certain colors derive directly
from nanostructures – they are
photonic crystals. Take the colors
of beetle shells, butterfly wings,
or opal stone... they filter light and
reflect mostly one wavelength,
so we see a single bright color.
For instance, the wings of the
male Morpho Rhetenor butterfly
appear bright blue. But the wing
material is not, in fact, blue; it just
appears blue because of particular
nanostructures on the surface.
“The Portuguese man-of-war doesn’t think,
but succeeds beautifully in handling its sail.“[
By Roberta Neiger
T E C H N I O N
Maneuvers with the
Portuguese
Man-of-War
T
echnion researchers have looked up
close at the Portuguese man-of-war,
also known as the blue bubble or
bluebottle. Their findings, published
in the prestigious British Journal of
the Royal Society Interface, have shed light on
some of the functions of this enigmatic animal.
]
Synthesized polymers in a porous
silicon structure can respond to
environmental changes, such as
pH, or temperature... and when
they go through a change, we
see a change in the color. This
is the sensor, the signal we can
measure.”
Segal adds that these hybrids
combining soft and hard matter
are relatively inexpensive to make.
She is presently working on a
sensor for biothreats, such as
waterborne bacterial threats and
biosensors for the detection of
organophosphorous compounds,
such as nerve gas.
Segal began her academic
career with an intense interest in
“We live in a
polymer world.“[
chemistry, but her practically
minded parents steered her
towards Technion’s Wolfson Faculty
of Chemical Engineering. Here,
she blossomed and uncovered a
special interest in polymers – the
long molecules that join to form the
substances of our material world.
Segal left for postdoctoral studies at
University of California at San Diego
where her passion for organic
polymers negotiated research into
the opposite, inorganic, hard matter
silicon. At first, at the applicationdriven
lab, there was resistance
to her novel idea of using nanosized
pores drilled into silicon as
containers for organic polymers.
But by joining forces they found
that polymers behave differently
when confined in pores in silicon.
The man-of-war is a jelly-like,
marine invertebrate (Physalia
physalis) that often swarms
in thousands off the coasts of
Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand,
the Gulf of Mexico, Florida,
Hawaii and South Africa. It is
common knowledge that this
marine creature can inflict stings
that are not only painful and
powerful, but deadly. Less widely
known is that the man-of-war
is not a single animal, but a
siphonophore – a colony of four
kinds of minute, highly modified
individuals, so specialized that they depend on
each other for survival.
The most conspicuous members of this colony
are the sail-like float, up to 30 cm across, and
long tentacles, up to 10 m in length, which hang
asymmetrically beneath the float. In their study,
Profs. Gil Iosilevskii and Daniel Weihs of the
Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, address the
sailing operation of the Portuguese man-of-war.
They explore, in particular, the hydrodynamics
of the animal’s trailing tentacles, the interaction
between the tentacles and the float, and its
actual sailing performance.
“Man tends to increase
[
at a greater rate than his
means of subsistence.“
]- Charles Darwin
“The combination of these two
different nano-scale materials
and their interface with biological
molecules is fascinating,” explains
Segal, indicating the inevitability
of the evolution of science into
ever-increasing interdisciplinary and
collaborative research.
Segal joined Technion’s Faculty
of Biotechnology and Food
Engineering in 2007 as a senior
lecturer, where she says there is
a strong degree of cooperation
among the 12 faculty members
and a constant interface with
other faculties and interdisciplinary
centers. She deeply enjoys the
curiosity and passion for science
found in her students. “At the
beginning of the food packaging
class, most of them don’t know
what polymers are. I show them that
everything they touch is basically
a polymer – they use a paper and
pen, they wear polyester – we
live in a polymer world. I like to
show them The Graduate, where
Dustin Hoffman is told by one of
his mother’s guests: ‘the future is in
plastics.’”
The researchers found that the animal developed
a method of using its primitive sail so that at
practically any wind speed, it moves no faster than
3/4 of a knot. Why does the man-of-war maintain
this constant speed? “One of the reasons can be
that this speed prevents the tentacles from tearing
away. The other reason is more pragmatic,” says
Distinguished Prof. Daniel Weihs. “Above that
speed, the tentacles bunch up horizontally on
the surface of the water. If the animal is moving
very slowly or standing, the tentacles hang down.
In between, the tentacles spread out vertically
creating a net of thick and thin tentacles. It’s
simple: at speeds that are too high or too low, the
man-of-war can’t catch its prey.”
Weihs frequently borrows natural phenomena
for incorporation into flying or sailing vehicles.
“We have a lot to learn from this primitive
creature that has no brain,” says Weihs. “The
Portuguese man-of-war doesn’t think, but
succeeds beautifully in handling its sail.”
Distinguished Prof. Daniel Weihs, who holds the Louis
and Lyra Richmond Memorial Chair in Life Sciences,
heads the Technion Autonomous Systems Program
www.tasp.technion.ac.il.
Research
7

Students
8
MAY 2009
TechnoBrain
By Amanda Jaffe-Katz
I
t was raining bottles on the
Zielony Plaza on a sunny April
afternoon at Technion when
17 student teams took part
in the annual TechnoBrain
creative engineering contest and
launched home-made rockets
to see which could stay airborne
longest. The competing designs
were based on 1.5-liter-sized
plastic drink bottles, fueled by
regular tap water. Sponsored
by Robert (“Dr Bob”) Shillman,
TechnoBrain sets a unique
engineering task every year and
is held in memory of its student
initiator Neev-ya Durban. The
2009 contenders – which included
frontrunner Victoria, third-place
Icarus and Superman – were judged
according to three criteria: the weight
of the flying object, the length of
time it remains in the air, and its
creative and aesthetic aspects.
Champion Alexey Radomsky,
whose Victoria (so-named,
“Because it’s going to win,”
predicted Radomsky, accurately)
shot up high into the sky on its
launch, surprised the judges and
Takes Off
spectators alike as he is still in the
pre-university program. His goal
is to enter Technion’s Faculty of
Electrical Engineering. Victoria,
weighing in at 320 g, remained
airborne for 19.66 seconds with
the aid of its blue-and-white
parachute. Radomsky immigrated
to Israel with his family in 2000
from Belarus. Over the last four
months, he designed the winning
project, which his technician
father, Valery, helped construct.
Runners-up Roey Mor (electrical
engineering) and Lena Kordonsky
(electrical engineering and
physics) employed two parachutes
on Bakbuktoos (Flying Bottle).
The elliptical main chute helped
Bakbuktoos stay in the air longer.
Fourth-placed Roman Rosenshtain
and Haim Malik, both 3rd-year
mechanical engineering students,
met some years ago at Technion’s
pre-university preparatory course.
Their 1.36 kg rocket weighed
considerably more than other
entries which remained airborne
longer, earning them extra points.
“We went on practicality, not
elegance,” said Rosenshtain,
who was born in Russia and has
been in the country since 1992.
“Technion gives you the tools, and
with some aptitude, you can learn
on your own,” said Malik, who
came here from Ukraine without
his family only 10 years ago.
“There’s a lot of trial and error in
a project of this kind.”
Member of the jury and advisory
board, Dr Alon Wolf of the Faculty
of Mechanical Engineering, said
that this year’s competition
provided an effective spectator
sport, eliciting many participants
as well as bystanders. Wolf said
that most designs were based on
rocket propulsion and incorporated
parachutes (which sometimes did
not open as planned or got stuck
in a large pine tree), and it was
uplifting to see 17 teams from
many different faculties meet
the challenge.
“Technion gives you the tools.”
Another twist to the Purim
Carnival when Technion students
wear their original designs
At the beginning of each Spring Semester –
immediately after the Purim holiday when it
is customary to wear costumes – first-year
architecture students in Prof. Rifca Hashimshony’s
design studio are asked to design costumes
in homage to a renowned artist or architect.
Students exhibit their costumes in a fashion showlike
parade. Oron Nurick’s costume (pictured)
represents the American Abstract Expressionist
painter, Jackson Pollock (1921-1956). The
costume was designed in collaboration with Adi
Feldhaker, under the guidance of Dr Ariel Tibi and
Dorit Freshtman, architect.
Nurick says, “Adi and I were very impressed by
Pollock’s work and by its label as ‘action painting’,
so we tried to express the artist’s final result as
well as his special way of working.” He continues,
“I think that the Technion is a special place to
study architecture because it has a combination of
engineering knowledge, many years of experience,
and worldwide recognition.”
Alexey Radomsky adds the
finishing touches to Victoria, with
the help of his father, Valery,
before going on to collect the
10,000-shekel first prize.
ART MUSIC OF
THE
&
Spot-on ROMANCE
At the end of the winter
semester, the Stanley
Shalom Zielony Technion
Choir and Orchestra
performed two evening
concerts of romantic
Russian music to a full
Churchill Auditorium.
Guests included Haifa
Mayor Yona Yahav, and
representatives from
the Russian Embassy
who congratulated the
conductors on their impressive
accomplishment with Technion
students.
Concurrently, the Department of
Humanities and Arts exhibited
students’ art work from the drawing
and sketching courses given by
Dr Anna Lobovikov-Katz and
Flory Shaham, architect. The art,
displayed in the Sherman Foyer of
the Churchill Auditorium, w admired
by some 1,500 concert-goers,
lecturers and students.
These activities were supported
by the generosity of the Sonia
Marschak Funds for the Arts.