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Nano Kudos<br />
Creative landmark<br />
transforms campus<br />
By Amanda Jaffe-Katz<br />
A slender, kinetic construction designed by world-renowned<br />
architect, sculptor, and engineer Dr Santiago Calatrava stands<br />
tall on campus and is dedicated to the memory of Russell<br />
Berrie – humanitarian, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. The<br />
sculpture recognizes the unprecedented contributions made<br />
by the Russell Berrie Foundation to <strong>Technion</strong> in establishing<br />
the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, which reflects<br />
Russ’s vision of Israel as a world leader in transformational<br />
science. Its official inauguration, in the presence of<br />
esteemed representatives from the Berrie Foundation, will<br />
take place during <strong>Technion</strong>’s annual Board of Governors<br />
session in June 2009 as the first event of <strong>Technion</strong>’s 85th<br />
anniversary festivities.<br />
Famous for his bridges, Calatrava is also noted for his<br />
innovative moving constructions such as the Tenerife Opera<br />
House and his addition to Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Museum<br />
of Art, as well as the entrance to the Olympic stadium in<br />
Athens. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> in 2004, where he also holds the appointment<br />
of Distinguished Visiting Professor. Calatrava donated<br />
03<br />
T TE E CC H N I IO ON N<br />
Continued on page 4<br />
Sensing the Future<br />
By Georgina Johnson<br />
In this issue…<br />
Evolution<br />
Explored<br />
Porous silicon/hydrogel<br />
hybrids for nano biosensors<br />
Mad-cow disease, listeria, e-coli, salmonella… there<br />
is no shortage of threats to our health and safety at<br />
the human end of the food chain. Whether through<br />
deliberate acts of sabotage or human error occurring<br />
in the blind swell of mass production, the need<br />
Continued on page 7<br />
05<br />
Zielony Day<br />
The <strong>Technion</strong> Nano Bible<br />
On May 11 at the official welcoming<br />
ceremony at the President’s Residence in<br />
Jerusalem, President Shimon Peres<br />
presented the unique gift of the <strong>Technion</strong><br />
Nano Bible to Pope Benedict XVI when<br />
His Holiness commenced his pilgrimage<br />
to the Holy Land.<br />
The Nano Bible, created at the Russell<br />
Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI),<br />
was cased in a leather-bound replica<br />
of a 13th-century Bible, and included<br />
a technical description of its creation, a<br />
magnifying glass, and a 10,000-times<br />
magnification of the first 13 verses of<br />
the Book of Genesis. The entire pointed<br />
Hebrew text was etched using a<br />
focused ion beam (FIB) on a 0.5 mm 2<br />
gold-plated silicon chip, 20 nanometers<br />
President of Israel<br />
Shimon Peres gives<br />
Pope Benedict XVI the<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> Nano Bible,<br />
specially created at<br />
the Russell Berrie<br />
Nanotechnology Institute<br />
(RBNI) by Prof. Uri Sivan<br />
(bottom left) and his<br />
doctoral student, Ohad<br />
Zohar (bottom right).<br />
Birth: November 2008<br />
Height: 28+ meters<br />
Weight: Above ground – 25 tons;<br />
Underground structure – 150 tons<br />
Design: Dr Santiago Calatrava<br />
Sponsor: Angelica Berrie and the<br />
Russell Berrie Foundation<br />
thick. This involved shooting a beam of<br />
gallium ions onto the surface, causing<br />
gold atoms to bounce off it and expose<br />
the underlying silicon layer, leaving over<br />
1.2 million letters engraved on the chip.<br />
Physics Prof. Uri Sivan, head of RBNI,<br />
conceived the idea to inscribe the<br />
Bible on such a tiny surface as part of<br />
an educational program to introduce<br />
nanotechnology in an accessible<br />
way to high school students. Sivan’s<br />
doctoral student, Ohad Zohar, who also<br />
serves as RBNI’s scientific advisor for<br />
educational programming in the field of<br />
nanotechnology, managed the project.<br />
“The Nano Bible project demonstrates<br />
the miniaturization at our disposal,” said<br />
07<br />
Man-of-War<br />
Hydrodynamics<br />
08<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> - Israel Institute<br />
of Technology<br />
www.focus.technion.ac.il<br />
MAY 2009<br />
Photo: Joseff Avi Yair Engel<br />
Sivan. “This research could lead to the<br />
creation of more advanced miniature<br />
structures – and imaging – on a<br />
nanometric scale, advances in storing<br />
information in very small spaces, and<br />
the use of DNA molecules to store<br />
information.”<br />
We Have Lift-off<br />
1
News<br />
2<br />
MAY 2009<br />
Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig<br />
President’s<br />
Message<br />
In his campaign for the U.S.<br />
Presidency, then Senator Barack<br />
Obama published a plan titled,<br />
“Science, Technology, and<br />
Innovation for a New Generation”.<br />
In his plan, the Senator wrote,<br />
“Revolutionary advances<br />
in information technology,<br />
biotechnology, nanotechnology<br />
and other fields are reshaping<br />
the global economy. Without<br />
renewed efforts the United States<br />
risks losing leadership in science,<br />
technology, and innovation.”<br />
The Democratic Party candidate<br />
consequently proposed an<br />
ambitious and visionary program<br />
for investment in the sciences and<br />
university-based research.<br />
The program called for a<br />
doubling of federal funding for<br />
basic research over ten years;<br />
expanding research at colleges<br />
and universities; and funding<br />
young researchers. It also called for<br />
billions of new dollars in climate,<br />
biomedical, stem cells, and other<br />
fields of scientific research. Major<br />
parts of this plan have already<br />
been approved by Congress and<br />
are being implemented. This<br />
includes an addition of nearly $20<br />
b. to science grant agencies such<br />
as the National Institutes of Health,<br />
the National Science Foundation,<br />
and the Department of Energy.<br />
A new government has been<br />
formed recently in Israel, faced<br />
with the task of addressing<br />
unprecedented challenges<br />
BORN WINNER<br />
Physics Prof. Mordechai<br />
(Moti) Segev receives<br />
the Optical Society<br />
of America’s Max<br />
Born Award<br />
T he Max Born Award is presented<br />
by the Optical Society of America<br />
(OSA) to a person who has<br />
made outstanding contributions<br />
to theoretical or experimental<br />
physical optics. Prof. Mordechai<br />
(Moti) Segev receives this special<br />
honor for “making groundbreaking<br />
contributions in the field of optical<br />
spatial solitons.”<br />
Max Born made distinguished<br />
contributions to physics in general<br />
and to optics in particular, and<br />
for these he received the Nobel<br />
Prize in Physics in 1954. This OSA<br />
award was established in 1982,<br />
the centenary of Born’s birth. It is<br />
considered the highest professional<br />
award of the OSA.<br />
In winning the 2009 Max Born<br />
Award of the OSA and the 2007<br />
Published by the Division of Public Affairs and Resource Development<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel<br />
Tel: 972-4-829-2578<br />
focus@tx.technion.ac.il<br />
www.focus.technion.ac.il<br />
VP Resource Development<br />
and External Relations: Prof. Raphael Rom<br />
Director, Public Affairs and<br />
Resource Development: Shimon Arbel<br />
Head, Department<br />
of Public Affairs: Yvette Gershon<br />
Editors: Amanda Jaffe-Katz, Barbara Frank<br />
Design: CastroNawy<br />
Photo Coordinator: Hilda Favel<br />
Photographers: Yoav Bachar, Gustavo Hochman, Jacqui Jaffé,<br />
Miki Koren, Shimon Okun, Shlomo Shoham,<br />
Yosi Shrem, Eugene Weisberg and others<br />
caused by the global economic<br />
slowdown and continued – and<br />
even growing – existential threats<br />
from Israel’s neighbors, both near<br />
and far. Israel’s universities, and<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> in particular, contend<br />
that a strong and vibrant highereducation<br />
system is critical to the<br />
country’s growth and progress.<br />
Indeed, considering <strong>Technion</strong>’s<br />
vital role in the development and<br />
continued growth of Israel’s hightechnology<br />
and defense industries,<br />
infrastructure, and scientific<br />
research, the universities’ place<br />
in securing Israel’s future is of<br />
strategic importance and urgency.<br />
The new U.S. president<br />
understands that science,<br />
technology, and innovation can<br />
be employed to solve many of<br />
America’s most pressing problems.<br />
It is our hope that the new Israeli<br />
government will again set the topic<br />
of education as its highest priority<br />
and will rediscover the potential<br />
and creativity of the nation’s<br />
universities, and invest in the<br />
state’s most precious resource –<br />
its human capital.<br />
Quantum Electronics Prize of the<br />
European Physics Society (EPS),<br />
Segev, who holds the Norman and<br />
Trudy Louis Chair in Engineering,<br />
has won the most prestigious<br />
professional awards in the entire<br />
field of optics/lasers/quantum<br />
electronics of both the American<br />
and the European societies.<br />
Uniting more than 70,000<br />
professionals from 134 countries,<br />
OSA brings together the scientists,<br />
engineers and business leaders<br />
in the global optics community,<br />
promoting the science of light and<br />
the advanced technologies made<br />
possible by optics and photonics.<br />
Segev joins an esteemed group of<br />
past recipients recognized for their<br />
perseverance, novelty and foresight<br />
in the field of optics.<br />
JACKPOT!<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> researchers received three of the<br />
eight 2008 Landau Awards for Sciences<br />
and Research. These prestigious prizes were<br />
awarded by Israel’s National Lottery – Mifal<br />
Hapais – in Tel Aviv in March 2009. Prof.<br />
Rachelle Alterman of the Faculty of Architecture<br />
and Town Planning received the award in<br />
the category of Urban Studies; Prof. Yaacov<br />
Rubinstein, current dean of the Faculty of<br />
Mathematics, earned the prize in the category<br />
of Applied Mathematics; and Prof. Emeritus<br />
Giora Shaviv of the Faculty of Physics won the<br />
Landau Award in the field of Astrophysics.<br />
Triumph of Rome<br />
Dr Shulamit Levenberg of the<br />
Faculty of Biomedical Engineering<br />
received the Excellence for Israel<br />
Prize, given under the aegis of the<br />
Italian Ministry of Culture, in Rome<br />
in March 2009. The prize was<br />
conferred within the framework<br />
of events held in Italy for Israel’s<br />
60th anniversary, as a tribute to<br />
men and women involved in the<br />
arts, cinema, music, economics<br />
and scientific research who have<br />
contributed to Israel’s development<br />
and to the growth of its culture<br />
throughout the world. Levenberg is<br />
a world leader in tissue engineering<br />
who joined <strong>Technion</strong> in 2004 as a<br />
Landau Fellow.<br />
Other honorees included artist<br />
Dani Karavan, who is to receive<br />
an honorary doctorate from<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> in June. Prizes were<br />
also given to Italian personalities<br />
who have committed themselves<br />
to promoting friendship and<br />
cooperation between Israel and<br />
Italy, notably Nobel Laureate<br />
Senator Prof. Rita Levi-Montalcini.<br />
Queen of the Sea<br />
Dr Debbie Lindell, a senior lecturer<br />
at the Faculty of Biology, received<br />
the Wolf Foundation’s Krill Prize for<br />
Excellence in Scientific Research<br />
and gave the acceptance speech<br />
on behalf of all six awardees<br />
at the April ceremony. The Krill<br />
Prizes, first awarded in 2005, are<br />
given annually to excelling faculty<br />
members at Israel’s universities,<br />
who hold positions of lecturer<br />
or senior lecturer and have not<br />
yet been granted tenure. Lindell<br />
joined <strong>Technion</strong> in 2006, and she<br />
holds the Robert J. Shillman Career<br />
Advancement Chair. She was also<br />
Dr Debbie Lindell (l) is<br />
congratulated by Dina<br />
Berniker (r), Deputy<br />
Chairperson of the Wolf<br />
Foundation Council and<br />
by Krill family representative,<br />
Ionit Beer-Maarabi.<br />
chosen by the European Research<br />
Council as one of the recipients of<br />
its prestigious Starting Grants that<br />
target promising young scientists<br />
who have the proven potential<br />
of becoming the next-generation<br />
research leaders. Her research<br />
focuses on studying the interactions<br />
between marine viruses and their<br />
globally important phytoplankton<br />
hosts (primarily cyanobacteria)<br />
and includes investigating the<br />
impacts of host-virus interactions<br />
on the physiology, photosynthesis,<br />
population dynamics and genome<br />
evolution of both hosts and viruses.<br />
Harvey Prize<br />
The 2008 Harvey Prize ceremony took place at<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> in March 2009. The recipient in the<br />
field of science and technology was Dr Charles H.<br />
Bennett from IBM Research Laboratories in New<br />
York and Prof. David Eisenberg of the Department<br />
of Chemistry and Biochemistry at University of<br />
California, Los Angeles, accepted the prize in the<br />
field of human health.<br />
Bennett, who received the prize in recognition<br />
of his seminal role in founding and advancing<br />
the fields of quantum information and quantum<br />
computation, said, “It gives me great pleasure to<br />
come back here to <strong>Technion</strong>.” Here, he continued,<br />
his subject, “got its beginnings in some ways by<br />
my mentor, Prof. Asher Peres, and one of the<br />
discoverers of entanglement, Nathan Rosen.”<br />
Eisenberg was recognized for his contributions –<br />
pushing the technical limits of crystallography – that<br />
elucidated the structure of amyloid fibrils and the<br />
understanding of fundamental properties of proteins.<br />
The prestigious Harvey Prize is considered a good<br />
predictor of the Nobel Prize, with 10 of its recipients to<br />
date going on to win the Nobel in the past 25 years.
the<br />
By Prof. Shlomo Maital<br />
Academic Director of TIM –<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> Institute of Management<br />
February 12, 2009, marked the 200th<br />
anniversary of the birth of Charles<br />
Darwin, discoverer of the principle of<br />
natural selection and the theory of<br />
evolution. And in November we will<br />
mark the 150th anniversary of the<br />
publishing of his landmark book On the<br />
T E C H N I O N<br />
Innovate<br />
DARWIN WAY<br />
]<br />
“Innovators should follow<br />
Darwin… and constantly seek<br />
new ideas and information.”<br />
]<br />
Origin of Species, a book that changed<br />
the way we think about the world.<br />
What can we learn from Darwin’s life<br />
and discoveries about innovation?<br />
1. Curiosity: Darwin was exceptionally<br />
curious about everything, from the time<br />
he was a small child. In his long fouryear<br />
voyage on the Beagle, he visited<br />
Chile. He made extensive notes on<br />
everything he saw. There, he noted how<br />
layers of soil had been pushed up to<br />
form mountains. In the layers he found<br />
fossils of seashells and crustaceans. Aha!<br />
he thought. These layers were once,<br />
therefore, under the sea. How did a<br />
layer under the sea become a 12,000<br />
ft. mountain? Later, he found the answer<br />
in a book by geologist Charles Lyell, who<br />
theorized (against conventional wisdom)<br />
Evolution<br />
Explored<br />
Sept. 14, 2009<br />
that earthquakes pushed the earth up,<br />
twisting horizontal layers into nearvertical<br />
mountains. This process must<br />
have taken millions of years, Darwin<br />
thought. He filed this insight away —<br />
for later use.<br />
2. Integration: Darwin read widely. He<br />
read about geology. And he read about<br />
economics. In 1798 an economist<br />
named Thomas Robert Malthus wrote<br />
An Essay on the Principle of Population,<br />
in which he observed that population<br />
expands rapidly, geometrically, while<br />
food expands only as an arithmetic<br />
series, meaning that food per person<br />
declines, leading to a struggle for<br />
survival. Darwin later remembered this<br />
idea and integrated it, along with his<br />
geology readings, into his theory. The<br />
theory of evolution owes its discoveries<br />
to Darwin’s ability to understand and<br />
use ideas very far from biology.<br />
3. Courage: Prevailing theory about<br />
how species evolved attributed them<br />
mainly to Divine Providence. At<br />
the time Darwin lived, the Church<br />
was very powerful. Theories that<br />
contradicted doctrine were labeled<br />
as blasphemy. Nonetheless, Darwin<br />
The 3rd World Innovation Summit will be held in<br />
September 2009 in Tel Aviv. This international<br />
gathering includes over 80 presentations focusing on<br />
such technology innovations as mobile and wireless<br />
communications; virtualization and cloud computing;<br />
alternative energy; robotics; medical devices; visual<br />
computing and multimedia; multi-core and highend<br />
computing; and automotive and aerospace<br />
technologies. Along with many start-ups, NASDAQlisted<br />
company CEOs and chairmen will present.<br />
Participants from the venture capital community will<br />
exchange ideas with top technology experts. As in<br />
previous years, participants from the Far East, Europe<br />
and North America are expected – the last summit<br />
hosted over 900 high-profile attendees.<br />
Following two successful Innovation Summits held in<br />
Haifa dubbed, “the tribe’s campfire,” “the mastermind<br />
published his insight, published in 1859,<br />
despite the consequences. Species<br />
evolve, he wrote, as they struggle for<br />
survival; only species that have traits<br />
that help them survive to reproduce<br />
will endure and pass on those traits. He<br />
used his observations of mockingbirds,<br />
collected in the Galapagos Islands,<br />
whose beaks had adapted according<br />
to conditions in different islands. This<br />
process, he noted, took many thousands<br />
of years. It contradicted the literal<br />
Biblical theory of creation (though,<br />
not entirely — the sun and stars were<br />
created only on the fourth day, so the<br />
first three “days” could have lasted for<br />
many millions of years). But Darwin<br />
wrote what he believed was the<br />
truth, regardless of Church sanctions.<br />
Innovators should follow Darwin, as<br />
a role model, and constantly seek<br />
new ideas and information. One day,<br />
perhaps, you will take a piece from<br />
geology, a piece from economics, and<br />
a piece from botany and zoology, like<br />
Darwin, assemble it, integrate it, and find<br />
something so beautiful, so insightful,<br />
and so earthshaking that the world will<br />
never again be the same.<br />
Reproduced with permission from Shlomo<br />
Maital’s blog http://timnovate.wordpress.com.<br />
M<br />
arking the exact 150th anniversary of the publication on November<br />
24, 1859, of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, <strong>Technion</strong> is<br />
hosting a 2-day symposium with the participation of internationally<br />
renowned scientists who work at the interface of evolution and<br />
other life sciences. Researchers from Germany, Ecuador, Ireland,<br />
the USA, and universities throughout Israel, who specialize in fields that include<br />
molecular, genetic, ecological, bacterial, botanical, zoological, as well as human<br />
aspects of evolution, will present their research. Session topics are Systems Biology;<br />
Evolutionary Ecology; Developmental Networks; and Evo-Devo.<br />
Posters are also being solicited from graduate and postdoctoral students on<br />
research associated with Darwin and On the Origin of Species, and these will be<br />
exhibited in the foyer of the Butler Auditorium. Winning posters – selected by<br />
the prestigious scientific committee – will be generously remunerated.<br />
The symposium (http://Darwin.technion.ac.il) is sponsored by <strong>Technion</strong> and the<br />
Faculties of Biology and Biotechnology and Food Engineering, the Lorry I. Lokey<br />
Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering, the <strong>Technion</strong> Graduate<br />
Students Organization, the Israel <strong>Technion</strong> Society, and the Israel Society for<br />
Developmental Biology, who invite you to join in celebrating Darwin’s legacy<br />
and its enduring applicability 200 years since his birth.<br />
Discover the Future.<br />
summit” and an “extremely influential gathering”<br />
by PC <strong>Magazine</strong>, Technologies <strong>Magazine</strong>, and<br />
EE Times respectively, this inspirational event is a<br />
singular opportunity to meet an exotic blend of Israeli<br />
companies for partnership and investment prospects.<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> serves as the summit’s academic sponsor<br />
and Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig, president, will be Honorary<br />
Chairman. Keynote speaker is <strong>Technion</strong> Guardian,<br />
Dr Irwin Jacobs, co-founder and chairman of<br />
Qualcomm. The event is organized by high-tech<br />
investment opportunity consultant Olive Bay Ltd.,<br />
spearheaded by <strong>Technion</strong> alumnus Dr Joseph Gilor, in<br />
collaboration with global partners including Intel, Cisco,<br />
and Qualcomm.<br />
For further details, see<br />
www.worldinnovationsummit.com.<br />
Innovation<br />
3
Campus<br />
4<br />
MAY 2009<br />
…continued from page 1<br />
the design for the free-standing<br />
structure, known as The Obelisk,<br />
which is located at the very heart of<br />
the campus.<br />
Its installation – the first of its kind,<br />
says Project Manager Dr Michael<br />
Polonsky, involved changing the<br />
existing infrastructure and adding<br />
new arteries for feeding, operation<br />
and lightning protection of The<br />
Obelisk.<br />
Comprising a subterranean<br />
reinforced-concrete foundation,<br />
topped by a stone, 3-meter-high<br />
cone-shaped pedestal and crowned<br />
with a 25-meter glinting tower, this<br />
singular structure is surrounded by<br />
a circular pavement made from<br />
local off-white dolomite, 10.5 m<br />
in diameter. The tower houses<br />
an external skin of 224 moving<br />
stainless-steel ribs, arranged in<br />
eight levels. These elements are<br />
designed to permit a wave-like<br />
motion generated by the electric<br />
motor that sits atop the mast; each<br />
moving rib induces the sequential<br />
motion of the next, from the top<br />
level to the bottom. The effect of<br />
this sinusoidal movement, explains<br />
Polonsky, is an illusion of the whole<br />
monument rotating on its axis;<br />
actually, the movement is more<br />
akin to our ribcage moving in and<br />
out during the process of inhalation<br />
and exhalation.<br />
The entire structure, lit by 10<br />
illumination points set in the<br />
pavement, stands more than 28 m<br />
high, over 200 m above sea-level.<br />
BOG<br />
Honorary Doctors:<br />
Joseph Ackerman, Israel<br />
Zahava Bar-Nir, USA<br />
Dr Igor Dawid, USA<br />
Reinhard Frank, USA & Germany<br />
Dani Karavan, Israel<br />
Dr Stephen A. Laser, USA<br />
David Polak, USA<br />
Dr Yossi Vardi, Israel<br />
Honorary Fellows:<br />
Victor Asser, Greece<br />
Ilse Blumenfeld, USA<br />
André Deloro, Monaco<br />
Carol B. Epstein, USA<br />
Sandy Hittman, USA<br />
Scott Leemaster, USA<br />
Tzvi Neta, Israel<br />
Bennett Rechler, USA<br />
Hannah Rechler Rabinowitz, USA<br />
Chaim Yaron, Israel<br />
T<br />
he 2009 International<br />
Board of Governors<br />
session which takes<br />
place at <strong>Technion</strong><br />
between May 31 and<br />
June 3 will celebrate the 85th<br />
anniversary of the opening of the<br />
university in 1924.<br />
The Festive Opening and<br />
the presentation of Honorary<br />
Fellowships to 10 devoted<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> friends from Greece,<br />
Israel, Monaco, and the United<br />
States will take place on May 31.<br />
The following evening, Honorary<br />
Doctorates will be conferred on<br />
eight eminent public figures from<br />
Israel and around the world.<br />
New facilities to be dedicated on<br />
campus include the ATS Women’s<br />
Division Polymer Research<br />
Laboratory in the Schulich Faculty<br />
of Chemistry and Microbiology<br />
Teaching Laboratory in the Louis<br />
and Bessie Stein Foundation<br />
Biotechnology Complex; the Annita<br />
John Levi Financial Engineering<br />
and Risk Management Laboratory,<br />
and the Haim and Eugenie Pardo<br />
Enterprise Systems Modeling<br />
Laboratory in the Davidson Faculty<br />
of Industrial Engineering and<br />
Management.<br />
The highlight of the <strong>Technion</strong>’s<br />
85th anniversary celebration will be<br />
marked by the inauguration of an<br />
Obelisk designed by internationally<br />
renowned architect and engineer,<br />
Dr Santiago Calatrava. The obelisk,<br />
which has been erected in the<br />
heart of the campus, is a gift of<br />
the Russell Berrie Foundation.<br />
The dedication ceremony will take<br />
place in the presence of Angelica<br />
Berrie and representatives of the<br />
Foundation.<br />
The Board program will include<br />
the launching of the André Deloro<br />
Career Advancement Chair in<br />
Engineering which will enable the<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> to enlist a talented, new<br />
faculty member to its Faculty of<br />
Computer Science. Outstanding<br />
faculty will be recognized with the<br />
Muriel and David Jacknow Awards<br />
for Excellence in Teaching, the<br />
Salomon Simon Mani Awards for<br />
Excellence in Teaching, the Hershel<br />
and Hilda Rich <strong>Technion</strong> Innovation<br />
Awards and the Henry Taub Prizes<br />
for Academic Excellence. Guest<br />
speaker at the awards ceremony<br />
2009 Nano Kudos<br />
is <strong>Technion</strong> alumna Dr Yoelle<br />
Maarek, who will speak on “The<br />
Democratization of Innovation on<br />
the Web.” Student awardees will be<br />
celebrated at the Norman and Barbara<br />
Seiden Family Prize Ceremony.<br />
On-campus visits to priority sites<br />
include research laboratories<br />
in Aerospace; Nanotechnology;<br />
Autonomous Systems; Life Sciences<br />
and Engineering; and Electrical<br />
Engineering. <strong>Technion</strong>’s research<br />
achievements over the last 85 years<br />
will be showcased at a gala event.<br />
Artwork by <strong>Technion</strong> employees<br />
and faculty will be displayed at an<br />
exhibition in the Sherman Foyer of<br />
the Churchill Auditorium.<br />
The final plenary of the Board of<br />
Governors will include the election<br />
of the next president of the<br />
<strong>Technion</strong>. The annual international<br />
gathering will close with a lecture<br />
by Distinguished Visiting Professor<br />
Santiago Calatrava who will deliver<br />
the Yitzhak Modai Annual Lecture<br />
on Technology and Economics.<br />
* All details correct to May 1, 2009
ZIELONY DAY<br />
The inauguration of the Stanley Shalom Zielony Student Union Building<br />
March 18, 2009 was declared<br />
Zielony Day at <strong>Technion</strong> when<br />
three important projects were<br />
named and dedicated for Stanley<br />
Shalom Zielony, a longtime<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> friend, visionary, and<br />
supporter. <strong>Technion</strong> President<br />
Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig said, “The<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> and its students will be<br />
forever grateful to you, Shalom,<br />
for your friendship and for your<br />
unparalleled devotion and support.<br />
First the cornerstone was laid for<br />
the new Stanley Shalom Zielony<br />
Graduate Student Village. The<br />
22,000 square meters, 215-unit<br />
village will provide the highest<br />
quality dormitory housing for<br />
students pursuing advanced<br />
degrees at the <strong>Technion</strong> and<br />
their families. Ori Avi-No’am,<br />
chair of the Graduate Students<br />
Organization, said: “A true visionary<br />
understands that a community<br />
rarely self assembles without<br />
proper foundations and that<br />
without a strong community a<br />
university cannot hope to take its<br />
place as a leader in the academic<br />
world. Mr Zielony, your actions<br />
cannot be described simply; you<br />
are a true visionary. You have<br />
provided us with the tools for<br />
genuine development. You have<br />
given us the foundations for our<br />
community. Thank you for giving<br />
our campus a heart and our<br />
students homes close to that heart.<br />
We truly feel blessed.”<br />
After the ceremony that was<br />
packed with appreciative graduate<br />
Leumi Group General Manager, Galia Maor, gets close to<br />
Mishka Monsters, the robot which Tamra’s Abu Romi High<br />
School entered in the 2008/2009 FIRST Robotics contest.<br />
To her left, Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig, and on the right, Prof. Moshe<br />
Shoham, head of the Leumi Robotics Center.<br />
“It is the supreme art of the teacher<br />
to awaken joy in creative expression<br />
and knowledge.”<br />
- Albert Einstein<br />
T E C H N I O N<br />
students and also attended by<br />
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, the<br />
action moved down the hill to<br />
the inauguration of the Stanley<br />
Shalom Zielony Student Union<br />
Building. <strong>Technion</strong> faculty, Zielony’s<br />
guests from Israel and overseas,<br />
FIRST<br />
For the May 2009 inauguration of the Leumi Robotics<br />
Center in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,<br />
the Israel <strong>Technion</strong> Society organized an impressive<br />
ceremony in the Coler-California Visitors Center<br />
attended by a large number of participants including<br />
Galia Maor, the general manager of the Leumi<br />
Group, representatives of the Ministry of Education,<br />
and <strong>Technion</strong> President, Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig. Also<br />
participating were many groups of young people<br />
associated with the Center, who demonstrated their<br />
robots to the visitors.<br />
“The heads of the bank already comprehended a long<br />
time ago, that which – unfortunately – many others<br />
have still not grasped: that without science<br />
and technology the State of Israel has no future,”<br />
said Apeloig.<br />
and students cheered as the<br />
renovated student union building<br />
was officially opened with a<br />
trumpet fanfare and celebratory<br />
balloons were released. Situated<br />
in the heart of the main campus,<br />
the modernized Student Union<br />
Prof. Moshe Shoham heads the Leumi Robotics<br />
Center, which is directed by Dr Evgeny Korchnoy. Its<br />
activities will enable the <strong>Technion</strong> to further its support<br />
of robotics contests.<br />
“We are proud to be a part of this important industry,”<br />
said Maor, in the course of her greetings. “These days,<br />
in particular, the collaborative efforts of Bank Leumi and<br />
the <strong>Technion</strong> are of special significance, a collaboration<br />
which exemplifies the contribution of the business<br />
Building provides a one-stop-shop<br />
with cafeterias, a cinema, music<br />
room, retail outlets, and social halls.<br />
Apeloig announced that the<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> orchestra and choir<br />
would now be known as<br />
the Stanley Shalom Zielony<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> Orchestra and Choir.<br />
Entertainment at the inauguration<br />
was provided by the orchestra<br />
and choir ensemble and the<br />
<strong>Technion</strong> Student Dance Troupe.<br />
Zielony’s many gifts to <strong>Technion</strong><br />
include the Shalom Zielony Plaza<br />
that transformed the center of<br />
campus with attractive waterfalls,<br />
a scenic promenade and an<br />
expansive central lawn; the<br />
Faculty Recruitment Program;<br />
and the Stanley Shalom Zielony<br />
Distinguished Women in Science<br />
Lecture Series. In 2003, Zielony<br />
received an Honorary Doctorate<br />
from <strong>Technion</strong>.<br />
Hundreds of students showed their<br />
appreciation to their benefactor,<br />
kitted out in green (Zielony means<br />
green in Polish and Russian)<br />
“Thank you, Mr Zielony” T-shirts.<br />
ROBOTICS<br />
sector to the strengthening of Israel’s educational and<br />
higher education system.”<br />
Dr Alon Wolf explained to the audience that he<br />
himself is not only a product of high school technology<br />
education, but also of the <strong>Technion</strong>. “Robotics,” said<br />
Wolf, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Mechanical<br />
Engineering, “stimulates the imagination and creativity,<br />
which leads to fun.” Wolf quoted Albert Einstein who<br />
said, “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy<br />
in creative expression and knowledge.” Wolf described<br />
<strong>Technion</strong>’s ongoing and successful involvement in such<br />
robotics events as FIRST, RoboCup, Fire Fighter Robot,<br />
and a new initiative, RoboTraffic.<br />
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and<br />
Technology) was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen<br />
in the United States. It has taken place in Israel for the<br />
last five years – with the encouragement of President<br />
Shimon Peres.<br />
School principals participating in the Center’s<br />
activities welcomed its establishment, saying that<br />
they attach great significance to the fact that primary<br />
and secondary school pupils will thus enhance their<br />
technology knowledge and subsequently partake in<br />
science and technology higher education at <strong>Technion</strong>.<br />
Campus<br />
5
Energy<br />
6<br />
]<br />
MAY 2009<br />
Planning<br />
for Climate<br />
Uncertainty –<br />
a Win-Win<br />
Prospect?<br />
Dr Daniel Orenstein is a Neaman Fellow at the<br />
Klutznick Center for Urban and Regional Studies.<br />
Biofuel<br />
By Barbara Frank<br />
]<br />
The rising cost of fuel, the need for<br />
alternative fuel sources, the lack of<br />
agricultural water worldwide, all of<br />
these problems, daunting as they may<br />
seem, are being tackled head on by<br />
Biology Prof. Shimon Gepstein. Within<br />
“A platform technology… to grow various<br />
[<br />
species for biofuel extraction on marginal lands<br />
with minimal requirements for water supply.“<br />
the framework of the new <strong>Technion</strong><br />
Energy Program (TEP), he leads a<br />
team of researchers developing a<br />
revolutionary technology to grow<br />
plants for biofuels. TEP brings together<br />
science and engineering researchers<br />
to work on alternative and renewable<br />
energy sources, develop non-carbonbased<br />
fuels, seek solutions for more<br />
efficient energy use, and to reduce the<br />
environmental damage caused by the<br />
use of fossil fuels.<br />
By Dr Daniel Orenstein<br />
As evidence continues<br />
to mount supporting<br />
anthropogenic (human)<br />
driven climate change, it<br />
is well worth considering<br />
what Israel is going to do<br />
about it.<br />
True, our contribution to<br />
global atmospheric carbon<br />
budgets is about as small<br />
as our geography. But<br />
climate change scenarios<br />
predict a tough situation<br />
[<br />
“We have to stop<br />
living on the edge.“<br />
for Israel, including hotter<br />
temperatures and more<br />
sporadic and intense<br />
rainfall events. This means<br />
more evaporation, more<br />
floods, and less usable<br />
precipitation, posing a<br />
real problem for our<br />
country which habitually<br />
lives on the edge with<br />
regard to water supplies.<br />
Our groundwater is<br />
Biofuels, such as bioethanol and<br />
biodiesel, are derived from biomass –<br />
agricultural products specifically grown<br />
for con<strong>version</strong> to biofuels. But a moral<br />
dilemma arises: should we be growing<br />
plants (such as corn and sunflowers)<br />
for biofuels, taking into<br />
account worldwide food<br />
shortages and limited<br />
water resources? It is<br />
true that plants absorb<br />
carbon dioxide from the<br />
atmosphere, which helps<br />
to decelerate the increase in the carbon<br />
dioxide levels that threaten our planet,<br />
but cultivating these plants requires<br />
land and water.<br />
Gepstein’s technology delays the<br />
aging of the plants allowing the<br />
increase of plant biomass and yield<br />
especially for plants grown with<br />
minimal water requirements. By<br />
isolating and manipulating the gene<br />
involved in the aging of tobacco (the<br />
Prof. Shimon Gepstein<br />
(2nd from right) and<br />
students in the Faculty<br />
of Biology greenhouse.<br />
Gepstein is developing a<br />
platform technology to grow<br />
plants with minimal water on<br />
marginal land (land which<br />
is difficult to cultivate) for<br />
biofuel extraction.<br />
increasingly polluted and<br />
over-pumped and the<br />
Sea of Galilee is already<br />
stretched beyond its<br />
limits. Hotter summers<br />
also mean higher energy<br />
demands: as citizens turn<br />
up their air conditioners<br />
to combat the heat,<br />
electric plants that already<br />
operate at peak capacity<br />
on the hottest summer<br />
days will be further<br />
stretched.<br />
There is a large amount<br />
of uncertainty with<br />
regard to climate model<br />
predictions. We are facing<br />
high uncertainty regarding<br />
what’s in store for Israel<br />
and it’s this uncertainty<br />
that we must prepare<br />
for. The good news is<br />
that, in preparing for the<br />
unknown, we’ll be doing<br />
things that need doing<br />
anyway. Water and energy<br />
conservation measures,<br />
for example, will not<br />
only buffer us against<br />
unforeseen changes in<br />
our hydrological cycle or<br />
in our energy demands,<br />
but will help us manage<br />
our present resources<br />
model plant for his research) he<br />
managed to double the life span of<br />
the plant while also extending the<br />
plant’s shelf life. Aging begins, as in<br />
humans, when hormone levels drop.<br />
In plants this is known as cytokinese.<br />
By happy accident, Gepstein<br />
uncovered another exciting result.<br />
Some of the plants he was developing<br />
were left out of the greenhouse and<br />
were not watered, yet these plants<br />
continued to live. Further study under<br />
controlled conditions proved that<br />
the plants lived longer and did not<br />
lose biomass even when watered 30<br />
percent less. In other words, a 70<br />
percent saving of water was achieved.<br />
The researchers plan to carry out their<br />
experimentation in growth chambers<br />
in the laboratory, in greenhouses on<br />
a larger scale, and eventually in the<br />
field. Gepstein proposes to establish a<br />
consortium of five European partners<br />
more robustly to meet<br />
demand. We have to stop<br />
living on the edge.<br />
An excellent example of<br />
preparing for uncertainty<br />
is the package of planning<br />
steps recommended by<br />
Prof. Naomi Carmon of<br />
the Faculty of Architecture<br />
and Town Planning<br />
and her colleague, Prof.<br />
Emeritus Uri Shamir<br />
of the Faculty of Civil<br />
and Environmental<br />
Engineering, in their new<br />
research publication,<br />
“Water Sensitive<br />
Planning.” Here, they<br />
set out comprehensive<br />
guidelines on how Israel<br />
can construct buildings<br />
and organize urban<br />
areas in such a way<br />
that will both conserve<br />
existing water and exploit<br />
future precipitation<br />
more efficiently. Their<br />
inspiration was to protect<br />
Israel’s water sources<br />
and to improve quality of<br />
life by providing cleaner<br />
rivers, reliable water<br />
supplies, and decreased<br />
fear of flood damage.<br />
They weren’t thinking<br />
about decreased water<br />
supplies due to climate<br />
change, yet this is another<br />
important reason why<br />
their recommendations<br />
should be implemented.<br />
We can apply the same<br />
logic to our energy<br />
systems with better<br />
planning, improved<br />
exploitation of existing<br />
resources, conservation<br />
measures, and alternative<br />
technologies for energy<br />
production. As with water,<br />
this will assist our ability<br />
to deal with future climate<br />
change by increasing<br />
robustness in the face<br />
of uncertainty. But it will<br />
also go far to improve<br />
our day-to-day quality of<br />
life by lowering pollution<br />
levels, decrease carbon<br />
emissions, insure us<br />
against energy and water<br />
shortages, and improve<br />
our competitive edge in<br />
the global marketplace.<br />
That is a win-win policy.<br />
and five partners in Brazil and is<br />
applying for funding for this project.<br />
Candidates for bioethanol production<br />
include sugar cane, and candidates<br />
for the production of vegetable oil for<br />
biodiesel production include canola,<br />
sunflower, and inedible plants such as<br />
Jatropha and Ricinus (castor oil bean).<br />
Gepstein explains, “Our goal is to<br />
develop a platform technology for<br />
conferring new genetic traits to plants<br />
that will allow us to grow various species<br />
for biofuel extraction on marginal lands<br />
with minimal requirements for water<br />
supply. Developing such crop plants<br />
should provide a net energy gain, have<br />
environmental benefits, be economically<br />
competitive, and be producible in large<br />
quantities for biofuel production without<br />
reducing food supplies.”
Dr Ester Segal, Faculty of<br />
Biotechnology and Food<br />
Engineering<br />
Sensing the Future<br />
…continued from page 1<br />
for effective, fast and economic<br />
methods to keep our food safe was<br />
indicated in new legislation drawn<br />
up by the European Community<br />
known as “from farm to fork”. Yet<br />
food and water monitoring is just<br />
one potential application of the<br />
exciting nano-bio-materials research<br />
going on at Dr Ester Segal’s new<br />
lab at the Faculty of Biotechnology<br />
and Food Engineering. By drilling<br />
nano-sized pores in hard matter<br />
porous silicon and filling them with<br />
specific organic polymers, she is<br />
lighting the way for the biosensors<br />
and drug delivery systems of<br />
tomorrow.<br />
Photo: Jinsuk Kim<br />
]<br />
“Porous silicon itself can be<br />
designed with unique optical<br />
structures,” explains Segal.<br />
“Certain colors derive directly<br />
from nanostructures – they are<br />
photonic crystals. Take the colors<br />
of beetle shells, butterfly wings,<br />
or opal stone... they filter light and<br />
reflect mostly one wavelength,<br />
so we see a single bright color.<br />
For instance, the wings of the<br />
male Morpho Rhetenor butterfly<br />
appear bright blue. But the wing<br />
material is not, in fact, blue; it just<br />
appears blue because of particular<br />
nanostructures on the surface.<br />
“The Portuguese man-of-war doesn’t think,<br />
but succeeds beautifully in handling its sail.“[<br />
By Roberta Neiger<br />
T E C H N I O N<br />
Maneuvers with the<br />
Portuguese<br />
Man-of-War<br />
T<br />
echnion researchers have looked up<br />
close at the Portuguese man-of-war,<br />
also known as the blue bubble or<br />
bluebottle. Their findings, published<br />
in the prestigious British Journal of<br />
the Royal Society Interface, have shed light on<br />
some of the functions of this enigmatic animal.<br />
]<br />
Synthesized polymers in a porous<br />
silicon structure can respond to<br />
environmental changes, such as<br />
pH, or temperature... and when<br />
they go through a change, we<br />
see a change in the color. This<br />
is the sensor, the signal we can<br />
measure.”<br />
Segal adds that these hybrids<br />
combining soft and hard matter<br />
are relatively inexpensive to make.<br />
She is presently working on a<br />
sensor for biothreats, such as<br />
waterborne bacterial threats and<br />
biosensors for the detection of<br />
organophosphorous compounds,<br />
such as nerve gas.<br />
Segal began her academic<br />
career with an intense interest in<br />
“We live in a<br />
polymer world.“[<br />
chemistry, but her practically<br />
minded parents steered her<br />
towards <strong>Technion</strong>’s Wolfson Faculty<br />
of Chemical Engineering. Here,<br />
she blossomed and uncovered a<br />
special interest in polymers – the<br />
long molecules that join to form the<br />
substances of our material world.<br />
Segal left for postdoctoral studies at<br />
University of California at San Diego<br />
where her passion for organic<br />
polymers negotiated research into<br />
the opposite, inorganic, hard matter<br />
silicon. At first, at the applicationdriven<br />
lab, there was resistance<br />
to her novel idea of using nanosized<br />
pores drilled into silicon as<br />
containers for organic polymers.<br />
But by joining forces they found<br />
that polymers behave differently<br />
when confined in pores in silicon.<br />
The man-of-war is a jelly-like,<br />
marine invertebrate (Physalia<br />
physalis) that often swarms<br />
in thousands off the coasts of<br />
Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand,<br />
the Gulf of Mexico, Florida,<br />
Hawaii and South Africa. It is<br />
common knowledge that this<br />
marine creature can inflict stings<br />
that are not only painful and<br />
powerful, but deadly. Less widely<br />
known is that the man-of-war<br />
is not a single animal, but a<br />
siphonophore – a colony of four<br />
kinds of minute, highly modified<br />
individuals, so specialized that they depend on<br />
each other for survival.<br />
The most conspicuous members of this colony<br />
are the sail-like float, up to 30 cm across, and<br />
long tentacles, up to 10 m in length, which hang<br />
asymmetrically beneath the float. In their study,<br />
Profs. Gil Iosilevskii and Daniel Weihs of the<br />
Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, address the<br />
sailing operation of the Portuguese man-of-war.<br />
They explore, in particular, the hydrodynamics<br />
of the animal’s trailing tentacles, the interaction<br />
between the tentacles and the float, and its<br />
actual sailing performance.<br />
“Man tends to increase<br />
[<br />
at a greater rate than his<br />
means of subsistence.“<br />
]- Charles Darwin<br />
“The combination of these two<br />
different nano-scale materials<br />
and their interface with biological<br />
molecules is fascinating,” explains<br />
Segal, indicating the inevitability<br />
of the evolution of science into<br />
ever-increasing interdisciplinary and<br />
collaborative research.<br />
Segal joined <strong>Technion</strong>’s Faculty<br />
of Biotechnology and Food<br />
Engineering in 2007 as a senior<br />
lecturer, where she says there is<br />
a strong degree of cooperation<br />
among the 12 faculty members<br />
and a constant interface with<br />
other faculties and interdisciplinary<br />
centers. She deeply enjoys the<br />
curiosity and passion for science<br />
found in her students. “At the<br />
beginning of the food packaging<br />
class, most of them don’t know<br />
what polymers are. I show them that<br />
everything they touch is basically<br />
a polymer – they use a paper and<br />
pen, they wear polyester – we<br />
live in a polymer world. I like to<br />
show them The Graduate, where<br />
Dustin Hoffman is told by one of<br />
his mother’s guests: ‘the future is in<br />
plastics.’”<br />
The researchers found that the animal developed<br />
a method of using its primitive sail so that at<br />
practically any wind speed, it moves no faster than<br />
3/4 of a knot. Why does the man-of-war maintain<br />
this constant speed? “One of the reasons can be<br />
that this speed prevents the tentacles from tearing<br />
away. The other reason is more pragmatic,” says<br />
Distinguished Prof. Daniel Weihs. “Above that<br />
speed, the tentacles bunch up horizontally on<br />
the surface of the water. If the animal is moving<br />
very slowly or standing, the tentacles hang down.<br />
In between, the tentacles spread out vertically<br />
creating a net of thick and thin tentacles. It’s<br />
simple: at speeds that are too high or too low, the<br />
man-of-war can’t catch its prey.”<br />
Weihs frequently borrows natural phenomena<br />
for incorporation into flying or sailing vehicles.<br />
“We have a lot to learn from this primitive<br />
creature that has no brain,” says Weihs. “The<br />
Portuguese man-of-war doesn’t think, but<br />
succeeds beautifully in handling its sail.”<br />
Distinguished Prof. Daniel Weihs, who holds the Louis<br />
and Lyra Richmond Memorial Chair in Life Sciences,<br />
heads the <strong>Technion</strong> Autonomous Systems Program<br />
www.tasp.technion.ac.il.<br />
Research<br />
7
Students<br />
8<br />
MAY 2009<br />
TechnoBrain<br />
By Amanda Jaffe-Katz<br />
I<br />
t was raining bottles on the<br />
Zielony Plaza on a sunny April<br />
afternoon at <strong>Technion</strong> when<br />
17 student teams took part<br />
in the annual TechnoBrain<br />
creative engineering contest and<br />
launched home-made rockets<br />
to see which could stay airborne<br />
longest. The competing designs<br />
were based on 1.5-liter-sized<br />
plastic drink bottles, fueled by<br />
regular tap water. Sponsored<br />
by Robert (“Dr Bob”) Shillman,<br />
TechnoBrain sets a unique<br />
engineering task every year and<br />
is held in memory of its student<br />
initiator Neev-ya Durban. The<br />
2009 contenders – which included<br />
frontrunner Victoria, third-place<br />
Icarus and Superman – were judged<br />
according to three criteria: the weight<br />
of the flying object, the length of<br />
time it remains in the air, and its<br />
creative and aesthetic aspects.<br />
Champion Alexey Radomsky,<br />
whose Victoria (so-named,<br />
“Because it’s going to win,”<br />
predicted Radomsky, accurately)<br />
shot up high into the sky on its<br />
launch, surprised the judges and<br />
Takes Off<br />
spectators alike as he is still in the<br />
pre-university program. His goal<br />
is to enter <strong>Technion</strong>’s Faculty of<br />
Electrical Engineering. Victoria,<br />
weighing in at 320 g, remained<br />
airborne for 19.66 seconds with<br />
the aid of its blue-and-white<br />
parachute. Radomsky immigrated<br />
to Israel with his family in 2000<br />
from Belarus. Over the last four<br />
months, he designed the winning<br />
project, which his technician<br />
father, Valery, helped construct.<br />
Runners-up Roey Mor (electrical<br />
engineering) and Lena Kordonsky<br />
(electrical engineering and<br />
physics) employed two parachutes<br />
on Bakbuktoos (Flying Bottle).<br />
The elliptical main chute helped<br />
Bakbuktoos stay in the air longer.<br />
Fourth-placed Roman Rosenshtain<br />
and Haim Malik, both 3rd-year<br />
mechanical engineering students,<br />
met some years ago at <strong>Technion</strong>’s<br />
pre-university preparatory course.<br />
Their 1.36 kg rocket weighed<br />
considerably more than other<br />
entries which remained airborne<br />
longer, earning them extra points.<br />
“We went on practicality, not<br />
elegance,” said Rosenshtain,<br />
who was born in Russia and has<br />
been in the country since 1992.<br />
“<strong>Technion</strong> gives you the tools, and<br />
with some aptitude, you can learn<br />
on your own,” said Malik, who<br />
came here from Ukraine without<br />
his family only 10 years ago.<br />
“There’s a lot of trial and error in<br />
a project of this kind.”<br />
Member of the jury and advisory<br />
board, Dr Alon Wolf of the Faculty<br />
of Mechanical Engineering, said<br />
that this year’s competition<br />
provided an effective spectator<br />
sport, eliciting many participants<br />
as well as bystanders. Wolf said<br />
that most designs were based on<br />
rocket propulsion and incorporated<br />
parachutes (which sometimes did<br />
not open as planned or got stuck<br />
in a large pine tree), and it was<br />
uplifting to see 17 teams from<br />
many different faculties meet<br />
the challenge.<br />
“<strong>Technion</strong> gives you the tools.”<br />
Another twist to the Purim<br />
Carnival when <strong>Technion</strong> students<br />
wear their original designs<br />
At the beginning of each Spring Semester –<br />
immediately after the Purim holiday when it<br />
is customary to wear costumes – first-year<br />
architecture students in Prof. Rifca Hashimshony’s<br />
design studio are asked to design costumes<br />
in homage to a renowned artist or architect.<br />
Students exhibit their costumes in a fashion showlike<br />
parade. Oron Nurick’s costume (pictured)<br />
represents the American Abstract Expressionist<br />
painter, Jackson Pollock (1921-1956). The<br />
costume was designed in collaboration with Adi<br />
Feldhaker, under the guidance of Dr Ariel Tibi and<br />
Dorit Freshtman, architect.<br />
Nurick says, “Adi and I were very impressed by<br />
Pollock’s work and by its label as ‘action painting’,<br />
so we tried to express the artist’s final result as<br />
well as his special way of working.” He continues,<br />
“I think that the <strong>Technion</strong> is a special place to<br />
study architecture because it has a combination of<br />
engineering knowledge, many years of experience,<br />
and worldwide recognition.”<br />
Alexey Radomsky adds the<br />
finishing touches to Victoria, with<br />
the help of his father, Valery,<br />
before going on to collect the<br />
10,000-shekel first prize.<br />
ART MUSIC OF<br />
THE<br />
&<br />
Spot-on ROMANCE<br />
At the end of the winter<br />
semester, the Stanley<br />
Shalom Zielony <strong>Technion</strong><br />
Choir and Orchestra<br />
performed two evening<br />
concerts of romantic<br />
Russian music to a full<br />
Churchill Auditorium.<br />
Guests included Haifa<br />
Mayor Yona Yahav, and<br />
representatives from<br />
the Russian Embassy<br />
who congratulated the<br />
conductors on their impressive<br />
accomplishment with <strong>Technion</strong><br />
students.<br />
Concurrently, the Department of<br />
Humanities and Arts exhibited<br />
students’ art work from the drawing<br />
and sketching courses given by<br />
Dr Anna Lobovikov-Katz and<br />
Flory Shaham, architect. The art,<br />
displayed in the Sherman Foyer of<br />
the Churchill Auditorium, w admired<br />
by some 1,500 concert-goers,<br />
lecturers and students.<br />
These activities were supported<br />
by the generosity of the Sonia<br />
Marschak Funds for the Arts.