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MIT to Stay p.3

Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Division of Public Affairs & Resource Development, October 2006

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At the tiniest frontier of technology, the new arrival to theRussell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, the TitanMonochromated and Aberration Corrected Field EmissionGun Transmission Electron Microscope, is revolutionizingnano research worldwide. Housed in a custom-designedstructure (Titan Laboratory) within the Microscopy Center, itis adjacent to the Faculty of Materials Engineering. Prof.Wayne Kaplan says that researchers will be able to see atomsand extract information regarding chemical bonds betweenatoms using this first-of-its-kind 4.5-meter-high piece ofequipment that weighs in at over 2000kg. ■

TITAN’S TRIUMPHSMART CHOPPER

A joint student team from Technion and Pennsylvania StateUniversity placed first in the undergraduate category of the 23rdAHS/Industry/NASA Student Design Competition, sponsoredthis year by Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc.

The competition invites students to design a vertical lift aircraftmeeting specified requirements. Bell challenged entrants todesign an affordable two-place single turbine engine traininghelicopter, which also required a new, low-cost turbine enginedesign. continued on Page 3... Mor Baram, a Sherman Interdisciplinary Graduate School

Fellow, unpacks Titan, the new arrival to campus.

Seymour SchulichAlfred MannLorry Lokey Peter Munk

Northern Heroes p.4

Delivered: July 2006Birthplace: The NetherlandsAncestry: FEI

Price tag: Over $4 million Resolution: Better than 0.07 nm

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Understanding the enduring strength ofbrainpower combined with expert science andtechnology, Technion visionaries and guardiansare rising with unprecedented strength toendorse the power of promise.

An unparalleled sum approaching $200 million in donations has reachedTechnion in the last four months. President Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig said thatTechnion friends abroad fully appreciate the institute’s importance to Israel’seconomy, security and strength, and this is expressed in their outstandingcontributions.

Vice President for Resource Development and External Relations Prof.Peretz Lavie said that overwhelmingly generous support came in July fromLorry Lokey of the USA ($30 million for a new center that will integrate lifesciences, engineering and medicine under the helm of Nobel laureate,Distinguished Prof. Aaron Ciechanover), and in September from SeymourSchulich ($20 million for the Faculty of Chemistry) followed by Peter Munk

($18 million to establish an interdisciplinary R&D institute), both fromCanada. In October, a major donation came from Alfred Mann of the USA,who signed an agreement to establish a life sciences/biomedical engineeringresearch institute (AMI). According to this agreement, Mann will provideinitial funding of $4 million for the AMI’s operating expenses over the nexttwo years. The money is intended as a bridge to the establishment of a $100million endowment for the institute. This is coupled with a multi-yearagreement that would provide millions of dollars annually for the institute’soperating budget, pending establishment of the $100 million endowment.

A further donation of some $15 million was given anonymously, to build agraduate student residential village. ■

THE POWER OF PROMISE

This past summer was challenging forevery Israeli, particularly for those wholive and work in Haifa and the north.

During the course of the month-longwar, Hezbollah guerillas fired over 4,000rockets into northern Israel, all aimed tokill, wound, and terrorize the region’s morethan one million civilians. Notwithstandingthe stress, fear, and actual danger causedby the daily sirens and falling missiles,

Technion faculty, staff, and graduate students continued tocome to work and thus ensure that our university remain openand in operation. Our staff’s willingness to risk their lives,particularly while traveling to and from work under the threatof falling missiles, was a concrete and impressive expressionof their commitment to Technion and their belief in the

importance of Technion to daily life in Israel.Some 800 of our students were called to their army reserve

units to defend the country. Thanks to the generosity offriends around the world, an Emergency Fund for Studentswas established to provide scholarships, private tutoring,living stipends, and dormitory assistance for these worthystudent-soldiers, and other students affected by the war, upontheir return to their studies. This help is greatly appreciated byour students, many of whom were unable to work during thesummer months due to the war, and all of whose summerplans were disrupted due to the postponement of exams.

As I write these words, our graduate student EhudGoldwasser remains in captivity in Lebanon. We hope andpray that he is returned soon and in good health to his wifeKarnit – also a Technion graduate student – and to his lovingfamily.

Prof. YitzhakApeloig

HEALTH WATCH

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I N N O V A T I O N

WAR MEMOIRSVIEWPOINT BY PROF. SHLOMO MAITAL

July 27, 2006Aesop’s The Ant and the Grasshopper tells about the Ant who

gathers food in summer for the winter while the Grasshopper,who lives for the moment, mocks the Ant – and goes hungry inwinter. The fable ends: Plan today for the wants of tomorrow.

Teva – Israel’s flagship global pharmaceutical company – isan Ant. In 1984 the U.S. Congress enacted the Hatch-WaxmanAct. Teva Chair Eli Hurwitz realized the Act would makegeneric drugs (low-price versions of expensive patented drugs,marketed the instant patents expire) into a profitable industry.

More than two decades later, Teva has $5.3 b. in sales, 25,000 employees worldwide and themarket value of its stock is $34 b.

How did Teva become a global market leader? According to Hurwitz: “Teva has grownthrough a clear, simple long-run strategy formulated in 1985. It is not magic. A group ofmanagers built the plan in 1985 andimplemented it with discipline.”

In contrast, Israel’s political leadershiphas for six years been the Grasshopper.The strategic threat on Israel’s northernborder was real, palpable and ignored.Israel’s enemies have had Katyusharockets – developed in Russia in WorldWar II – for many years. Why was Israel’stechnological prowess not employed toneutralize the threat? Now the “winter”has come and a million Israelis in theNorth are paying the price. After twoweeks of war, 2,500 rockets have fallen onour cities and homes. We are angry with our Grasshopper leaders.

New leaders will emerge and affirm: “I commit to thinking and acting for Israel’s wellbeing inthe long haul, even though this may at times imply short-term political pain. I commit to runningIsrael like Eli Hurwitz and Israel Makov run Teva.”

Here in the North, they will have a million supporters.

August 10, 2006From my vantage point on Mt. Carmel as the fourth week of war ends, what can be seen?

We see a million residents in the North face an unexpected threat with resolution and innerstrength. Half this war’s casualties are civilians. Even in the 1948 War of Independence only athird of the 6,000 war dead were civilians.

We see very little government assistance reaching the North. “It is time for the government tofulfill its obligations,” says former Education Minister Yossi Sarid, who lives in the bordervillage of Margaliot.

“We see a million residents in the North face an unexpected threat withresolution and inner strength.”

We see the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange index rise substantially. The shekel remains strong andstable. During the war, an Israeli high-tech company, Mercury, was acquired for $4.5 b., thehighest price tag ever for an Israeli firm. Foreign investors apparently remain confident in Israel’slong-term future.

In stark contrast, we see Lebanon in deep trouble. Lebanon’s economy, utterly destroyedduring the Civil War (1975-1990), was rebuilt and boomed until July 12. Lebanon lost a wholedecade of reconstruction in one month. By harboring Hezbollah rockets, Lebanese PrimeMinister Fouad Siniora brought Israel’s wrath upon his country. Israel’s enemies get a crystal-clear message – if your land is a base for attacks on Israel’s civilians, your economy will smolderin ruins, while Israel’s resilient economy soldiers on.

August 24, 2006Nothing symbolizes the tragedy of Lebanon more than its cedar

trees, mentioned 75 times in the Bible. Some 3,500 years ago,Hiram, King of Tyre sold King David cedar wood for his palace andthen sold cedars to David’s son Solomon for the Holy Temple.

Today, forests cover less than 6 percent of Lebanon and of those,only 3 percent are cedars. Lebanon has ruined its cedars, and byconsistently wrongheaded decisions, ruined its economy.

After achieving independence from France in 1943, Lebanonbecame the Switzerland of the Mideast. The Lebanese pound wasonce solid as a rock, backed by gold acquired by astute Lebanesebankers during the late 1960s at the then-bargain-basement $35/ozprice.

Until July 12 Lebanon was one of the most prosperous of the non-oil-producing Arab nations,with per capita GDP of about $6,000 (three times that of Iran, six times that of Syria). In 2004Lebanon’s economy grew 6.3 percent, driven in part by 1.3 m. tourists. In 2005, the marketcapitalization of stocks listed on Beirut’s Stock Exchange doubled. The future looked bright.

Some 1.6 m. tourists were expected this year; most will not come. The gold is gone andLebanon owes $35 b.

What went wrong? Since 1948, Lebanon has repeatedly allowed its territory to become a base for attacks on Israel.

The so-called Cedar Revolution in April 2005 – in which the Lebanese seemed to see the lightand evicted the Syrian Army – offered hope. But Iran and its surrogate Hezbollah made southLebanon their bunkered playground. Israel’s response to Hezbollah’s attack caused at least $3.5b. in damage, equal to 15 percent of Lebanon’s $24 b. GDP.

It should have been different. Israel’s expertise in reforestation could have helped Lebanonreplenish its cedar groves. Tyre and Haifa could have been twin cities. But Tyre launched rocketsat Haifa, destroying, rather than building as did King Hiram.

Lebanon’s lovely cedars can flourish again. Let this war be the last. ■

*Shlomo Maital is Professor Emeritus at the Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion,and Academic Director, TIM-Technion Institute of Management. He lives in Haifa.

TREE OF LIFEResearchers at the Rappaport Faculty

of Medicine recently published results inthe medical journal Atherosclerosisshowing that pomegranate juice lowersthe risk of atherosclerosis (hardening ofthe arteries) among people withdiabetes.

Diabetics have increased risk foratherosclerosis, which contributes tocoronary heart disease, strokes, andother circulation complications, and

accounts for 80 percent of all deathsamong diabetic patients.

Unable to process sugars normally, diabetics must monitor theirintake of natural or processed sugars, including fruit juice.

“In most juices, sugars are present in free – and harmful – forms,”says Prof. Michael Aviram, of the Department of Biochemistry. “Inpomegranate juice, however, the sugars are attached to uniqueantioxidants, which actually make these sugars protective againstatherosclerosis.”

Aviram’s research team at the Lipid Research Laboratory, whichincluded senior lab scientist Mira Rosenblat and internal medicinespecialist Prof. Tony Hayek, examined the effects of consumingpomegranate juice daily for three months on 10 healthy male adultsand 10 noninsulin-dependent male diabetes patients.

STEM CELL DIPLOMACYTechnion signed an agreement with

Inserm, the French institute of healthon September 18, 2006, to establish ajoint center for the research ofembryonic stem cells. This is the firsttime that the French government hassigned this type of academicagreement with Israel, and it followsFrance’s recent endorsement ofembryonic stem cell research. Theceremony was the culmination of thetwo-day Israel-France Symposium onStem Cells and RegenerativeMedicine held in Haifa.

Prof. Christian Bréchot, director of Inserm (Institut national de lasanté et de la recherche médicale) – a public institution under the dualauspices of France’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Research –said at the signing ceremony that this is a historical step that will alsoadvance Franco-Israeli ties in additional spheres.

The center, to be known as INSERTECH, is the outcome of a jointinitiative by stem cell pioneer Prof. Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor of theRappaport Faculty of Medicine and Prof. Daniel Aberdam, a seniorresearcher at Inserm. The Technion laboratory will be managed by thetwo researchers, and jointly funded by both institutes. Insermresearchers will arrive in Haifa shortly, and a Technion scientist willgo to France.

FDA FOR PARKINSON’S DRUGAZILECT® (rasagiline tablets), the first once-daily oral treatment for

Parkinson’s disease (PD), was approved by Health Canada in August2006 and by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May,and is now available in 20 countries worldwide. It was approved inEurope and Israel in 2005, where it has been successfully launched.Approval for AZILECT® was based on data from three large,multicenter, multinational, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical studies, involving over 1,600 patients.

The drug was developed by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.based on research by Technion Profs. Moussa Youdim and JohnFinberg in the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. It is a novel, potent,second-generation selective irreversible MAO-B inhibitor that blocks

the breakdown ofdopamine, a substancein the brain needed tofacilitate movement.AZILECT ® isprescribed as initialmonotherapy in earlyPD and as adjuncttherapy to levodopa inmoderate to advanceddisease.

Blood vessels derived fromhuman embryonic stem cells

Another civilian casualty of the Hezbollah attackson the North of Israel is rushed to hospital.

Pomegranates reduce therisk of atherosclerosis.

Cedar tree, onceprevalent in Lebanon.

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BIZTEC BONDSLifeBond, a group focused on bio-mimetic tissue adhesive

solutions, won the 50K-shekel first prize in Technion’s businessplan competition, BizTEC06. The team, MBA students IshayAttar, Nir Mashkif, Hadar Shezifi, and M.Sc. student OrahnPreiss-Bloom, developed the winning business plan based on anovel adhesive formula developed by Dr. Havazelet Bianco-Peled from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering.

According to the team members, the adhesive is ideal for useas a tissue glue as it fulfils all three necessary conditions forsuch an adhesive: non-toxicity, sufficient adhesive strength, andefficacy even on wet surfaces, such as those that characterizebody tissues. “We believe that the tissue adhesive field is readyfor an influx of new technologies and that the LifeBond projectwill be a highly successful venture,” explains Preiss-Bloom. Inmany cases, the LifeBond adhesive could eliminate the need forsutures, thus reducing operating room time and otherhospitalization costs. The LifeBond team members met duringthe Technion’s Patent Development course, run by Prof. Uzi deHaan, where students are provided with a Technion patent anddevelop a company strategy based on that patent over the eight-week course.

BizTEC was inspired by MIT’s $50K EntrepreneurialCompetition. Its first prize is named for 9/11 hero and Technionand MIT alum, Daniel Lewin. ■

STUDENT LIFT-OFFBY ROBERTA NEIGER

After five years of planning and development,Technion students from the Faculty of

Aerospace Engineering successfullylaunched a unique two-stage rocket on

May 9, 2006. Technion facultymembers supervised the project

in cooperation withRAFAEL, the IsraelArmament

DevelopmentAuthority.“This project exposes

students to cutting-edgetechnology, allowing them to

deal with real-world problemsof design, construction and flight-

test of a complex system,” saysAerospace Engineering Prof. Alon

Gany, who supervised the project together with RAFAEL’s Isaac Greenberg, aTechnion alum. “This is also a significant technological milestone, a first and crucialstage in the future development of ramjet technology in Israel.”

While most missiles today are propelled by solid propellant rocket motors, theTechnion students focused on an “air breathing” solid fuel ramjet engine. Theirinnovative 92 kg, 3.7-meter-long rocket, dubbed Ramtech, offers a number ofadvantages. Providing more energy for the same mass, this type of engine consumesless fuel than a conventional rocket engine, enabling a much longer flight range. Infact, the Technion ramjet engine can operate four times as long as a standard rocketmotor at the same thrust and amount of fuel. It is ideally suited for the cruise stage oflong-range missiles.

The student rocket reached a maximum speed of about 2.4 times the speed of sound(Mach 2.4, about 3000 km/hour) and a range of 18 km. According to Gany, almost allflight test sequences and phases revealed perfect operation: ignition of the rocketbooster of the first stage, smooth launching, eight seconds of operation of the rocketmotor, pyrotechnic separation between the two stages, and ignition of the solid fuelramjet of the second stage.

“This is a significant technological milestone, a first and crucialstage in the future development of ramjet technology in Israel.”

The only imperfect operation involved the ramjet motor, which operated for lessthan three seconds and then extinguished, instead of burning for eight to ten seconds,as planned. Data processing of tracking cameras and radars revealed that end-of-boostspeed caused this to happen. Somewhat lower than planned, the rocket’s actual speedof Mach 2.4 instead of 2.7 caused unstable operation of the air inlet, allowing forinsufficient airflow into the ramjet combustor.

“As a first test in a development program, our flight test would be considered agreat achievement, indicating the slight modification necessary for 100 percentsuccess in a second flight test,” says Gany. “We think that a second flight test willprovide great added value at small effort and low cost. Ramjet research anddevelopment in Israel should continue to meet the propulsion challenges of thefuture.”

About 20 Technion students worked on the Ramtech. The launch team comprisedfour students. ■

Prof. Alon Gany holds the Lena and Ben Fohrman Chair in Aeronautical Engineering

Prof. Omri Rand, dean of theFaculty of AerospaceEngineering, and Prof. Ed Smith,director of Penn State RotorcraftCenter of Excellence, initiated thepairing of their students. The teamcomprised 13 members – seven ofwhom are Technion students.Technion advisers included Rand,Dr. Gil Iosilevskii, and graduatestudent Chen Friedman.

The Technion students focusedon the aerodynamics and tworotors’ design, performancecalculations, and externaldimensions, while their Penn Statecolleagues tackled detailed enginedesign, crash worthiness, and costeffectiveness. The two student groups communicated via the Web.

In addition to receiving a cash prize, the team was invited to present its winningentry, GrassChopper, to the next AHS (American Helicopter Society) Annual Forumand Technology Display.

Next year’s contest, sponsored by Sikorsky Aircraft, invites submissions for anAdvanced Deployable Compact Rotorcraft in support of Special Operation Forces.Proposals will be judged according to the following criteria: technical content,organization and presentation, originality, and application and feasibility. Technionplans to take part in this 24th competition as well.

The AHS International is the world’s premier professional vertical flight society,founded in 1943. ■

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S T U D E N T N E W S

MIT 2 STAYThe second Hibur delegation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

came to campus at the end of May 2006. Hibur (connection) aspires to provide aframework to allow a web of academic, professional, and personal connections togrow between the two premier technological institutions in the USA and Israel: MITand the Technion. The delegation’s 10-day itinerary included lab visits, meetings withresearchers and students, and touring the country. The group comprised four graduatestudents, six undergrads, and one postdoctoral fellow, accompanied by Hillelcoordinator Miriam Rosenblum.

The group members had different motivations for participating in the delegation:Chaim Kutnicki, who studies computer science, came to network; DavidBroniatowski, who is studying for a dual Master’s in Aerospace Engineering andTechnology Policy, sought to get reciprocity going for the program as a morepermanent fixture, and has had specific exchanges with Technion AerospaceEngineering students. Inna Koyrakh, a chemical engineering major who will finishnext year at MIT, is looking for possible research projects for graduate school.

Sara Segal, who studies Mechanical Engineering, asked Prof. Michael Silverstein ofthe Faculty of Materials Engineering whether the Technion accepts internationalstudents. His answer: “We want international students for grad students. If one non-native Hebrew speaker is in the room and asks for the course to be given in English, itwill be.” ■

Healing made easywith LifeBondtissue adhesive

The Technion/Penn State winning design,GrassChopper, successfully met all therequirements and demonstrated multipleadvantages over existing piston engine rotorcraft.

The Technioncontingent of thewinning AHS StudentDesign Competitionteam (l-r) GregoryKhodos, GalitKipervaser, Elad Rind,Gabriela Adler,Andrey Perelman,Oleg Prokopov, andIlanit Schreiber.

In Prof. Wayne Kaplan’s lab, Hibur students (l-r) Sam Kesner, Inna Koyrakh, DavidStiebel, and Stephen Ming-Chang Hou check out a strand of gold wire: “You can detectits presence but you can’t see it,” Kaplan told them.

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Ramtech two-stagerocket developedby Technionstudents.

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T E C H N I O N A T W A R

BY BARBARA FRANK

Technion’s northern location provides medical students with special on-the-job training. During clinical rotations, students work in emergencyrooms, operating theaters and most other departments in the 11 northernhospitals affiliated with the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. Here,Technion medical students, lecturers and professors found themselves on

the front line of the latest conflict, saving lives and dealing with the casualties of war. Rambam Health Care Campus is next to the medical faculty. Students volunteered

to help as Rambam started taking in casualties. Director Prof. Rafael Beyar says,“Technion’s students, even those not directly involved in treating patients, were agreat help doing anything and everything, even pushing gurneys from ward to ward.”

Rambam suffered a rocket hit right outside its doors and patients were transferred tomore secure areas of the hospital. Beyar says, “We learned that we have to expand ourtrauma center and be more efficient. Nevertheless, it is recognized that Rambam hasone of the finest trauma centers in the world.”

The crisis affected students in many different ways. “Some students were laid offfrom summer jobs when restaurants and other businesses closed; others were calledup for reserve duty and missed out on their clinical work,” says fourth-year medicalstudent Ohad Ben Tur, 25, who is doing his clinical rotation at Rambam in theInternal Medicine department. “It was a stressful time for everyone,” he says,“although we got first-hand experience living in a war zone and working in a hospitalunder the pressure of war.”

“It was a stressful time for everyone, although we got first-handexperience living in a war zone and working in a hospital underthe pressure of war.” —Ohad Ben Tur

When the war broke out, N., a fourth-year student, immediately phoned his AirForce unit to see if he was needed. As an F-16 navigator he was called up and flewmissions of 48-hour shifts, returning to the hospital to work between flights. “Makingthe mental switch from studying medicine to fighting in a war is a conflictingexperience, but my generation has had no choice. I hope this is the last time I willhave to do it,” N., 34, says.

While talking to Technion by phone, Director of the Western Galilee Hospital, Prof.Shaul Shasha, was constantly interrupted by his beeper, informing him of the locationof the latest rocket attack. Situated in Nahariya close to the border with Lebanon, thehospital has 700 beds above ground and room for 600 beds under ground with fullyequipped operating rooms. “It is the best-protected facility of its kind in Israel,”Shasha says. Fortunately, the majority of the patients, both soldiers and civilians, werein the underground hospital when, on July 28, the hospital endured a direct hitdestroying one of the upper floors of an evacuated building. “Twenty of our doctorson staff are lecturers or professors in Technion’s medical faculty,” Shasha says.

The Rebecca Sieff Hospital in Safed also sustained a direct rocket hit on July 16shattering half the hospital’s windows. Miraculously just six persons were lightlyinjured. The 304-bed hospital treated a Lebanese woman injured in the fighting. Dr.Oscar Ambon, hospital director, comments, “Our staff was wonderful, working dayand night in a hospital that is not fully protected from rocket attacks.”

Noa Naftali, 29, is completing her studies in the Technion American MedicalStudents Program (TEAMS). Even though Naftali could have arranged to take her

final exams in the USA, she didn’t let the outbreak of the war send her back.“Studying medicine in Israel has given me the opportunity to work with a wide rangeof people and cultures whose approach to health care and disease is very differentfrom the United States,” she says. “The Arab people who live in small villages andother groups of people here suffer from some diseases and have genetic problems thatI wouldn’t have encountered in the United States. Working here has been a greatexperience,” she explains.

The latest war has not deterred enrollment for next year’s TEAMS Program. Prof.Ido Perlman, dean, recently interviewed nine potential candidates in an Internet videoconference, since he would not leave the medical school during the conflict. All ninesaid they will come if accepted. “Students from the USA who study medicine at ourfaculty have a unique experience. They are able to do their clinical rotations in anumber of different hospitals including Rambam, which is a tertiary hospital. Thisgives them a better understanding of how different hospitals function under a varietyof conditions,” Perlman says. ■

MEDICINE WITHOUT BORDERS

The war has imposed a heavy burden upon the government of Israel torebuild the north and strengthen our defenses. We hope that in defining itspriorities, the government will recognize Technion’s vital role in Israel’ssecurity and development, and will increase its support of Technionactivities.

Our Technion societies around the world remain highly motivated andcommitted to our goals. Last year the societies raised an all-time recordamount of $60 million in support of our teaching and research activities. In2006, this record was easily surpassed. We have recently received four verygenerous gifts – a $30 million gift from Lorry Lokey of San Francisco,USA, for the Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering; a$20 million gift from Seymour Schulich of Toronto, Canada, for the naming

of our Faculty of Chemistry; an $18 million gift from fellow Canadian PeterMunk, for research and development; and from Alfred Mann of the USA,who signed an agreement to establish a life sciences/biomedical engineeringresearch institute (AMI). Mann will provide initial funding of $4 million forthe AMI’s operating expenses over the next two years, as a bridge to theestablishment of a $100 million endowment for the institute.

Technion approaches the start of the academic year with renewedoptimism and sense of purpose. Our student enrollment has never beenstronger, and our faculty continues to pursue original, ground-breakingresearch. And despite the many dangers surrounding us, we progress withthe knowledge that Israel, the region, and all humanity can benefit from thecreativity, discovery, and determination that emanate from our classroomsand laboratories. ■

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Bringing in the wounded to Technion’saffiliated hospitals during the 2006 warwith Hezbollah.

TECHNION IS OUR FAMILYJuly 12, 2006 was the last day of 31-year-old Technion graduate student

Ehud (Udi) Goldwasser’s reserve duty. During a routine border patrol Udi andcomrade Eldad Regev were abducted from Israel’s side of the internationalborder with Lebanon in the Hezbollah terrorist attack that killed eight other

Israeli soldiers. For Udi’s wife, Karnit,the world collapsed and within hours shehad a new role, as Udi’s advocate.

Together with Udi’s parents andbrothers, Karnit was interviewed non-

stop by local andinternational media andmet with Technionsupporters and governmentofficials in Europe and theUSA. “I hope that Udifeels my constant embrace;he is the love of my life, asI am his. I will doeverything for him. Ibelieve in my heart that heis alive, we are just

desperate for more information now and have to do all we can to help set himfree,” Karnit said.

Karnit and Udi, both from Nahariya, met at Technion’s Center for Pre-university Education. Together for the past nine years, these two graduates ofthe Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering married in October 2005.

“Technion is our family. Udi and I are both students in the graduate school,all our friends are Technion students, my uncle and Udi’s father are bothTechnion graduates, and now Udi’s youngest brother wants to study atTechnion,” Karnit said. “I know that the thoughts and prayers of Technion'ssupporters all over the world are with us now. Anything they can do to help uswill be most appreciated.” ■

Karnit Goldwasser(above) campaigns withUK supporters for therelease of her abductedhusband, Ehud (Udi).

BY BARBARA FRANK

Even after serving in the army reserves for five weeks as an IntelligenceField Officer in an infantry brigade stationed on the Lebanese border,Eitan Decker, 26, is always prepared to be called up to serve again at anytime. According to Decker, Vice Chairperson of the Technion StudentsAssociation (TSA), “Technion has the highest percentage of reserve

officers and soldiers of any university. Students were supposed to be taking exams,instead they were called up for military duty. This was a double blow since all of asudden the situation became doubly stressful for them.”

“Students were supposed to be taking exams, instead they werecalled up for military duty.”—Eitan Decker

Decker’s brigade suffered seriouslosses in the recent conflict. One platoonwas attacked on the Lebanese border,resulting in eight fatalities and twoabducted soldiers – one of them Technionstudent Ehud Goldwasser.

“The TSA immediately came to theassistance of the students when therockets started to fall on Haifa. Theassociation organized transport out ofcampus for those students who needed it,visited the dormitories and checked thesituation in the bomb shelters. Our Website displayed hot line phone numbers forstudents to call for advice andinformation,” Decker, a Civil Engineeringstudent, explains.

As Culture and Social Affairs Managerfor the TSA, Civil Engineering studentEinat Feldman, 25, is used to organizingevents. But she never worked so hard as

when she volunteered to help some of the hundreds of families who fled to the centerof Israel at the onset of the war. Feldman volunteered for the organization Latet (ToGive), distributing food and other needed supplies to 225 temporarily relocatedfamilies. Once Technion reopened, Feldman returned to her desk in the TSA.

GIMME SHELTERWhen the rockets started to fall on Haifa, Omer Ben-Zaken was on his own in the

married student housing on campus. This 30-year-old Biomedical Engineering student

had a feeling things were going to get dangerous and had already sent his wife andyoung daughter to Jerusalem for safety.

There were many mothers and children alone in the dormitory and at first everyonewas really frightened. Ben-Zaken immediately took charge by checking the bombshelter and quickly organizing the other students to prepare it better for the parentsand children. He helped the families to get settled and ran back to the individualapartments to retrieve forgotten items. But the first thing he did was to bring in atelephone to connect to the phone jack in the shelter, since cellular phones didn’t workin the bomb shelters.

Ben-Zaken’s wife is a cancer patient, exempting him from reserve army duty thisyear. But Ben-Zaken volunteered to serve anyway.

ALL HEARTWhen 25-year-old Yael Berman realized that her final exams would be postponed

due to the war, she immediately headed north to war-torn Kiryat Shmona to volunteer.Together with her sister and three other young women, she led a group of 60 – mostlyteenagers – who are part of the volunteer group Lev Echad (One Heart). The hardwork and discipline required of Technion students served her well in her newposition. The volunteers spent their time in the bomb shelters helping the children topass the long days under the ground.

“We helped organize life in the shelters and aided in creating acommunity.” —Yael Berman

The Kiryat Shmona residents lived in public shelters under constant rocket fire,

interspersed with the sounds of Israeli artillery and airplanes hitting back. It was atraumatizing experience, especially for the children. The young volunteers made therounds of the shelters, distributing games and toys and helping the parents howeverthey could. “We helped organize life in the shelters and aided in creating acommunity,” Berman said.

“Everyone was afraid …but I was constantly reinforced by the amazing moralfortitude of both the residents of the town and our volunteers,” Berman said. “Wecame to strengthen them but in the end it is they who strengthened us. It was such agreat feeling to walk into a shelter and find the children sitting on the floor in a circle,quietly engaged in an activity we organized. All this was accompanied by theincredible boom the rockets made when they landed,” she continued.

“I was touched each day by the kindness of the average Israeli. I didn’t have enoughcars to transport the volunteers; we depended on municipal vehicles. One day a mancalled on his way south from the Golan. He stopped in Kiryat Shmona and let me usehis car for two hours. It was really a help,” Berman said. ■

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TEACHING INVINCIBLEThe Center for the Promotion of Teaching initiated a new program for

examination preparation for students unable to reach the Technion campusduring the war, due to military reserve duty or otherwise. Technion instructorsgave lessons broadcast live over the Internet from the Carasso Video Studio, andstudents, studying at remote locations, were able to pose questions throughpurpose-built forums.

In the midst of a mathematics lesson given by teaching consultant Dr. AlizaMalek, the siren alerting a missile attack sounded. The teacher stopped,apologized, and sought safety in a protected area, the formulae remaining on thescreen. Immediately following the bombardment, Malek continued with herlesson.

Dan, a student of Mechanical Engineering, gave enthusiastic feedback to thisproject. “It is very difficult to study in these times, with all the sirens in thebackground. The lessons that you have started over the Internet have gotten meback on track. Thank you for this most welcome initiative.”

Dr. Abigail Barzilai, the Center’s director, stated that the instructors arevolunteers. Students can access the recorded lessons at any time, she also said. ■

A Technion instructor gives a lesson broadcast live over the Internet from theCarasso Video Studio during the recent conflict with Hezbollah.

STUDENTS IN ACTION

Student activist Yael Berman helps Kiryat Shmona residents pass the long days inthe public bomb shelters.

The arrow points to the nearest protected area for students, staff, and researchers whocontinued their activities on campus throughout the war.

Eitan Decker, Vice Chair of the TechnionStudents Association, brings flowers andcomfort to patients in Rambam HealthCare Campus.

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BY AMANDA JAFFE-KATZ

The world-renowned British physicist and 1998 Wolf Prize recipient, Prof.Sir Michael Berry, received an honorary Technion doctorate during theJune Board of Governors meeting. Sir Michael, for whom the BerryPhase is named, a phase shift acquired by quantum systems solely fromtopological effects, shared his views on Technion, education, the

proposed UK lecturers’ boycott of Israel, honors, and some mathematical phenomena. Sir Michael’s career is based at Bristol University, where he has been since 1965

and a Royal Society Research Professor since 1988. “I recently received a medal fromBristol University which they give to people who have been there for 40 years. Toparaphrase Woody Allen – I’ve never yet been recognized for not dying,” he quips.

Berry’s eye researcher wife Dr. Monica Berry – the world expert on tears – isIsraeli. She brought him to Israel in 1981 to meet her family. On that occasion he alsomet the “infinitely lovable” and “sadly missed Asher Peres who graced the Technionphysics department for half a century.”

Since 1999, Berry has also been a Visiting Fellow at Technion. On campus, he staysat the Forchheimer Faculty Center, “a fantastic facility that suits me nicely,” andexplores local restaurants. He chats with graduate students and occasionally givesspecial informal lectures to undergrads. “Once, I walked past as Prof. Steve Lipsonwas lecturing, and saw an equation on the board. I interrupted Steve to tell him that Iwas working on the very same problem, and he asked me to take the next lecture.”

Berry says of his Technion visits, “I don’t directly collaborate with anyone. I talk topeople.” Prof. Nimrod Moiseyev, the Bertha Hartz Axel Chair of Chemistry, concurs:“During Michael’s visits to Technion over the last decade, we meet and discuss issuesthat are the focus of my scientific work but are also closely related to his field, or viceversa. Often my students or postdoctoral fellows join us in these meetings, and benefitgreatly. It empowers us to continue in our unusual and sometimes controversialdirection of research, and at times Michael helps us to address specific open questionswhich we had not intended to tackle.”

Berry’s host in the newly dedicated Lewiner Institute for Theoretical Physics, Prof.Shmuel Fishman, adds: “Michael Berry visits the Technion every year. He givesmany outstanding lectures for faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students. I

and other faculty members have detailed illuminating discussions with him. He ishappy to discuss our research and to give advice on conceptual as well as on technicalissues. This is of particular import since some of our work is related to his seminalwork. It is also greatly important that graduate students are exposed to a scientist ofhis level.”

On this June 2006 visit, Berry gave an open lecture called “Making Light ofMathematics” in which he discussed how many mathematical phenomena findapplication and sometimes spectacular physical illustration in the physics of light.Concepts such as fractals, catastrophes, knots, infinity, zero (“Zero is fashionable. Welive in nihilistic times”) and even when 1+1 fails to equal 2, are needed to understandrainbows, twinkling starlight, sparkling seas, and oriental magic mirrors. Thenontechnical lecture was based on pictures.

“It was lovely to get the honorary doctorate from Technion,” Berry says “– but thereal excitement is doing the work.” ■

BRAIN GAINOr, how to read an evoked potential

BY AMANDA JAFFE-KATZ

Neural networking, sensory perception and learning, and epilepsy: these are just some of the topics covered in aninterdisciplinary series of lectures on Concepts and Dimensions in Brain Science that brought the latest researchfindings to a wide Technion audience.

The nine-lecture series kicked off in March, with Prof. Shimon Marom’s introductory talk on the scope ofbehavioral and brain science. When considering brain size as a percentage of body weight, and comparing with thesperm whale, dolphin and elephant, man’s is the highest – “except for the mouse!” Marom informed the surprisedaudience.

Marom stressed the immensity of the challenges ahead, and offered an overview of what is known and isunknown in brain sciences. “One thing that is understood to a good-enough extent,” said Marom, “is the process ofgeneration and propagation of neuronal signals within and between brain cells.” Less understood are processes ofdevelopment, change and adaptation at the various levels of brain organization. Marom used the example ofassociations between objects to demonstrate how phenomena at the behavioral level may be realized at differentlower levels of brain organization, from cortical maps to synapses.

Prof. Hillel Pratt gave the penultimate lecture in the series on Midsummer’s Day. Evoked potentials, or event-related potentials, are changes in the electrical activity of the nervous system that occur when there is a change inthe external physical world and/or the internal mental state of the person being examined. Pratt supplied a usefulanalogy of brain activity as measured by evoked potentials (for example, an electroencephalogram or EEG). “It’slike a night view of earth from space, where the illumination shows concentrations of human activity,” heexplained. “The lights don’t explain what is going on, but rather where and when the action is.”

The primary and most often used mode of human communication is auditory in nature, Pratt said, referring tospeech. He discussed processing different aspects of auditory change, processing of subjectively significant sounds,and deficiencies in processing that are associated with deviations from the normal pattern of brain activation. Insummary, researchers have observed that auditory processing of different aspects of change is simultaneous butdistinct; processing of speech is unique among sounds; subjective significance affects processing; and alteredmodes of processing show an altered spatio-temporal course of brain processing.

Technion now offers an Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience for graduate students who hold bachelor’sdegrees in fields such as the exact sciences, engineering, psychology, and biology. The extensive program offerscore courses, mostly in the Faculty of Medicine, and relevant elective courses in other Technion faculties. ■http://brc.technion.ac.il/ns_prog/neurophysiology_program.htm

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L

NOT JUST A PHASE

TECHNIONICS*“…Thus began a long association with this Middle Eastern country, in which

I have developed close friendships, scientific and personal, with manypeople…and, of course, my association with the Technion. Over the pastquarter-century, I have visited at least once a year, to discuss, give lectures,write, think, in an environment that is near-perfect for science. Your way ofworking – let’s call it Technionics – suits me, as a visitor, very well.”

“The boycotters (the UK academics’ union boycott of Israeli academia–Ed.)are foolish. Not because theychoose to mix academic lifeand politics (why not?) butfor two different reasons.First, because their emphasisis so one-sided… The secondand more fundamental reasonfor rejecting their call is thatboycotts promote dis-connection between countriesand cultures – exactly theopposite of what ouracademic activity shouldpromote, namely connections.I know that cooperation withyour neighbors, wherever andwhenever circumstancespermit, is part of Technionics.

I also try. Sami Al-Jaberhas invited me to a physicsmeeting in Nablus next year;if I can go, I will.” ■

The activity associated with Object Definition islateralized to the anterior and middle left temporal lobe(top), while Deviance Detection is bilateral and in themore posterior temporal lobe (bottom).

*Excerpts from Prof. Sir MichaelBerry’s honorary doctorateacceptance speech, June 2006.

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T E C H N I O N F O C U S O C T O B E R 2 0 0 6 7

G R A D U A T E S C H O O L

Sometimes a physical disability can direct a researcher’s academic path, andoften the results are inspiring. Yael Zahar is 30 years old and a Ph.D.student in Dr. Yoram Gutfreund’s Auditory Systems Laboratory in theRappaport Faculty of Medicine. She is deaf. “We investigate the influenceof information from the visual system on the processing of auditory input. I

have found that my disability provides me with a singular perspective when it comesto my research. For example, during conversation in a noisy environment, if you cansee the person’s lips as well as hear his or her voice, you can gain a betterunderstanding of what is being said. There is an interaction in the brain betweenvisual and auditory input. I know this from first-hand experience,” Zahar explains.

“The human brain is an amazing computational machinecapable of receiving different types of information from all thesenses.”

The human brain is an amazing computational machine capable of receivingdifferent types of information from all the senses and processing the information in away that enables us to function in daily life. Upon completion of her B.Sc. inComputer Science and before her M.Sc. (which she earned cum laude) in BiomedicalEngineering, Zahar became interested in the processes occurring in the brain duringthe perception and comprehension of surrounding stimuli. Information arriving to thebrain is broken down into basic components; for example, a visual scene is reduced tophotons falling on the retina, and sounds are reduced to the frequencies from whichthey are constructed. The brain remarkably knows how to “reconstruct” the stimuliand obtain a precise and coherent representation of the surroundings.

During her M.Sc. studies with Prof. Moshe Gur, Zahar investigated the amazingability of the human visual system to perform “binding.” With an fMRI scanner sheused a unique technique for real-time observation of the human brain. Zahar was ableto study what happens in the brain during the extraction and decoding of camouflage

images. While undergoing an MRI the participant was shown a camouflaged drawingthat initially appears as dots. The goal is to identify the hidden figures after a fewminutes of observation. The MRI records the brain activity and what happens whenparticipants arrive at the “aha moment” – that time when they identify the images.Since only a few camouflage pictures existed at the time, as an amateur painter Zaharcreated a database of about 60 camouflage drawings. This research is the first of itskind based on such a large and comprehensive quantity of camouflage pictures.

“In my Ph.D. research I’ve been able to expand my interest in the binding questionto the multisensory realm. Many events in everyday life are registered by differentsense organs, for example a bus passing by can be both seen and heard. However, ourperception of the external world is indivisible and coherent. Not only can the brainbind stimuli from different modalities into the same event, it also succeeds in avoidingerroneous combinations. These processes seem so natural and trivial, that only whenwe try to recreate this processing capability in computational machines do we realizethe complexity and sophistication involved,” she explains.

Her current research aims to understand the role of the temporal cue in the bindingof visual and auditory stimuli. Zahar and other researchers are using the barn owl’sbrain as a model system. The barn owl is a nocturnal predator whose survival isdependent on precise localization in a noisy and dim environment. It has excellentvisual and auditory capabilities and its brain has evolved to integrate visual andauditory information accurately so as to capture prey efficiently. Hence the barn owlis an excellent animal model to study visual-auditory integration.

“I perceive my difficulty as an opportunity that life has createdfor me.”

“A physical disability, such asmy hearing problem, can be seenas a restrictive and weakeningfactor in work, but I perceive mydifficulty as an opportunity thatlife has created for me,” Zaharsays. In high school it was almostimpossible for Zahar to understanda frontal lecture when the teacherkept turning to the blackboardwhile speaking, even when shecould read the instructor’s lips shelost much information. She had towork a lot on her own from books,and this strengthened this inspiringyoung woman’s ability for self-learning and independent thinking.

“Here at the Technion I havefound a supportive and sensitive environment and I am looking forward to continuingmy challenging research,” she says. ■

Yael Zahar is a recipient of a grant from the Tomer Davidesko Scholarship Fund

NEW RENAISSANCEMultisensory perception examined

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Renaissance Woman: YaelZahar, BiomedicalEngineer, ComputerScientist, artist, and Ph.D.student in the RappaportFaculty of Medicine.

BY BARBARA FRANK

The barn owl hasexcellent visual andauditory capabilities,which it uses tocapture preyefficiently.

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DESIGNER DEBRISHiriya refuse dump is “a reflection of our consumer

culture,” according to the landfill design proposed byBraudo-Maoz Landscape Architecture Ltd. “Buriedwithin it are consumer products from the past 50 years.It is a layered museum exhibiting the process ofdecomposition.”

This approach is one of 14 design schemes for therehabilitation of Israel’s former refuse dump displayed atTechnion’s PeKA Gallery of Experimental Art andArchitecture. www.technion.ac.il/gallery

The Hiriya site began to receive waste in 1952 andoperated as a landfill until 1998, by which time it tookdelivery of 2,500 to 3,000 tons of domestic waste perday. The mound of garbage stretches over an area ofsome 450,000 m2 and reaches a height of 60 m. Therestoration project will transform Hiriya from a wastelandfil l into a flourishing, green park attractingthousands of visitors each year, providing leisure andrecreational opportunities, as part of the Ayalon ParkProject – the largest park in the region. ■

T E C H N I O N F O C U S O C T O B E R 2 0 0 6 8

O U T R E A C H

Technion FOCUS is published by the Division of Public Affairs and Resource Development

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Technion City, Haifa 32000 Israel Tel: 972-4-829-2578 pard@tx.technion.ac.il www.focus.technion.ac.il

VP Resource Development and External Relations: Prof. Peretz Lavie Director, Public Affairs and Resource Development: Shimon Arbel

Head, Department of Public Affairs: Yvette GershonEditors: Amanda Jaffe-Katz, Barbara FrankPhoto Coordinator: Hilda Favel

Design: www.vistaspinner.com

MIDNIGHT SCIENCELocations from Iceland to Israel lit up the night with

European Researchers’ Night in September, with events opento the public.

Haifa sparkled with science at the National Museum ofScience, Technology and Space on the evening of September19. All activities were free of charge. The public was invited tomeet Albert Einstein through a one-man play and see theoriginal astronomical instruments he used in his student days;to discover the magic in science and illusion; to listen to “thesounds of science” (African inspired jazz/rock performance);to explore space (stargazing, an Israeli telescope, asteroids,comets and dangers from space); and to concoct food and

beverages (molding chocolate, instant ice cream, wet/dry popcorn, tradition vs.technology in winemaking). In addition, Technion scientists displayed and explainedtheir nanotechnology and brain research.

“This is an exceptional opportunity to provide youth with an encounter with themagical world of science, in a lively atmosphere and in a language that speaks to all,”said Technion President Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig. “For us, the residents of Haifa and theNorth, the event marks a welcome return to the normalcy of study and creativity,following the difficult times we have been through during the war.”

According to Museum Director Prof. Yoram Zvirin, “The aim of the event was tobring together the general public with scientists and unique research in a pleasant,enjoyable atmosphere.”

Activities on Researchers’ Night were coordinated by the Ministry of Science,Culture and Sport, and were sponsored by the European Union. ■

Alex Bunin, 19, of a Technion-sponsored and coached teamwon a bronze medal at the 38th International ChemistryOlympiad held in South Korea in July.

The delegation consisted of four high school students, first-place winners of the national chemistry competition Chimiada,mentored by Dr. Eyal Barnea and Prof. Asher Schmidt of the

Faculty of Chemistry.Prof. Gabriel Kventsel reports that three of the team members have enrolled for

study at Technion this year, and the fourth, Itamar Shamai, intends to enroll next year. ■

The technological wonders of instant ice cream for all on Researchers’ Night

Israel’s International Chemistry Olympiad delegation with Minister of Education,Culture and Sport, Prof. Yuli Tamir. (l-r) Pini Shekter, Alex Bunin, Prof. Yuli Tamir, Dr.Eyal Barnea, Itamar Shamai, Prof. Asher Schmidt, and Dan Deviri.

The winning proposal forthe metamorphosis ofthe Hiriya garbagemountain and itssurroundings into a parknear Tel Aviv, submittedby the German company,Latz + Partner.

An Open Day in August organized by the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute forprospective M.Sc. or Ph.D. students interested in the Norman Seiden MultidisciplinaryProgram in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology relocated to Tel Aviv due to the waraffecting Technion and the north of Israel. Pictured, Dr. Gitti Frey presents her researchto potential graduate students.

ON SHOW

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4 EVER GREEN

Recycling, wise consumerism, environmental protection, and a photographycompetition were all addressed at the student-initiated Green Day in May.

OLYMPIC MEDALLISTS