Israel Institute of Technology

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1 T E C H N I O N Israel Institute of Technology JANUARY [Photo Credit]: New York City Mayor s Office (Kristen Artz) 1 Announcement of the historic partnership, December 19, 2011: (l-r) Technion President Peretz Lavie, Cornell President David J. Skorton, Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg, and Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney Silicon Island Of all the applications, this was the boldest and most ambitious. - Michael Bloomberg, NYC Mayor New York City names Cornell-Technion alliance for Roosevelt Island applied sciences campus. The story 02 Nobel Prize 2011 Highlights The History of Quasicrystals. 05 The story

2 JANUARY Applied Sciences NYC Initiative Designed to Dramatically Transform City s Economy and Create Tens Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP Technion - Cornell partnership wins coveted bid to boost NY R&D Today will be remembered as a defining moment, said Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg when he announced that the Cornell-Technion partnership had won the city s tender for an applied science graduate school and research campus. The NYC Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island will combine the full spectrum of both institutions academic strengths, entrepreneurial culture, and leadership in commercialization and technology transfer. Over the next three decades some 600 spin-off companies are anticipated, Bloomberg predicted. Cornell President David J. Skorton outlined how technology is no longer just for the sake of technology but is technology in the service of business and industry. Technion President Peretz Lavie said that this undertaking is something new that will energize the city. According to Lavie, the Technion Cornell Innovation Institute (TCII) will lend a new dimension to Israeli academia with faculty exchange through sabbaticals and PhD students. TCII will be organized into multidisciplinary hubs, Technion s concept based on the success of multidisciplinary centers such as the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, the Grand Technion Energy Program, and the Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering. The three hubs are Connective Media (media technologies, connecting people); Healthier Life (health care provision); and Built Environment (technologies for the urban environment). The proposed green NYC Tech Campus was planned by a top architectural firm and it is a model of energy balance. The projected Phase One main academic building is a netzero energy building, namely, it will harvest as much energy from solar power and geothermal wells as it consumes on an annual basis. The campus is planned to include a solar array that will generate 1.8 megawatts at daily peak and a 400- well geothermal field, to cool buildings in the summer and heat them in the winter. Green space, open to the public, will provide views of the Manhattan and Queens waterfronts. A new, world-class applied sciences campus on Roosevelt Island is a perfect holiday gift for our city that will pay dividends for generations I thank Mayor Bloomberg for having the vision to bring an applied sciences school to New York, and for having the wisdom to choose Cornell and the Technion and a location on Roosevelt Island to build this incredible new school, said Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.

3 of Thousands of Jobs 3 (l-r) Technion President Peretz Lavie, Cornell President David J. Skorton, and Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg shake hands on the NYC Tech Campus announcement. March 2010 NYC announces intent March 2011 Calls for Request Dec 2011 Cornell-Technion Feb 2012 Technion and Cornell to Sept 2012 Launch of first NYC Tech to expand the city s tech for Expression of bid wins sign detailed agreement Campus programs capability Interest (RFEI) NYC infrastructure 2017 End of Phase I 2022 End of Phase II 2042 Program horizon works construction of campus

4 JANUARY MAY FROM THE PRESIDENT News 4 Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, with Cornell President David J. Skorton (r), describes the proposed interdisciplinary hubs. On December 19, 2011, I had the honor to attend the dramatic press conference in New York when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced his selection of the joint proposal submitted by Technion and Cornell to establish a campus for Applied Sciences and Engineering in New York City. The new campus, to be built on Roosevelt Island, will transform New York into a center for technological innovation. In early January last year, when a city representative conveyed Mayor Bloomberg s invitation to Technion to submit a proposal for the new campus, my first question to him was, Why Technion? He replied: Mayor Bloomberg believes no other university has had such a significant impact on an entire country s economy as Technion. This invitation for such an illustrious undertaking reflects the international community s perception of Technion s prestige, excellent teaching standards, and quality research. Technion s administration decided to accept the offer and submitted a proposal together with Cornell University. Numerous proposals were submitted by prominent universities in Canada, India, Korea and other countries as well as the USA. The finalists included Stanford, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, Toronto, and NYU, in addition to the Technion-Cornell alliance. Technion s successful partnership with Cornell is the result of lengthy, even grueling, negotiations, and is based on the prestige of both institutions and on Technion s extensive experience in applied research and its immense contribution to Israel as a start-up nation. Throughout the negotiations, Technion remained firm on the issue of finance: we will commit our reputation, proven experience, and exceptional researchers, but we are not prepared to invest funds in this historic undertaking. Drafting the proposal was a learning process during which we confronted a number of potential issues at stake for Technion. Would our participation encourage brain drain from Israel? Extensive examination of this ethical issue led us to the contrary conclusion: the prestigious Technion- Cornell New York City campus will serve as a stepping-stone and encourage scientists to return to Israel. While many bright and promising Israeli scientists seek to return to Israel from the United States, the lack of positions available at Technion and other Israeli universities has left them to seek their futures elsewhere. Inviting such researchers to the New York campus will be the first step in their return to Israel. Furthermore, would this venture negatively impact our fundraising stature in the USA? No, we determined, it would rather lend Technion further standing among U.S. benefactors. Being selected with Cornell for the prestigious NYC Tech campus puts Technion at the forefront of scientific, technological, and applied research globally, bringing us one step closer to realizing Technion s vision of joining the world s top 10 scientifictechnological research institutes. Shechtman is the 10th Israeli and the third Technion scientist to win a Nobel Prize. In each of the last three years, three scientists have shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. This year, Shechtman is the sole winner. So, how do you win a Nobel Prize? Here is how Danny did it. The recipe has, I think, some valuable lessons for Israel s science and technology policy, and perhaps that of other nations. Impossible. After checking, and rechecking, Shechtman wrote up his results. His research team leader fired him from the team; his research paper was rejected for publication. He was vilified before a large audience by Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling. He was called a quasi-scientist, playing on the quasi-crystal matter he discovered. But he never gave up. In the end, other scientists replicated and verified his findings and a new definition of crystal was adopted. How to Win a Nobel Prize Opinion by Shlomo Maital On Wednesday October 5, shortly after noon, I opened my s and read: Technion Materials Engineering Professor Dan Shechtman awarded Nobel Prize for Chemistry. I yelled, leaped out of my chair, spilling my coffee, and screamed yes! Danny has been a friend and colleague for over 25 years and the tale of how he won his Nobel is worthy of a Hollywood feature film. Published by the Division of Public Affairs and Resource Development Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel Tel: > focus@tx.technion.ac.il > VP External Relations and Resource Development: Director, Public Affairs and Resource Division: Head, Department of Public Affairs: Prof. Boaz Golany Danny Shapiro Yvette Gershon Editor: Amanda Jaffe-Katz Contributors: Barbara Frank, Leora Gal, Kevin Hattori, Georgina Johnson, Linda Montag, Roberta Neiger Design: CastroNawy Photo Coordinator: Hilda Favel Photography: Yoav Bachar, Robert Barker - Cornell, CNRS Photothèque - Pierre Grumberg, Åke Ericson, Miki Koren, Roya Meydan, Reuters - Eduardo Munoz, NIVIERE/SIPA, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP, Shlomo Shoham, Yosi Shrem, Eugene Weisberg, Weizmann Institute of Science and others. 1. Read Jules Verne and dream. Shechtman says he read Verne s novel The Mysterious Island 25 times as a child. The book is about how an engineer turns a desert island into a lush garden. I wanted to be exactly that: someone who makes everything from nothing, he says. To win a Nobel Prize in physics, medicine or chemistry, you need to study science or engineering. And to choose those disciplines, you need inspiration. How can we inspire our youth to choose science, rather than business or law? This is far more important than higher education budgets. One of Shechtman s projects was to initiate a Hebrew translation of the popular science magazine Scientific American, now distributed widely to Israeli schools, with the goal of attracting young minds to study science. 2. Believe in yourself. On April 8, 1982, Shechtman was peering into an electronic microscope at the labs of the National Bureau of Standards, during a sabbatical from Technion. His mission was to find lightweight alloys for aircraft. Shechtman was looking at an alloy of aluminum and manganese that had been rapidly cooled and crystallized. What he saw was an arrangement of atoms that defied the known laws of nature. Everyone knew that atoms in a crystal are arranged with perfect symmetry. He saw an arrangement of 10 dots, indicating five-fold symmetry an arrangement in which the distances between some atoms are shorter than between others. (To understand why, try to tile your bathroom floor with five-sided tiles, without leaving spaces between the tiles. It cannot be done.) He ran into the corridor to find someone to tell. But the corridor was empty. So he wrote in his lab diary, 10 fold??? with three question marks. ERRATUM In the October 2011 issue of FOCUS, the Trudy and Norman Louis Double-Helix Bridge that connects the Faculty of Biology with the Emerson Family Life Sciences Building was misnamed in error. 3. Believe in Israel. Shechtman had numerous opportunities to make a stellar career in America, but he chose to return home to Technion, where he did all three of his academic degrees. I m a Zionist, he says simply. Until I retired, I co-chaired a popular Technion course with Shechtman, Technological Entrepreneurship, which he initiated, attended each Fall by several hundred students. The idea was simple inspire Technion undergrads to launch businesses by bringing successful Israeli entrepreneurs to tell their stories. No theories! we counseled. Just tell the students how you did it. And indeed, many students who took the course went on to launch businesses. 4. Challenge everything. Israeli students and managers, even very young ones, never hesitate to tell me how wrong I am, despite my 44 years of teaching and researching management. This chutzpah is an integral part of Israeli culture. I find much less of it in other countries. Though Shechtman is impeccably polite and softspoken, chutzpah is in part what drove him to challenge what every materials scientist knew as Gospel truth, and stick to his guns. In international diplomacy, Israeli stubbornness is castigated; in science, it wins Nobels. In global politics, Israeli chutzpah is condemned as arrogance; in science, it smashes icons. I think Shechtman s story of perseverance and courage will inspire a new generation of Israeli scientists, provided we give them the tools and resources they need to change the world and how it thinks. Prof. Emeritus Shlomo Maital is a senior research fellow at Samuel Neaman Institute for National Policy Research, Technion. This article is abridged from Maital s Marketplace column, Jerusalem Report, October 2011.

5 QUASICRYSTALS: Watermark: Electron diffraction pattern of an icosahedral quasicrystal showing fivefold rotational symmetry By Amanda Jaffe-Katz Dan Shechtman discovered quasiperiodic crystals in 1982 a new form of matter. His findings, recorded from an aluminummanganese alloy which he had rapidly cooled after melting, demonstrated a clear diffraction pattern with fivefold symmetry. Born in Tel Aviv in 1941, Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman, who showed a precocious ability to view objects in a unique manner and a prodigious memory for detail, says, Until the age of three, I lived on Dizengoff Street in a Bauhaus building. I remember looking out the porch fascinated at how people on the street below look from above. In high school I was a sharpshooter, one of the best in the country. We were educated to become physically and mentally independent if you threw us on a Desert Island we would survive. That s the Israeli character, says the world-renowned scientist who stood up for his discovery in the face of widespread disbelief. The young Shechtman dreamed of being an engineer like his fictional hero, Cyrus Smith. And so, in 1962, he commenced his Technion studies in Mechanical Engineering. When I graduated in 1966 there was a recession and no work, so I opted to continue for a master s degree. After that, I was offered an excellent post as the chief engineer in a defenserelated industry. But I had already fallen in love with science. On the eve of starting the job, I notified them that I wasn t coming, and began doctoral studies instead. This was a decisive crossroads in my career. From 1975, Shechtman spent six years on the Technion faculty in the Department of Materials Engineering, studying rapid solidification in metal alloys. Then he went on his first sabbatical, to the National Bureau of Standards (now known as NIST), where he made the discovery that, for a while, made him one of the most unpopular scientists in crystallography and that nearly 30 years later won him the ultimate recognition the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Shechtman had always loved microscopes: at his grade school he was the first pupil to show an interest in the apparatus. At Technion he fell under the spell of the electron microscope and mastered methods of using it. It was with such an instrument in 1982 that he first noticed fivefold symmetry the Icosahedral Phase, the first structure in the field of quasiperiodic crystals. Shechtman explains his discovery in the context of what was known at the time about crystals. Modern crystallography started in 1912 with the seminal work of von Laue who originated the first x-ray diffraction experiment. The crystals von Laue studied were ordered and periodic, and all the thousands of crystals studied during the next 70 years were found to be ordered and periodic. Based on these observations, the ensuing definition of crystal, namely, atoms in a crystal are ordered in a periodic way, was accepted by the community of crystallographers and by the scientific community in general, he says. Crystallography was a mature science and no one expected anything new. The allowed rotational symmetries in a crystal structure were 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. Fivefold rotational symmetry, as well as any other symmetry beyond sixfold, was forbidden in periodic structures. Shechtman s work required him to sit alone in the dark, eyes glued to the screen of the electron microscope. As recorded in his logbook, what he saw on Plate 1724 was a pitch-black crystal which he thought was interesting and so he looked at the diffraction pattern. I saw 10-fold symmetry that later turned out to be fivefold. It was totally unexpected. It was forbidden by the laws of crystallography. I worked all day to find what it could History in the Making be. I thought it must be twinned crystals, and performed a series of experiments designed to find twins and I did not find them. So then I did micro-diffraction pattern experiments. There were no defects or twins and so it was something unique in the atomic structure. Shechtman returned to Technion in Dr Ilan Blech was the only colleague who not only believed in him but who agreed to cooperate with him. Blech was able to decipher Shechtman s experimental findings and offered an explanation, known as the Icosahedral Glass Model. Together, the researchers wrote an article that included the model and the experimental results, and submitted it to the Journal of Applied Physics in the summer of The paper was immediately rejected. I then submitted it to the journal Metallurgical Transactions where it was published months later, in In the meantime, he gave the original Shechtman-Blech manuscript to John Cahn, who was later to receive Technion s Harvey Prize in Together with Denis Gratias, a French mathematical crystallographer, we rewrote it as a very concise, minimalist article just with the electron microscopy observations, and, in November 1984, Physical Review Letters was the first to publish Shechtman s discovery. Back in the mid-1970s, mathematician Roger Penrose, of Oxford University, created an aperiodic mosaic, a pattern that never repeats itself, with just two tiles a fat and a thin rhombus. And in 1982, Alan Mackay of Birkbeck College, London, showed that one can take a Penrose pattern, shine a laser beam through circles representing atoms in the mosaic, and create a fivefold diffraction pattern with sharp peaks. Immediately after our paper was published, Dov Levine and Paul Steinhardt published a paper offering a mathematical model to explain our findings, Shechtman adds. Quasicrystals got their name in this article. Levine, now a professor in Technion s Faculty of Physics and Steinhardt, now of Princeton University, made the connection between Mackay s theoretical fivefold symmetry model and Shechtman s diffraction pattern. The most important thing about the quasicrystals is their meaning for fundamental science. They have rewritten the first chapter in the textbooks of ordered matter. - Prof. Sven Lidin, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry When Ilan Blech, John Cahn, and Denis Gratias joined, I wasn t alone anymore, Shechtman states. It was clear that we would win this battle because we knew we were right, due to my experimental evidence and the models of Blech and Steinhardt-Levine. Crystallographers, however, wanted x-ray results, and did not accept Shechtman s findings. The trusted tool of choice was x-ray diffraction; it is very precise but you cannot discover quasicrystals there, he says. As large single quasicrystals became available in 1987, so did x-ray diffraction patterns that convinced the community of crystallographers that fivefold symmetry and quasiperiodicity can exist in crystals. Before, atomic order in crystals was synonymous with periodicity. Now, order could be either periodic or quasiperiodic. The old definition of crystal held until 1991, nearly a decade after Shechtman s first observations of quasicrystals. The new definition, Shechtman says approvingly, is so nice because it is humble and it is open. A humble scientist is a good scientist. (l-r) John Cahn, Dan Shechtman, Ilan Blech, and Denis Gratias, France Shechtman provides his explanation for why quasicrystals were not discovered before They are not rare, nor hard to make, nor costly, but they had to be discovered by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This is the triumph of TEM they were too small for x-rays which require a sample the size of which you can feel between your fingers. Then, you need to be a professional. You also require tenacity; you must believe in what you are seeing and have courage. Great discoveries come by serendipity. Usually you stumble upon it. In many cases, it will be an artifact but in other cases it will be something new. He tells his students, Here is a real test: if you believe in yourself, listen to others but don t let them discourage you unless you are convinced they are right and you are wrong. (l-r) Paul Steinhardt and Dov Levine, Technion, The Technion quasicrystals legacy continues with research spearheaded by Distinguished Prof. Mordechai (Moti) Segev. His team was the first to demonstrate nonlinear photonic quasicrystals. Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman was made Distinguished Professor in He holds the Philip Tobias Chair in Material Sciences, and heads the Louis Edelstein Center for Quasicrystals and the Wolfson Centre for Interface Science. Basic concepts Electron diffraction pattern: When the electron microscope sends beams of electrons through material that hit the atoms within, they scatter and form a diffraction pattern. Rotational symmetry: An image has rotational symmetry if there is a center point around which the object is turned a certain number of degrees and the object still looks the same. A square has 4-fold, a triangle has 3-fold, and a hexagon has 6-fold symmetry. Twinning: Occurs when two separate crystals share some of the same crystal lattice points in a symmetrical manner, resulting in an intergrowth of two separate crystals that does not produce a simple diffraction pattern. CNRS Phototheque Pierre Grumberg. Nobel 5

6 JANUARY MAY DAN S DIARY OCTOBER Bringing the P.M. Benjamin Netanyahu up to speed with a short lesson on quasicrystals From one Nobel laureate to another: Distinguished Prof. Avram Hershko shares his experience Nobel Breaking News at Technion Press Conference: (l-r) Technion President Peretz Lavie, just named 2011 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Dan Shechtman, Materials Engineering Dean Wayne Kaplan H.E. Elinor Hammarskjöld, Swedish Ambassador, makes the pilgrimage to Materials Engineering Faculty 17 Nostalgia in the historic classroom and sharing the magic with a Swedish TV crew at MadaTech Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, & Space 23 Introducing Technion to the new student intake at the launch of the 2011/2012 Academic Year 24 I salute you, you gave the people of Israel a wonderful gift. This is a great day for Haifa, a great day for the Technion. - President of Israel, Shimon Peres Honored by the Faculty of Materials Engineering; Dean Kaplan and President Lavie wearing hot-off-the-press souvenir T-shirts ] NOVEMBER The Technion produces the excellence that we need in all the fields that form [ the driving motor of Israel s future. - Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu (l-r) H.E. Elinor Hammarskjöld, Swedish Ambassador, Congratulations from the President of the National receives Profs. Dan and Zipora Shechtman at her Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Prof. Ruth Arnon21 residence where she hosted a reception in Dan s honor

7 NOVEMBER CONTINUED Nobel Laureate Distinguished Prof. Aaron Ciechanover says to expect no more prizes and much time traveling abroad Discussing Art with H.E. Daniel B. Shapiro, U.S. Ambassador to Israel 24 Mayor Yona Yahav awards Honorary Citizenship of Haifa greetings with H.E. Andreas Michaelis, Ambassador of Germany to Israel 28Exchanging 29 Nobel 7 DECEMBER Welcoming the delegation of ambassadors from the European Union at the Coler-California Visitors Center 1 I don t think I could have dreamed of a better present for the Jewish People and for the State of Israel for the New Year. - Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz STOCKHOLM 2011 Nobel laureates at Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences press conference 7 10 Interview by Nordic Life Science Review at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm 8 Delivering Nobel lecture at Aula Magna, Stockholm University Leaving for the Nobel Prize ceremony The King and I: Receiving Nobel Prize from His Majesty, King Carl XVI Gustaf

8 JANUARY 2012 GONE Research BALLISTIC 8 Prof. Daniel Rittel tests materials in the Dynamic Fracture Lab. KNIGHTS in Lightweight Armor Some 100 invited participants from Israel, Europe, and the USA convened at Technion in March 2011 at the LWAG (Lightweight Armour Group) Meeting on New Concepts in Armour Engineering, hosted by Prof. Daniel Rittel, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, and Technion alumnus Dr Shuki Yeshurun, of Plasan-Sasa an international provider of state-of-the-art lightweight ballistic protection and survivability solutions. LWAG members aim to improve the design of armor and armor systems as well as study the use of computer codes, where applicable. DYMAT, the European association for the promotion of research into the dynamic behavior of materials and its applications, co-sponsored the meeting. By Amanda Jaffe-Katz The holy grail of contemporary warfare is the pursuit of lightweight and effective materials for protective armor. Prof. Daniel Rittel is addressing the challenge of ballistic protection with innovative approaches based on materials such as polymers, and novel testing methods that include computer simulations and scaleddown modeling. Prof. Daniel Rittel joined Technion in 1994 and established the Dynamic Fracture Lab (DFL) within the Materials Mechanics Center (MMC), which he heads in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. At DFL, he We concentrate on fundamental research, but the dividing line between basic and applied ]research is sometimes very thin. [ investigates the mechanical properties of materials subjected to extreme loading conditions, dynamic fracture and fragmentation, and develops numerical simulations for high velocity impacts. DFL combines experimental facilities with computer simulations, and is, according to Rittel, unique in Israel and well-placed at the international level. Rittel and colleagues are co-funded by the Technion s PMRI, and cooperate with national partners that number, among others, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Ministry of Defense R&D, Israel Military Industries Ltd, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. We don t develop products that s what our industrial partners do. Rather, we concentrate on fundamental research, says Rittel. But the dividing line between basic and applied research is sometimes very thin. Examples of sponsored research include a new solution to lightweight body armor. In research conducted with former student Alon Brill and published in 2008 in the Journal of The Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Rittel reports a new and previously unknown response of Plexiglas. This nominally brittle material, instead of shattering as expected, can, under certain conditions, behave in a highly ductile manner, thus absorbing energy from the impact. Additional work, carried out with Brill and Dr Avraham Dorogoy, further investigates these effects and their relevance to the development of lightweight armor material systems. Further research into the dynamic mechanical properties of polymers continued with polycarbonate the material used for the lenses in eyeglasses. Now that we have characterized and modeled the response of an armor-piercing bullet on Plexiglas or polycarbonate plates namely, bullet ricochet, penetration, or perforation the next step is to test laminated structures as model structures, Rittel says. Another example of Rittel s security-related research addresses the hazard of anti-tank mines and the need to offer new protection against large buried improvised explosive devices (IEDs). A critical threat is being hit by the dynamic bulging response of the tank floor, yet the cost of testing full-scale tanks by explosion is prohibitive. In a study conducted with Lt Col (Res.) Dr Avi Neuberger (formerly Tank Directorate, Israel Defense Forces), the researchers developed novel scaling methods to supplement full-scale experiments. Scaling is a basic science question in physics, but here there is full application in vehicles, Rittel says. It is interesting to note that the U.S. Army showed immediate interest in our method. The war against surprise never ends, says Rittel. The sophistication and efficiency of IEDs improves constantly, together with their conditions of operation that create ever-varying situations the constant concern for the crew of combat vehicles requires quick and adaptive armor solutions without compromising The war against surprise never ends constant concern for the crew of combat vehicles requires quick and adaptive armor solutions. safety. Our research into scaling down represents a significant reduction of both the costs and the time of the development phase. Prof. Daniel Rittel is the incumbent of the Zandman Chair in Experimental Mechanics. Since 2011, he also holds the position of Technion Deputy Senior Vice President.

9 NEW BLOOD Researchers Create Blood Vessels from Reprogrammed Stem Cells Images of blood vessel cells in developing human embryonic and induced stem cells. Cells composing the inner layer of blood vessels appear in red and cells composing the outer layer appear in green. Cell nuclei are stained in Blue (B). Pericytes are recognized by the expression of the proteins Calponin and CD90 (C). Research Regeneration of blood supply and muscle tissue in injured mouse limb. Normal blood supply can be recorded in red and yellow (left limb), while absence of blood flow appears in blue (right limb). Injection of pericytes restores the blood supply in injured limb within 3 weeks. Pericytes restored a functional vascular system and even regenerated damaged muscle. Technion and Rambam Health Care Campus researchers have created, grown and multiplied large quantities of cells, called pericytes. This groundbreaking research is significant in understanding blood vessel development as well as in the treatment of heart and vascular diseases. The research was conducted by Prof. Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor and Dr Ayelet Dar-Oaknin at Rambam and the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. The researchers generated pericytes, cells that play a crucial role in blood vessel formation and function. The scientists derived these cells during the process of embryonic stem cells differentiation in which multiple cell types are formed, including pericytes. The pericytes were separated based on characteristic markers found on their membranes. When injected into the leg muscles of mice whose blood flow had been almost completely blocked, the pericytes restored a functional vascular system and even regenerated muscle that had been damaged by inadequate oxygen supply. This experiment simulates the treatment of damaged muscles or tissue caused by disruptions to the blood supply, a phenomenon linked with widespread illnesses such as cardiac and vascular disease, and diabetes. The pericytes were derived from embryonic stem cells that originate in fertilized eggs donated for research and from cells taken from adults and reprogrammed through genetic manipulation to possess embryonic properties, called induced pluripotent stem cells. Both induced and embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, namely, they can differentiate into any type of human cell or tissue. As these cells can be produced from the patient him- or herself, transplanted pericytes from induced cells can heal damaged tissue without being rejected by the patient s body. The research paper Multipotent Vasculogenic Pericytes from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Promote Recovery of Murine Ischemic Limb coauthored with Hagit Domev, Oren Ben-Yosef, Dr Maty Tzukerman, Dr Naama Zeevi-Levin, Atara Novak, Igal Germanguz, and Dr Michal Amit was published online in November 2011 in the American Heart Association s prestigious journal, Circulation. It was discussed in an editorial in the same issue by Prof. Bruno Péault. According to Péault, while previous research has been dedicated to the derivation of endothelial cells or vascular smooth muscle cells from embryonic and induced stem cells, this is the first time that genuine pericytes are thoroughly characterized in this model of early development. As these cells can be produced from the patient him- or herself, transplanted pericytes from induced cells can heal damaged tissue without being rejected by the patient s body. Prof. Rafael Beyar, currently director of Rambam and formerly dean of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine when the stem cell research center was established, said that, This is breakthrough research with wide-ranging implications for many fields. The path to implementation in patients is long, but I see tremendous potential here that will be realized in just a few years. Prof. Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor is the incumbent of the Sylvia and Stanley Shirvan Chair in Cell and Tissue Regeneration Research. He heads Rambam s Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology, and the Berlin Family Laboratory for Stem Cell Research in the Sohnis and Forman Families Center of Excellence for Stem Cells and Tissue Regeneration Research at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine. 9 VP Prof. Boaz Golany Goes Public On January 1, 2012, Prof. Boaz Golany, the Samuel Gorney Chair in Engineering, assumed the position of Technion s Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development. Golany has been a faculty member at the William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) since 1986, serving as Associate Dean for Teaching ( ) and as Dean ( ). He holds a BSc (summa cum laude) in IEM from Technion and a PhD from the School of Business, University of Texas at Austin. Golany s research is in the areas of industrial engineering, operations research, and management science. In recent years he has also addressed issues of homeland security and counterterrorism. In Israel and the USA, he has served as a consultant to government agencies, energy companies, and companies in the financial sector, manufacturing, services, and information technologies. Boaz is married and has three children. He is a sports enthusiast and is a proud member of the Carmel Mountain Bike Club (CMBC).

10 JANUARY 2012 Academic Excellence 10 PASSION 2 TEACH The newly established Yanai Awards for Excellence in Education foster faculty-student synergy The first cadre of Technion faculty to receive the Yanai Awards was recognized at a ceremony at the end of December This prestigious prize is awarded for a substantial and unique contribution to the advancement of academic education of undergraduate students. Nine members of engineering faculties and five scientists received this annual award that encourages excellence in teaching and showcases outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. Nominees for the individual teacher awards were requested to submit their teaching philosophy statement including a discussion of pedagogical methods, assessment techniques, instructional technology, and/or teaching innovations used to promote student learning in and out of the classroom. Thirty-two such portfolios, together with other supporting documentation, were considered by the Technion Teacher Awards Committee. The Committee comprises the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Assistant to the Senior Vice President for the Promotion of Teaching, the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, a representative of the Technion Students Association, a member of the Alumni Association, the Head of the Center for Promotion of Teaching, and the Head of the Beatrice Weston Center for the Advancement of Students. Any faculty member who receives the generous $30,000 award cannot be nominated again for a three-year period. Moshe Yanai, a world leader in the field of information storage, graduated Technion s Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Yanai remembers Technion student life being difficult and demanding. Seeking a way to ease the distress of today s students, he established the prize that rewards Technion professors for excellent teaching and mentoring of students. Yanai s incentive program at his alma mater will run for 20 years. Yanai said of the recipients, They put the needs of society and state above their personal interests and I am in awe and full of admiration and gratitude for their actions and glad that I can help on this issue. He continued, I consider it a great personal privilege that I can pay such rare and special people like you this honor you are the epitome of altruism. You are the epitome of altruism. - Moshe Yanai, Technion, December 2011 In June 2011, Yanai was made a Distinguished Fellow of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at a festive ceremony that recognized his formidable global accomplishments in technology and entrepreneurship, as well as his visionary gift. The Technion gave me an entry ticket to the world of computers and I owe it much of my success, he said YANAI AWARDEES Standing (l-r) Prof. Amnon Katz, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Prof. Uri Eliash, Mathematics; Prof. Irad Yavneh, Computer Science; Dr Sefi Givli, Mechanical Engineering; Prof. Noam Soker, Physics; Prof. Eitan Kimmel, Biomedical Engineering; Prof. Alon Gany, Aerospace Engineering; Prof. Avinoam Kolodny, Electrical Engineering; Prof. Avishai Mandelbaum, Industrial Engineering and Management; Prof. Hossam Haick, Chemical Engineering. Sitting (l-r) Prof. Doron Melamed, Medicine; Prof. Shimon Gepstein, Biology; Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie; Moshe Yanai; Prof. Ayelet Fishman, Biotechnology and Food Engineering. Not pictured Prof. David Chillag, Mathematics. Mentoring 4 Success Over the last decade, the Landa Equal Opportunities Project personal mentoring scheme has dramatically improved the success levels of Israeli Arab students and lowered their dropout rate. Ayman Mouallem, electrical engineering student, said that when he came to Technion from his village he found a new atmosphere, new surroundings, new people, and a new culture; but he also found his guide from the Landa project. He thanked the Landas, saying, Your donation is not so much a gift as an investment. What you re doing here is not just developing students, coordinators, and tutors, you re developing a whole population. In 2001, 61 percent of the Arab students studied civil engineering. By 2011, this percentage dropped to under 15 percent while their numbers in other faculties has increased. Sarah Katzir, head of the Weston Center for the Advancement of Students, said, Before the project began, most of the students were concentrated in just one faculty; their grade averages were very low, and the image of Arab students on campus was very low. Today, we have doubled the number of Arab students who study computer science, electrical engineering, and all the high-tech fields. She further explained that the basic concept of the Landa Project was that Arab students themselves would absorb the new students and would clear the path for them as their mentors. Prof. Peretz Lavie, Technion president, stated that the Landa Equal Opportunities Project is one of the most important projects that Technion has taken upon itself, allowing the Arab students to overcome the hurdles of higher education in Israel. This program didn t compromise for excellence, he said. We provide a means for these students to be integrated into the Technion without changing our requirements. Academic head of the project was professor of mathematics Daoud Bshouty, who assumed the position of Dean of Undergraduate Studies on January 1, He commented, This program provided the students with the immediate needs of preparing them for studies in the Technion as well as accepting them as equal in the Technion society. Such a help is very important because, after all, the student feels a part of the Technion society. To date, 480 students have benefitted from the project and 80 have themselves acted as mentors, thereby increasing their self-esteem and tutoring experience. Each student who is paired to a mentor later becomes a mentor to other students. According to Dalia Peled, Project Manager, Landa coordinators are outstanding Arab students in their faculties. They want to contribute, they love people, and they want to give to their communities. We test them very carefully for this role. Benny Landa said, We concluded that the best way of impacting the future of this country was to invest in education. So we set up a $50 m. dollar fund that over the past 10 years has had a huge impact at various universities. Nowhere has the impact been greater than at the Technion. Patsy Landa added that most of these students had no initial interaction with the Jewish population, perhaps due to language skills that were not so proficient. They came to Technion feeling they were coming to a different world, that they were strangers in another world, she said. Your donation is not so much a gift as an investment you re developing a whole population. - Ayman Mouallem, electrical engineering student Program graduate Ronza Amara completed her degree in biotechnology and food engineering, and is now studying for her master s in environmental engineering. She came to Technion directly after high school, aged 18. My Hebrew was terrible, she said. But the tutor helped me a lot. The workshops were in Arabic and that really helped. I want to be the youngest professor at the Technion, she added. To the Landas she said, I really feel like I m your daughter here, or the project s daughter, and I m a success story of the project. (r-l) Academic Head of the Landa Program Prof. Daoud Bshouty meets with the program coordinators Ayman Mouallem, Ronza Amara, Tamer Hleihel, Anas Abdul-Lateef, Dia Hanady, and Rana Barham.

11 High Powered Gift Meyer Foundation Program in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering boosts next-generation research By Amanda Jaffe-Katz Technion s Faculty of Electrical Engineering (EE) ranked among the world s Top 10 electrical engineering departments is host to some 2,000 students. EE is the prime source of technology leaders at the vanguard of Israeli high-tech development in electronics, computers and communications. proactive in its extracurricular activities. The third cohort started studies in October 2011, and all told there are some 36 students currently enrolled who benefit from a meeting room/lounge, personal advisors, and friendly faces. We organize seminars and lectures by faculty members, demos in their research labs, and outside visits to industry, he explains. Academic Excellence 11 A major challenge is to identify and nurture top students for a research career. The Meyer Foundation, by providing financial support, personal The Program confers several advantages and added value. - Nir Even-Chen Nir Even-Chen combines a challenging study program with student leadership and coordinates enrichment activities for the Meyer Excellence Program. interaction, and a stimulating program that requires 10 additional credits and a mandatory research course, enables a select group of undergraduate students engaged with EE research to focus on their studies at one of Technion s most popular and demanding faculties without the need to seek employment. Prof. Adam Shwartz, dean, explains that the goal is, to expose the students to, and encourage their participation in, the diverse areas of research in EE. These excellent students enjoy frequent interaction with faculty and research personnel, a support network, enrichment activities, and social events. The Meyer Foundation also supports eligible outstanding students who continue directly to graduate studies. The Meyer Foundation also supports eligible outstanding students who continue directly to graduate studies, known as Meyer Fellows. The Program confers several advantages and added value to the study period at Technion, summarizes Nir Even-Chen, 27, a third-year student. It also provides the flexibility to tailormake one s study program. Even-Chen is among the first intake of students in this elite EE program and is Even-Chen has already gained research experience in two projects. The first, using nanotechnology and conducted in Prof. Nir Tessler s lab, seeks ways to lower the cost of photovoltaics in energy production with organic materials as a substitute for silicon. The second involves biological signals in the exciting area of brain-computer interface (BCI), and is an interdisciplinary project with Prof. Ron Meir of EE and Prof. Miriam Zacksenhouse of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Here, the researchers are studying neural signals subconscious brain signals in response to visual stimuli. In addition, Even-Chen, who follows the challenging dual degree electrical engineering-physics track, does active reserve service with UAVs in the Air Force. He is a keen cyclist and the Technion mountain bike team, with his participation, won last year s interuniversity games. He hopes to take part in a prestigious research project next summer at MIT s Media Lab within the framework of MISTI and the Hibur (MIT Technion) exchange program. Master s student Deborah Cohen, 23, is a serial highflier. Fresh from high school in Paris where she achieved the highest grade in France in the scientific baccalaureate, she made aliyah and came straight to Technion to study EE. She has won numerous awards for her studies and research and is a Meyer Fellow. Now, working with Prof. Yonina Eldar on signal processing, the two are tackling a theoretical question with many applications in the field of telecommunications. Audio, video, radar, ultrasound all are signals, Cohen explains. And all are analog and continuous in timespace. However, today, most processing is digital and therefore is discrete. Sampling is the conversion process from analog to digital (A to D). To reconstruct the signal perfectly, sampling must conform to the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem; namely, the minimum sampling rate required is equal to twice the highest frequency contained within the signal. We are now attempting sub- Nyquist sampling, possible in cases where the frequency bandwidth is not fully occupied, she says. My dream is to create a start-up. - Deborah Cohen Cohen s focus is to overcome the effects of noise by means of signal cyclostationary detection. This she presented recently at an international conference in Puerto Rico. People from outside this research area told me that they now understand what sub-nyquist barrier means, she says. This new Israeli who barely knew Hebrew five-and-a-half years ago is determined to keep up her varied interests in ballet, tennis, sailing, and playing the piano. You can always find the time, she explains simply. Cohen will take part in the upcoming Dean of Student s delegation to the American Technion Society. My dream is to create a start-up, she says. As she has already accomplished so much, there s little doubt that she will fulfill her dream. Prof. Adam Shwartz is the incumbent of the Julius M. & Bernice Naiman Chair in Engineering. Deborah Cohen and the undergraduate project that won her the Yehoraz Kasher Memorial Award, 2nd Place.

12 JANUARY 2012 Nobel New Paradigms Prof. Sven Lidin, in his introduction to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to Distinguished Prof. Dan Shechtman, described how the electron diffraction pattern obtained by Shechtman on April 8, 1982 led to a revision of our view of the concepts of both symmetry and crystallinity. The objects he discovered are aperiodic, ordered structures that allow exotic symmetries and that today are known as quasicrystals. Having the courage to believe in his observations and in himself, Dan Shechtman has changed our view of what order is and has reminded us of the importance of balance between preservation and renewal, even for the most well-established paradigms, he said. Each generation takes knowledge a little further because it builds on the results of its forebears, he continued. The image of the amassed knowledge as a blind giant with a seeing dwarf on its shoulders is an idealization of science at its best: A relationship of mutual trust between the bearer and the borne, between the blind and the seeing. The giant provides established truths. The dwarf strives for new insight. (l-r) Prof. Lars Thelander, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Prof. Sven Lidin, Member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Prof. Ivar Olovsson, Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Distinguished Prof. Dan Shechtman. The dwarf depends on the giant, and, despite the clarity of his vision, gets nowhere without him. In order to make his own choices he is forced down on the ground, to walk alone without the support he enjoyed on the shoulders of the giant. This year s Chemistry Laureate was forced to do battle with the established truth. Coming down from the shoulders of the giant is a challenge It is far too easy for all of us to remain in our lofty positions, and with lofty disdain regard the fool who claims that we are all wrong. To be that fool on the ground takes great courage, and both he and those that spoke out on his behalf deserve great respect. Your discovery of quasicrystals has created a new cross-disciplinary branch of science, drawing from, and enriching, chemistry, physics and mathematics. This is in itself of the greatest importance. It has also given us a reminder of how little we really know and perhaps even taught us some humility. That is a truly great achievement. Young Israeli Scholar Follows in Giant s Footsteps One of the young persons present at the Nobel events was neither a family member, friend, nor colleague of Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman. She is an aspiring scientist and budding entrepreneur, and a fellow Israeli. Her name is Maya Samuels, she is 18 years old, and she was chosen along with two dozen young scientists from across the world to present their school research to this year s Nobel Prizewinners. At a meeting held at the residence of the Israeli Ambassador to Sweden, Samuels was introduced to Shechtman and to Technion President Peretz Lavie, who offered the young woman a scholarship to pursue her studies at Technion. Samuels attended high school in the Galilee. Her research project, conducted at Tel-Hai College, explored the photochemical fading of colors. Inspired by art history and the Mayan practice in 6th-century Central America of using clay stones to paint objects, Samuels investigated the use of Maya Blue. Archeologists have shown that these clay items retained their original color. Maya Blue is composed of the organic pigment indigo and palygorskite (or attapulgite) a magnesium aluminum phyllosilicate found in clay. As discoloration is a serious problem in the paint industry, where color fades due to a photochemical reaction created by light, Samuels method could resonate within industrial paint or printing applications as well as art and textile industries. (l-r) Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman, Maya Samuels who researched the Mayans, and President Peretz Lavie. The fashion statement Students at Stockholm s Beckmans College of Design interpret the Nobel prizes, on display at Nobel Museum SCIENCE Tap On Enjoying a tankard of beer, a snack, or a glass of wine at a popular Jaffa nightspot, a riveted gathering heard Prof. Gitti Frey of the Faculty of Materials Engineering discuss materials science and engineering and Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman s discovery of quasicrystals. The almost entirely lay audience watched Frey s deft use of Technion custom-made props the quasicrystals scarf and diffractionpattern T-shirt to translate into atoms what Shechtman saw in the electron microscope. The audience was very interested and asked about the applications of quasicrystals, Frey said. I stressed the importance of pure scientific discovery in Danny s case and, in answer to questions about the contributions of our science to mankind, I explained lightemitting diodes and solar cells. The Science on Tap series is an initiative of the Weizmann Institute of Science, spreading the word about the latest scientific innovations and the relevance of science to everyday life. Where did you get that tie? SCIENCE JUST GOT SMARTER. In the installation Fashion Innovation, fashion students display their interpretations of this year s Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economic sciences and peace, and of the discoveries and the people who have been awarded the prize this year. The project also explores the unifying factor connecting Nobel laureates and fashion designers, namely creativity, courage to think on entirely new lines, daring to question established theories and innovative combinations of insights from different fields. Taking up the gauntlet for the adaptation of Distinguished Prof. Dan Shechtman s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Jonna Billengren and Marita Öhman claimed that the complete creation has a unisex, oriental expression, mixed with parts of the female power suit silhouette, and with the possibility for men to radiantly wear glitter. We also wanted to remove the conservative label of the Nobel festivities and make it more equal, they said. Equality needs action and acceptance from everyone in order to make an impact on society.