PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2015
Who recently brought home two Krill prizes, the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Emet Prize, the US Medal of Science, The France-Israel Foundation Prize and seven European Research Grants?
The Krill Prize
Dr. Oren Cohen.
Dr. Oren Cohen, a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Physics, and Dr. Yuval Shaked, a senior lecturer at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, have received the Krill Prize for Excellence in Scientific Research for 2011.
Dr. Yuval Shaked.
The Krill Prize is awarded annually by the Wolf Foundation to excelling faculty members at Israel’s universities who have not yet been granted tenure. This year two of the eight winners of the Krill prize are from Technion.
Both Cohen and Shaked joined Technion in 2008; Cohen as a Horev Fellow and Shaked as a Landau Fellow in the Leaders in Science and Technology Program. Cohen’s research interests are in non-linear and ultra-fast optics, optical imaging and nonlinear dynamics. Shaked’s research interests are in tumor angiogenesis and tumor biomarkers.
France-Israel Foundation Prize
Prof. Ori Lahav
Held in Paris at INRA (National Institute of Agronomic Research), the France-Israel Foundation presented its annual bilateral prize of the scientific commission presided over by Edith Cresson, former Prime Minister of France.
This year’s theme was Water Engineering and Technion‘s Prof. Ori Lahav received the award along with Moshe Herzberg from Ben-Gurion University and a French researcher from CNRS. Lahav is an associate professor at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a member of the Grand Water Research Institute at Technion.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Prof. Emeritus Reuven Rubinstein
Prof. Emeritus Reuven Rubinstein from the Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management has received the Lifetime Professional Achievement Award, the highest honor given by INFORMS Simulation Society. The award recognizes major contributions to the field of simulation that are sustained over most of a professional career, with the critical consideration being the total impact of those contributions on the field.
Prof. Rubinstein has been a pivotal figure in the theory and practice of simulation as we know it today. His career reflects a high level of creativity and contribution, with a willingness to explore new areas and an amazing ability to suggest surprising new avenues of research and to influence subsequent work.
U.S. National Medals of Science
Two Israeli physicists—both Technion graduates—were among the top 10 scientists awarded the U.S. National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama in November 2010.
Technion alum Prof. Yakir Aharonov
Prof. Yakir Aharonov, a professor at the Chapman University in California, was honored for his work in quantum physics. Prof. Amnon Yariv, of the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), was noted for his work in photonics and quantum electronics that has helped developments in optics and light wave communications.
Prof. Yakir Aharonov, a professor at the Chapman University in California, was honored for his work in quantum physics. Prof. Amnon Yariv, of the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), was noted for his work in photonics and quantum electronics that has helped developments in optics and light wave communications.
Technion alum Prof. Amnon Yariv.
European Research Grants x7
Prof. Ron Kimmel
This year, seven Technion faculty members receive research grants from the European Research Council (ERC). These accumulated grants amount to more than €11.5 m.
Advanced Grants are awarded to Prof. Ron Kimmel from the Faculty of Computer Science for Non-Rigid Shape Reconstruction and Deformation Analysis, and to Prof. Benjamin Podbilewicz from the Faculty of Biology for Mechanisms of Cell Fusion in Eukaryotes.
Prof. Benjamin Podbilewicz
Starting Grants – awarded to researchers who have obtained their PhD more than two but less than 12 years prior to the call for proposals – go to Assoc. Prof. Yuval Ishai and to Assoc. Prof. Amir Shpilka, both of the Faculty of Computer Science; to Prof. Lior Gepstein and to Dr Yuval Shaked, both of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine; and to Dr Hossam Haick of the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering.
The ERC is the first European funding body set up to support investigator-driven frontier research. Its main aim is to stimulate scientific excellence by supporting and encouraging the very best, truly creative scientists to be adventurous and take risks in their research, going beyond established frontiers of knowledge and the boundaries of disciplines.
The Emet Prize
Prof. Emeritus Moussa Youdim
Prof. Emeritus Moussa Youdim was awarded the 2010 EMET Prize for Brain Science in the category of Life Sciences. The EMET Prize is an annual award given for excellence in academic and professional achievements that have far reaching influence and significant contribution to society.
Prof. Youdim is internationally renowned for his brain research and drug development in depressive illness and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. He has established the importance of monoamine oxidase and brain iron metabolism for brain function that can lead to cognitive impairments and neurodegenerative diseases. Research together with
Technion colleague Prof. John Finberg has led to the development – in conjunction with Teva Pharmaceuticals – of the second generation of monoamine oxidase inhibitor anti-Parkinson drug, Rasagiline (Azilect®).
Youdim holds more than 100 international patents in the field of neuropsychiatric drug development and cardiovascular drugs. He acts as a consultant for several major international pharmaceutical companies and he serves on many national and international scientific and grant giving committees.
Recently Moussa Youdim was awarded The European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) LifeTime Achievement Award for contribution to the field and drug development and was elected to the Leopoldina Germany Academy of Sciences (the world’s oldest Academy).