Foto Friday – Yoram Reshef’s pride of researchers
Filed under: Art, Business, Environment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Medical Breakthroughs, Profiles, Technology
Yoram Reshef heads a commercial photography studio that produces images for some of Israel’s leading brands. “I love taking pictures in factories,” he says. “The encounter with machinery, the steel, the noise is exciting to me. I’m very proud of Israeli industry which creates and produces a world of its own, just as I, as a photographer, produce photos and images for my clients.” Reshef also takes pride in the work he does for institutions such as Tel Aviv University (TAU), producing portraits of scientists and academics working on technology’s cutting edge.
For example, marine biologist Prof. Yehuda “Hudi” Benayahu, a world-renowned expert in the taxonomy, ecology and biology of soft corals. Benayahu has warned that coral extinction could mean a global environmental catastrophe.
Or archeologist Yifat Thareani-Sussely, whose doctoral dissertation focuses on the pottery of the 7-8th centuries BCE. Don’t be fooled by the antiquities around her: TAU’s Department of Archaeology includes a Laboratory for Comparative Microarchaeology, an Archaeobotany Lab, Pottery Restoration Lab and other high-tech methods used for exploring the ancient world.
Biochemist Prof. Gali Prag researches proteins, specifically ubiquitin, a dynamic regulatory signal that can affect protein activity. A former researcher at NIH, he was recruited to head his own lab and the university has high hopes for his future research.
Adv. Liat Golan is the professional director of the Alfred Akirov Institute for Business and Environment. An environmental lawyer by trade, she trains the next-generation of business leaders to meet the threats and opportunities created by rapidly changing environments, both natural and corporate.
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Tel Aviv University alumnus Chemi Peres, managing general partner and co-founder of venture capital firm, Pitango Venture Capital, continues to be involved by serving on the Board of Directors of Ramot, the commercial arm of the university that focuses on technology transfer with some very nice success stories to its credit.
By the way, Peres also chairs the advisory board of TAU’s Faculty of Management — as well as serving on the boards of the Weizmann Institute of Science and the IDC- Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya. More about those fine institutions another day.
Back to school daze
280,000 students started attending classes this week at universities and colleges throughout Israel. No strikes this year, which comes as a pleasant surprise.
An article in Yediot Aharonot over the weekend offered some interesting facts and stats about the the face of Israeli higher education which might be eye-opening for some, such as…
– There are 66 institutions of higher learning in the country, including 34 academic colleges (or junior colleges as they’re called Stateside) and 24 vocational schools.
– Tel Aviv University boast the biggest student body of the nation’s eight universities with 25,800 students, followed by Hebrew University with 23,000, Bar-Ilan University with 22,00, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with 20,600, University of Haifa with 18,000, the Technion with 13,000, Ariel College with 11,000 and the IDC in Herzilya with 5,200 students. Evidently the Weizmann Institute – the home of recent Israeli Nobel prize winner Ada Yonath is considered a ‘research institute’ and not listed as one of the country’s universities.
– Out of the 221,000 students studying for a bachelor’s degree, 55% are women, and out of those studying for a master’s, 57% are women.
– Onto more important matters, the university cafeteria with the least expensive sandwiches for sale is Tel Aviv University, with a basic sandwich going for only 3 shekels (not sure what’s in that one, maybe just two slices of bread. While the most costly cafeteria sandwich is found at the Technion for 12 shekels (must be organic brain food).
– For a full meal, Bar-Ilan University tips the scales as the most expensive at 27 shekels ($7) with the University of Haifa trailing the field by offering some entrees at 15 shekels.
– Prices of dormitories also fluctuate with Hebrew University costing the most (between 900-1,300 shekels a month) and the Technion being the cheapest at 360-790 shekels.
With tuition becoming more costly each year, students and their parents are sure to be looking at these extra costs in deciding which institution to apply for. My daughter joined the ranks of the 280,000 students as she began classes this week at the instructional college Muzik, a Tel Aviv-based music school. I know that we’ll be urging her to eat meals in her apartment as much as possible.
Nostalgia Sunday – Ephraim Katzir
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Nostalgia Sunday, Politics, Profiles
Professor Ephraim Katzir, fourth President of the State of Israel, scientist and a founder of the Weizmann Institute, passed away yesterday at his home on the Institute grounds at the age of 93. Although perhaps best known abroad as Israel’s fourth president, Katzir’s contribution to the scientific development of this country was immense.
In addition to founding and heading Weizmann’s Biophysics Department, Katzir’s pioneering studies contributed to the deciphering of the genetic code, the production of synthetic antigens and the clarification of the various steps of immune responses. The understanding of polyamino acid properties led, among other things, to Weizmann scientists’ development of Copaxone, a drug manufactured today by Teva and used worldwide for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
Another major success was in immobilizing enzymes. Katzir developed a method for binding enzymes, which speed up numerous chemical processes, to a variety of surfaces and molecules. The method laid the foundations for what is now called enzyme engineering, which plays an important part in the food and pharmaceutical industries. For example, it is used to produce fructose-enriched corn syrup and semi-synthetic penicillins.
Along with his scientific research, Katzir was profoundly involved in the social and educational aspects of science. He headed a governmental committee for the formulation of a national scientific policy, trained a generation of younger scientists, translated important material into Hebrew and helped to establish a popular science magazine. He served as Chief Scientist of the Israel Defense Ministry and Chairman of the Society for the Advancement of Science in Israel, the Israel Biochemical Society, the National Council for Research and Development and the Council for the Advancement of Science Education. He headed the National Biotechnology Council, was a member of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities and of numerous other learned bodies in Israel and abroad.
In 1973, Katzir was elected fourth President of the State of Israel, a position he held until 1978. Upon completing his term of office, he returned to research at the Weizmann Institute and also devoted himself to the promotion of biotechnological research in Israel and founded the Department of Biotechnology at Tel Aviv University.
In the later years of his scientific career, Katzir turned to new areas of research. In one project, he headed a team of Weizmann scientists that won an international contest for computer modeling of proteins. In another study, he was part of an interdisciplinary Institute team that revealed an important aspect of snake venom’s effects on the body.
Katzir’s brother, Aharon was another founding member of the Weizmann Institute, who headed the Polymer Research Department until he was killed in the 1972 attack at Lod Airport (today Ben Gurion Airport) carried out by Japanese terrorists. Today, on the radio, Aharon’s grandson, LA-based filmmaker Dan Katzir, talked about his grand-uncle and his advice as a surrogate grandfather. Despite the extreme family pressure to go into the sciences (his father is pioneering laser technology engineer Dr. Abraham Katzir), Dan said that Ephraim told him to follow his heart’s desire and, whatever he chose to do, to do it well.
Upon viewing Dan Katzir’s film about Yitzhak Rabin, Out For Love, Be Back Soon, his grand-uncle said that he wept not only for Rabin, but for Sadat and all those who wanted — and died — for the cause of peace in this region.
The Weizmann Institute’s press announcement today, (from which I’ve borrowed liberally), cites an Annual Review quote from Katzir: “I have had the opportunity to devote much of my life to science. Yet my participation over the years in activities outside science has taught me there is life beyond the laboratory. I have come to understand that if we hope to build a better world, we must be guided by the universal human values that emphasize the kinship of the human race: the sanctity of human life and freedom, peace between nations, honesty and truthfulness, regard for the rights of others, and love of one’s fellows.”
They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore.
Tel Aviv hosts ’short film’ festival
A scene from 'Silence' by Hovav Shoshan
The festival is being held this weekend simulatenously in over 70 cities around the world – including for the first time in Tel Aviv. And another first – there’s even an Israeli entry – Silence, by Tel Aviv University film student Hovav Shoshan. Check it out Silence here, albeit dubbed into French.
In the film, which features live actors and not animation, two young girls encounter each other in the same cramped hiding place as they try to evade soldiers, implied to be Nazis. Despite its brevity, the film manages to incorporate suspense, plot twists, violence and tenderness.
”You need to be precise in every moment and really have it detailed. There’s a short time you have to relay the relevant information. But at the same time, you don’t want to feeling you’re cramming too much in,” said the 29-year-old aspiring film maker who’s graduating this spring.
If you’re in Tel Aviv, you can catch Silence, as well as a few dozen other films on Saturday night at the Castille Building in south Tel Aviv on Rehov Alfasi. Interestingly, the organizers said that another city that’s holding the festival is Ramallah, which is holding its screening on Sunday.
98 with a good beat
Israelis predicted the Shop Boyz would be big - go figure.
It seems that a team from Tel Aviv University’s School of Engineering have developed an algorithm that can predict a song’s popularity among the music-loving public.
The researchers – Prof. Yuval Shavitt and his students, Noam Koenigstein and Tomer Tankel – say their software helped them predict that Atlanta-based rap group Shop Boyz would have a big hit even before the group signed a record deal. And as if looking in the magic ball, Shop Boyz later signed to a major label and released a single in 2007 that made it to #2 on the Billboard rap chart.
According to a report on Ynet, the computer nerds’ algorithm scans file sharing networks, collects all the materials written by music fans, analyzes it and deducts which band is likely to succeed based on this information.
In order to develop the software, the team went over half-a-million search queries submitted to the Gnutella file sharing network over a period of 10 months, and then compared the algorithm’s findings to the Billboard chart.
“The key to success was figuring out how the queries’ geographic distribution relates to the artists’ potential for success,” explained Prof. Shavitt. “We realized that artists who won major success first made it in the area where they started out.
“This allowed us to identify artists who were successful locally when they were still unknown in the United States,” he added.
It sounds like our boys have the Midas touch when picking the hits. Now if they could only make those same artists write better songs…
Drawing, sculpting and designing women
It’s well known that women played a key role in the forging of Israel’s military, intellectual and agricultural successes in the early generations of the nation. Just ask the leadership of the Union of Creative Women in Israel.
But many argue that women’s role in Israel’s formative visual arts scene has been given the short end of the stick. A group of women scholars has recently undertaken an extensive research project exploring the matter, yielding a formidable report entitled Creative Women in Israel, 1920-1970. The volume chronicles the lives and accomplishments of some 51 female photographers, 28 female architects and 86 female painters/sculptors, many of whom were celebrated in their time but are sadly overlooked or under-respected now – and that’s not counting 35 more figures not covered in depth in the book but currently being examined by the group.
Now that the book is set to be published imminently by Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of the Arts, the school has organized an entire day-long conference surrounding the occasion.
Entitled Creative Women of the Visual Arts in Israel and taking place this Sunday from 10:15 a.m. into the evening hours, the conference has been planned by an academic board headed by Dr. Ruth Marcus of the TAU Department of Art History. Many local and international presenters are involved as well, including Dr. Ines Sonder of Potsdam’s Moses Mendelssohn Center for European Jewish Studies, speaking about under-celebrated architect Lotte Cohn; Dr. Ruth E. Iskin, Ben-Gurion University professor of the Arts, author of Modern Women and Parisian Consumer Culture in Impressionist Painting; and Prof. Tamar Garb of London’s University College, speaking about Feminism, Art History and the Challenge of the Woman Artist.
Pictured is long-lost sculptress Sulamit Nem Salom’s bronze Sitting Torso, used by permission from Creative Women in Israel, 1920-1970.
Sommeliers-in-training
Filed under: A New Reality, Blogging, Business, Food, General, Israeliness
One of the most cleverly snide Israel-related blogs out there, Zabaj pines for an Israel that makes the most of her potential. But Zabaj conveys this message by bitingly yet lovingly calling natives out on their shortcomings. A recent Zabaj rant cuts an up-and-coming sommelier collective down to size nicely.
Israeli wine tastes have steadily been improving over the past decade or so, and with the growing number of delicious wines now being produced here, the country has become a destination for oeno-tourism. So it only makes sense that firms like Premier Cru are starting to pop up, offering wine catering for private upscale events, consulting services for discerning (or discerning wannabe) customers and special tastings.
Nevertheless, the launch of the Premier Cru website is surely an occasion for ridicule.
The most interesting part of the site, however, is “The Team,” where they provide detailed bios on all their wine connoisseurs.
In this case, knowing the people behind the company makes you lose any interest in actually working with them. The impression you get is that most employees are students at Tel Aviv University (many seem to be majoring in biotechnology) and are also children of the former soviet union.
But wait – it get’s more entertaining and scathing….
And if you have any doubt, make sure to read Tal’s profile, where you’ll learn that she enjoys “light athletics” (don’t ask me what that means) and “banji.” I wonder if she packs a beg of mashrooms while on her way to do banji.
Does anyone get the impression from the website these people can do what they claim? No references, no real pictures, no stories… just glamorous-sounding mumbo jumbo. And, by the way, all the pictures on the site were taken in a furniture store.
Ouch. Alright – so their transliteration from Hebrew-appropriated English into proper English isn’t the most accurate. And they don’t really have sense of what kind of marketing content would be impressive to potential customers. If only I could find the address for that furniture store….
Edgy thespian workshop
Run by Tel Aviv University’s prestigious Theater Department, the SmallStage festival kicks its seventh year of operations off this Sunday for five days of fringe drama performances.
The festival is constituted of productions headed by those studying in or otherwise associated with the department, which is the country’s largest and arguably most respected drama program. Many of its alumni have moved on to become among the elite in Israeli theater and entertainment, including the festival’s founder, Lilach Dekel-Avneri, who now works with the Tmuna troupe.
Including staged plays as well as off-stage dramatic “happenings,” the festival itself maintains a decidedly fringe vibe thanks to the hunger and integrity of its participants, but also thanks to strict guidelines that all shows stick to low spending budgets, high standards of edgy creativity and a crisp 50-minute duration ceiling.
This year’s festival has been largely conceived by artistic director Liron Libskind, currently working on his master’s degree in theater. Among the intriguing performance titles are Three Small Silences (pictured), She and Birdman.
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