Meeting President Clinton

The Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU) is a forum created by President Bill Clinton to encourage students to develop innovative solutions to pressing global challenges. Technion student Adi Hanuka, who is starting a Master’s program in electrical engineering, was invited to attend after submitting an idea to develop a software project to teach autistic children how to take care of themselves. Her design combines Kinect (Microsoft’s motion sensing device) with other educational/behavioral methods of autism therapy.

Below is Adi’s account of the event, held at Washington University in St. Louis in early April.

CGIU Experience- Adi Hanuka

April 5 —  I arrived in St. Louis and had lunch with my sponsor, the McDonnell International Scholars Academy. Elad Gilboa, a PhD student from the Technion, who is also sponsored by them, gave me a tour of campus.

My grandmother told me she likes President Clinton and she will be happy to see a picture of us together, and as a good granddaughter I want to please my nani . Moreover, before coming to the conference I said to myself there is no way I am flying so many miles and don’t shake his hand!

The doors were supposed to open at 17:45, so at 17:20 I went there and saw a group of 5. We stood together to hopefully get to be first into the room. The Americans have a natural skill in lining up … so eventually we found ourselves heading a line of a km!! )
At 18:30, the Event started- I was soooo excited about being part of such a huge event!!! It was really inspiring — Clinton’s speech and the panel he held with Jack Dorsey, the Twitter founder; inventor and writer William Kamkwamba; Zainab Salbi, Writer and Founder of Women for Women International, and Kenneth Cole.

Clinton has amazing charisma!! One sentence has been engraved in my heart: “The saddest people in my class are not those people who failed, even failed repeatedly, the saddest people are those who did not chase their dreams”.

We had a group photo and I stood right next to Bill and Chelsea Clinton. At first her bodyguard didn’t let me get close to her, but I said, “Chelsea, Chelsea I came from Israel!!” Then she said, “who is from Israel?” I pointed, and her bodyguard let me get closer!! I got my name tag signed by Bill, and a picture with Chelsea!

April 6 — I went to the skills session, and sat next to an Arab student. His commitment is to take poetry made in Hebron and sell it in the US in order to widen the income of his country.

I did lots of great networking, and heard many amazing commitments. One example I really liked was a football that charges a battery while the kids are playing. In that way, in a 3-hour game, a village in South Africa has electricity for 3 hours at night!!

The CLOSING PLENARY SESSION was hosted by Stephen Colbert. It was a great show! In the evening, Elad and his family invited us to Mimona celebrations (to mark the end of Passover) in the Jewish community. It was a great evening!

April 7

CGIU hosted a morning of community service at Gateway STEM High School to give back to the community: renovating an African-American school in the city. For 3 hours we volunteered painting walls, cleaning classrooms, gardening, planting. We had to take out the entire weeds around the school, turn up the dirt and plant new plants.

After 1 hour of working, while I was taking a huge weed bag to the corner, President Clinton came to our group and saw me taking this bag all alone. He stopped and told the guys “help her” but I smiled and responded, “it is ok! Israel Army,” I said proudly. He waited till I put the bag down, shook my hand, gave me a hug and asked me where I am from and what was my job in the army. All the media were around us, so I got on my toes to get to his ear and whispered: “Intelligence” …
It was so amazing to meet one of America’s presidents. 

I am so happy to have been a part of CGIU and hope that its legacy of innovation and inspiration will continue here at the Technion. It was extremely humbling for me to be included amongst such a great group of young people, but what’s really going to define us is how we turn our ideas into reality. I will end with an inspiring phrase to remind us of our potential: “If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.” — Anita Roddick (1942-2007)

Meeting President Obama

My name is Ilan and I am a student in the biomedical engineering faculty at the Technion.

Technion student Ilan Brajzblat

When I emigrated from France four years ago, the name of the Technion was already familiar to me. Yet, I had no idea that I would find here in Israel such a world-class institute. Not only have I achieved the dream of living in Israel, but I have found a university with engineering training that outperforms what I could have received in even the finest French Schools of Engineering.

I have been proudly studying in this faculty for two years. A few weeks ago this pride led me to take part in the ATS Phonathon. The phonathon is a campaign of the ATS that allows students to contact donors in America, to show them their gratitude. We could finally speak to those very men and women who make all of our achievements possible.

During the same period was the visit of President Obama to our country. At this occasion, the US president decided to give his main speech in front of students. At the Technion, the student association decided to choose the delegation students on a merit basis. Because of my participation in the phonathon campaign I had the pleasure of being chosen, along with about a hundred other students. I had heard a lot about the big part the Technion took during this visit, especially the engraved nano-chip with the replicas of the USA and Israeli Declarations of Independence that was offered to president Obama as the official gift of the State of Israel. I also knew that the Israeli Prime Minister himself presented President Obama with a demonstration of the now famous technological ingenuity and creativity of Technion graduates — the snake robot of Professor Alon Wolf, the ReWalk system of Dr. Amit Goffer and the waiter robot developed by Haifa Middle School pupils supervised by professor Igor Verner. In this context wearing a shirt with the Technion logo was even more gratifying than usual.

During his speech the President talked about the fact that only in Israel could we see, in the same morning, the Dead Sea Scrolls and all those robots and technological successes. It is true that only in Israel we can find this connection between the past and the future and it is a great honor that although the past was pictured by the Qumran manuscripts, the future was represented mainly by the Technion achievements.

Once again our university has shown its ability to compete with the best and to impress the President of the United States himself, as he told us in his speech how amazing our technology was. All of this is very inspiring for us students. It is a great achievement that I think should as well be of pride to all those people we met during the phonathon. Indeed, once again, this is for them a rewarding demonstration of what is achieved here every day, thanks to them and their great generosity.

From Korea to the Technion

Jisung Chang, with a wife and two young children in tow from Korea, is a research student in the Technion’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty, and he is considering doctoral studies. The following is an interview with Jisung about his time at the Technion.

How did you hear about Technion?

Jisung Chang with family

I am here at the Technion as a research student. I was trying to find a good laboratory and professor with the same research topic I was interested in. Through the internet, I found very famous professor working in the Technion in the same research field I was interested in, and I decided to contact him.

What impressed you about the Technion?

I was impressed to find such great enthusiasm in the Technion library of all places! There are so many Israeli students who are enthusiastic about their research studies. I had an entirely different experience in Korea, where the library is always very quiet and boring. But here the library is awesome!!!  You may meet so many fascinating veteran researchers with great passion for their ongoing research. I am touched by them and I keep learning so much from them  in general and especially I am inspired by their attitude to research.

What do you study in the Technion, how long will you stay in Israel for?

I got a Master degree of Electrical Engineering in Korea.  Now I research for remote sensing in the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Israeli Technion since 2012. I am considering to continue for Ph.D so it I will probably stay for  3~5 more years.

Please describe a meaningful experience – social/school oriented?

I met five Korean researchers at the Technion and we created a Korean Community on campus. We host regular meetings and share our Korean food with each other (kimchi, ddukbokki, Ramyun, etc.).

Did you get a chance to get to know Israel – are you in touch with Israeli students? Who are the people closest to you?

I lived in Jerusalem several months before coming to the Technion in Haifa. I recommend visiting Jerusalem and learning about the history of Israel. It will give good motivation coming to Israel. I have really kind and smart co-workers in my lab and a nice Israeli neighbor who is also a Technion student.

Would you recommend this experience/program to your friends abroad? (Korean or international in general)
I already sent all my friends in Korea an email and described my positive experience here.

I recommend to all Koreans interested in studying abroad – go to Israel.

Expert in Sephardic Jewry Joins ATS Expedition

Jonathan Ray

Professor Jonathan Ray will be our scholar-in-residence for the Spain portion of the ATS Expedition to Spain and Israel from May 25- 31, 2013. Prof. Ray, an expert on Sephardic Jewish History, will impart an in-depth understanding of what life was like for the Jews of Spain in the years leading up to and spanning the Inquisition. He will accompany us as we visit the medieval synagogues and winding streets of Madrid and Toledo, which were thriving Jewish centers in eras past.

We caught up with Prof. Ray (extended bio further down) for a brief interview in advance of the trip.

Q. Would you give us a preview of what participants on the ATS Expedition might look forward to?

Spain boasts some of the best-preserved medieval synagogues in the world.  Those in Toledo, in particular, are testaments to the rich cultural legacy of Spanish Jewry, and demonstrate the deep affinities between the Sephardim and Arabic culture.  That close bond between medieval Jews and their Muslim and Christian neighbors is also evident as one walks along the narrow streets of Spain’s Jewish quarters (juderías).  In cities like Toledo and Segovia, visitors quickly get a sense of how small and tightly knit these Jewish communities were, and just how closely they lived to their non-Jewish neighbors.  For better or worse, the lives of medieval Jews were inextricably bound with those of other Europeans.  In Madrid, the Jewish legacy is less apparent.  Nonetheless, the various emblems of royal power throughout the city are a reminder of the important role played by medieval kings in protecting Jewish rights.

Q. How do you envision your role as ATS scholar-in-residence?

I would like to help Expedition members see what it was like to live as a Jew in medieval Europe. There will be local Spanish guides to provide some of the basic information about the old Jewish quarters, the remaining synagogues, etc., but few of these guides will have a sense of the daily lives of medieval Jews, and how they negotiated the various social, religious, and political challenges of life under Muslim and Christian rule.  This is where I come in.  In addition to giving talks on a variety of subjects relating to Jewish life in Spain, I will also be traveling and dining with the group, and will be available for informal discussions.

Q. How does your most recent book, “After Expulsion: 1492 and the Making of Sephardic Jewry” dovetail with the theme of the Expedition?

The book traces the resettlement of Iberian Jewry in the years following 1492.  The Expulsion was, in many ways, the end of a glorious era of Jewish life; but it also marks the birth of the Sephardic Diaspora — a chapter in Jewish history that is often overlooked by American Jews.  As they left Spain, the Sephardim brought a rich intellectual culture as well as skills for overcoming even the most daunting obstacles.  Indeed, the many lessons they learned during their sojourn in medieval Spain were keys to the survival of Jewish culture.  Even the factionalized and internally combative nature of medieval Jewish society, which we will discuss on our trip, was a trait that allowed for the independence and flexibility needed to reestablish their communities in new lands.  The book aims to show the ways in which the religious creativity and indomitable spirit of the Sephardim helped them both survive expulsion and revitalize Jewish life in the Land of Israel and beyond.

Q.Can you speak to the lasting contributions of the Medieval Sephardim?

Jews in medieval Spain are justly famous for their poetry, rabbinic literature, beautiful illuminated manuscripts, etc. But another of their many accomplishments was to transmit philosophic and scientific culture from the Muslim world to Christian Europe.

As the Iberian Peninsula shifted from Muslim to Christian, Arabic-speaking Jews found themselves in the Latin world of Christian “Spain.” These multi-lingual Jews acted as diplomats, economic intermediaries, and translators — helping to bring the great works of Aristotle, Galen and the leading lights of the Muslim world into the Latin West. European access to these scientific and philosophic works helped establish and expand the first universities. That these Jewish scholars were at home in the non-Jewish worlds of science, philosophy and secular poetry, while remaining observant and producing great Talmudic commentaries, legal codes and works of Kabbalah, have made them a shining example to Jews today.

Q. Would you mind sharing a bit about your personal background, and what sparked your interest in Sephardic Jewish history?

I am not Sephardic.  Like many American Jews, my family background was a mix of traditionally religious and culturally modern Ashkenazi Judaism.  The compromise for my parents was to raise my sister and me in a suburban Reform congregation.  During my junior year in college, I spent a semester in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I first encountered Sephardic Jews. I had never met Jews named “Gomez” before, and I became fascinated by what was, to me, a totally new and different Jewish culture.  I learned more about Sephardic history and culture from two professors of Sephardic heritage, first at Tufts University and then in graduate school at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Q. Lastly, what do you hope our participants will take away from the experience?

 Spain has recently begun to promote its rich Jewish heritage as a major tourist attraction, and with good reason.  The beauty of Spanish synagogues and the cultural and intellectual legacy of Spanish Jews, despite the tragic episodes of the Inquisition, have long been seen as symbols of a “Golden Age” of Judaism and of positive inter-religious relations. But even in the best of times, not all Jews were equally prosperous or in agreement on the right way to live.  Philosophers argued with mystics, poets with Talmudists, and various clans of wealthy Jewish merchants vied for royal favor.  The society they created was every bit as volatile and as fascinating as our own, and this is something that I hope participants will take away from this trip.  Although the “Golden Age” of Spanish Jewry came to a close more than 500 years ago, the Jews who built that society are not so very different from us.

For more information on the Expedition to Spain and Israel, please visit www.ats.org/spain2013.

Jonathan Ray, the Samuel Eig Associate Professor at Georgetown University has lectured at prestigious institutions, studied throughout Europe and Latin America, and is an award-winning author. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University in History and Religion, and a doctorate in Jewish History from The Jewish Theological Seminary. He has taught at Yale University and UCLA and is a frequent lecturer on Jewish history and inter-faith relations at the Smithsonian Institution and the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute.

His research focuses on coexistence between Christian, Muslim and Jewish societies in Iberia. He has authored and edited several articles and books including “The Sephardic Frontier,” which won the John Nicholas Brown Prize from the Medieval Academy, and“After Expulsion: 1492 and the Making of Sephardic Jewry,” to be released in January 2012.

Modern Day Miracles at the Technion

This blog post was written by Eliana Feldan, an 18 year old Senior at Weinbaum Yeshiva High School in Boca Raton, FL. She is very involved in writing for school publications, and is editor of the yearbook. She is excited to begin university in 2014 after spending a year studying in Israel.

This week, the candles on our Menorahs commemorate the miracles G-d performed for us so many years ago. Out of weakness, He made strength. Out of the few, He made the power of many. And, out of the small, He made greatness.

We know that the flames from the oil meant for one day burned for eight, and these flames still burn bright today.

Eliana Feldan

Those at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology are today’s Chanukah miracle story. The flames shine bright in research labs and in academic rankings. The flames burned inside a Technion researcher’s lab many years ago, as he invented drip irrigation, helping to feed the world with less water; and within both Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover, as they won the first Israeli Nobel Prize in Science for research that has led to effective cancer treatments. If you have ever used a Flash Drive, instant messaging, GE Ultrasound device, Adobe Reader, an Intel computer chip, or Velcade, the anti-cancer drug, then you have been touched by the Technion’s global impact.

Interestingly, the Technion does not have the billion dollar research budget of a top universities in the US. However, like the small amount of oil used by the Macabees that burned far longer and far greater than anyone could have imagined, at the Technion, they do so much more with less.

The Technion is ranked among the top 50 engineering and technology universities in the world. The Technion —with funding from the American Technion Society (ATS) — has established a growing network of research centers in such fields as nanotechnology, energy, water research, robotics, and life sciences.

Beyond the campus, Technion graduates are leading what has become known as the “Start Up Nation.” And, Technion graduates made up the majority of the engineers who developed the Iron Dome system, which intercepted more than 420 missiles headed towards Israeli civilians; saving countless lives.

Educating the country’s top scientists and engineers is not a luxury. Like the Macabees, it is a matter of survival.

Unlocking the Secret to Stronger Immunity

The following blog post was written by Jeremy Deutchman and is reprinted with permission of the Los Angeles Jewish Home.

Tell Dr. Doron Melamed that aging is inevitable, and he is among the first to agree. The critical question, he points out, is not whether the process can be avoided – it’s whether, at certain levels, it can actually be reversed. His breakthrough research has proven exactly that.

Based at Haifa’s Technion, one of Israel’s most prestigious universities, Melamed leads a team of researchers that has accomplished something extraordinary: showing that it is possible to turn back the clock on the aging of the body’s immune system. The idea, he says, is not necessarily to extend survival, but rather to help people live healthier. “Older people suffer more from infectious disease and cancer,” he notes. “If we are able to improve their immune systems, they will age healthier and enjoy an increased quality of life.” His finding matches up exactly with the Jewish Home’s commitment to healthy aging, which includes a focus on helping seniors live high quality, productive and independent lives.

Dr. Doron Melamed in his lab.

Melamed is an immunologist – someone who studies the development of immune cells. As the body ages, those cells see a marked decrease in development, ultimately leading to an immune system comprised of old cells that have a limited capacity to respond to infection. In the scientific community, conventional wisdom has long held that this age-dependent change in immune cell development is part of a progressive and irreversible process. Working in collaboration with colleagues, Melamed has turned that conventional wisdom on its head. “We conducted a ‘proof of principle’ experiment in which we took an old mouse whose lymphocytes [a type of white blood cell] were poorly generated and transformed it so that it was just like a young mouse in terms of generating cells,” he explains.

The potential implications of his work are remarkable and far-reaching. Restored to full health and functionality, immune systems would be better equipped to fight disease, enabling seniors to maximize enjoyment of their golden years instead of “going every week or two to a physician, having to take multiple pills each day and facing repeated hospitalization,” Melamed says.

In partnership with researchers at Haifa’s Rambam Hospital, Melamed is conducting a clinical trial in humans to determine whether his discovery holds true across species. “I think it will take another two or three years until we start getting data from the clinical trial about whether or not this will work,” he forecasts. Once the efficacy of his treatment is determined, Melamed predicts it will be another several years before physicians and scientists begin identifying the full range of opportunities for human use.

Funded in part by coveted grants from the Israel Science Foundation, Melamed’s research continues to distinguish him as one of the country’s most promising young scientists – someone capable of seeing things with new eyes. It’s a metaphor he finds appropriate. “Aging was always considered to be progressive and irreversible,” he says. “Suddenly, someone comes along and wonders whether that’s just the way we see it, and that maybe, if we adjust our vision, we would come up with a different result. And that’s exactly what happened.”

Technion Faculty Leads Israeli Team to Olympiad Victory

This blog post was written by Martha Molnar, Senior Communications Specialist at the American Technion Society.

Olympic medals come in many varieties, and all demand extensive training, hard work and talent. So while Israel’s team won no medals at the London Olympics, four Israeli high-school students won a silver and three bronze medals at the 44^thannual Chemistry Olympiad in Washington, D.C. last month.

The Israeli delegation celebrates their victories. From left to right: Nadav Orion, Tzuf Shay Peled, Ori Teichman, and Michael Leitzin.

“All four came home smiling because it was the first time our entire delegation won medals,” said Technion Professor Zeev Gross of the Chemistry Faculty, who coordinated the coaching by Technion staff and faculty members.

“We never could have competed without the intense coaching,” said Michael Leitzin, a bronze medal winner, about the Technion coaches.

The two-day competition against 26 teams from around the world includes practical lab work and theoretical tests. The successful teams have usually come from the Far East, where winning a medal is an entry card to the best universities in the world – sometimes automatically, without an entrance exam. The Technion offers the Israeli winners the same, explained Professor Gross. His group chooses and prepares the participants at theoretical and practical studies in Technion labs and at training camps.

The international chemistry competition has been held annually for 44 years, but it was only the seventh time in succession that Israel has participated.

The achievement is sparking interest in science throughout the country, Professor Gross said, but his mission is twofold.

“Some countries focus on returning with medals, and early on they indentify the few students who’re likely to get the medals, then pour all the energy into coaching these likely winners,” he explained.

The Israeli and Pakistani delegations show off their medals.

“But I believe that the competition has to do more than that. It must also be a vehicle for inspiring students and parents, and the population at large. People must understand the importance of science to our future,” Professor Gross said. “I cannot compromise either one of these goals. What it means is that everyone gets a chance, but the downside is that the likely winners are not identified until much later.”

He added that in some ways this kind of publicity is more effective in grabbing attention than important patents and scientific publications. And given the passion he embodies for this aspect of his work, which he noted is on a voluntary basis without pay, it’s easy to see how it might well be contagious.

In fact, according to Professor Gross, the number of high-school students taking the science achievement exam has been growing steadily.  This year up to 6,000 students will be taking the exam, up from 3,000 last year.

There are also paybacks for the Technion, because greater interest in science will in time produce better students. That, Professor Gross says, is where he personally gets to enjoy the fruits of his work.

For Michael Leitzin, who just graduated from the Leo Baeck High School in Haifa, it was a visit to his sixth-grade class by Technion students that sparked his passion for science.

“They did a very interesting experiment, and then, again about two years ago, one of my science teachers showed me a collection of metals from his lab,” he explained. “I remembered that visit by the Technion students and became very interested all over again.”

He took the science achievement exam and scored high enough to be invited into the Technion coaching program. Michael is considering whether he wants to major in chemistry or physics at the Technion. Whatever he chooses, his future seems bright.