הוכרזו מקבלי התואר “דוקטור לשם כבוד” ו”עמית כבוד” של הטכניון

Yoram Alster, a seventh-generation Israeli, was born in Tel Aviv. Following his service in the Israel Defense Forces, he studied in the Technion’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Upon graduation, he returned to the IDF and served as an officer in the Signal Corps, developing digital systems.

In civilian life he worked in a variety of professional and managerial positions in computer companies, and in 1977 he founded a company that provided a network of computers for self-service banking (i.e., automatic teller machines). In 1984 he was appointed director general of the Ministry of Communications, responsible for all the telecommunication systems as well as the postal services in Israel. When the Bezeq – Israel Telecommunications Corp. Ltd. was established, he served as executive chairman.

Upon returning to the private sphere, Mr. Alster served as a management, computerization, and communications consultant for various institutions and organizations in Israel and abroad, and on many boards of directors. He also undertook many public roles on a voluntary basis.

An outstanding sportsman (as a student he was a champion sprinter), he was elected to the management of the Academic Sports Association and served as its chairman. He also served as a board member and president of the Israeli Chess Federation, and as a member of the management of the Israel Sports Association. He spent some time in politics, and was elected as a member of the Ramat HaSharon City Council and served as Deputy and Acting Mayor. In 2012 the municipality awarded him the title “Citizen of Merit” (Yakir Ramat HaSharon).

Mr. Alster is a long-serving member of the Board of Governors and has served as head of the Technion Alumni Association. He has been a member of the Israel Technion Society and the Technion Council and was its chairman from 2003 – 2012. He and his wife, Fanny, have three children (Orit, Shay and Hila) and eight grandchildren.

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In appreciation for your many years of activity in support of the Technion, which significantly contributed to its prestige and stability; in gratitude for your wise and deliberative leadership as chairman of the Technion Council; and in recognition of your personal and professional accomplishments as a Technion alumnus.

Alfred J. Bär was born and educated in Zurich, Switzerland. He studied architecture at the Federal Technical University of Switzerland, and upon graduation pursued postgraduate studies in the United States, The Netherlands, and in Basel, Switzerland. Mr. Bär specialized in architectural design, and established his own firm, which received various awards for outstanding architecture. He has also been very active in promoting the arts and supporting promising young artists. He himself is a collector.

A leading philanthropist, Mr. Bär’s altruism has been expressed through his personal generosity to his local Liberal Jewish community (to which he donated a Torah Scroll), to the Technion (at which he established the Marion and Alfred Bär Chair in Engineering), to a wide variety of Israel-based organizations, and through his outstanding leadership, which has had significant impact.

Mr. Bär demonstrated his support for the Technion by founding the Swiss Technion Society in 1981 and serving as its president for nearly 30 years, during which he established important relationships with local universities and long-term donors. Mr. Bär served for many years as a member of the Technion Board of Governors. He has served as president of Keren Hayesod Switzerland and has worked assiduously to inspire others to contribute their talents and resources for the benefit of the Jewish people and Israel. His leadership has helped strengthen the important link between Israel and Switzerland.

Mr. Bär is an heir of the Julius Bär banking family (Julius Bär Group Ltd. is the leading Swiss private bank), and he has made the Swiss Technion Society a family affair.

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In honor of your decades-long dedication to the Technion; in appreciation for your pioneering leadership role in the Swiss Technion Society, which you founded; and in gratitude for your steadfast, lifelong devotion and generosity to Israel, the Technion, and the Jewish people.

Major General (Res.) Ilan Biran has played a key role in the Israel Defense Forces and in Israel’s business sector. The positions he has filled include: Commander of the Golany infantry brigade, commander of the IDF Central Command; Director General of the Ministry of Defense; Chairman of the Board of Israel’s Oil Refineries; President and CEO of Bezeq, Israel Telecommunications Corp. Ltd;  Chairman of the Board of YES, Satellite Television Company; Chairman of the Board of RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.; member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Policy and Strategy at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya; and Chairman of the Board of Kinneret Academic College.

In addition to his outstanding contributions in the area of defense, he has also been active in governmental and public service. Among other responsibilities, he served from 2001-2011, as a volunteer, as head of the negotiating team for the Unit for IDF Soldiers Missing in Action.

His deep professional knowledge, talents and experience have enabled him to make an impact in a wide range of fields. In particular, his promotion and implementation of advanced technology have been vital to Israel’s security and economic development.

Major General (Res.) Biran holds a BA in Economics and Business Administration from Bar-Ilan University, an Associate Diploma in Strategy and Political Economic Research from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and is a graduate of the Command and Staff College of the United States Marines.

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In tribute to your role as a pillar of the Israeli defense establishment; in gratitude for your unique and long-term contributions to the security of the State of Israel; and in recognition of your ongoing, diligent efforts in both the military and civilian spheres for the benefit of Israeli society. 

Since 1985, Melvyn H. Bloom has been the executive vice president and CEO of the American Technion Society.

Under Mr. Bloom’s leadership, the ATS, with 10 regional offices, 15 chapters, 20,000 supporters and 86 professional staff, has become the leading U.S. fundraising organization supporting higher education in Israel. The ATS has raised more than $1.78 billion since its founding in 1940, $1.64 billion, or 92%, of that during Mr. Bloom’s tenure.

Mr. Bloom’s ability to attract supporters and turn them into long-term friends is legendary – as is his determination to take the ATS to new heights. In his quest to bring a serious management perspective to the ATS, he has developed a multi-year strategic planning program instead of the annual campaigns followed by most other organizations.  This strategy, together with an emphasis on major gifts, has guided the organization’s phenomenal success.

Prior to joining the ATS, Mr. Bloom had a 15-year career with the national United Jewish Appeal where he held senior positions, including national vice president and chief operating officer.  Earlier in his career, he was a management consultant, foundation executive and journalist, who began his career at CBS News.

Mr. Bloom is a recognized leader in the Jewish communal service and fundraising professions. In 1992, he received the Distinguished Service Award of the Association of Jewish Community Organization Personnel, and in 1996 was honored with the National Society of Fund Raising Executives Award for Excellence in Fund Raising.

He received an Honorary Fellowship from the Technion in 1993.  Mr. Bloom holds the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University, and Master of Arts in Political Science from the Graduate Faculty of the New School of Social Research.

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With admiration for your many achievements on behalf of the American Technion Society, the Technion and Israel; in recognition of your lifetime of passion for Israel’s people and its security; and in appreciation for your leadership role in the American Jewish community.

Steven Emerson’s interest in technology has played a major role in his admirable professional and philanthropic choices.

A private investor doing business as Emerson Investment Group, Mr. Emerson’s hard work and uncanny ability to analyze publicly-traded companies have brought him great success, which he and his wife, Rita, have been extremely generous in sharing with many organizations.

Mr. Emerson’s love for Israel takes many forms. The Technion is his highest priority, but he and Rita have also generously supported Birthright Israel, and are actively involved with Stand With Us (SWU), where they established the Emerson Fellows, providing intensive training and support to 40 pro-Israel North American college leaders in their efforts to educate fellow students about Israel. SWU also trains 200 Israel fellows a year, including 25 at the Technion, to win hearts and minds. The Emersons are also involved with PATHVentures, an organization committed to ending homelessness.

Mr. Emerson’s involvement with the ATS was launched by his participation in the ATS Southern California Chapter’s first Ambassadors leadership class. He went on to graduate from the 21st Century Leadership Development Program. He made his first trip to Israel 11 years ago and has since been on several missions, including the 2010 “Shaping Israel’s Future” mission, which he and Mrs. Emerson co-chaired.

Mr. Emerson has served in numerous leadership positions in the ATS Southern California Chapter, including president. Currently, he is chairman of the Southern California Board, and a member of the National Board of Directors. In addition to the Emerson Family Life Sciences Building, Mr. Emerson provided support for many other vital projects, including graduate fellowships, and a seminar room and laboratory equipment for the David and Janet Polak Center for Cancer Research and Vascular Biology. He is very proud to have conceived and funded the Emerson Family Fitness Center, a 40-machine workout pavilion on the campus.

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In honor of your passionate support for Israel and its people; in appreciation of your deep understanding of Israel’s needs, especially in the areas of security and economic progress through technology education at the Technion; and in tribute for your generous support for many vital causes.

Daniel Rose’s commitment to the Technion and Israel is a family tradition.  His uncle David Rose—an early national president of the American Technion Society and a recipient of a Technion Honorary Doctorate—took him as a teen to celebrate the country’s first Independence Day in 1949.  That trip launched Daniel Rose’s lifelong passion and support for the Technion and Israel.

Chairman of Rose Associates, Inc., a three-generation real estate firm, Mr. Rose’s career has involved a broad range of professional, civic and non-profit activities.  He serves as a director of more than 20 Dreyfus-sponsored mutual funds and was a director of the U.S. Trust Corporation and a trustee of Corporate Property Investors.  He teaches, lectures, and writes about many subjects.

Mr. Rose has received many notable real estate industry and civic awards, such as the City of New York Mayor’s Award of Honor for Arts and Culture and Harvard’s W.E.B. DuBois Award.  He was appointed vice chairman of the Baltic-American Enterprise Fund by President Bill Clinton and has served on the boards of numerous cultural and community institutions.  He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Associate Fellow of Pierson College, Yale University.

Mr. Rose is a Technion Guardian and member of its Board of Governors.  His and his wife’s gifts include the Daniel and Joanna S. Rose Fund for the Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute, and the Daniel Rose Fund for the Technion-Yale Initiative in Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.  He has been instrumental in introducing influential supporters to the Technion and funded a public relations effort to enhance the institute’s U.S. visibility. He and his brothers, Elihu and Frederick, sponsored many transformative projects together, including the David Rose Research Center for Physics of Quantum Structures.

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In recognition of your lifelong dedication to the Technion and Israel; in admiration for the vision and creativity that marks your support; and with gratitude for inspiring others to join our ranks through personal example.  

Elisha Yanay is a leader in the Israeli electronics industry. He served until recently as president and general manager of Motorola Israel. Following his retirement from Motorola, Mr. Yanay founded his own company, Elisha Yanay Ltd., which deals with high-technology, communications, and homeland security. He is also involved in a number of other high-tech companies in Israel and abroad.

In addition to his successful industrial career, Mr. Yanay has become known as an advocate for higher technology education in Israel. For many years he has devoted his efforts to the promotion and expansion of science and technology education in Israel, with the goal of increasing the number of graduates who are qualified to establish or join existing high-tech companies. To this end, he created and was active in the Education 2000 Forum, and he served from 2002-2007 as the Industry Representative on the Council for Higher Education.  His efforts have contributed greatly to increasing the number of students in the fields of electrical engineering, communications, and computer science in Israel in general and at the Technion in particular.

Mr. Yanay is a Technion graduate with a degree in electrical engineering who has contributed to the promotion of the Technion. He has worked tirelessly to enlist other Technion alumni and industry leaders in his efforts to enhance Israeli knowledge-based high-tech industry.

Mr. Yanay is also a member of the Committee of ORT graduates and of the Technion’s Board of Governors.

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In appreciation for your role in increasing awareness about the national importance of science and technology education; in recognition for your visionary contribution to the development and expansion of high-tech industries in Israel; and in gratitude for your cultivation of productive cooperation between the Technion and high-tech industry.

Professor Alvin E. Roth of the Stanford Graduate School of Business is a pioneer in the field of game theory and experimental economics and in their application to the design of new economic institutions. Prof. Roth was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design. He pursues basic research that leads the development of behaviorally grounded economic theory. While research in economics has tended to focus on the rationality assumption, Prof. Roth’s applied research moves beyond the rationality debates and shows that certain economic concepts, such as “market stability” and “reinforcement structure” can be used to derive useful predictions of economic behavior independently of the rationality assumptions. For example, simple reinforcement learning models can predict behavior in games, and these principles can be used to solve natural problems.

Prof. Roth’s applied research focuses on improving social exchange in order to facilitate efficiency and fairness. As one of the first “microeconomic engineers,” Roth has designed “matching” programs that help doctors find their first employment as residents at American hospitals and help match students to schools in New York City and Boston public school choice systems. He is one of the founders and designers of the New England Program for Kidney Exchange, which finds other matches for incompatible patient-donor pairs.

A true friend of Israel and the Technion, Prof. Roth served for six years as a member of the Academic Committee of the Technion’s Board of Governors and he takes an active role in training Israeli economists and decision scientists. He has served as advisor to many Israeli postdoctoral fellows, has hosted many Israeli scholars, and has helped his students return to Israel.

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In recognition of your significant contributions to the fields of game theory, market design and experimental economics; in tribute to your application of economic theory to solutions for real-world problems; and in gratitude for your profound dedication to the State of Israel, Israeli academia, and the Technion.

UCLA Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Jason L. Speyer is a world leader in the field of stochastic systems, particularly in the areas of stochastic optimal control and estimation. Prof. Speyer is remarkable for his insight and adeptness at framing new mathematics and his contributions have greatly broadened the horizons of many areas in aerospace engineering.

In addition to his seminal theoretical contributions, Prof. Speyer has solved important aircraft and spacecraft control problems. His contributions to aerospace engineering include solutions for the Apollo guidance design and Apollo’s autonomous navigation systems, optimal cruise of aircrafts, homing missile guidance of the Patriot, momentum and attitude control of space stations, and drag reduction of formation flights.

Prof. Speyer has continued to demonstrate his versatility and breadth of knowledge by studying entirely new fields, including control of turbulent fluid flows, GPS estimation, formation flying, and momentum control for the International Space Station.

Prof. Speyer has a strong connection with the Jewish people, Israel, and the Technion. His ties with academia in Israel have included sabbaticals at a number of Israeli universities, including two sabbaticals at the Technion, in 1983 and 2000. He has constantly collaborated in research with the Technion’s Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. During his frequent visits to Israel, Prof. Speyer lectures on his research and holds meetings and discussions with faculty members in the various fields in which he works.

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In honor of your groundbreaking contributions to deterministic and stochastic optimal control theory, and their application, in both industry and academia, to important aerospace engineering problems, particularly in the areas of guidance, navigation and control; in recognition of your deep attachment to the State of Israel; and in gratitude for your long-term collaboration with Israeli science in general, and with the Technion in particular.

Ruth Alon, a Technion graduate with degrees in computer science and industrial engineering and management, is a pioneer in the Internet service industry. She continues the work of her father, Uzia Galil, also a Technion graduate and supporter, in driving the development of Israeli industry.

In 1994 she founded the Internet service provider NetVision Ltd., which is now a leading company in the Israeli communication sector.

Ms. Alon has made significant contributions to the Technion by serving on its Council, Academic Development Committee, and Board of Governors. She has been active in promoting the status of women at the Technion, and her efforts have helped increase the proportion of women students.

She also serves as a member of the Haifa City Council and on the boards of the Haifa Economic Corporation and Haifa Tourism, demonstrating her vision and commitment to the development of Israeli society, industry, and cultural life.

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In tribute to your pioneering role as a woman in computer science; in recognition of your founding the first Internet service provider in Israel, which has revolutionized communication systems; and in gratitude for your dedication and contributions to the Technion.

A third-generation Technion supporter, Brent Dibner is president and founder of Dibner Maritime Associates, LLC, whose clients include many of the world’s largest integrated oil companies, leading independent ship owners, shipyards and the financial institutions that serve marine transportation industries. Mr. Dibner is a trustee and officer of several educational, historic and philanthropic institutions and funds, and served as chairman of the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology at MIT.

Together with his wife, Relly, daughter of a former member of the Technion Board of Governors Rachmani “Moni” Wolfson and a native of Haifa, Mr. Dibner has supported the Technion–Rambam Functional Brain Imaging Facility, the Endowed Doctoral Fellowship in Memory of Rachmani “Moni” Wolfson, and an Emergency Fund for Technion Students.  The Dibners met while he was working as a naval architect and marine engineer at Israel Shipyards in Israel in 1973 and 1975, where he participated in the design of missile boats for the Israeli Navy and relied upon Technion faculty for advanced analysis.

Mr. Dibner served as vice president of the ATS New England Region and is a member of the Technion Board of Governors. He is a 1995 graduate of the HaMa’agal leadership development program and a member of the 21st Century Leadership Development Program (Class of 2008). The Dibners have chaired the region’s annual event and they are also active in other Israel-based organizations.

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In admiration for your inspiring achievements in your career, in your community and in your philanthropy; with gratitude for your exemplary support of the Technion and your commitment to Israel’s welfare.

Ronald Lazarovits, son of Holocaust survivors Lazar and Edith Lazarovits, was born in Adelaide, South Australia and has lived in Melbourne since 1974.

A mathematician by training, Mr. Lazarovits has degrees from the University of Adelaide and Oxford. His business activities have included directing a transport company, founding a software business, and working in the property and backpacker accommodation businesses. He is now a board member and investor in various companies in Australia, the USA, and Israel.

As president of the Technion Society of Australia (Victoria) Mr. Lazarovits has helped transform it into a vibrant group that plays an important part in the Australian Jewish community.  He and his wife, Dr. Sharon Lazarovits, who has been an integral part of his efforts to promote the Technion in Australia, have three sons.

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In gratitude for your tireless and fruitful activities on behalf of the Technion and Israel in Australia; in recognition of your leadership role in the Australian Technion Society; and in appreciation of your contribution to Israel’s security and survival through your support of the Technion.