Technion’s Program for Outstanding Students Celebrates 30
Technion marks three decades to its Excellence Program with a reunion of the program’s alumni – many of whom are today’s leaders in industry and academia
On Wednesday, May 24, the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology celebrated 30 years since its Excellence Program was established. The festive event, which took place in the Taub Auditorium of the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science, was attended by more than 200 of its alumni. This month, during the Technion’s Board of Governors’ meeting, the Program’s leaders received a special certificate of appreciation from Technion President, Prof. Uri Sivan.
The Technion Excellence Program is a unique academic program, personally tailored to each participant. Its purpose is to nurture curiosity, creativity, and in-depth study among students with leadership potential. Since it was established, more than 300 students have completed the Program, and many of them now serve in prominent leadership positions in academia and industry. Twelve members of the Technion faculty are alumni of the Excellence Program, and many other graduates are researchers and faculty members at other universities in Israel and around the world. There are currently 50 students enrolled in the Program.
Excellence Program Class of 2023
The Technion Excellence Program was founded by Prof. Nimrod Moiseyev of the Schulich Faculty of Chemistry. Today it is headed by Prof. Eitan Yaakobi of the Taub Faculty of Computer Science, who is also an alumnus of the Program. Its Coordinator is Melinda Margulis.
At the conference opening, Prof. Yaakobi said, “the Excellence Program is the flagship program of the Technion and the Israeli academia. It aims to educate Israel’s future scientists and researchers, and, as such, enables and encourages students to pursue an interdisciplinary curriculum. Participating students, all of whom are of course academically outstanding, receive the tools and the opportunities to join various research laboratories at the Technion and conduct research during the early stages of their undergraduate studies. During their studies, numerous students in the Program actively contribute by publishing significant papers.” Program participants live together in the dorms, free of charge, receive a modest living stipend, and have their tuition entirely covered.
From left: Current program head Prof. Eitan Yaakobi, student Roy Dayan, and Melinda Margulis.
The 30th-anniversary event opened with greetings from Technion President, Prof. Uri Sivan; Prof. Moiseyev, the Program’s founder; and Prof. Yaakobi. Keynote lectures were given by Prof. Ido Kaminer, who is an alumnus of the Program and is a current faculty member at the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Program alumnus Dr. Yair Wiener, who is the CEO and founder of Jether Energy Research. These lectures were followed by talks given by students currently in the Excellence Program, as well as alumni, including Dr. Kira Radinsky, CEO of Diagnostic Robotics and a research fellow in the Taub Faculty of Computer Science at the Technion; Prof. Orr Dunkelman of the University of Haifa; Limor Dori Alon of Unipharm Ltd.; Prof. Nadav Cohen of Tel Aviv University; and Dr. Yaniv Altshuler, who is a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
A special panel featured Professor Hagit Messer-Yaron, who was, among other distinctions, president of the Open University and chief scientist of the Ministry of Science and Technology; Technion alumnus Aharon Aharon, who was the CEO of Apple Israel and CEO of the Israel Innovation Authority, and has been awarded the Technion Alumni Medal this month; and Dr. Eyal Hulata, the former head of Israel’s National Security Council and a former national security advisor who is currently the chair of Halman-Aldubi Technologies Ltd. The panel discussed “Academia, Industry, and the Defense Ecosystem,” and was moderated by journalist Chen Liberman.
Click here for the conference program.