Monthly Archives: February 2012

Mathematician Prof. Daoud Bshouty has pioneered geometric function theory of one complex variable, mathematical statistics and analytic probability theory. He has also innovated a Technion vision of multicultural harmony and continuously strives to improve life at Technion City on all levels. Meet Technion’s new Dean of Undergraduate Studies.

Technion’s new Dean of Undergraduate Studies: Prof. Daoud Bshouty.

Q: As Dean of Undergraduate Studies, what is your vision for the evolution of the
Technion student body over the next 10 years?

A: The centennial of the cornerstone of the Technion; The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research professor Dan Shechtman; and the research center with Cornell in New York City; all mark a new era in Technion history, an international recognition of Technion researchers, teachers and students. Our excellent students represent the pioneers in in human knowledge in sciences and Technology and we look forward for more. In ten years from today I expect to see our campus in Haifa serving local and international students alike, and our graduates as embassadors of the technion worldwide.

Q: How would you describe morale among Technion students in 2012?

A: The year just started and our aim is to increase students morale throughout this year.  The Technion is known to impose on its students high load of study which affects students ‘ morale. We aim at making the studies a joyful experience without compromising the standarts of studies, this by rebuilding our curricula  to be less stressful, making the Technion  a village of students, faculty and administration a harmonious environment in which each group support the other.

Q: Can you give some keywords that distinguish Technion students from other students around the globe?

A: Hard workers, ambitious in a stubborn way, always unsatisfied from their lecturers yet they wouldn’t choose another place.

Q: Could you talk a little about Technion as a multicultural and increasingly international place to study?

A: In ten years from now i wont need to talk about that, the world will. But for now, since the 1990’s our society has become more and more  multicultural, yet  we still have a long way to accept it. Haifa itself is different in that respect and so is the Technion as part of the city. The technion also hosts many international students and researchers for long periods and  that is an extra experience that we add to the experience of our students.

Q: Why is recognition of difference an important part of a successful learning environment?

A: Learning is the experience of transferring knowledge and most productive in group discussions. Recognizing the different is simply to benefit from the experiences of other traditions and cultures.

13The stamp was launched during the main event in the Technion’s centennial celebrations, in the presence of Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, Mayor of Haifa Adv. Yona Yahav, Chairman of the Board of Israel Postal Company Sasi Shilo, and Director of Philatelic
Services Yaron Ratzon

Three Nobel Laureates in Chemistry – Professors Avram Hershko, Aaron Ciechanover and Dan Shechtman – received yesterday the special stamp that was issued by Israel Postal Company to commemorate 100 Years to the laying of the cornerstone for the Technion. The stamp was launched in frame of a festive concert commemorating the Technion’s cornerstone centennial, in the presence of Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, Mayor of Haifa Adv. Yona Yahav, Chairman of the Board of Israel Postal Company Sasi Shilo, and Director of Philatelic Services Yaron Ratzon.

The Chairman of the Board of Israel Postal Company Sasi Shilo said that “the stamp we are launching today salutes the first academic educational institute established in Israel, and one of the most prominent institutes in its field worldwide”. He added that the Technion’s praiseworthy activity has had substantial contribution to the development of the State of Israel’s economy.

Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie said that he is as excited on this evening as he was on December 10th, 2004 and on December 10th, 2011 in Stockholm, when the three professors received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He also emphasized the exciting event held in New York on December 19, 2011, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the Technion and Cornell University have won the tender to establish an applied science and engineering campus in his city.

Mayor of Haifa Adv. Yona Yahav said that his city is identified with the distinguished institute that it is honored to have had residing in it for over one hundred years now.

The Shalom Zielony Technion Choir and Orchestra, conducted by Menahem Nebenhaus and Leonti Wolf, performed an especially festive concert. Sasi Shilo and Yaron Ratzon unveiled the stamp and granted it to the Nobel laureates, to the designer of the stamp Naama Tumarkin (Director of the Israel Technion Society), and to Professors Danny Weihs and Eyal Zussman, whose research subject is displayed on the stamp.

Description of the stamp and the First Day Cover

The stamp enfolds within it the past, present and future not only of the Technion, but also of the State of Israel, that has become a science and technology pioneer.

The stamp features a rendering of the building façade, designed by the Jewish-German architect Alexander Baerwald, one of the pioneers of modern Israeli architecture.

Out of the building grows an element developed in the Technion by three professors: Daniel Weihs, Alexander Yarin and Eyal Zussman. It is the prototype of a nano-parachute, whose structure and movement are based on the structure of the dandelion seed and its movement in the air. The nano-parachute is made of nano-fibers, and is in fact a sophisticated detector of airborne toxins. Thousands of nano-parachutes that are dispersed at a site suspected of being contaminated change their color in the presence of toxins, thus allowing to determine the type of toxins and to prevent or mitigate loss of life.

In recent years, the Technion has engaged in nano-technology research in a number of areas: nano-electronics, nano-optics, nano-materials, and their interface with life sciences. This field brings about collaborations between scientists in a variety of disciplines and from different faculties. The element displayed in the stamp is an excellent example of this.

The stamp tab features the invitation to “the cornerstone laying ceremony, on Thursday, 24 Nissan 5672 (April 11, 1912), at 3 pm at the Technikum plot”.

The First Day Cover shows a photo of the Technion building after its completion, along with a rendering of the building. Above them float icosahedrons, bodies taken from the research of Prof. Dan Shechtman of the Technion, the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 2011 for his discovery of quasiperiodic crystals.

The photo seen in the stamp is that of a nano-parachute on the palm of a hand – courtesy of Miki Koren.

The stamp was designed by Naama Tumarkin, Director of the Israel Technion Society.

Denomination: NIS 2.60.

Above (right to left): Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie, Mayor Yona Yahav, Prof. Aaron Ciechanover, Prof. Avram Hershko, Prof. Dan Shechtman, Sasi Shilo, Prof. Eyal Zussman, Yaron Ratzon, Naama Tumarkin and Prof. Danny Weihs. Photo by Shlomo Shoham, Technion Spokesman