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A hackathon focused on coping with extreme heat waves in urban areas recently took place at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology as part of the Entrepreneurship and Career Day organized by t-hub, the Technion Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center. First place went to the ‘SOLARit’ team for their initiative, which enables the supply of electricity during power outages by using heat from water in solar water heaters. The winning team was comprised of four students from the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering: Yoav Ronen, Ester Konstantinov, Andrei Serenko, Noy Winetraub, and Neta Soto. They worked on developing a Stirling engine as an add-on to existing solar water heaters, in order to utilize heat from the water to produce local energy for the home’s refrigerator and air-conditioning system during emergencies, such as when there is a power outage.

The winning team will represent the Technion at Green Challenge – an international sustainability hackathon taking place in Denmark on June 23, 2023. The Technion’s Sustainability Frontier will fund their flights and their participation in the hackathon.

R-L top row: Ronit Piso (the Social Hub), Andrei Serenko, Ester Konstantinov, Yoav Ronen, Tal Fein (Green Energy student group), Orly Mulla (Sustainability Center), Revital Rivkin (Technion Student Association), and Ohad Schindler (head of the Green Energy student group). Bottom row: Noy Winetraub, Neta Soto, and Lior Kedem (mentor from the Termokir company, who supervised the winning team during the competition)

The event was a collaboration between the Technion’s Sustainability Center, the Social Hub, and the Technion Student Association. More than 50 students from a variety of faculties took part, divided into 11 teams. The competition was launched two weeks before the hackathon with a lecture about mapping challenges in the event of extreme heat waves by Naama Shapira of the Technion’s Samuel Neaman Institute. Her lecture covered the environmental and social ramifications on urban residents, including the collapse of the electric system and other essential systems, fires and floods, energy poverty, and a rise in disease and violence.

The ‘Eco Shade’ team won second place with their social-environmental initiative to set up cooling systems in public transportation stations. Their cooling system is based on plants attached to manual water pumps. The team included students Tamar Klein, Dror Arie, Hadas Levy, and Omri Leshem, from the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering.

Third place went to the ‘Keep it Cool’ team for their application that helps transfer disadvantaged populations to safe spaces during emergencies. The app connects the users to the Health Funds and Social Security in order to quickly reach people who require assistance. The team included Raphael Zailer, Harel Yadid, Shon Wolfson, Ofek Har Even, Fatima Abu Rabiah, and Ido Reuven from the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

The hackathon was organized by two students: Ohad Schindler of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Tal Fein of the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Ohad Schindler (center) with several of the participants

The students were supervised by the following mentors: Naama Shapira of the Samuel Neaman Institute, Tali Nimrodi of the Clariter company, Yoni Haran from the company Village in the Box, Lior Kedem from Termokir Industries, Ofer Keren of Green Academy, doctoral student Naga Venkata Sai Kumar of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, and guests Dr. Bela Nikitina and student Or Sharon of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

The competition’s judges were Prof. Michelle Portman of the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning; Dr. Yael Danin-Poleg of the Social Hub; Alona Selfin, head of industrial relations and marketing in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Nimrod Peleg, laboratory director at the Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Ariel Beeri of The Generator, which promotes entrepreneurial initiatives for coping with extreme heat waves.

The Doing Good hackathon concluded recently at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology’s Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science. In the course of the hackathon, students developed technological solutions for social challenges. This year, the hackathon focused on improving the quality of life for children in hospitals and it was conducted in close collaboration with the Ruth Rappaport Children’s Hospital of the Rambam Health Care Campus and with Prof. Daniella Magen, Director of the Pediatrics Division and the Pediatrics Nephrology Institute at Rambam.

The ‘ProTechTor’ team won first place, having developed an automated alert system for events of violence against medical personnel. The team included B.Sc. students Gil Litvin and Edo Cohen, and M.Sc. students Nadav Rubinstein and Idan Levi.

The ProTechTor student team, who won first place, with Faculty Dean Prof. Danny Raz and Aharon Aharon

Having learned from medical personnel about the limitations of distress buttons in hospitals, including their inaccessibility and the aversion towards using them, ‘ProTechTor’ invented an automatic AI-based system that provides alerts during incidents involving violence or potential violence. According to Litvin, “the system is based on video feeds and separates the sound from the images. The sound is analyzed according to its intensity, content, and emotional charge (fear and anger) and the images are analyzed according to the degree of violence they contain. Artificial intelligence then enables the system to provide information about each scene in a traffic light format – devoid of violence (green), potential for violence (yellow) or contains actual violence (red). An agreed code word can be added to the system and can be used by the medical personnel in the event of violence or potential violence.”

Second place went to students who developed a medical chatbot. A team that developed an efficient communications interface between patients and the nursing staff came in third. The concept was devised by one of the students who had been hospitalized as a child in the oncology department. The Audience’s Favorite category was won by a team that invented an application for physical therapy.

Second place winners

Third place winners

Prof. Danny Raz, Dean of the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science, told the participants that, “this hackathon is special – its purpose is to create something that will contribute to the community and that represents computers in the service of humanity (#CS4people). People look at high-tech and don’t understand how it affects them. It’s important that we be part of the community. Together we can make a better society.”

Prof. Daniella Magen said: “The world of medicine is marching forward thanks to advanced technology and out-of-the-box thinking, but the force that motivates development in the field of medicine is the aspiration to improve humanity and alleviate suffering. Working together with our creative partners at the Technion’s Faculty of Computer Science is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen the ties between medicine and innovation, which is likely to generate amazing initiatives that can improve the quality of life for the sick children we treat.”

Profs. Danny Raz and Daniella Magen

Approximately 130 students took part in the hackathon. They were supervised and assisted by researchers and engineers from the Technion and from the industry, as well as by doctors and members of the nursing staff, who helped them get their solutions to the finishing line with real proofs of feasibility. The challenges were presented by Rambam staff based on actual problems that exist in the hospital: patients’ and medical personnel’s waiting times, pain level monitoring in children, and various problems related to transferring patients from the hospital back to their homes.

The hackathon judges

The hackathon was organized by four students from the Taub Faculty of Computer Science: Benny Mosheyev, Shelly Golan, Mor Ventura and Michael Toker.

The Israel Innovation Institute’s PLANETech community has embarked on a unique collaboration with the Technion, whereby researchers from different academic departments whose studies relate to FoodTech, water, energy and materials, meet with entrepreneurs and investors interested in Climate Tech. The two groups will conduct a series of meetings during which they will tackle an important, high-impact challenge: how to accelerate the translation of scientific breakthroughs into applications that will help fight the climate crisis.

Prof. Avner Rothschild

The opening session at the Technion was led by Noam Sonennberg of PLANETech; Prof. Avner Rothschild, Deputy Senior VP for Sustainability at the Technion; Rona Samler, Chief Business Officer at Technion R&D Foundation Ltd.; and Orly Mulla, Director of the Sustainability Center at the Technion. Twenty Technion researchers whose fields of expertise cover water, energy and food took part, as well as around 20 entrepreneurs. The purpose was to form “business matches.”

After the various research projects were presented, scientists and entrepreneurs discussed topics including renewable energy technologies, moderated by Uri Sadot and Itay Diamant from the company SolarEdge; food technologies, led by Ari Ben Dror of the Good Food Institute Israel; water technologies, with Ravid Levy of WaterEdge.IL; and materials, headed by Zvi Cohen of Criaterra Innovations.

Noam Sonennberg, Director of PLANETech, said that “the key to successfully fighting climate change is deep technological developments and their rapid, extensive assimilation. Important scientific breakthroughs in this field already exist and are waiting to emerge from the walls of academia and become tech companies. Many times, the problem lies in bringing together the science and technology people and the entrepreneurs. Together, they can build amazing companies that can help us solve the largest challenge of our generation.”

Prof. Avner Rothschild, Deputy Senior VP for Sustainability at the Technion, added that, “this initiative connects between entrepreneurs on the one hand, researchers and groundbreaking research projects on the other, with the aim of sprouting companies that will develop new tech solutions for overcoming the environmental and climate crises. This is the first step of the Technion’s Sustainability Frontier, which was recently established with a view to harness the Technion’s vast knowledge and experience in a wide variety of fields. The Sustainability Frontier aims to develop sustainable solutions for the environmental and climate challenges, engage the Technion community and create partnerships with other communities in order to work together to achieve a viable future for the next generations.”

The Technion mourns the passing of Mr. Zohar Zisapel, graduate of the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and one of the pillars of the Israeli Start-Up Nation. Recipient of the Israel Defense Prize, Technion Honorary Doctorate and Technion Medal, Mr. Zisapel was a true friend of the Technion and one of its greatest and most dedicated supporters through the years.

Receiving Technion Honorary Doctorate, 2001

Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan said: “Zohar was a true friend of the Andrew and his Alma Mater, the Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His vision, his innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as his deep social commitment, made him, together with his brother Yehuda, who is also a graduate of the same faculty, a source of pride for us and an inspirational model for all Technion graduates. Zohar was among the rare people who envisioned the future and then made it a reality. His pioneering endeavors, in which he saw the Technion as a true partner, contributed immensely to the development of Israel’s high-tech industries. He and his brother recognized early on the technological potential of nanotechnology and helped establish the Sara and Moshe Zisapel Nanoelectronics Center in the Technion, the first of its kind in Israel. This center, together with the Russel Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) sparked the Israeli nanotech revolution. The new building of the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which will carry the names of Zohar and Yehuda Zisapel, will perpetuate their vision, and enable the continued growth of the faculty, the recruitment of leading faculty members and the nourishing of the next generation of Israeli engineers. We are grateful to Zohar and to his family for their support, partnership, and steadfast friendship. May his memory be a blessing.”

Inauguration of the Yehuda and Zohar Zisapel Electrical and Computer Engineering building, 2022

“The Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering grieves the untimely passing of its graduate and friend, Mr. Zohar Zisapel Z”L,” said Faculty Dean Professor Idit Keidar. “He was one of the faculty’s most prominent graduates, a man of vision and a pillar of Israeli high-tech industry. His and his brother’s generosity enabled the faculty’s growth for years to come. May his memory be a blessing.”

In 2001 the Technion awarded Mr. Zohar Zisapel an honorary doctorate, “in appreciation for his long-standing affinity and manifold contribution to the Technion as one of its outstanding graduates, in acknowledgement of his leadership and pioneering endeavors for the development of Israel’s high-technology industries, and in recognition of his remarkable conviction and unfailing commitment to attain economic stability and prosperity for the State of Israel.”

Cornerstone laying. L-R: Prof. Peretz Lavie, Mr. Yehuda Zisapel, Mr. Zohar Zisapel, Prof. Uri Sivan

Recognizing the future importance of the field of nanotechnology, the cornerstone of the Sara and Moshe Zisapel Nanoelectronics Center, named after Zohar and Yehuda’s parents, was laid in 2003. Prof. Uri Sivan, who was then the head of the Russel Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, said at the inauguration event that “the center will boost Technion research in this field for decades to come.” At the same event, the 9^th President of Israel, Mr. Shimon Peres Z”L said, “my mentor, Ben Gurion, said that all experts are experts in what has already come to pass, but there are no experts in what’s to come. Zohar and Yehuda are just that – experts in what the future holds.”

In 2019, the Zisapel brothers made a large donation to the construction of the new Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering building, to be named in their honor. At the laying of the cornerstone, Zohar Zisapel said “when we studied here, there were discussions in the faculty over whether it should focus on electricity or electronics. But today, I understand that you must focus on both, and also be open to many other areas. The Technion always knew how to respond to the needs of the industry and it’s important that it continues to stay up to date and enter areas that are expected to develop in the future.” At the building’s inauguration ceremony last year, he said “about 50 years ago we applied to the Technion because it was the best engineering school in Israel, and really the only engineering school in Israel. It remains to maintain the Technion’s leading status, and we are happy that we can contribute to that.”

Laying the cornerstone for the Sara and Moshe Zisapel Nanoelectronics Center, 2003

Last year, the Technion Medal was awarded to Zohar and to his brother Yehuda. This is the highest honor given by the Technion in recognition of a lifetime’s work dedicated to the Technion, and for contributing to the advancement of humanity, to the welfare of the Jewish people, and to the State of Israel. The Medal has only been awarded to 16 outstanding individuals so far. The medal was awarded to Zohar Zisapel “for being one of the pillars of the Startup Nation and an outstanding role model among generations of Technion alumni. For his generous and devoted support of the Technion and his alma mater, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering. For his educational, social, and philanthropic activities, focused on cultivating young people from the periphery and promoting excellence in Israeli education. For his vision and endeavors laying the foundations for training the utmost engineers and researchers in the Israeli high-tech industry, which requires supreme human capital to ensure its continued prosperity.”

“Topology and Physics on Mount Carmel” conference took place last week at the Technion. The conference, organized by Professors Ari Turner and Eric Akkermans from the Technion Department of Physics, was dedicated to Prof. Emeritus Joshua Zak, recipient of the Israel Prize. Its aim was not only to discuss the most recent developments in the field of topological physics, but also to allow as many students and young researchers as possible to attend and to learn from some of the best researchers in this field worldwide.

Topology, like group theory, is an elegant field of mathematics that allows one to describe geometrical forms, wherever they occur. It is surprising how dramatic the implications of some of its concepts can be for physics experiments. The conference aims to bring together many of the physicists contributing creatively to the “topological revolution” in condensed matter physics, in honor of one of its pioneers, professor Joshua Zak.

Prof. Zak was awarded the Israel Prize in 2022 for his development of ‘Zak Transform’, an advanced mathematical operation that studies quantum phenomena in crystalline solids, and his discovery of ‘Zak Phase’, a unique 1D crystal phase. Zak Transform is already being used in signal processing, and the Zak Phase has been widely cited and verified in numerous experiments. These tools pave the way to build and predict the capabilities of electronic devices using materials with unique properties.

Among the speakers at the conference was Prof. Immanuel Bloch from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Prof. Bloch was the first to show experimentally the ‘Zak Phase’, discovered by Prof. Zak.

Joshua Zak, 93, was born in Vilnius in 1929. Aged twelve, he was placed in a ghetto together with his family. Later, he found himself in concentration camps, where he lost both parents and two brothers. After the war, Zak studied physics in the University of Vienna, and graduated Cum Laude in 1955. In 1957 he made Aliyah, and in 1960 completed his PhD at the Technion. After some time at MIT, Prof. Zak returned to the Technion, where he received tenure and was among the establishers of the Solid State Institute.

L-R: Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan; Prof Emeritus Joshua Zak; Prof. Adi Nusser, Dean of the Department of Physics

Conference Program: https://phsites.technion.ac.il/topology-and-physics-on-mount-carmel/program/?fbclid=IwAR3VdutZ5wNr707Rib4t1UGpdTsCB1u7mf5ZtzfWxNd6JMsPWc_r32-SVXU

The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is proud to announce that Dr. Vesna Bacheva is one of just 32 global recipients of the prestigious Schmidt Science Fellows postdoctoral program.

Dr. Vesna Bacheva
Photo credit: Dr. Bacheva’s personal collection

Dr. Bacheva, a native of the Republic of North Macedonia, completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). In 2018, she was recruited to the Technion’s Faculty of Mechanical Engineering as part of a unique Ph.D. program established by Professors Moran Bercovici and Govind Kaigala (formerly of IBM Research, now of the University of British Columbia) that enabled her to split her time between the Technion and IBM Research in Zürich. During her Ph.D., Dr. Bacheva focused on developing novel methods for reconfigurable platforms by using electric fields and light to create programmable flow fields and structures at small scales. “Vesna was one of the most prolific students I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with,” says Prof. Bercovici. “Her Ph.D. was distinctly multidisciplinary with deep contributions to basic physics, analytical chemistry, and microtechnology.” Prof. Kaigala adds: “We were very happy to hear that Vesna was announced as the recipient of the Schmidt Science Fellowship, but not at all surprised.”

Dr. Bacheva has received numerous awards during her short career, including the Best Young Innovator Award given by the President of North Macedonia, best talk prizes at multiple prestigious conferences, the Kavli Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the Postdoc Mobility Fellowship awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. When we asked Dr. Bacheva for her advice for future students, she said: “When I was young, I thought science was all about equations and experiments. It was only over time that I realized science is about finding the right people to work with. I was extremely lucky in that sense, and I am very grateful to both the Technion and IBM Research for giving me the support and facilities to conduct research that is at the very forefront of science. But the true strength of these institutions lies in their people, and I’m forever grateful to my amazing team members, my collaborators, and of course my outstanding advisors.”

Beyond the lab, Dr. Bacheva is a passionate athlete, having recently completed the 70.3 Ironman, consisting of 1.9 km of swimming, 90 km of biking, and 21.1 km of running. “An important drive in my research and life is my passion for endurance sports. Training for long-distance triathlons taught me the importance of dedication and commitment that is needed in achieving long-term goals in life,” she says.

Dr. Vesna Bacheva

Dr. Bacheva is now a postdoctoral researcher at Prof. Abraham Strook’s lab at Cornell University. She still relies on her expertise in microfluidics, but now applies her knowledge to a completely different field: plant physiology, a field of plant sciences that focuses on understanding how plants work. She aims to develop new technologies and models to study the transport of nutrients in plants and hopes that her research will enable progress in the productivity and substantiality of crop-based agriculture in an increasingly food-insecure world. Moreover, Dr. Bacheva hopes that her research will inspire more engineers to pivot into plant sciences, which currently lacks the involvement of the engineering community and transdisciplinary training needed for fundamental biological discoveries.

Dr. Bacheva aspires to start her own research group and train the next generation of scientists while conducting cutting-edge research on society’s most pressing challenges.

The 62^nd annual Israel Conference on Aerospace Sciences (IACAS) took place last month in Tel Aviv and at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. It dealt with a variety of scientific aspects of aviation and space, including drones, cyber threats, rocket propulsion, and improving aircraft.

The conference was opened by a lecture from Major General (Res.) Amikam Norkin, who was the commander of Israel’s Air Force from 2017 to 2022, on the topic: “The Middle East as seen from the cockpit.”

Major General (Res.) Amikam Norkin

According to Major General (Res.) Norkin, “In the last decade, the reality relevant to Israel has changed in all circles – domestic, Middle Eastern, and global. Israel is currently in a changing sphere of threats by organizations and other actors and is also affected by the wide range of global events – relations between the U.S. and China, the war in Ukraine, and the fight against ISIS. Faced with this reality, we must decide which threats we should focus on and invest in. Will we focus on the terrorist threats in Gaza? On the danger in Lebanon? And maybe the Iranian threat? These are fateful and weighty decisions.”

Prof. Tal Shima, dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, with Dr. Judith Hocherman-Frommer, EVP R&D at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems

Over the two-day conference, more than 120 lectures were held on a variety of topics, including propulsion, navigation, autonomous systems, missile avoidance, engine-propeller coordination, flexible wings, computational learning in the world of aviation, hypersonic aviation, and developments in wind tunnels. Numerous renowned lecturers from leading institutions around the world participated in the conference.

The second day of the conference, which took place at the Technion, was opened by Professor Tal Shima, dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering. He said that “the conference brings together the best experts in academia and industry, in Israel and abroad, and is a platform for promoting knowledge and joint projects. This year we invited some 100 high school students to the conference, and we hope that many of them will come to study at the Technion and lead the world of Israeli aeronautics in the future.” He then thanked the conference organizers, the Chairman of the organizing committee, Brigadier General Shlomi Konforty, Head of Materiel Directorate at the Israeli Air Force, and the Chairman of the program committee, Technion Professor Beni Cukurel.

Prof. Thomas Corke from the University of Notre Dame

The opening lecture on the second day was given by Dr. Judith Hocherman-Frommer, who holds three degrees from the Technion, and who is the current executive vice president for Research and Development at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. She talked about the challenges facing Israel and Rafael in particular. She also addressed the 100 high school students in attendance, and said that “aeronautics is an amazing interdisciplinary field that is changing the world, and we invite you to join this community.” When asked by an audience member when the pilot’s course will no longer be needed, she replied, “unmanned vehicles will continue to improve and replace pilots in many and varied tasks, but they will not be able to replace the human pilot completely, certainly not in the near future.”

Brigadier General Shlomi Konforty, Head of Materiel Directorate at the Israeli Air Force

The IACAS Conference is an annual event that brings together the aeronautics and space community in Israel and leading experts from abroad. The conference is supported by the Technion, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the Israel Aerospace Industry, Elbit Systems, and Lockheed Martin.

A new collaboration, focusing on the use of AI in the field of medicine, is taking shape these days. It will connect the University of Toronto’s leading Center for AI in Medicine (T-CAIREM) to the Technion’s Artificial Intelligence Hub (Tech.AI), specifically to Tech.AI.BioMed, Tech.AI’s branch for the field of medicine. The collaboration will bring together faculty members and research students from both institutions, to develop advanced responses to the medicine of the future around challenges of common interest. T-CAIREM is the meeting point for the University of Toronto’s community of over 1,000 researchers, research students and professionals, connected to all hospitals in the Toronto area.

Tech.AI, is in the midst of an accelerated development process focusing on the use of AI in the field of medicine. Tech.AI.BioMed, headed by Associate Prof. Shai Shen-Orr, a Tech.AI Co-director from the Rapaport Faculty of Medicine, places a strong emphasis on establishing new programs and collaborations.

Associate Professor Shai Shen-Orr

The new collaboration will be launched in a joint workshop attended by dozens of scientists and research students from the two institutions. It will take place on May 8-10 this year in Ein Gedi. The workshop is to serve as a starting point and accelerator for the new collaboration. The two institutions will present their capabilities in the field of AI for medicine, discuss areas with potential for growth and common interest for both institutions, and discuss the types of collaboration that will allow joint teams from both institutions to receive support for the new activity.

The bulk of the joint workshop will be devoted to the consolidation of researchers from both institutions into work teams around issues of common interest. The new teams will start working on proposals for research collaborations, the creation of new methodologies, initiatives that promote education in the field, and initiatives to share existing data and the creation of new data.

Workshop in Ein Gedi Participants

“The Temerty Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education in Medicine (T-CAIREM) of the University of Toronto is very excited to work with the excellent clinicians and researchers from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology on this highly collaborative and interdisciplinary initiative,” said Prof. Muhammad Mamdani, director of T-CAIREM. “Our goal is to advance innovative research in AI in medicine that will serve as the foundation for transforming medicine and delivering the best possible care for the patients we serve.”

“The new collaboration with the University of Toronto” Prof. Shen-Orr says, “is a necessary and desirable addition to the accelerated development process of the Technion’s Artificial Intelligence Hub. Just this year we have established several new programs around the use of AI for the improvement, acceleration and accuracy of medicine. We have launched the Zimin Institute for AI Solutions in Medicine, awarded research grants to leading research programs in which we see commercialization potential, and now we are laying down another broad foundation for the Tech.AI.BioMed activity that promotes the use of AI in medicine. We are certain that this collaboration will add depth and richness to our toolbox for creating new responses that will shape the medicine of the future”.

The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology recently hosted Professor Jeff Hoffman from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who talked about his journey to fulfill his childhood dream to become an astronaut. “As a child, my father bought us a telescope to watch the stars,” he said in his lecture, “and ever since, I was captivated by the magic of astrophysics.” A significant part of the lecture addressed NASA’s Mars landing mission and the project that Prof. Hoffman has been working on in recent years, MOXIE, which is a system for producing oxygen on Mars.

The system, which is the size of a small toaster, was placed on Mars to demonstrate the possibility of supplying oxygen to the humans arriving there in the future. In 2021, NASA reported the first production of oxygen from carbon dioxide on Mars using the MOXIE system installed on the Perseverance spacecraft. Last year, Prof. Hoffman reported on the success in producing oxygen in seven different experiments under different conditions and at an average rate of six grams per hour. His results were published in the journal Science Advances. At the Technion, Prof. Hoffman explained, “The rate of oxygen we’ve been able to produce so far on Mars is enough for a dog, but not yet for humans. Our goal is to produce three kilograms of oxygen per hour. Such a process consumes a lot of energy, which will probably come from a nuclear source in the future.”

Talk given by Prof. Hoffman

Prof. Hoffman, born in 1944, earned a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Harvard University. He was one of 35 astronauts accepted by NASA out of 8,000 applicants in 1978. Since then, he has accumulated more than 1,200 space hours, during which he amassed 34.5 million kilometers of space travel.

Over the years, he participated in five space missions, including the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope, a mission that required him to specialize in space walking. In 2007, he was inducted into the American Astronaut Hall of Fame.

Prof. Hoffman talking to Technion students

During his lecture at the Technion, Prof. Hoffman said: “Being an astronaut is the hardest profession in the world. That said, we astronauts are human beings, and when we go on a journey in space, we bring our history and culture with us. In the Jewish tradition that I grew up on, ‘Tikun Olam’ is of great importance, and I feel that the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope was my personal ‘Tikun Olam.’ It was the most significant thing I did in my life and is my biggest contribution to science and astrophysics. At that event, I was privileged to perform the first unplanned spacewalk in history.”

On his trip to space in 1993, which took place around Hanukkah, Hoffman brought with him a special dreidel that he spun in the spacecraft. Three years later, he brought a special Torah scroll into space and read its first verses in front of the cameras that broadcasted the event to Earth. Now, some seven years after his previous visit to the Technion as part of the events of the International Space University (ISU), Prof. Hoffman returned to the university for the premiere of the film Torah in Space, documenting the same journey that took place in 1996. The film was presented by Rachel Raz, who initiated and produced the film. Technion students, high school students, and faculty members took part in the festive screening. The event opened with a welcome by Prof. Adi Salzberg, Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion. After the event, Prof. Hoffman toured the Asher Institute for Space Research at the Technion and met with the head of the Institute, Prof. Yoram Rozen.

Prof. Hoffman with students from Bosmat high school

Professor Avner Rothschild from the faculty of Material Science and Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology was awarded the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant, of about €3 million. The ERC Advanced Grant is given to the best proposals by researchers who have a track-record of significant research achievements in the last 10 years.

Prof. Avner Rothschild

Prof. Rothschild will develop a transformative water electrolysis process (splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen) for green hydrogen production. The project aims for high efficiency in a process that supports membraneless electrolysis with minimal energy losses, going far beyond other electrolysis processes. These goals will be achieved by dividing the oxygen evolution reaction into two sub-reactions, carried out in different cells. It is this separation that would eliminate the necessity of a membrane, making the process safer, as well as more cost- and energy-efficient.

The development of the innovative process poses challenges, addressing which requires multidisciplinary research in materials science, electrochemistry, catalysis, and process engineering. The preliminary proof of concept was he Master Thesis research of Ilya Slobodkin (2022, summa cum laude), working together with Dr. Elena Davydova, from Prof. Rothschild’s group.

Progress in this field will lead the way to a competitive solution for green hydrogen production to fight global warming and advance the science of catalysts and electrodes for advanced water electrolysis and related technologies.