TAU Review 2021

Levona Twito, TAU theater student

Tel Aviv University | 2021

Welcome back students!

Officers of Tel Aviv University Prof. Jacob A. Frenkel Chairman of the Board of Governors Mr. Eli Gelman Chairman of the Executive Council Prof. Ariel Porat President Prof. Mark Shtaif Rector Mr. Gady Frank Director-General Prof. Milette Shamir Vice President Prof. Dan Peer Vice President for Research and Development Mr. Amos Elad Vice President for Resource Development Mr. Robert Goldberg, Dr. h.c. Michael H. Steinhardt Chairmen Emeriti of the Board of Governors Dr. h.c. Dame Shirley Porter, Dr. h.c. Jeremy Coller Deputy Chairpersons of the Board of Governors Dr. h.c. Sylvan Adams, Dr. h.c. Marcus Besen, Dr. h.c. Josef Buchmann, Dr. h.c. Boaz Dotan, Mr. James Dubin, Dr. Anita Friedman, Dr. h.c.

Sami Sagol Vice Chairpersons of the Board of Governors Ms. Dafna Meitar-Nechmad, Dr. Anita Friedman Co-Chairs of the TAU Global Campaign Prof. Eyal Zisser Vice Rector Prof. Yaron Oz Pro-Rector Prof. Eran Neuman Dean of the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts Prof. Yossi Rosenwaks Dean of the Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering Prof. Tova Milo Dean of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences Prof. Rachel Gali Cinamon Dean of the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities Prof. Sharon Hannes Dean of the Buchmann Faculty of Law Prof. Abdussalam Azem Dean of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences

Dear Friends, Did you know that ten TAU alumni were appointed ministers in Israel’s new government, and two TAU faculty members joined the Israeli Knesset?

If we combine this achievement with the recent election of Isaac Herzog, a graduate of TAU’s Buchmann Faculty of Law, as Israel’s President, we see a vibrant example of the outsized standing of TAU alumni in this country’s political, business and social leadership. More news on high-impact graduates and TAU’s Alumni Organization is featured in this magazine.

TAU also continues in its national scientific leadership. The University launched the multidisciplinary Center for AI and Data Science, part of a wider drive to replicate Israel’s cyber success in the AI field. In a different kind of lift-off, TAU sent a research nanosatellite into orbit. The next “nanosat” will measure climate-related data as part of TAU’s new Center for Climate Change Action.

Back on the ground, TAU is forging ties with the UAE in the areas of water research, cyber, AI, smart cities, medicine and other fields. An exciting collaboration we began with Columbia University—the Dual Degree Program in Liberal Arts—is attracting robust student enrolment.

As we wind down this academic year and plan for 2021-22, the mood on campus is bright. TAU resumed “live” teaching after almost a year and is looking forward to renewed and expanded international activities. We’re especially eager to welcome back to the campus our partners, friends, donors and alumni who have been magnificently supportive during this challenging time and whose presence has been greatly missed.

Regards,

Prof. Moshe Zviran Dean of the Coller School of Management Prof. Ehud Grossman Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine Prof. Itai Sened Dean of the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences

Prof. Ariel Porat President, Tel Aviv University

Prof. Tova Most Dean of Students Prof. Liat Kishon Rabin Dean of Innovation in Learning and Teaching

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How Will AI Change Our Lives?

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TAU explores new, multidisciplinary frontiers in artificial intelligence

Post-COVID Resilience 11

Tel Aviv University | 2021

TAU's Dr. Bruria Adini talks about overcoming pandemics Issued by the Strategic Communications Dept.

Development and Public Affairs Division Tel Aviv University Ramat Aviv 6997801 Tel Aviv, Israel Tel: +972-73-380-4251 Fax: + 972–3–6407080 E-mail: mtakefman@tauex.tau.ac.il

Big Ideas

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Change-Makers

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TLV Perspectives

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Global Campaign

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http://taureview.tau.ac.il Editor-in-Chief: Melanie Takefman Contributors: Rava Eleasari, Ruti Ziv, Idit Nirel, Lindsey Zemler, Judith Sudilovsky, Susan de la Fuente Photo Editor: Moshe Bedarshi Photo Assistant: Rafael Ben-Menashe Administrative Assistant and Webmaster: David Jozsef Layout: Michal Semo Kovetz Cover Photo: Yoram Reshef Cover Design: Issi Dvir Contributing Photographers: Yoram Reshef, Moshe Bedarshi, Yehonatan Zur, Yael Tzur, Muki Schwartz, Shiraz Pashinsky, DEF, Jose Cordeiro, Michal Kidron, NIAID, Chen Galili, Ofer Hajayov, Michal Ben-Ami, Shai Halevi, Israel Hadari Printing: Shavit Printing

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Alumni

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News in Brief

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The Social Page

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Rising Star 15 Dr. Wasim Huleihel named TAU's inaugural Neubauer Lecturer

Student Life

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TAU's Black Family Student Club resumes social activities

BIG IDEAS

Robot Hears through Locust Ear I

n a world first, an organic ear has been connected to a robot, which can receive electrical signals, “hear,” and respond accordingly.

To achieve this breakthrough, a team of TAU researchers used a special device, called Ear-ona-Chip, developed at the lab of Dr. Ben Maoz of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and Sagol School of Neuroscience. The device kept the ear—taken from a locust—alive by supplying it with oxygen and nutrients, while allowing the electrical signals to be taken out of the ear and then amplified and transmitted to the robot.

Based on the project’s success, the team plans to use this integrative model in other applications. Maoz

Idan Fishel and the robot

notes that biological systems are more sensitive and less expensive than their technological equivalents—and also consume less energy—thus making the hybrid system a winning option.

“Nature is more advanced than we are,” says Dr. Maoz, a Blavatnik Faculty Recruit. “The principle we have demonstrated can be applied to other senses. For example, some animals

have amazing abilities to detect explosives or drugs. A robot with a biological nose could help us save human lives and identify criminals. The sky is the limit.”

The study was led by Idan Fishel, an MSc graduate, under the supervision of Maoz and Profs. Yossi Yovel and Amir Ayali of the School of Zoology and Sagol School of Neuroscience.

and tested at an Israeli university. The size of a shoebox, it hitched a ride into space on a NASA rocket and is now conducting experiments while in orbit, including the measurement of cosmic radiation.

The achievement was the fruit of an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Center for Nanosatellites and New Space of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, the Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, and the Constantiner School of Education.

The initiative included a strong educational element: In addition to

TAU students and faculty, a diverse group of high school pupils were involved in TAU-SAT1’s development, from writing software to testing.

“The students come from all over the country, including the periphery, and hail from different cultural and religious backgrounds,” says Sharon Mishaal, a staff member of the Constantiner School of Education and the Nanosatellite Center. “Our goal is to make the field of space accessible to youngsters from across Israel.”

TAU researchers are now working on a new satellite that will measure climate change. It will be launched through TAU’s newly-created interdisciplinary Center for Climate Change Action.

TAU Soars into Space T el Aviv University soared out of this world with the festive launch of TAU-SAT1—the first nanosatellite to be designed, developed, assembled

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BIG IDEAS

TAU-Developed Pigment Could Revolutionize Skin Care

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Tel Aviv University researcher has developed a new method for creating colorful melanin-like pigments, which outperform natural melanin. This and related discoveries

by Dr. Ayala Lampel of TAU’s Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research could potentially be used to enhance sunscreen products to better defend against sunburn, signs of aging and skin cancer.

Melanin, the pigment responsible for our hair and skin color, serves multiple functions in our bodies, the most

important being to protect our skin from the harmful effects of sunlight.

In her post-doctoral research, Dr. Lampel—together with Prof. Rein Ulijn and other colleagues at the City University of New York—synthesized slightly different types of pigments, which change color depending on the substances added to them.

The composite pigments possess different rates of UV absorbance and fluorescent emission, which can thus serve different purposes.

Lampel is now working on the synthetic melanin to make it more suitable for large-scale use in the skincare industry.

TAU Researchers Identify Dyslexia in Sign Language

Doron Levy

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ommon reading disorders also affect deaf people who “read” sign language. This groundbreaking finding was made by Prof. Naama Friedmann, academic director of the MiLa Center – the Cukier, GoldsteinGoren Center for Mind and Language at Tel Aviv University. The research was conducted in cooperation with PhD candidate Doron Levy whose 4

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mother tongue is sign language—and serves as a basis for new diagnostic tools and interventions.

Signers of Israeli Sign Language use fingerspelling to convey names of people, places or brand names that do not have a designated sign.

The TAU researchers discovered letter-position dyslexia among some deaf signers, a deficit that causes confusion in the order of letters both in written words and in finger-spelled words. The team also developed the world’s first tool for diagnosing the disorder. Together with PhD candidate Neta Haluts, they are developing additional tests to diagnose other

common disorders among users of Israeli Sign Language.

Levy, the only deaf student currently pursuing a PhD at TAU, is the former Chairman of the Association of the Deaf in Israel. “Until now assessment tools for reading disorders in sign language have been lacking,” he says.

“This research is vital for identifying problems early on and designing better treatments. It could also shed light on how our mind reads and interprets language.”

In addition to her role at the MiLa Center, Friedmann is a researcher at TAU’s Constantiner School of Education and Sagol School of Neuroscience.

The MiLa Center was established in 2018 by the Cukier, Goldstein-Goren Foundation, a longstanding supporter of TAU.

“The Restart”: What Nature Can Teach Us

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Students in the Columbia-TAU Dual Degree program on the TAU campus From left: Lemony David, Ann Mizrahi, Katie Friedman, Asher Dayanim and Kristupas Packauskas

TAU and Columbia University Launch Dual Degree Program D

espite the worldwide lockdown, an enthusiastic cohort of students arrived in Tel Aviv in fall 2020 for the inaugural year of the Columbia-Tel Aviv University Dual Degree in Liberal Arts program.

In a first-of-its-kind partnership between an Ivy League university and an Israeli institution of higher learning, the multidisciplinary program enables students to simultaneously earn two bachelor’s degrees—one from each institution.

Asher Dayanim, a first-year student from Philadelphia, chose the dual degree program because it “fit all of my goals: to spend time in another country and learn a new language.”

Although he studied remotely from his TAU dorm room until April,

Dayanim says he loved the content of his classes. He was able to become acquainted with fellow students at the dorms through regulated social activities in-person as well as online.

Now, upon his return to the classroom, he says, “Meeting my classmates after only seeing them on a zoom screen for a whole semester is a profound experience. I have already started to bounce around ideas about philosophy, history, politics and economics and to learn from their experiences.”

Dual-degree students study in TAU’s International Liberal Arts Program at the Entin Faculty of Humanities for their first two years and spend their last two years at Columbia University in New York City.

estarting happens often in the natural world and has many benefits, according to Dr. Shlomi Reuveni of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler School of Chemistry.

“If until now, we thought that restarting a process is counterproductive and a waste of resources, we now know that restarting can help us finish processes quicker and with greater efficiency,” he says.

Reuveni, a graduate of TAU’s Adi Lautman Program for Outstanding Students, recently published a series of studies on the applicability and effectiveness of resetting—or restarting—across multiple scientific disciplines, with his interdisciplinary research group. In one of the studies, the team proved mathematically that resetting is effective in optimizing processes or overcoming challenges in conditions of high uncertainty.

For example, when an animal searches for hidden food, returning home periodically can increase the effectiveness of the search.

Resetting provides a fresh start, which is often required to optimize random processes that involve elements of chance, he explains.

This is true in a wide spectrum of phenomena in the natural world from the functioning of enzymes—the engines responsible for our bodily functions—to animal survival.

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BIG IDEAS Prof. Noam Shomron (right) discusses test results with MD-PhD candidate Yazeed Zoabi (left) and doctoral candidate Meitar Grad in his lab.

Exploring New With the global artificial intelligence market skyrocketing, TAU’s Center for AI and Data Science leads the way in Israel—and beyond 6

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By Judith Sudilovsky

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Frontiers in AI

he endless possibilities of artificial intelligence (AI) have ignited human imagination for decades. From Star Wars and Blade Runner to the recent Superintelligence, people have imagined a world powered by AI. And although those realities are still in the realm of the future, AI and machine learning are quickly becoming the next frontiers for academic institutions such as Tel Aviv University as well as businesses and governments.

With the global AI market expected to grow to $800 billion annually in the coming years, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tasked two Tel Aviv University professors with leading the National Initiative for Secured Intelligent Systems. They are Major 7

BIG IDEAS

Prof. Amir Globerson at the Check Point Building

Gen. (Ret.) Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel, Head of the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center (ICRC), and Prof.

Eviatar Matania, Head of TAU’s Security Studies program. The pair’s resulting report recommends making AI a national priority and is a blueprint for positioning Israel as a top five global AI superpower in the coming decade.

TAU has already taken a leadership role in advancing AI in Israel with its annual AI Week Conference. At the 2021 conference, which took place virtually, TAU’s Prof. Meir Feder announced the launch of a new interdisciplinary Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, which he heads.

“By deepening and disseminating AI expertise, the new Center will Almost every aspect of our daily lives can and boost Israel’s flourishing high-tech will be changed by these emerging technologies. and biotech industries and impact all aspects of life. It will create new opportunities in many fields including personalized medicine, drug design, social sciences, neuroscience, materials clean our homes, receive health care with strong performances in terms of science and digital humanities,” says or drive a car to the way we predict prestigious grants, publications in top Feder. “In addition, the Center will natural disasters.” journals and industry ties. enable all TAU students, no matter To use AI technologies in Collaborative AI projects in the what they study, to gain a real-world solutions, AI TAU pipeline include developing basic education in AI and research must be an automated tools for analyzing crop Data Science. We will interdisciplinary growth to help farmers in Africa do this by building effort, he explains. improve yield; processing vast a curriculum that This means amounts of data to understand exposes them to combining core genome patterns and sources of AI concepts, to disciplines of diseases; and studying communication be implemented engineering, between caregivers and infants to in the upcoming statistics and recognize patterns that can facilitate academic year.” computer better language development.

AI, which science with TAU also has a relationship with revolves around complementary Russia’s largest technology company, the quest to build fields such as law, Yandex, which founded the Yandex machines that can Prof. Meir Feder medicine, psychology, Initiative for Machine Learning to execute human-like tasks economics and humanities. strengthen AI and machine learning and behavior and beyond, has “It is essential for us to build up among TAU students and faculty, been a “holy grail” for scientists for the capabilities of the Center to help Globerson notes. He adds that the many years, says Prof. Amir Globerson researchers fulfill the potential of AI in University views educating the of the Blavatnik School of Computer all of these fields,” he says. next generation of researchers and Science and the AI Center’s academic technologists in this field as a priority. management team.

TAU: AI Powerhouse Recently, the “AI for Social Good” “Almost every aspect of our daily initiative, funded by Google at TAU’s AI With its influential group of lives can and will be changed by Center, announced grants for 10 new researchers in core AI, TAU is already these emerging technologies,” says interdisciplinary projects. The winning considered a world leader in the field, Globerson. “These include the way we 8

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Moreover, by using data collected from groups of 50 people—either through car sensors or mobile-phone tracking—rather than individuals, they protected people’s privacy.

Though the system was never fully implemented, both the Prime Minister’s Office and the Health Ministry used the data compiled by the TAU researchers to gauge reactions to those lockdowns, says Ben-Gal, who co-heads the Koret Program for Smart Cities and Digital Living in collaboration with Stanford University and serves as a Board Member of TAU’s Shlomo Shmeltzer Institute for Smart Transportation.

Modeling human mobility patterns can optimize a city’s allocation of smart utilities such as electricity, lighting systems and transportation

routes, Ben-Gal explains. “In Israel, this modeling has been used for placement of mobile missile shelters, using data collected during missile attacks in the South to indicate where people were concentrated.”

A Game-Changer for Biomedicine As head of the Functional Genomics Laboratory at TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Noam Shomron also uses AI and machine learning to better lives. He does this by exploring new aspects of genomics through DNA and RNA research.

In one study, his lab followed thousands of pregnant women from their 10-week blood tests through to the end of their pregnancy, when a small percentage of women suffer from the life-threatening condition

projects include: an early warning system for invasive fish species from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean Sea; a technical solution for ensuring fair use of copyrights online; and an image recognition system to allow Dead Sea Scroll scholars to compare old photographic images with new high-resolution spectral images of ancient scroll fragments.

AI and the War against COVID-19 During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. Irad Ben-Gal, head of TAU’s AI, Machine Learning and Business & Data Analytics lab, collaborated with Dr. Dan Yamin, both of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, to correlate human mobility with outbreak patterns. They used AI mapping technology to determine ideal implementation of movement restrictions. For example, they designed a system to optimize the lockdown structure in a smart city according to the movement of people, instead of shutting down an entire metropolis such as Tel Aviv.

TAU researchers from different disciplines use advanced AI methods to decipher and evaluate the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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BIG IDEAS

of preeclampsia. Though physicians can sometimes predict the possibility of preeclampsia based on high blood pressure or stress, Shomron’s We’re always looking at the next lab reduced 20 million possible RNA frontier. That is what we do in academia: molecular markers for preeclampsia to only 25. He accomplished this by We try to invent the future. using AI and data methods to analyze RNA snippets in blood samples both of women who suffered from preeclampsia and those who didn’t.

“Using this data, you can predict to a certain probability at the beginning AI technology is also transforming whether a person is about to commit of a pregnancy if a woman will suffer the legal world, says TAU’s Prof. Niva a crime—tools must be developed from preeclampsia later on. With this Elkin-Koren of the Buchmann Faculty to safeguard civil rights. This requires knowledge, you can prescribe early of Law. For more than two decades, close collaboration among the lawyers, preventive treatment, which is a low Elkin-Koren has been studying the social scientists, and AI specialists dosage of aspirin—a simple implications of digital technology developing these systems; together, remedy that can save lives,” and AI on the legal sphere. they must ensure that the AI systems says Shomron.

Lawyers already use meet ethical standards and promote Using the machine learning societal good, Elkin-Koren explains. same blood systems to predict A major challenge, she continues, samples, his lab damages and is to assure AI systems are inclusive computationally analyze what of minorities and marginalized separated the lower courts say populations. Learning models are embryonic about an issue, typically based on historical data, DNA from the says Elkin-Koren, which may lead to unintended biases. mother’s DNA. who is a member Her research involves redesigning Applying AIof the academic systems in law and AI to include based algorithms, management team checks and balances starting from the team was then of the AI Center. the creation stage, as a means of Some judges in the able to decipher the protecting citizens’ civil rights.

Prof. Niva Elkin-Koren US have begun to use AI entire DNA of an embryo Other issues the law must tackle risk-assessment systems to support using just a blood sample from a with AI technology, according to their decision-making process when woman at week 10 of her pregnancy.

Elkin-Koren, are ownership of AI determining whether to release This testing method could be an output, regulation of copyrighted criminal offenders or impose criminal effective alternative to amniocentesis, material, liability for harm caused by sanctions. an invasive prenatal testing method autonomous cars in accidents, and “I am excited about these new which uses a needle to remove fluid moderation of online speech. Finding from the uterus, and other similar tests. opportunities but also uneasy because, the answers to these questions in the absence of sufficient safeguards, involves revising existing legal Cooperation with physicians from they could lead to infringements on among TAU’s 17 affiliated hospitals doctrines and also responding to new democracy and civil rights,” she says. theoretical challenges about legal has been vital to his team’s research, “Lawyers are accustomed to thinking Shomron says. agency and collective action. in terms of legal concepts, rules, rights “We work closely with clinical Shomron says the same is true in his and procedures. We have to start teams who will eventually use the field of medicine; as society evolves, he thinking of new procedures and legal data and need to trust it,” he says. says, TAU researchers must continue protections that are more appropriate “Algorithms won’t replace clinical to study and find ways to respond to teams, but they will assist them in their for this time and age.” emerging challenges.

For instance, she says, as police decision-making.”

“Our world is changing all the time begin to depend more on predictive so we’re always looking at the next Advances for the Justice System policing to justify a search —wherein frontier,” he says. “That is what we do in In addition to revolutionizing health they use computational algorithms academia: We try to invent the future.” care, education and transportation, based on compiled data to predict 10

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Dr. Bruria Adini

If you enable open dialogue, authorities can provide information that the public needs in a way that builds trust.

How Will We Brave the Post-COVID Era? TAU’s Dr. Bruria Adini spoke to TAU Review about mental health, resilience and hope in the post-Corona world

By Melanie Takefman

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r. Bruria Adini, head of the Emergency and Disaster Management Program at TAU’s School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, and a member of TAU’s Center for Combating Pandemics, has been measuring Israelis’ resilience for years. When COVID-19 broke in March 2020, Adini and her team surveyed a sample group of Israelis regarding their mental well-being. They continued to do so every 2-3 months to evaluate their levels of distress, depression and anxiety as well as individual, community and national resilience.

How has COVID-19 affected Israelis’ mental health?

It affected them in almost every facet of their lives. Until October 2020, the rates of distress rose significantly— both anxiety and depression. We got to the point where one in five people had high levels of depression, and one in three had high levels of anxiety.

All three levels of resilience— individual, community and national— dropped through much of the first year of COVID-19. Then, in January 2021, we saw a small increase in community and national resilience,

most probably a result of the vaccination campaign.

We can explain this by the fact that the vaccination campaign offered hope that things will get better. People felt that the country was standing by their side. The authorities were doing something.

At the same time, there was a substantial decrease in individual resilience. People didn’t feel the vaccination campaign was impacting their lives yet. They were still stuck at home. They didn’t know what was going to happen with their children’s 11

BIG IDEAS

what the public feels, which they could take into consideration in determining policy. We collaborated with the Ministries of Health, Social Equality and Welfare.

Some people think that the next pandemic will be a mental health pandemic. Do you agree with this statement?

How can governments help people be more resilient during a How has resilience varied with age? pandemic? education. They were still experiencing economic instability.

We expected to see the highest threat and the lowest resilience among the elderly population, because we heard that they were the most at risk and COVID-19 could be lethal for them. But what we found was the opposite.

It was the younger populations, aged 31-40, who showed the lowest level of resilience and the highest levels of stress, anxiety and perceived threat. The younger people felt the most impact economically because they are the backbone of the workforce, while those who live on pensions were less affected. This younger group also worried about the impact of the pandemic on their children, as the school system was closed.

In addition, we found that the resilience of university and college students was lower than that of the average population. Their distress and anxiety levels were higher, as was a perceived threat to their academic success. In addition, many of them lost jobs in the industries that were shut down during the pandemic, such as restaurants and bars.

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Transparency is key to the management of any emergency.

Having a clear and unified message is also important. If you enable open dialogue, authorities can provide information that the public needs in a way that builds trust. In other words, the government needs to make the public part of the solution, to make them a partner and to empower them. For example, the government and other bodies can invite the public to relay what is happening on the ground. In this way, citizens can have an impact on policy and crisis response.

On the flipside, we saw that messaging that inspired fear among the populace worked only for a short time. Also, the threat of cash fines didn’t convince people to follow the guidelines, such as wearing masks.

What does have an impact is helping people understand how their behavior will impact those they care about— their community, family members and so on.

During the pandemic, we also saw fruitful connections between academia and decision-makers.

We provided data and evidence of

If you’re asking me is this pandemic going to have long-term mental health repercussions, the answer is certainly yes.

No type of adversity or pandemic is singular. The health risk caused economic instability. The economic instability created political instability.

Mental health impacts your ability to function, your ability to function impacts your economic situation, your economic situation impacts your mental health, your self-confidence, your certainty of what the future holds, and so on. So it’s not only about mental health; it affects our economy and society as well.

What are the main lessons that COVID-19 has taught us?

Even when we need to make drastic changes in our lives, we have the power to overcome and continue to function. For example, the education system closed and distance learning was a severe blow but in academia, for example, we didn’t miss one day of teaching. We switched to Zoom, and that’s going to impact online learning in the years to come. We saw the same concerning the economy. People worked from home.

I think the pandemic led to some positive insights, and these are becoming clearer as time passes.

We’re going to see that our society can make the necessary modifications to improve our way of life.

That’s the exact definition of resilience: To adapt to what is happening and still bounce forward.

Dubai Calling In wake of Abraham Accords, TAU launches academic collaboration with UAE

By Rava Eleasari and Lindsey Zemler

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hese days, diplomatic relations can discussions about daily Israeli and start with an Instagram message.

Emirati life, and more.

That is how Ido Montaniez, Head “Until recently, Israelis had few of Culture, Sports and International connections in the Middle East or the Affairs at Tel Aviv University’s Student Arab world—it’s a new era for TAU and Union, started a relationship with the region,” says Montaniez. his counterpart at the University of Peace through Water Dubai (UD).

When the Abraham Accords While students are exploring ties, the between Israel and several TAU leadership is moving quickly Arab countries were to forge research alliances announced last year, with UAE partners.

Montaniez said he An agreement to saw an opportunity establish a joint to reach out to Israeli-Emirati Water students in the Research Institute Gulf countries. was signed in This paved Abu Dhabi in the way for the presence of a blossoming TAU President relationship, along Prof. Ariel Porat; with new connections TAU Vice Presidents and collaborative events.

Prof. Milette Shamir and Ido Montaniez For example, in spring 2021, Amos Elad; TAU Governor Dr. the two universities’ student unions Michael Mirilashvili, CEO of Watergen co-hosted “UD-TAU Week,” offering five and founder of the Moshe Mirilashvili joint virtual events for their respective Institute for Applied Water Studies student bodies. TAU professors were at TAU; and senior UAE business matched with their UD counterparts executives and officials. The research for lectures, and cultural events will be carried out as part of wider commercial collaboration between for students included live cooking,

Watergen and the Emirati company Baynunah.

“Thanks to the Abraham Accords,” said Dr. Mirilashvili at the signing ceremony, “we are able to cooperate with one of the region’s neighbors to solve one of the region’s most pressing problems—water scarcity—and help build peace and a common future.”

In another development, TAU’s Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, led by Prof. Uzi Rabi, launched the Gulf-Israel Policy Forum. Through it, academics, practitioners and members of civil society hold discussions—mostly online now but the plan is to engage in faculty and student exchange.

“The feeling that you have sources on the ground and can talk openly about issues in our region—this is what was previously missing in Middle Eastern studies,” Prof. Rabi says. “Now, all this has changed.”

Water and Mideast studies are just the start, says TAU Vice President Shamir. She notes that a number of cooperation agreements are currently being discussed between TAU and top UAE academic institutions in cyber, AI, smart cities and medicine.

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CHANGE-MAKERS

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ormer Chairman of the $14 billion Aramark Corporation, Joseph Neubauer, has a personal story that is as fascinating as his business achievements. He and his wife, Jeanette, a marketing and communications entrepreneur and executive, are corporate and civic leaders whose name precedes them at universities across the US and Israel.

At TAU, the Neubauers established a doctoral fellowship fund for Israel’s Arab minority in STEM and a similar faculty recruitment program.

Mr. Neubauer, you came alone to the United States from Britishcontrolled Palestine. How did this affect your life’s path?

My parents sent me to live with my aunt and uncle in the US at the age of 14. I barely spoke a word of English. I came here not only to gain a better education, but also to forge a fresh start for the entire family. My first years were not easy, but I was blessed with a number of teachers who invested in me and enabled me to succeed and ultimately achieve a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and a full scholarship to the University of Chicago for my MBA. I believe it is my responsibility and privilege to invest in people in the same way.

What lessons from the corporate world do you apply to your philanthropy?

In our philanthropy, we are intent on investing in people and ideas that can achieve a transformational impact that lasts, much as we did in the corporate world.

There are many things we seek to change: inequities in education, violent crime, food insecurity, opportunities for minorities. Within each of these areas, we ask: where will our investment have the greatest impact? It is when you find those points—and the right leaders—that you can begin to change the system.

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Jeanette and Joseph Neubauer

“Education Is the Great Equalizer” Change-makers Joseph and Jeanette Neubauer tell TAU Review why they seek to create academic opportunities for Arab students and faculty

By Idit Nirel

Why does your support for Arab doctoral students at TAU focus on STEM?

Why did you establish the IsraeliArab Academic Career Pathways Initiative for faculty members?

The genesis of our investment in Arab doctoral students and faculty occurred during a trip to Israel 10 years ago. We were struck by how diverse undergraduate campuses were becoming, and yet students did not see themselves equally represented among the faculty, particularly in STEM—science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

In just a single year since we began the fellowship program at Tel Aviv University, we were delighted to see the number of matriculating Arab PhD students in the STEM fields increase by 225%. We are hopeful this kind of momentum can be sustained.

Increasing diversity on academic campuses not only establishes more Arab role models to teach and mentor students who may aspire to high levels in academia and industry, but it also creates more employment opportunities for minorities at the faculty level.

Our first Neubauer Lecturer, Dr. Wasim Huleihel, is a talented young scientist. His credentials make him a paradigm of the type of academic leader we want to bring to TAU. The full interview appears on TAU’s website: English.tau.ac.il.

Rising Star Huleihel Named TAU’s Inaugural Neubauer Lecturer Dr. Wasim Huleihel

By Susan de la Fuente

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r. Wasim Huleihel is on a mission.

As one of a handful of Arab faculty members at Tel Aviv University and its first Neubauer Lecturer, he says he is well-suited to help minority students succeed in academia.

The 31-year-old is the scion of two high-achieving parents from Beersheva: his father is a professor of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where Huleihel earned his BSc and MSc, and his mother is a teacher-trainer. He thanks them for teaching him to cope with cultural differences from an early age, which helped him integrate successfully into diverse environments.

After completing two post-doctoral years at the Research Laboratory of Electronics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Huleihel joined TAU’s Fleischman Faculty of Engineering in 2020 as a senior lecturer in electrical engineering.

Prior to that he earned a PhD at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, where he investigated relationships between information theory and statistical mechanics.

Huleihel has received numerous awards, including the Maof Prize

for excellent young faculty and the Advanced Communication Center (ACC) Feder Family Award for outstanding research work in the field of communication technologies.

These achievements led him to be chosen as TAU’s first Neubauer Lecturer, part of the Neubauer Foundation’s Israeli-Arab Academic Career Pathways Initiative, aimed at boosting diversity in the University’s academic community, specifically in STEM.

Graduate studies play a key role in promoting and advancing Arab society.

Cutting-Edge Research Huleihel now focuses on the theory of machine learning and highdimensional statistics—prominent, fast-moving fields used in brainimaging research among other areas.

In addition, he studies the effect of misinformation in social media, such as fake news disseminated on COVID-19.

His research could ultimately lead

to faster, cheaper, energy-efficient technologies, and to more secure and reliable social networks.

These days, Huleihel is also busy raising his one-year-old daughter, Sahara, with “my amazing wife, Sana,” herself a researcher at the Technion.

Diversity = Opportunity Huleihel praises TAU for many reasons, among them its “extremely strong and well-recognized researchers” and its academic diversity, which provides “a golden opportunity to collaborate with seemingly unrelated researchers in other departments.”

Alongside his research, Huleihel strives to encourage talented minority students to pursue graduate studies in engineering and exact sciences. “Though many are extremely well-suited for pursuing advanced degrees, the majority opt for tempting positions in high-tech,” he says. “From my experience, graduate studies can open many doors and play a key role in promoting and advancing Arab society in general. As a faculty member, I have a precious opportunity to change this misconception and will do my utmost to advance this.”

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CHANGE-MAKERS

Evoking Emotion

The Measure of a Successful Musician

By Lindsey Zemler

TAU Steyer Scholar Tom Zalmanov shares donors’ dedication to bettering world through music

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“I

n the most basic sense, I feel like my music is bringing love to the world," says Tom Zalmanov, a student at Tel Aviv University’s BuchmannMehta School of Music and a recipient of the Diana Mary Steyer Scholarship for Excellence in Music Performance.

Zalmanov avows that playing piano has always been a big part of his identity. A child prodigy, he has been playing since age 5 and, by age 8, was performing in concerts and on TV in Israel and abroad.

Today, his undergraduate studies at TAU focus on musical performance, alongside music history and theory.

He says that individualized study with piano Professor Emanuel Krasovsky is

the most valuable part of his academic learning; in fact, Zalmanov chose TAU specifically to work with him.

Despite his many career accomplishments on paper, Zalmanov believes that eliciting emotion is the most important measure of success.

"There is such great music that has already been written and when I perform it, I am the vessel that delivers it to the audience, making the world a more beautiful place,” he says. “There is no greater pleasure than coming offstage and being thanked by even just one member of the audience who has felt a moment of joy or a deep emotion. It makes it all worth it.”

The Power of Music "The Steyer Scholarship gives me peace of mind, allowing me to fully invest myself in learning performance arts," continues Zalmanov. The scholarship was especially meaningful when coronavirus restrictions eliminated work opportunities for performing artists, as venues were shut down, he adds.

Receiving a scholarship that supports young musicians and the field of music is heartwarming for him because it shows that other people believe in the power of music the way he does, he adds.

Helen Steyer, who launched the Steyer Scholarship Fund for Excellence in Music Performance at TAU with her brother Tommy Steyer in 2017, shares Zalmanov’s passion for music: “if a young person possesses the gift of making music, they can bring incredible beauty into the world, especially during troubled and difficult times.” The Steyers established the

Music Fund in memory of their others who might be considered late mother, Diana Mary, a talented invisible,” she explains. musician.

The Steyer siblings are longtime, She continues: “Tom's resume second-generation supporters of sounds like that of an experienced TAU and have served as Governors professional. His dedication, hard since 1990. TAU awarded them work and ambition to reach even both honorary doctorates in 2012. higher levels will no doubt bring Their father Stanley, for whom TAU’s great success. We are proud Stanley Steyer School of Health that a student with his Professions is named, qualifications was received an honorary chosen for the Steyer doctorate in 1993.

Scholarship.”

“We hope that Helen says. when someone The scholarship, is helped by which provides our gift, they Zalmanov with will remember support for the it and in turn duration of his help others. This bachelor’s degree, creates a ripple requires recipients effect,” says Helen. to give back to their “It is a beautiful communities. For a way of continuing the Tom Zalmanov period, Zalmanov performed legacy of our parents.” weekly at the Tel Aviv Sourasky For Zalmanov, who is nearing Medical Center–Ichilov Hospital in graduation, his time at TAU is far from Tel Aviv. "It feels very good to make over. He plans to pursue a master's people who are in a difficult situation degree at the Buchmann-Mehta feel better," he says.

School. His long-term dream is to build his career as a musician, performing on Ripple Effect stage and teaching music, he says. "All I want is to make a living doing what I Indeed, the idea of giving back love and to continue to move people." to the community is a pillar of the Steyers’ values.

“Having parents who survived a horror like the Holocaust, we were raised with the idea of being grateful, appreciating everything we had and making sure other people got the help they needed,” says Helen.

“Growing up in Venezuela, Tommy and I saw extreme poverty, hunger and despair, so we were very aware of suffering and socioeconomic marginalization, even as young children.

“Our parents made it clear to us that everyone has an obligation to help others, especially those who are ‘voiceless’: the hungry, poor, Siblings Helen Steyer and Tommy Steyer at TAU disabled, uneducated and 17

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TAU Team Sets Sail to International Competition

The team briefs Engineering Dean Prof. Yossi Rosenwaks

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gainst the backdrop of a global pandemic, a group of Tel Aviv University students had the rare opportunity this past year to collaborate on a “live” project: The design and construction of a RoboBoat, an autonomous vehicle lovingly named SAIL-IL. This summer, the 15-student delegation plans to travel with their boat to RoboBoat 2021, a prestigious international student competition. The competing boats must demonstrate maritime manoeuvrability and tackle tasks such as traversing a slalom course and sending a drone to hit a target and have it land back on the boat. The SAIL-IL team, comprising students from the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and the Blavatnik 18

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School of Computer Science, will be the first Israeli delegation to compete in RoboBoat.

Tried and Tested On a stormy day last winter, the team carried out their first sea trial at Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park. The excitement was palpable as the team, their professors and mentors, as well as Engineering Dean Prof. Yossi Rosenwaks, looked on.

The feedback was unanimous: Success!

SAIL-IL’s co-captain, student Nadav Sholev, says this project was a great opportunity to apply the theory he had learned in class into practice and to overcome “real-life challenges.”

“Through this project, we are sending better engineers into industry,” says Prof. Yoram Reich of TAU’s School of Mechanical Engineering, who taught the team. “They have experimented in entrepreneurship, real construction and competition against others… as well as worked as a truly multidisciplinary team.”

Current fellows of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics

Are We Our Brother’s Keeper?

Fellows at TAU’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics seek answers to age-old questions

By Judith Sudilovsky

S

hould wealthy countries consider the needs and interests of developing countries as they conclude large COVID-19 vaccine contracts for their own citizens? Should international conglomerates be held accountable for the negative effects their business contracts have on local residents and their environment?

These are the kinds of questions that Dr. Mirthe Jiwa, a scholar from Holland, is exploring as part of her post-doctoral fellowship at TAU’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Tel Aviv University. In a sense, she is considering the age-old question of whether, in today’s complex world, we are our brother’s keeper.

Since its founding in 2012, the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics,

based at TAU’s Buchmann Faculty of Law, has hosted 99 fellows from top international institutions, with 11 fellows this year. This year’s fellows, like Jiwa, are focusing their research on the theme of “Markets, Ethics, and the Law.”

Ethics on the Global Stage “At the heart of our academic model is the in-depth study of changing interdisciplinary themes, chosen from within the broad world of ethics and its relevance to various aspects of human society,” says Prof. Hanoch Dagan, Center Director.

In recent years, the Center has positioned itself as a global focal point for ethics scholars. It has convened several high-powered international

conferences, including events with Yale, Columbia and Cornell Universities.

Moreover, most Edmond J. Safra Ethics Fellows have continued on to prestigious programs or positions in Israel and abroad. For example, Dr. Klaas Henrik Eller, a 2017-19 visiting scholar and 2019-20 fellow, secured a tenure-track faculty position at the University of Amsterdam, a leading European law school.

“Through the Center and the philanthropic foundation named after her late husband, Ms. Lily Safra commemorates Edmond's legacy and his great dedication to the advancement of human society,” says Prof. Dagan. “We are grateful for the foundation’s continued support, which includes building dedicated space for 19

TLV PERSPEC TIVES

the Center in a planned new building for the law complex.”

A Vibrant Community

Public Health, Persuasion and Politics

frameworks for euthanasia and COVID-19 containment. Her main hypothesis, supported by her empirical study, is that individuals are willing to accept government coercion when it promotes their basic needs, such as safety and health.

“When do people accept coercive measures and when do they prefer ‘softer’ policies, such as nudges?” asks Treger, who is studying under the direction of Profs. Michal Shamir and Yotam Margalit.

She is currently reviewing data from a recent survey she administered among some 800 Israelis to assess whether and how the pandemic has affected their attitudes toward government coercion.

“The different COVID-19 containment polices raised a debate over the appropriate boundaries of state regulation,” Treger says. “The pandemic highlighted the tension between personal liberties and other factors such as public health, personal health and the economy.

“As an Edmond J. Safra Fellow, I have the opportunity to focus on the ethical aspects of government paternalism,” Treger concludes.

Another Edmond J. Safra Ethics Jiwa became acquainted with TAU fellow, Clareta Treger, brings to TAU 10 when she presented at an Edmond years of experience as an intelligence officer in the Israel Defense Forces and J. Safra Center for Ethics conference a strategic planner at the Ministry in 2019. “I of Public Security. immediately Her desire to contribute felt at home,” to society through public service led her to research says Jiwa, who hails how citizens perceive from the policies and which they prefer. She hopes this Netherlands. research will position “The Center has a vibrant her as an academic policy academic expert. community and Treger’s PhD thesis, which Dr. Mirthe Jiwa she is pursuing at the School of I really liked the Political Science, Government and atmosphere in Tel Aviv.”

Because of the pandemic, though, International Affairs at the Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, looks at she has remained in Amsterdam for public attitudes toward regulations the time being. “But even meeting online we have managed to create a and policies that aim to protect sense of togetherness.” individuals from themselves, known as paternalistic policies. Such policies Her research at TAU expands on her doctoral thesis, conducted at the can be used to achieve societal goals ranging from reducing smoking and Amsterdam Law School’s Center for Transformative Private Law. There, limiting working hours, to resolving she investigated how contract law moral quandaries by creating legal disregards and marginalizes certain people and forms of speech. Now, Jiwa is examining how people who have been traditionally excluded from fully participating in contractual arrangements—but are significantly affected by them—can have a voice.

As the global pandemic demonstrates, we live in an increasingly interconnected world, she notes. Contractual partners are never isolated players, and contracts always and inevitably affect others.

“Take for instance the issue of vaccine contracts. The richest nations have managed to secure billions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines, while developing economies struggle to access supplies,” says Jiwa. “In part, this Clareta Treger unequal distribution is facilitated and The pandemic highlighted the enabled by contracts—or the absence tension between personal liberties thereof.”

and public health.

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We aim to boost autistic students’ independence and self-confidence, ensure they complete their degree, and broaden their employment options.

Diamonds in the Rough

By Ruti Ziv

Maximizing the potential of TAU students on the autism spectrum

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iving a presentation in front of a class can be daunting for any university student. For someone with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), it can be terrifying.

Routine study tasks like this can make higher education an unattainable dream for most people with ASD, which reduces the ability to connect with people. To help, Tel Aviv University established Yahalom (“Diamond”), a comprehensive program that supports highfunctioning ASD students from their enrollment at TAU to graduation.

“Today we know that ASD does not necessarily affect a person’s academic abilities,” says Alberto Meschiany, Head of the Psychological Services Unit at the Dean of Students Office, which runs the Yahalom program.

Yahalom was launched in October 2017 with 10 students. Today it has

46—an almost fivefold increase in three years.

“Ultimately, we aim to substantially boost these students’ independence and self-confidence, ensure they complete their degree, and broaden the range of options open to them once they enter the employment market,” explains Meschiany.

Mentors: Heart of the Program Yahalom is run by a dedicated coordinator who gets to know each of the ASD students and also recruits and trains volunteer TAU students as mentors. The goal is to ensure that the mentors know what to expect and how to communicate with ASD people, reduce their anxiety, help with their dealings vis-à-vis the staff and lecturers, accompany them to classes, and meet whatever other day-to-day needs may arise during the academic year.

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Demand among students wishing to be mentors is high, says Meschiany.

“Right now, we can only give the mentors token scholarships, but we would love to give them larger ones.

This is our biggest funding need,” he adds.

Mentors help in myriad ways. For example, Yahalom heard about an ASD student who had been unnecessarily buying expensive textbooks for almost two years because he didn’t know how to make photocopies at the library and was too embarrassed to ask for help. He was immediately assigned a mentor who now helps him with these types of issues. Many ASD students have asked their mentors for advice on how to tell their classmates about their condition and the difficulties they face.

and help them flourish,” she explains.

“But now we have a real friendship.

My students can—and do—contact me whenever they feel like it, whether it’s to ask me a question or show me something interesting that they saw on their way to the campus.

“It’s a real privilege and fantastic experience to mentor these students.

They are among some of the best people I’ve had the opportunity to meet,” says Gilboa. “Since I began mentoring them half a year ago, I can see that my students are now less stressed and anxious and are better at managing their time.”

Yahalom mentor Efrat Gilboa

I try to see the world through their eyes.

Personal Ties Reduce Stress

An Interdisciplinary Approach

Efrat Gilboa, a third-year student of Psychology and Law at TAU, mentors two ASD students.

“I’ve always enjoyed volunteering and helping others, and used to work with special needs children. I thought that Yahalom could be an amazing opportunity for me not only to help autistic people integrate into the University, but to try to see the world through their eyes,” she says.

“As a Yahalom mentor, my main job is to help the students cope with their study load, better manage their time,

Along with providing opportunities for ASD students, TAU is pursuing autism research from diverse perspectives.

“Together with other neurodevelopmental disorders, autism needs to be addressed by academics from multiple areas—neuroscientists, geneticists, psychologists, cell biologists, speech therapists and social workers—alongside practicing pediatricians, neurologists and psychiatrists,” says Prof. Karen Avraham, Vice Dean at TAU’s Sackler Faculty of

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Autism Research at TAU Fifteen autism research groups are currently working on promising directions, among them: • Better diagnostic tools for early detection • Neural basis of social understanding • Speech and hearing processing • Relief of anxiety • Drugs and therapies

Medicine. “This is why TAU, with its inherently interdisciplinary research culture and strong ties with hospitals, is ideally positioned to bring about influential discoveries in the field—and why it has made autism research a strategic priority.”

One such researcher is cognitive neuropsychologist Prof. Lilach Shalev of the Constantiner School of Education who heads the Attention Lab, affiliated with the Sagol School of Neuroscience. She develops novel training programs aimed at improving academic performance of learners from kindergarten to university, and assesses their outcomes using neuropsychological, eye-tracking, brain-imaging and psychological measures. Her main work centers on the Computerized Progressive Attention Training Program (CPAT) that she pioneered for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in 2007; it is now implemented in several countries.

Several years ago, Prof. Shalev expanded her research to include autism. These findings might also be relevant for university students on the autistic spectrum.

Meschiany concludes: “The tailored support we offer Yahalom participants helps to level the playing field relative to their peers. These are very intelligent students with a high capacity to learn. Our job is to help them overcome their social difficulties and fulfill their potential.”

GLOBAL CAMPAIGN

GLOBAL CAMPAIGN

TAU Honors Susan and Henry Samueli for Visionary Gifts

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el Aviv University awarded an honorary doctorate, its highest honor, to Dr. Susan and Prof. Henry Samueli in recognition of their inspiring achievements in engineering, health, high-tech and business, and their shared success as philanthropists.

The Samuelis recently established the Susan & Henry Samueli Engineering and Health Research Endowment and Susan & Henry Samueli Engineering Building at TAU, both far-reaching and ambitious projects that represent the convergence of “industry, philanthropy and Jewish values,” according to TAU President Ariel Porat.

The Samuelis are well-known and respected philanthropists who generously donate to the fields of higher education, STEM, integrative medicine, children and youth, and Jewish causes. Prof. Henry Samueli is co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Broadcom Inc. Dr. Susan Samueli holds a PhD in nutrition and promotes integrative healthcare. They are based in Southern California but have long supported initiatives and projects in Israel.

Prof. Porat said at the degree ceremony that the Samuelis represent the right balance between science and society. “Professional careers, civic leadership, and philanthropy—Henry and Susan manage to balance them all and to transform ideas into social action,” he said.

“I think they are wonderful models for goodness, and we are delighted that they are part of the TAU family.”

Earlier the same day, TAU hosted the inaugural conference of the Susan & Henry Samueli Engineering

Prof. Henry Samueli (left), Dr. Susan Samueli and TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat at the honorary doctorate ceremony

and Health Research Endowment, titled ” Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Ingenuity, Leadership and Innovation.”

The Endowment will support a wide spectrum of fields at TAU such as national security, medical diagnostics and treatments, integrative health and drug development.

The conference featured a diverse and fascinating roster of speakers, reflecting the synergy among academia, industry and the public sector at the core of the Samuelis’ philanthropic vision.

"Since technology will play an ever-increasing role in health care in the future, I am very happy that our Research Endowment will focus on engineering and health,” said Dr. Susan Samueli at the conference. “TAU has exceptional strength in both of these areas, so I am highly confident that we will see some great interventions coming out of this research.”

Earlier in the week, TAU hosted the grand opening of the Susan & Henry Samueli Engineering Building in the presence of the donors, President Porat and Tel Aviv-Yafo Mayor Ron Huldai.

The modern building, which overlooks the TAU campus and a panoramic view of Tel Aviv, features labs, classrooms and offices belonging to TAU and an industry partner.

The project is “a wonderful example of what can be achieved through creative thinking and cooperation between the public and private spheres,” said Prof. Henry Samueli at the opening.

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A stand-up comedy show at the Black Family Foundation Student Club

Black Family Student Club Thrives Again

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he Stanley and Joyce Black Family Foundation Student Club is back in action after more than a year of COVID-19 restrictions.

The spacious facility is a buzzing hub of student life located in the Millie Phillips Student City complex.

Under the management of the TAU Student Union, the Club runs diverse activities, including exercise classes, social gatherings, stand-up comedy shows and lectures.

Thousands of students, among them internationals and Israelis from the country’s social and geographical periphery, frequent the Club regularly.

After a period of closure due to COVID-19, the Club reopened to provide students with a quiet study space, in strict compliance with health regulations. More recently, as students became eligible for vaccines, the Club returned to its regular activities.

The Stanley and Joyce Black Family Foundation Student Club was established by the Black family of California, longtime benefactors of TAU, and dedicated in 2016.

For over 40 years, the family has supported important research at TAU, including in medicine and Yiddish language and culture.

Stanley Black is a highly respected real estate developer and philanthropist based in Beverly Hills, California. In 1985, he founded the Black Equities Group, a real estate investment and operating company, with his son, Jack.

Stanley’s daughters, Jill Black Zalben and Janis Black Warner, are Directors of the Stanley and Joyce Black Family Foundation.

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TAU Dedicates Chair to Philanthropist Joseph Safra

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AU dedicated the Joseph Safra Chair for Capital Markets and Financial Institutions to the memory of the late Joseph Safra (1938-2020). Safra was one of the world’s top bankers and businessmen. He was also a longtime and influential philanthropist in Brazil, where he lived for most of his life, as well Joseph Safra as in Israel and across the Jewish world. In Israel, his generosity greatly benefited hospitals, museums, educational institutions and other diverse organizations. He was an Honorary TAU Governor, and his children have continued his friendship with the University.

Prof. Dan Amiram, Vice Dean of the Coller School of Management, is the incumbent of the Joseph Safra Chair. Prof. Amiram’s research focuses on the effects and consequences of frictions created by information asymmetry, taxation and business law on debt and equity markets around the world. He is frequently tapped as a consultant by governmental organizations, corporations, financial institutions and the media, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Forbes. Moreover, he is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for both research and teaching.

Leading the Global Yiddish Renaissance

W

hat do scholars, teachers, translators and aficionados of Yiddish have in common? They all flock to TAU’s influential Jona Goldrich Institute for Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture, which promotes academic depth and creativity in the field of Yiddish studies.

Founded in 2005 as the Goldreich Family Institute by TAU benefactor Jona Goldrich (1927-2016), today the Institute is supported by his two daughters, TAU Governor Melinda Goldrich and Andrea Goldrich Cayton, who chose to rename the Institute in honor of their late father and his leadership. The Institute’s summer program, supported by the Naomi Prawer Kadar Foundation since 2011, has hosted 995 participants from 33 countries. The Goldrich Family Foundation Advanced Yiddish Studies Forum brings top scholars to TAU from around the world.

“For me, the Institute is not only a place of advanced research, but a forum where my ideas can be put into practice,” says Mika Cohen, a first-year student in the Yiddish Studies MA Program, jointly supported by Yad Hanadiv. A creative writing workshop she’s running explores the theme of the shtetl as a way to think about modern notions of community. Participants read works by Sholem Aleichem and other legendary writers, and then produce their own vision of community with their 21st century literary voices.

Institute Director Dr. Hannah Pollin-Galay of TAU’s Department of Literature, Entin Faculty of Humanities, enthuses, “Students are eager to ask new questions about Jewish culture and to understand the experiences of their grandparents and great-grandparents.” Her own research combines Yiddish and Holocaust Studies, while the work of Prof. Hana Wirth-

Nesher, the Institute’s Founding Director, focuses on multilingualism in Jewish and mainstream American writing. Other research conducted at the Institute explores the interplay between Yiddish and other languages and cultures in Europe, Israel and beyond.

“The Yiddish poet Avrom Sutzkever asked, in reference to Yiddish culture after the Holocaust, Ver vet blaybn? Vos vet blaybn? (‘Who will remain? What will remain?’),” says Dr. Pollin-Galay. “I think Sutzkever would be very proud to see my young students working hard to answer his question in a positive way. It is thanks to them, and to the support of the Goldrich family, that a beautiful Yiddish legacy will not only remain, but blossom and grow in the future.”

Dr. Pollin-Galay meets with students. Melinda Goldrich attended the event remotely.

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GLOBAL CAMPAIGN

Trees Planted in Memory of TAU Governors Annie and Marcel Adams

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TAU to Lay Cornerstone for New Trauma Building

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AU is proud to announce the beginning of construction of the Miriam and Moshe Shuster Building for the Center for Traumatic Stress and Resilience.

The TAU-run national center brings together 100 mental health and medical researchers, working with the IDF and other organizations in Israel and worldwide, to advance the research, treatment, prevention and education of post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions.

The extended Moss Family generously contributed a wing in the building in memory of TAU Governors, Honorary Doctors and longtime supporters Sam and Agi Moss of Australia.

Designed by architect Erez Shani, the Miriam and Moshe Shuster Building will provide staff with 2,000 square meters of state-of-the-art research and treatment space. Among the building’s facilities will be laboratories, clinical research facilities, a patient clinic and a large auditorium.

“The Center provides a critical treatment opportunity for Israelis who are constantly facing traumatic threats,” says TAU’s Prof. Yair Bar-Haim, the Center’s Director. “The dedicated Shuster building will enable us to enhance our activities and better serve the public.”

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AU held a tree-planting ceremony to honor the memory of the late Annie and Marcel Adams of Montreal, both TAU Honorary Doctors, as well as longtime TAU Governors and benefactors. Annie Adams passed away in 1997; Marcel passed away in August 2020, just after celebrating his 100th birthday. Their son, Sylvan Adams—Vice Chair of TAU’s Board of Governors, TAU Honorary Doctor, Global Campaign Cabinet member and second generation donor—planted two trees outside the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute which he founded, in the presence of TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat, Director of the Sports Institute Prof. Chaim Pick, and members of the Adams family.

“The University has become a family project,” Adams said at the ceremony. “It’s my honor to be associated with such a fine institute that is so important to this country, to be part of so many discoveries … [My parents] felt the University is family, and now they have a permanent home here.”

ALUMNI

Rony Yedidia-Clein (center, in white) in Rishikesh, during the Indian holiday of Holi

TAU Graduates Bolster Israel’s Global Standing

By Melanie Takefman

Alumni in top diplomatic positions share success stories from the field

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s a young girl growing up on a kibbutz, Galit Ronen wanted to change the world.

At the time, she thought the way to do so was to become a geneticist: to learn how to feed the world and cure its diseases. This led her to TAU, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology.

Today, she is Israel’s Ambassador to Argentina.

Like Ronen, many Tel Aviv University alumni serve Israel on the global

frontlines as diplomats. They include Rony Yedidia-Clein, Deputy Head of Mission at Israel’s Embassy in India, and Ehud Eitam, Israel’s Consul General in Istanbul. All three see their alma mater as an important stepping stone in their careers.

Diplomacy from the Heart Ronen took a job with Israel’s Foreign Ministry more than 25 years ago, when she tired of her post-university research job.

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says, she learned critical thinking and communication skills that serve her until today, while enjoying “Tel Aviv’s special vibe.”

As Deputy Chief of Mission in India, Yedidia-Clein says she is proud of the robust relationship that has developed in the nearly 30 years since the two countries initiated diplomatic relations.

This good relationship paid off during COVID-19. India provided emergency masks and equipment to Israel at the beginning of the outbreak, before Israel could produce enough for its own emergency staff.

More recently, during the COVID-19 outbreaks in India this spring, the Embassy, in cooperation with Israeli government bodies, organized a massive airlift of aid supplies to the country’s hospitals and clinics, including ventilators, oxygen concentrators and medication, in an effort to save as many lives as possible.

Aside from COVID-19, one of the Embassy’s main focuses now is a large-scale water project. Despite the fact that India possesses massive amounts of water, most of the population doesn’t have access

Galit Ronen

“I honestly think Israel is a miracle.

Look at where we started,” she says.

“It’s a country I believe in and I love its people.”

As for her current posting, she says Israel and Argentina enjoy good relations. President Alberto Fernandez visited Israel one month after his inauguration in 2019, only the second time that a sitting Argentinian president made a state visit. In the context of that trip, he also attended the 75th anniversary ceremony of the liberation of Auschwitz—a meaningful statement.

In addition, much of the meat that Israel consumes comes from Argentina. During the first COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020, Ronen was instrumental in securing the entry of shohetim, Jewish ritual slaughterers, into Argentina, thus ensuring that Israelis had sufficient kosher meat for Passover.

On the global stage, Ronen thinks that Israel is in a better place than it has been in previous years. She attributes this to Israel’s vaccination campaign—“the whole world wants to learn from us”—and the recent peace accords with Arab nations.

Besides representing the country she loves, she enjoys the opportunity to reinvent herself every few years when she moves to a new assignment. “You have no friends or 28

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contacts; by virtue of your personality and what you represent, you have to start from zero and prove yourself.”

Though her training as a scientist is far behind her, she has fond memories of TAU. “Most of my best friends to this day are from my time at University,” says Ronen. They include Prof. Udi Gazit, Founding Director of the BLAVATNIK CENTER for Drug Discovery. She mentions Prof. emer. Eliora Ron, with whom she remains in close touch, Rony Yedidia-Clein as having influenced her in the academic and personal spheres.

“Zionism Is Not a Dirty Word” Like Ronen, Rony Yedidia-Clein was attracted to the Foreign Ministry because of a deep love of Israel. “Some people think Zionism is a dirty word but it’s not,” she says.

The daughter of Israelis raised in the US, she made aliyah at age 18 to join the army. She went on to complete an undergraduate degree in English literature at TAU, where, she

It’s important to have people trust you and that means that you have to speak the truth. to a clean, drinkable supply, YedidiaClein says. Through the Embassy, an Israeli expert will work with Indians to optimize use of this great resource.

In addition to the many skills and “inner strengths” she has acquired throughout her career, Yedidia-Clein

says that a diplomat’s most important quality is honesty.

“It’s important to have people trust you and that means that you have to speak the truth,” she explains. “Israel is a country with problems like every other country in the world, whether we’re talking about migrant workers or our issues with the Palestinians or anything in between. The main thing is to show that we recognize our problems, and we’re doing our best to solve them.”

At the Heart of Global Change Ehud Eitam, Israel’s Consul General in Istanbul, another TAU graduate, boasts a diplomatic career of nearly 35 years.

Prior to his current posting, he served as Israel’s Ambassador to Costa Rica and Peru, among other positions.

Even after so much time, he still finds his job fascinating. “From the first stages on the job, you work directly with the top echelons of other countries,” he says. “You find yourself in the middle of huge and meaningful things.”

He recalls when, during one of his postings, anti-Israel groups in Latin America attempted to prevent an Israeli company from winning a lucrative tender. The public pressure was so intense that Shimon Peres, then Foreign Minister, and Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s outgoing President and then Communications Minister, got involved. The campaign culminated with Eitam appearing on a popular TV talk show, hosted by a local Palestinian. He knew that the interview would determine the campaign’s fate. Ultimately, the Israeli company won the tender, and Eitam views the episode as a tipping point in garnering more legitimacy for Israel in the region.

One of his biggest achievements was during his first posting in Helsinki in the late 1980s. Finland had become a transit station for Jews flooding out of the Soviet Union, and, finding himself at a milestone in Jewish history, he became involved in many

facets—economic, political, security and logistical.

Eitam cites David Ben-Gurion who said that all diplomats wear two hats—as representatives of the State of Israel and of the Jewish community.

“You have to make important practical decisions that could have wideranging consequences for the Jewish people as a whole.”

Subsequently, Eitam established the Israeli Embassy in the Ukraine, one year after the country gained independence. He undertook the momentous task of building Israel’s ties with the country from scratch. His work there was especially significant because of the Ukraine’s rich and complicated past with the Jewish people; aliyah from the country was strong at the time, and Eitam facilitated and attended the first state visits between the countries’ leaders.

After he’d been working in the field for nearly 20 years, Eitam returned to academia to complete a master’s degree in security and diplomacy at TAU. His studies allowed to him to gain

insights on the vast experience he’d accrued, alongside other experienced professionals. He recalls courses with Profs. Nissan Oren and Azar Gat as well as Major Gen. (Ret.) Prof. Isaac Ben-Israel, which is an “experience in and of itself.” He was able to apply this knowledge in his subsequent positions.

Eitam, Ronen and Yedidia-Clein are among thousands of TAU alumni who are members of TAU’s Alumni Organization, headed by Sigalit Ben Hayoun. The Organizaton’s goal is to leverage the influence of TAU alumni through shared knowledge and opportunities.

And like Ronen and Yedidia-Clein, Eitam concludes that his main motivation to serve as a diplomat is Zionism.

For Ronen, this same deep-rooted ideology means that she has fulfilled her childhood dream of tikkun olam.

“I think representing Israel, changing one opinion at a time, is changing the world.”

Ehud Eitam (left) with Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos

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ALUMNI

TAU Launches Alumni Advisory Committee Tel Aviv University’s Alumni Organization has established an Advisory Committee led by TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat and Alumni Organization Head Sigalit Ben Hayoun.

The Committee is composed of leading alumni, who invest their time, energy, funds and skills to furthering the Organization’s mission: To forge and grow a community with global impact. The Advisory Committee is the first of its kind at an Israeli university.

The TAU Alumni Organization welcomes Amir Guy as a recent addition to its Advisory Committee. An alumnus of TAU's Coller School of Management, Guy is CEO of FiverrX, a new initiative, created with global freelance platform Fiverr, which aims to change the ad industry’s economic model. He is also a partner at Adler Chomski Marketing Communication Ltd., one of Israel’s leading advertising firms, and Chairman of the Israeli Association of Advertising Companies.

Alumnus Isaac Herzog Elected Israel’s President

Start-up Alums Talk with AFTAU

As this magazine went to print, Isaac Herzog, a graduate of the Buchmann Faculty of Law, was elected by the Knesset as Israel's next President. TAU congratulates him and wishes him success.

“From Software Start-up to the Superbowl Stage​” w ​ as the first webinar of a quarterly series, TAU TALKS, hosted

by American Friends of TAU (AFTAU). ​The series features leading entrepreneurs who are TAU alumni ​ in conversation with fellow alumnus Aaron Tartakovsky. An entrepreneur himself, as well as an AFTAU Board Member and TAU Governor, Tartakovsky is CEO and co-founder of Epic Cleantec, a Bay Area start-up that decentralizes wastewater treatment for the benefit of the environment.

Tzipi Ozer-Armon Flying High Alumna Appointed with Lumenis Chief Scientist Entrepreneur Tzipi Ozer-Armon, CEO of Lumenis and alumna of the Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences and Coller School of Management, has boosted Lumenis’s value fivefold since she took over as CEO in 2012, and recently sold the company's surgical operations division for $1.1 billion.

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Prof. Noga Kronfeld-Schor was appointed Chief Scientist at Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Kronfeld-Schor is a faculty member at TAU’s School of Zoology, former director of the I. Meier Segals Garden for Zoological Research, and alumna of the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Coller School of Management and Constantiner School of Education, all at TAU.

In the inaugural talk, Amit Bendov (pictured), co-founder and CEO of Gong.io, a revenue intelligence app, shared his vast experience in bringing tech companies “from zero to exit/IPO.” Bendov is an alumnus of the Blavatnik School of Computer Science.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Dafna Meitar-Nechmad to Chair Board of Governors A TAU Search Committee has unanimously recommended the appointment of Dafna MeitarNechmad as the next Chair of the TAU Board of Governors.

After serving for three years as Co-Chair of the TAU Global Campaign, Meitar-Nechmad will replace current chairman Prof. Jacob A. Frenkel, who will complete two four-year terms this year.

Meitar-Nechmad is a triple alumna and long-time benefactor of TAU and will be first woman to hold this important role. She previously worked as a lawyer but now focuses on philanthropy. Among her many public roles, she serves on the Boards of JFN–Jewish Funders Network and the Metropolitan Opera of New York, and heads the Zvi and Ofra Meitar Family Fund, with TAU as its major

beneficiary. Meitar-Nechmad and her family founded the Zvi Meitar Center for Advanced Legal Studies at TAU’s Buchmann Faculty of Law. She is also a founding member of TAU’s Institute for Law and Philanthropy.

Michal Bat Adam Wins Israel Prize for Film

Dan David Prize Responds to Global Health Crisis

The 2021 Israel Prize for Film Art was awarded to Michal Bat Adam, a lecturer at Tel Aviv University’s Tisch School of Film and Television, and a prolific director, screenwriter and actor. Bat Adam has written and directed 13 full-length movies. She has also starred in numerous films, plays and TV shows, including Madame Rosa (1977), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

“At a time when there were no government funds to support filmmaking as there are today, over the years Bat Adam produced …full-length films that constitute unique and original creations in the cinematic realm,” the Israel Prize Committee wrote.

Bat Adam is known for forging a unique female language in cinema—uncompromising and groundbreaking.

The 2021 Dan David Prize laureates are Dr. Anthony Fauci (pictured), Director of the US’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); history of health and medicine scholars Prof. Alison Bashford, Prof. Katharine Park and Prof. Keith Wailoo; and the pioneers of an anti-cancer immunotherapy Prof. Zelig Eshhar, Dr. Carl June and Dr. Steven Rosenberg. The awards were bestowed in an online event on May 9.

The internationally renowned Dan David Prize, headquartered at TAU, annually awards three prizes of $1 million each to inspiring individuals and organizations.

“In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed natural to focus all three prizes on the achievements of the sciences and the humanities in health and medicine,” said Ariel David, director of the Dan David Foundation and son of the late founder, at the ceremony. “The laureates we are celebrating today perfectly embody the spirit of resilience, and their achievements are evidence that reason and scientific inquiry are our only true weapons in the fight against disease.”

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Tel Aviv University Lay Leadership Worldwide

INDIA

SWITZERLAND

Aaron Solomon, President

Patrick Loeb-Meyer, President

Indian Friends of Tel Aviv University

Swiss Friends of Tel Aviv University

ISRAEL

UK

Amnon Dick, Chairman

David Meller CBE, Chairman

Israeli Friends of Tel Aviv University

Tel Aviv University Trust

KAZAKHSTAN

Dr. Alexander Machkevitch, President ARGENTINA

Polly Mizrahi de Deutsch, President

Kazakhstani Friends of Tel Aviv University

Argentinean Friends of Tel Aviv University

MEXICO

AUSTRALIA

Mexican Friends of Tel Aviv University

Rosie Potaznik, President Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University (Victoria)

Jenny Hillman, President Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University (New South Wales)

Clive Donner, President

Jaime Murow Troice, President NETHERLANDS Dutch Friends of Tel Aviv University

NORWAY

Jan Dante, Chairman

Australian Friends of Tel Aviv University (WA) Chairperson, AFTAU Pty Ltd.

Norwegian Friends of Tel Aviv University

AUSTRIA

Millie Bettsak, President

Dr. Bernhard Ramsauer, President

Panamanian Friends of Tel Aviv University

Austrian Friends of Tel Aviv University

PANAMA

PORTUGAL

BRAZIL

Lucienne Kampel, President

David Ades, President

Portuguese Friends of Tel Aviv University

Brazilian Friends of Tel Aviv University São Paulo

Renée Cohen Zaide

RUSSIA

Brazilian Friends of Tel Aviv University Rio de Janeiro

Viktor Vekselberg, President

Dr. Mario Gurvitz Cardoni

Russian Friends of Tel Aviv University

Brazilian Friends of Tel Aviv University Porto Alegre

SOUTH AFRICA

CANADA

The Honourable Jerry S. Grafstein QC National President Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University

David Altshuller, Regional Chair Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University Ontario and Western Canada

Josh Cummings, Regional Chair Canadian Friends of Tel Aviv University Ottawa, Quebec and Atlantic Canada

ECUADOR

Ketty Grun, Liaison Ecuadorian Friends of Tel Aviv University

FRANCE

Prof. François Heilbronn, President French Friends of Tel Aviv University (AFAUTA)

GERMANY

Uwe Becker, President German Friends of Tel Aviv University

HONG KONG

Sharon Ser, Chairperson Hong Kong Friends of Tel Aviv University

Jonathan Osrin, Chairman South African Friends of Tel Aviv University

SPAIN

Patricia Nahmad, President Isaac Querub, Honorary President Spanish Friends of Tel Aviv University

SWEDEN

Peter Seideman, President Swedish Friends of Tel Aviv University

Glen Watson, Chairman, Scottish Group Tel Aviv University Trust

URUGUAY

Bettina Szames, President Uruguayan Friends of Tel Aviv University

USA

Clement Erbmann, National Chairman American Friends of Tel Aviv University

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