Tech Women 2019

“Your future is here”: 700 outstanding high school students take part in Tech Women at Technion this month. 

“Your future is here,” announced computer science student Karen Yitzhak to the group of excellent female high school students attending this year’s Tech Women, which she hosted.

Arriving at Technion City from Israel’s four corners, the 700 female students are presently excelling in math and science at school. During the Tech Women even at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology the students met with researchers, faculty, and graduates, touring laboratories and encountering a range of research fields.  

Tech Women events are held at the initiation of the Rosalyn August Women Girls Empowerment Mission (GEM) and are designed to inspire female students with the field of possibility and opportunity at Technion and to encourage them to pursue undergraduate studies in science and engineering.

Technion Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development Prof. Alon Wolf, who opened the event.

“Already in the Technion’s first class in 1924, the 17 students studied included one female. This was at a time when, in many countries, academia was closed to women. Since its first day, the Technion has received male and female students based on their abilities alone and regardless of religion, race and gender,” said Prof. Alon Wolf, Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development who opened the event. “You also came here to the Technion today because of your abilities. If you want to influence the future of the world and determine what it will look like in fifty years’ time, come study at the Technion.”

The opening event was hosted by student Keren Yitzhak, who began her studies at the Technion Preparatory Program some five years ago and will soon complete here bachelor’s degree in computer science. “You were selected to attend this event because you are brilliant, and we have no doubt that your future is here,” said Yitzhak, who in parallel to her studies works at Melanox. “Even if you aren’t sure what you want to do when you grow up, the Technion is a great starting point for you.”

Dr. Rotem Vishinkin, who received her PhD from the Technion this year, spoke about her path at Technion and about the studies she conducted under the guidance of Prof. Hossam Haick of the Wolfson Faculty of Chemical Engineering. In recent years, Dr. Vishinkin innovated a sticker to diagnose tuberculosis. The development, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Host of the event, student Karen Yitzhak of the Faculty of Computer Science

and the European Union, is expected to save the lives of millions of people in developing countries through early diagnosis and compatible care. “As a young girl, I dreamed of becoming a doctor,” she told the students. “But in the end, I chose chemical engineering studies, where I combine engineering and life sciences. As the director of the Apatch group, where research partners from academia, hospitals and various companies are developing a sticker to diagnose tuberculosis, I feel that I’m making a unique and significant contribution to humanity.”