Month: March 2014

 

 

ISU Space Studies Program Session to be hosted by Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Strasbourg, France – The International Space University (ISU) is proud to announce that the 29^th annual Space Studies Program (SSP) session will be hosted by the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa from 04 July – 02 September 2016. The dates are to be confirmed.

 “ISU has a long-standing relationship with Israel in general and Technion in particular. Many participants of Israel were able, thanks in part to the Ilan Ramon Fund, to attend ISU programs previously. It is therefore a genuine pleasure for ISU to further enhance this relationship and convene the SSP16 session in Haifa. It is evident that there will be considerable interest from other countries to discover more closely the amazing hi-tech achievements and cultural richness of the host site” declared Prof. Walter Peeters, President of ISU.

Technion President, Prof. Peretz Lavie stated: “The Technion is proud to host the 29th annual Space Studies Program (SSP) in Haifa. The Technion is one of the first universities to launch a satellite and has an active space program. We will ensure that the 29th program will be an exciting event that will allow the participants to experience first-hand Technion scientific achievements, and the beauty and culture of Israel”.

The SSP is an intense nine-week program which offers the participants a unique and comprehensive professional development experience covering all aspects of space programs and enterprises. Disciplines highlighted include space physical sciences; space engineering; space policy, economics and law; space management and business; space and the humanities; space applications; and human performance in space. This program targets young and seasoned professionals from all disciplines as well as post-graduate university students. The team projects allow participants to refine the topic as a team, and also produce professional quality reports and final presentations, all in the span of a few weeks. Every summer, the SSP takes place in a different location around the world. Recent sessions have convened in Graz, the NASA Ames Research Center, Beijing and Melbourne (Florida). This year the SSP will take place in Montréal, Quebec, Canada in collaboration with ETS and HEC.

“We are delighted to be taking the SSP16 to Israel for our first session to be offered in the Middle East. Technion features world-class facilities and a beautiful campus. Haifa is an excellent location to deliver our signature Interdisciplinary, International, and Intercultural Space Studies Program” added Dr. Angie Bukley, dean of ISU.

Further information about the Space Studies Program can be found under:

http://www.isunet.edu/programs/space-studies-program

The International Space University, founded in 1987 in Massachusetts, US and now headquartered in Strasbourg, France, is the world’s premier international space education institution. It is supported by major space agencies and aerospace organizations from around
the world. The graduate level programs offered by ISU are dedicated to promoting international, interdisciplinary and intercultural cooperation in space activities. ISU offers the Master of Science in Space Studies and Master of Science in Space Management programs at its Central Campus
in Strasbourg. Since the summer of 1988, ISU also conducts the highly acclaimed nine-week Space Studies Program at different host institutions in locations spanning the globe.
ISU programs are delivered by over 100 ISU faculty members in concert with invited industry
and agency experts from institutions around the world. Since its funding, 25 years ago, more than 3700 students from over 100 countries graduated from ISU.

www.isunet.edu

Based on friction tests of surfaces mimicking the textures evolved on frog, cricket and salamander feet

Technion Scientists Discovered a Way to Significantly Improve Shaving Process

Technion scientists discovered a way to significantly improve shaving process, following friction tests of surfaces mimicking the textures evolved on frog, cricket and salamander feet.

The research group led by Assistant Professor Michael Varenberg, the Head of the Tribology Laboratories at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, examined how the frog, salamander and cricket, the creatures that live in a wet environment, do not slip on wet surfaces. The surfaces mimicking biological textures were tested using a one of its kind device that was built by Prof. Varenberg’s research group. This device is capable of measuring the forces that develop between the contact surfaces, such as friction and adhesion, while working within a scanning electron microscope. This allows simultaneous high-resolution visualization of the behavior of surfaces in contact. “We use nature’s solutions as inspiration for the development of new surface engineering technologies,” explains Prof. Varenberg. “We do this in collaboration with biologists who provide us with information on the functions and structure of complex biological systems that we are trying to simplify and implement using technical means. This allows us to understand how things work in nature and also promote engineering.”

The scientists found that creatures living in wet environments improve their grip by draining the fluid out of contact using special channels that exist on the contact surfaces in their feet. So it happens that similar problem exists in modern safety razors. The rubber strip ahead of the blades is used to improve shaving by increasing friction needed for stretching the skin before the blades slide over it. The presence of the shaving lubricant on the skin reduces friction and therefore interferes with the skin stretching. To examine real safety razors, the researchers removed the blades and replaced the original strip of rubber, which is covered today by a series of small fins (fig. 1), with a rubber strip bearing a biomimetic hexagonal surface texture that they built based on an extensive examination of frog, cricket and salamander feet. “The surface we produced in the lab is twice more effective at increasing friction on the skin covered by shaving foam than the surfaces used in commercial razors,” explains Prof. Varenberg, who co-filed a patent on this discovery together with his graduate student Alexey Tsipenyuk. “Our surface also felt much more pleasant in touch,” adds Alexey, who performed friction measurements on the skin of his forearm (fig. 2). Alexey’s poster was recently chosen as one of the 3 top posters on the competition at the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI).

The paper describing this work is published by the Royal Society journal Interface. It can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2014.0113

 

The Patent: CHM-1561: Razor blade assembly

The friction-providing material used for stretching the skin while shaving constitutes an important component of modern safety razor design. This invention proposes the use of bio-inspired textured surfaces (mimicking those which crickets employ to enhance friction) to increase skin stretching in disposable safety razor assemblies. Borrowing from nature’s millennia of evolutionary development, it is expected to offer better shave results than current razor designs.

The Azrieli Foundation to Donate 21 Million NIS for the Technion’s New Campus in Tel Aviv’s Sarona Complex

 

• The Technion campus in Tel Aviv will be named the “Technion-Azrieli Sarona Campus – Tel Aviv;”

• The Technion’s Division of Continuing Education and External Studies has been operating in the Tel Aviv area since 1958. Last July, the Division moved into its new offices at the newly restored Sarona campus.

• David Azrieli: “Our cooperation with the Technion, over many decades, underscores the importance of supporting higher education and all levels of education in Israel. The opening of the Technion Sarona Campus in Tel Aviv will facilitate growth and strengthen education in entrepreneurship and innovation, and highlight our commitment to the advancement of the next generation, who will impact the future of the State of Israel.”

The Azrieli Foundation is announcing today a contribution of 21 million NIS for the development and expansion of the Technion’s Division of Continuing Education and External Studies at the Sarona campus in Tel Aviv.  The Division will be renamed “The Azrieli Continuing Education and External Studies Division. The gift will also go towards designing a new Technion MBA program focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship, to be named, “The Azrieli MBA Program in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.”

Technion’s Division of Continuing Education has been operating in the Tel Aviv area since 1958. Last July, the Division moved into its new offices to the newly-restored Sarona complex, a project of the Tel Aviv municipality to preserve and renovate the German Templar settlement in Tel Aviv, which was founded in 1871 and abandoned in 1945. The Technion satellite campus in Sarona includes three buildings in a 1,800 sq. meter area, with a total of 16 modern classrooms. Some 500 students in engineering and exact sciences began their studies in the Technion Sarona campus last autumn.

Over the years the Azrieli Foundation has contributed generously to the Technion, particularly the institute’s Faculty of Architecture & Town Planning. The Azrieli Foundation has been instrumental in providing support for research, and to programs for the advancement of outstanding students and young researchers. David Azrieli, who received an Honorary Doctorate from the Technion and is a member of its Board of Governors, has served in a series of leadership roles in the Canadian Technion Society, including Honorary President.

• David Azrieli: “Our cooperation with the Technion, over many decades, underscores the importance of supporting higher education and all levels of education in Israel. The opening of the Technion Sarona Campus in Tel Aviv will facilitate growth and strengthen education in entrepreneurship and innovation, and highlight our commitment to the advancement of the next generation, who will impact the future of the State of Israel.”

Technion President, Professor Peretz Lavie, emphasized that the Technion’s Azrieli Division of Continuing Education and External Studies in Tel Aviv enables academics and engineers from the center of Israel and Tel Aviv region to benefit from Technion graduate studies, close to their homes. “In September 1942 David Azrieli came to Israel and in September 1943 he was accepted to the Technion,” related Professor Lavie. “Since then he has had a close connection with the Technion. The contributions David Azrieli has made to the State of Israel in general, and to the Technion in particular, are enormous. Thousands of engineers and architects are work and contribute in this country today thanks to his support and vision. It is hard to imagine Israel’s modern economy without David Azrieli’s enormous efforts and vast activities.”

The Azrieli Foundation was established with a goal to support educational initiatives; in the past decade it has developed and operated programs promoting excellence in education, both in higher educational institutions for academics and students, and in primary schools across the country, aimed at promoting youth education and prevention of school dropouts in junior high school.