Technion President: “Technion friends from around the world thoroughly understand the enormous contribution the fields of engineering and computer science make to the state’s economy. Unfortunately, the list of national priorities does not reflect the support due these areas.”
Technion President, Prof. Peretz Lavie, reported today to the 224 members of the Technion Board of Governors that an additional three contributions totaling $60 million have been made. The contributions are intended for the recruitment of new faculty members and the laboratories of the Faculty of Computer Science ($30 million from the Taub Foundation), for medical research ($20 million from the Rappaport Foundation) and additional purposes ($10 million from the American Technion Society delegation that recently visited Israel).
Prof. Lavie noted with satisfaction the lively participation of the governors at the annual board meeting, which had been absent for the past several years. He reported about the new study program in Petroleum and Gas Exploration to be offered at the Technion next year, in light of the discovery of gas fields off the coast of Israel. “Israel does not have enough experts in these areas and the Technion has once again volunteered, together with the University of Haifa and government ministries, to address this national need,” he said.
The Technion President updated the Board of Governors regarding the details of the tender to establish a scientific-engineering research center in New York in which the Technion, by personal invitation of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is participating together with leading universities in the U.S. and around the world. “The Technion is expanding its international activities,” he emphasized. “The International School of Engineering has doubled itself within a single year and in 2010 we signed cooperative agreements with 36 universities around the world (recently with five of the leading universities in China), in addition to the 80 already-existing agreements and this year we have a record number of registered post-doctoral fellows on campus.”
At the end of his remarks, the Technion President reported about the new research centers in the areas of energy, computer engineering (the largest such center in the country) and autonomous systems. “It is unfortunate that the list of national priorities does not reflect the support due the fields of engineering and computer science, whose contribution to the state’s economy is enormous,” said Prof. Lavie. He emphasized that in 2010 the Technion recruited 26 new faculty members, which since 2001 is an unprecedented number. “We are offering our new faculty members residence in our new graduate students village, a generous absorption basket for setting up advanced laboratories, and a Technion mentor who can guide them during their initial period at the Technion. Reversing the brain drain is at the top of the Technion’s list of priorities.”