Credit: Itai Bodel

The Ministry of Higher Education has recently made an important decision designating our university as the University of Haifa and the Galilee. The decision concludes a long governmental process exploring whether the Galilee region should have its own separate University. Since the beginning of his tenure as President, Prof. Robin has advocated that the University of Haifa was best positioned to serve this role and argued that establishing a separate entity would strain the limited resources available for higher education in Israel. “Back in 2016, I initiated the negotiations with BRAUDE College and WIZO Academy,” noted Prof. Robin, “and while they did not lead to the desired merger, these talks planted the seeds that have led the government to seek the expansion of our presence in the North. This decision presents us with a unique opportunity to develop an all-encompassing strategy and expand our horizons towards a new and exciting future, with a clear national and scientific mission.” Current political events in Israel may affect the pace of implementation, but, together, we remain determined to fulfil this vision.

Congratulations to three University of Haifa scholars recently awarded STEM Leadership grants from the Zuckerman Institute

Dr. Shani Stern of the Sagol Department of Neurobiology is a Zuckerman Faculty Scholars recipient. Upon joining the University of Haifa last year, she set-up the Precision Disease Modeling Laboratory, where she studies the underlying causes behind bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease, and rare mutations that cause intellectual disability, epilepsy and autism.  Her research aims to improve diagnosis and prognosis of these diseases.>>READ MORE

Dr. Ben Strauber of the Department of Psychology is a recipient of a Zuckerman Postdoctoral Scholarship. Dr. Strauber examines frictions that exist between people from different backgrounds, and strategies used to address those frictions, through the lens of neuroscience. >>READ MORE

Dr. Silas Dean of the Dr. Moses Strauss Department of Marine Geosciences is a recipient of a Zuckerman Postdoctoral Scholarship. Dr. Dean is reconstructing the ancient environmental conditions of the paleolake that once existed in Israel’s Jordan Valley - identified as one of the most important areas for the presence of early hominins (direct ancestors to humans) outside Africa. >>READ MORE

Dr. Nissim Cohen, head of the Department of Administration and Public Policy and director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, recently presented a new model for managing the pandemic at the Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economics and Society. “A National Model for Evaluating Policy in Times of Crisis,” co-developed by Dr. Cohen and Ron Tzur, proposes a three-pronged policy for investigating and evaluating policy during the current crisis, which can be used immediately. Government leaders attending the presentation included Deputy Minister of Defense and Deputy Prime Minister Benny Gantz, Opposition Leader and Chairman of Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid and Chairman of the Constitution Committee Yaakov Asher. >>READ MORE in the Jerusalem Post. >>VIEW A RECORDING OF THE CONFERENCE HERE

The device, developed by Israeli company OutSense, clips onto the toilet and operates automatically, non-invasively, discreetly and without active user intervention. In addition to being 90% accurate in detecting traces of blood in stool — a possible sign of disease — the technology can also detect dehydration and urinary tract infections using multispectral optical sensors. Dr. Tali Treibitz, who heads the Marine Imaging Lab at the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, is a key member of OutSense's leadership team. The company hopes to expand trials in Israel and abroad and initiate US Food and Drug Administration approvals by next year. >>READ MORE

Photo courtesy of OutSense

Courtesy: Underwater Acoustics and Navigation Lab

Dr. Roee Diamant, Head of the Underwater Acoustics and Navigation Lab is leading the development of a deep learning system capable of identifying the number and types of fish in the water at any given time. “The system, capable of deep sea deployment, is a multimodal acousticoptic system that uses information from acoustic and optical waves in combination with data from optical cameras, to count the number of fish and detect their biomass for easy detection,” explains Dr. Diamant. “The data provides decision makers with real-time numbers to reduce overfishing and protect endangered marine life.” A prototype of the system recently concluded its final testing phase. The project is being developed with the participation of research institutes from Israel, Spain, Italy, and Germany and received funding from the EU Horizons 2020 program. >>READ MORE in Ynet (Hebrew)

A number of students on campus joined Rabbi Dr. Yossi Stemler to light Hanukkah candles with longtime University of Haifa friends and supporters from Brazil and Argentina, Mr. Elie Horn and David Sutton Dabbah on Zoom. Mr. Horn is  a staunch supporter of the University and has given generously to promoting Jewish life on campus, including the renovation of the Vilna Gaon Synagogue and support of Jewish study programs such as “” Tsavta” bringing together religious and secular Jewish students. The event coordinated by the Director of the Latin American desk, Mr. Adrian Teper.

ECNU students from Shanghai participating in the online event.

The International MBA class at the University of Haifa recently held a Business Virtual Salon on the topic of business globalization with the MBA class at ECNU (East China Normal University), the University’s strategic partner in Shanghai. “This was an opportunity for students to share ideas and learn from each other,” noted Prof. Chalom Schirman, Head of the International MBA Program. “Students from both countries gave presentations on the impact of globalization on business, which was followed by interesting exchanges.” The business schools will continue their collaboration by holding a joint seminar where binational teams will work on industrial cooperation between Israeli and Chinese firms in the fields of medical devices, semiconductors, and autonomous vehicles.

Throughout this first week of vaccinations, public health expert Prof. Manfred Green, fielded hundreds of questions from the public on >>UNIVERSITY OF HAIFA’S FACEBOOK PAGE.

You may also want to tune into a discussion with Prof. Green on whether new coronavirus strains are cause for concern. The webinar is hosted by the American Society of the University of Haifa. >>VIEW A RECORDING HERE

Dr. Green is a research professor of public health at the School of Public Health, medical doctor, epidemiologist, member of the Ministry of Health's Vaccination Advisory Committee and member of the Ministry of Health's Pandemic Response Team.