President of The Technion to visit Australia
In his newly appointed and prestigious role as President of the Technion – Professor Uri Sivan, will visit Australia for the first time ever from 31 January to 7 February 2020 – as the host and guest speaker at various events across Sydney and Melbourne.
Professor Uri Sivan
His timely visit serves to both further expand existing research collaborations as well as identify future research opportunities between Australia and Israel. Additional objective for his visit is to acknowledge a very generous USD$3 million donation from business leader and philanthropists Mr Robert and Mrs Ruth Magid for the Technion’s Quantum Education Program for engineers and scientists.
The program will enable the Technion to educate and train undergraduate students providing them with the skills and know-how required for emerging quantum industries. This is a revolutionary approach as traditionally, high-level quantum science education has been confined to physics and chemistry departments.
Executive Director of Technion Australia, Mr Ori Danieli, said, “We are delighted to welcome Professor Sivan to Australia, and are honoured to have him meet with long-term Technion supporters, the Magids.
“Their donation will play a pivotal role in advancing quantum education programs on the world stage and positioning Israel at the forefront of quantum research. We are thrilled that this support has stemmed from Australia.”
In his long research career, Prof. Sivan covered a wide range of fields including quantum mesoscopic physics and the harnessing of molecular and cellular biology for the self-assembly of miniature electronic devices. Recent research of his focused on the way water orders next to molecules and the effect of this ordering on inter-molecular interactions in biologically relevant solutions. Within this framework, Prof. Sivan and his research group design and build unique, ultra-high-resolution atomic force microscopes.
Prof. Sivan and colleague, Dr Ohad Zohar of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion created the nano-bible – the world’s smallest bible (smaller than a pinhead) which the late President Shimon Peres presented to Pope Benedict XVI during a visit to Israel.
Alongside colleagues, Prof. Sivan also demonstrated for the first time, how to harness molecular recognition by DNA molecules for wiring an electric circuit. This study gained considerable resonance and helped pave the way for a new field in nanotechnology using the self-assembly properties of biological molecules to construct miniature engineering systems.
On Tuesday, 4 February 2020 in Sydney, Technion Australia and JNF NSW will host Prof. Sivan and the inventor of WiFi, Dr David Skellern, for a panel conversation to discuss the impact of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, robotics, quantum computing and cyber technology on medicine, health, the environment and education. They will share their visions regarding what Israel and Australia must do to maintain and expand their leadership in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
On Friday, 7 February 2020 in Melbourne, PwC will host Prof Sivan who will share the Technion’s vision in integrating Israeli’s from all walks of life into society, its commitment to nurturing the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs and its vision in maintaining its leading position as an entrepreneurial powerhouse.
In a country where diversity, ethnical and religious backgrounds are often so controversial, over 20 per cent of the Technion’s students are of minority religious background. Furthermore, close to 40 per cent of the students are women. In addition to being Israel’s top university, the Technion is also a symbol for coexistence and tolerance.
Technion is one of the world’s leading universities dedicated to science, engineering and technology. With campuses in Israel, China and New York (a partnership with Cornell), the university is home to three Nobel Prize laureates and one alumnus laureate. The Technion is often regarded as the backbone of Israel’s claim to fame as the Startup Nation with many of Israel’s and humanity’s greatest inventions credited to the University or its alumni.
