USC in Israel: Tel Aviv Update

The Tel Aviv portion of the USC Delegation visit to Israel included meetings with the academic leadership of Tel Aviv University (TAU), a comprehensive liberal arts university that is the largest university in Israel; and with leadership and faculty of The Weizmann Institute of Science, one of the world’s leading multidisciplinary research institutions, conducting basic science research through five faculties: mathematics and computer science, physics, chemistry, biochemistry and biology.

USC President C. L. Max Nikias, USC Provost Elizabeth Garrett, USC Trustees, deans, and faculty members attended briefings with Ehud Gazit, Vice President for Research and Development of TAU, where they compared university infrastructure; learned about their plans for growing their international programs; and were briefed on the current political climate of the region by TAU Professor Uzi Rabi, Director of Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies.

At the Weizmann Institute of Science, the delegation was briefed by Vice President Haim Garty on the structure of this organization that focuses on research and graduate programs, and together they discussed the current governmental funding shift in priority from basic science to technology transfer programs. During a lunch meeting hosted by The Weizmann Institute, the USC Delegation met with four Israeli faculty members who recently joined the Weizmann faculty after returning from the United States as post-doctoral researchers—astrophysicist Avishay Gal-Yam, neurobiologist Ofer Yizhur, biologist Karina Yaniv, and molecular geneticist Jacob Hanna—accompanied by the dean of the biology faculty, Michal Neeman.

Additional activities included a private briefing with Manuel Trajtenberg, an economist who is chair of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education in Israel; and a cultural visit to the Ilana Goor Museum, where USC hosted a reception for academic colleagues. The Museum's namesake and curator, the internationally acclaimed Israeli artist Ilana Goor, personally welcomed the guests and introduced them to her collection. During the trip The USC School of Social Work introduced the delegation to the work of Colonel Dr. Eyal Fruchter, the head of Mental Health Department of the Israeli Defense Force Medical Corps, who discussed mental health programs for military personnel.