Alumni achievements
Alumni achievements
Fulbright-Schneider Danon Post-Doctoral Researcher
Nir Peled wins cancer research award
November 2008
Dr. Nir Peled has been allocated an $80,000 Young Investigator’s Award by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). The IASLC rewards scientific excellence and encourages innovative investigations in the field of lung cancer prevention research and translational research with a potential impact on the management of lung cancer.
Dr. Peled, received his MD from the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. In 2008 he was awarded the Fulbright-Schneider Yehuda Danon Post-Doctoral Fellowship. He is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Colorado Cancer Center, where his work focuses on early detection of lung cancer by a novel breath analysis method developed in Israel.
Fulbright alumna Professor Gabriela Shalev appointed Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations
July 20, 2008
On July 20, 2008 the Government of Israel approved Professor Gabriela Shalev's appointment as Israel's new Ambassador to the United Nations.
Professor Gabriela Shalev received her doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She received a Fulbright post-doctoral award in 1974 to conduct research at Harvard University. Her research interests include contract law, comparative contract law, government contracts, and law and literature.
For 38 years Professor Shalev was a member of the academic staff of the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Law, and was the first incumbent of the Faculty’s Lawrence D. Biele Chair in Contract Law (1990). She has held many other positions, as well, among them: Academic President (Rector) of Ono Academic College; Chairperson of the Ministry of Justice’s Fund for Promotion of Law; Legal Editor of the new edition of The Hebrew Encyclopedia; Member of the Standard Contracts Tribunal; and Member of the Codification in Civil Law Committee.
Fulbright alumni assist in the launch of Azrieli Foundation
Fellows Program
November 8, 2007 - Azrieli Center, Tel Aviv
At a ceremony held in the Azrieli Center in Tel Aviv, the Azrieli Foundation announced the first grant recipients of the new Azrieli Fellows Program. Fulbright alumni were members of two of the Program's three academic review committees. Professor Uri Banin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1994 Post-Doctoral Fellow; Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) served on the Interdisciplinary and Applied Sciences Committee, while Professor Gavriel Salomon (1966 Doctoral Fellow; Stanford University) was a member of the Education Committee. In addition, the featured speaker at the awards ceremony was Fulbright alumna, Minister of Education Yuli Tamir (1994 Junior Faculty Fellow; Princeton University).
The Azrieli Foundation is a Canadian philanthropic organization, established by real estate entrepreneur David J. Azrieli. The objective of the Foundation's new Fellows Program is to promote excellence and leadership in graduate studies at Israeli universities.
Fulbright alumnus Dr. Hussam Haiek wins
Binational Science Foundation Bergmann Memorial Award
November 2007
Dr. Hossam Haick has been selected as one of the recipients of the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation's Bergmann Memorial Awards.
The Binational Science Foundation (BSF) promotes mutually beneficial scientific and technological cooperation between the USand Israel by funding research projects, based on active collaboration between American and Israeli scientists. BSF's Bergmann Awards are special supplemental grants awarded to young scientists, recipients of new BSF research grants, whose research projects are judged to be of exceptional merit.
Dr. Haick and his American partner, Professor Raymond Tung of Brookly College, City University of New York, will receive BSF funding for their project on "Electron transport through conductor/molecular film/semiconductor". The project will study metal-molecule-semiconductor junctions and contacts with emphasis on understanding the role of pinhole defects.
Dr. Haick, Senior Lecturer in the Technion's Department of Chemical Engineering, received a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the United States-Israel Educational Foundation in 2004 in support of research at the California Institute of Technology.
Fulbright alumnus Dr. Michael Graber receives Outstanding Service Award at anniversary celebrations of the Montreal Protocol for the Protection of the Ozone Layer
September 16, 2007 - Montreal, Canada
On the 20th Aniversary of the signing of the Montreal Protocol for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, celebrated in Montreal on 16 September 2007, Fulbright alumnus Dr. Michael Graber was presented with the Montreal Protocol Outstanding Service Award.
During the period 1996-2004, Dr. Graber served as the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Environmental Program's Ozone Secretariat.
Dr. Graber earned his PhD in Atmospheric Science from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1976, and in the same year was awarded a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship in support of research to be carried out at the Department of Environmental Protection of the State of New Jersey.
Fulbright alumni named in TheMarker’s “Most Influential” issue
September 2007
A number of Fulbright alumni were named in The Marker’s annual “most influential issue:
The situation of Dr. Yoram Turbowicz (1987 Doctoral Fellow, Harvard University), the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, was discussed in a special item appended to the article on Prime Minister Olmert.
Dr. Basel Ghattas (2000 Humphrey Fellow, University of Maryland, College Park) was named one of seven leading figures in the NGO sector, in recognition of his role as head of The Galilee Society, one the largest and most influential Arab voluntary organizations in Israel. Dr. Gattas was also one of the founders of Adala-The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel and of Itige’a, the roof organization of Arab NGO’s, where he served as Chairman and Board Member for many years.
Att. Idit Reiter (1999 Environment Fellow, George Washington University) was named as one of seven influential figures in the field of environment. Reiter, a specialist in environmental law, provides legal advice to many leading industrial firms, hoping “to demonstrate to them that environmental activity not only lessens the danger that they will be the focus of legal processes, but also serves their purely business interests.”
Dr. Ornit Raz (2004 Post-Doctoral Fellow, MIT), the recently appointed Director General of the Israel Bio-Organic Agriculture Association, was termed “worth watching” in the section on promising young marketing excecutives.
Fulbright Alumni's appointments, awards noted in Technion President's Report
Fall 2007
The Technion President's Report for 2007 noted the following appointments and awards received by Fulbright Program alumni:
Distinguished Professsor Aaron Ciechanover of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine (1981 Post-Doctoral Fellow; MIT) was appointed a Member of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Professor Ciechanover was also named a foreign associate of the American National Academy of Science.
Dr. Hossam Haick (2004 Post-Doctoral Fellow; California Institute of Technology) was appointed Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering and was also named a Horev Fellow.
Dr. Avner Rothschild (2003 Post-Doctoral Fellow; MIT) was appointed Senior Lecturer in the Department of Materials Engineering and was also named a Horev Fellow.
Dr. Yariv Kafri of the Faculty of Physics (2002 Post-Doctoral Fellow; Harvard) was awarded an Alon Fellowship by the Council for Higher Education and was also named a Landau Fellow.
Fulbright alumni Uri Banin and Michael Karayanni win
two of three 2007 Michael Bruno Memorial Awards
July 18, 2007
At a ceremony held on July 18, 2007 at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Fulbright alumni Professor Uri Banin and Dr. Michael Karayanni were named the recipients of two of the three 2007 Michael Bruno Memorial Awards.
Uri Banin is a Professor in the Department of Physical Chemistry of the Hebrew University and a founding director of the University’s Kreuger Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. According to one of the Bruno Award evaluators, Professor Banin is “among the best young nano-scientists in the world”. In 1994 Professor Banin received a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship in support of research carried out at the University of California Berkeley.
Michael Karayanni is a Senior Lecturer and Vice Dean in the Faculty of Law of the Hebrew University. His main research fields are procedural law, comparative law, “conflict of laws”, and constitutional law regarding the status of national and religious minorities within the liberal state.
The Bruno Award evaluators described Dr. Karayanni as an “outstanding scholar with a first-rate analytical mind”. In 2002, Dr. Karayanni was selected as a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellow. His post-doctoral research was conducted at the University of Pennsylvania.
Each Bruno Award laureate receives a grant of $216,000, with no strings or restrictions attached. The grants are intended to provide the award winners an opportunity to engage in creative and self-fulfilling activities of their choosing over an extended period of time, free from financial limitations and institutional obligations. The Bruno Awards are a program of Yad Hanadiv, the Rothschild family foundation.
Since the Bruno Awards program began in 1999, 7 of the 25 Bruno Award recipients named have been Fulbright program alumni.
Fulbright alumna Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari receives Secretary of State’s Woman of Courage Award
June 17, 2007
In a ceremony held at the residence of Mr. Gene Kretz, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the United States, Fulbright alumna Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari received the Secretary of State’s Woman of Courage Award.
Inaugurated in March, 2007 by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Award honors the courage of extraordinary women worldwide who have played transformative roles in their societies. Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, an internationally renowned scholar in family law and a leading expert in the field of women’s rights, was found to embody the virtues of a Woman of Courage. Her award certificate states:
Dr. Halperin-Kaddari has tirelessly worked to protect women’s rights in Israel. Through her expertise in feminist jurisprudence, she has changed attitudes, shaped policies, and is enabling women to achieve genuine equality in the workplace. This award is to honor her courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and advancement.
Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari heads Bar Ilan University’s Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women. Last year she was elected to the UN Committee for Elimination of Discrimination Against Woman (CEDAW). In 1989 the United States-Israel Educational Foundation awarded a Fulbright Doctoral Fellowship to Dr. Halperin-Kaddari in support of her doctoral studies in law at Yale University.
US National Institute of Mental Health awards
2.24 million dollar research grant to project on
"Terrorism and Traumatic Responding", headed by Fulbright alumna Dr. Daphna Canetti-Nisim
Summer 2007
The United States National Institute of Mental Health will provide a four-year, 2.24 million dollar grant for the implementation of a project on "Terrorism and Traumatic Responding: Exposure and Resiliency Factors", headed by Fulbright alumna Dr. Daphna Canetti-Nisim. Dr. Canetti-Nisim's colleagues in this project will be American Professors Stevan Hobfoll, Robert Johnson and Joseph Varley. Professor Hobfoll is also a Fulbright Israel Program alumnus.
The aims of the project are to inform US public health policy on issues relating to preparedness for future terrorist events aimed at US targets; to provide a theoretical framework for analysis of risk and resiliency factors; and to increase the knowledge base for clinical intervention aimed at those developing terrorism-related post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and general psychiatric distress in response to terrorist threats.
Dr. Daphna Canetti-Nisim, who received her PhD from the University of Haifa in 2003, is a Lecturer in the University's Department of Political Science and a Research Fellow in its National Security Studies Center. In 2005 she was awarded a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship in support of research to be carried out at the University of Notre Dame.
Stevan Hobfoll is Distinguished Professor and Director of The Applied Psychology Center in the Department of Psychology, Kent State University. In 2003 he was awarded a Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellowship for a visit to the University of Haifa.
Fulbright alumnus Professor Kalman Kaplan wins
John Templeton Foundation award to develop online course on religion/sprituality and mental health
May 2007
The John Templeton Foundation announced the award of a $428,000 to Professor Kalman Kaplan and his associate, Professor Luis Vargas, in order to enable them to develop an innovative online curriculum on the topic "Religion/Spirituality and Mental Health". After development of the study materials, the project is to enroll 80 students, half of them active professional therapists, clergy, or mental health educators, and train them in the application of insights gained from religion to the treatment of mental health problems.
Professor Kalman Kaplan is Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University and Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois-Chicago College of Medicine. In 2006/2007 he was a visiting Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellow at Tel Aviv University.
Fulbright alumni at Tel Aviv University appointed to head schools, hold endowed chairs
Spring 2007
The appointment of Fulbright alumni to a number of important Tel Aviv University positions was announced:
Professor Yoram Peri (2000 Rabin Senior Scholar Fellow; American University) was appointed Head of the new Caesarea Rothschild School of Communication.
Professor Yoram Weiss (1964 Doctoral Fellow; Stanford University) was appointed Head of the Berglas School of Economics.
Professor Eyal Benvenisti (1998 Rabin Senior Scholar Fellow; Harvard University) was named incumbent of the Yanowicz Chair in Human Rights.
Professor Menahem Mautner (1979 Doctoral Fellow; Yale University) was named incumbent of the Rubinstein Chair in Comparative Private Law.
Professor Ran Tur-Kaspa (1984 Post-Doctoral Fellow; Yeshiva University) was named incumbent of the Cesarman Chair for Research in Liver Diseases.
Fulbright alumnus Professor Oren Gross awarded American Society of International Law Certificate of Merit
March 2007 - Washington, DC
The American Society of International Law announced the award of its Certificate of Merit for "Preeminent Contribution To Creative Scholarship" to Fulbright alumnus Professor Oren Gross and co-author Professor Fionnuala Ni Aolain for their book Law in Times of Crisis (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
Professor Gross, Director of the Minnesota Center for Legal Studies of the University of Minnesota Law School, received a Fulbright Doctoral Fellowship in 1991 for studies at Harvard.
Fulbright alumnus Professor Yehuda Danon honored by establishment of $250,000 fellowship program
February 19, 2007
The Schneider family will provide $250,000 to enable the award of a Fulbright-Schneider Yehuda Danon Post-Doctoral Fellowship to an outstanding young researcher in the life sciences in each of the ten coming years. This gesture honoring Fulbright alumnus Danon was announced by Ms. Lynn Schneider at an evening convened at the Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel to mark Professor Danon’s retirement from his administrative duties in the Clalit Health Services to which the Center is affiliated.
Professor Yehuda Danon was the founding director of the Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, Israel’s first and only children’s hospital. The Schneider Children’s Hospital of Long Island Jewish Medical Center served as the inspiration for the childrens’ hospital in Israel; and the generosity of the Schneider family, which made possible the establishment of the model institution in the US, was also the key to establishing its Israeli counterpart.
Professor Yehuda Danon is one of Israel's leading physicians, with wide-ranging influence on both medical research and practice. He serves today as Director of the Schneider Center’s Kipper Immunology and Allergy Institute, as well as head of the Laboratory of Pediatric Immunology at the Felsenstein Medical Research Center of Tel Aviv University. During Professor Danon's military service, he rose to the position of Surgeon General of the Israel Defense Force.
Professor Danon received his M.D. degree from the Hebrew University. In 1976 he received a Fulbright fellowship to enable to him to carry out research at the University of California, Los Angeles, and in 1983 he was awarded a second fellowship in support of research conducted at Yeshiva University.
The Schneider family is headed by Mr. Irving Schneider, a leading business figure and philanthropist. In his business career, Mr. Schneider is an extremely successful real estate executive, formerly one of the senior partners of the late Harry B. Helmsley and now COO and Chairman of the Board of Helmsley-Spear, Inc. In addition to serving as the main supporter of the Schneider children’s hospitals in New York and Petach Tikva, Mr. Schneider and his family are active philanthropists and benefactors of many cultural, educational, health, Jewish, and civic organizations in New York, in other states, and in Israel. Mr. Schneider is also a major benefactor of Brandeis University, where he served as a trustee from 1970-1994 and was named trustee emeritus in 1995.
Fulbright alumnus Professor Daniel Friedman named Minister of Justice
February 7, 2007
The Knesset approved the appointment of Professor Daniel Friedman to the post of Minister of Justice.
Professor Friedman, 1991 Israel Prize laureate in law and former Dean of the Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University, received a Fulbright Fellowship in 1965 in support of his doctoral studies at Harvard University.
Professor Friedman is the second Fulbright alumnus appointed to the current government. Professor Yuli Tamir has served as Minister of Education, since the government was established last year. Another alumnus, Dr. Yoram Turbowicz, serves as the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff.
Fulbright alumnus Godfrey Gumbs honored by CUNY, American Physical Society
December 6, 2006
Hunter College President Jennifer Raab announced that Fulbright alumnus Professor Godfrey Gumbs of the Physics Department had been named a City University of New York Distinguished Professor. The Board of Trustees conferred this honor on Dr. Gumbs in recognition of his lifetime of contributions to theoretical physics.
In 2005, Professor Gumbs received the Edward A. Bouchet Award, the American Physical Society's highest prize, "for pioneering contributions to our understanding of low-dimensional heterostructures; and for leadership in recruitment, retention, and mentoring of under-represented minority students."
Professor Gumbs was a Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellow at Bar Ilan University during the 2005/2006 academic year.
President Bush to nominate Fulbright Senior Scholar
R. Bret Lott to the National Council on the Arts
November 2, 2006
The White House announced that President George W. Bush has decided to nominate Robert Bretley Lott to serve as a Member of the National Council on the Arts for a six year term.
Bret Lott, a highly acclaimed author, has published 6 novels, two non-fiction works, and numerous short stories and essays. His most recent novels, both published by Random House, were A Song I Know By Heart and The Hunt Club.
Lott is also Professor of English at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge and Editor and Director of The Southern Review.
Professor Lott is currently working in Israel as a Fulbright Senior Scholar, hosted by Bar Ilan University’s Creative Writing Program.
Fulbright alumnus Hossam Haick receives
Euro 1.75 million European Union grant for cancer research project
October 30, 2006
The Jerusalem Post reported that Fulbright alumnus Dr. Hossam Haiek of the Technion has been awarded a 1.75 million Euro research grant by the European Union's Curie Program for the development of nanometric sensors for the early detection of lung cancer. The grant, the largest ever awarded by the European Union to an Israeli researcher, will be used to set up a new laboratory and to hire researchers from Israel and abroad.
Dr. Haiek, a Senior Lecturer in the Technion's Department of Chemical Engineering and a faculty associate of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, received a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the United States-Israel Educational Foundation in 2004 in support of research at the California Institute of Technology.
Fulbright alumnus Professor Moshe Sidi appointed
Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs of the Technion
October 2006
Fulbright alumnus Professor Moshe Sidi of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering was named the Technion's Executive Vice-President for Academic Affairs. In 1983, Sidi was awarded a Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellowship in support of research at MIT.
Fulbright alumnus Professor Manuel Trajtenberg selected to head the new National Economic Council in the Prime Minister’s Office
September 2006
Fulbright alumnus Professor Manuel Trajtenberg was named the first Head of the newly-established National Economic Council in the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Council’s duties include proposing policy measures which will encourage growth while narrowing socio-economic gaps; evaluation of the proposed state budget before its submission to the Government; and preparation of position papers on specific budgetary and other economic policy issues for the Government and its committees.
Professor Trajtenberg, former Head of Tel Aviv University’s Berglas School of Economics, is a renowned researcher in the field of the economics of R&D and innnovation. In 1985, he was awarded a Fulbright American Research Fellowship in support of work to be carried out at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Tel Aviv University names Fulbright alumni to head faculties, institutes
Fall 2006
With the opening of the new academic year, the appointment of Fulbright alumni to a number of important university positions was announced:
Professor Hanoch Dagan (1990 Doctoral Fellow; Yale University) was named Dean of the Buchmann Faculty of Law.
Professor Ehud Heyman (1979 Doctoral Fellow; Polytechnic Institute of New York) was appointed Dean of the Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering.
Professor Assaf Likhovski (1994 Doctoral Fellow; Harvard) was appointed Director of the Cegla Super-Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the Law.
Dr. Shai Lavi (1995 Doctoral Fellow; University of California, Berkeley) was appointed Head of the Professor Dr. Raphael Taubenschlag Institute of Criminal Law.
Professor Hana Wirth-Nesher (1982 US Senior Scholar; Lafayette College/Tel Aviv University) was named incumbent of the Samuel L. and Perry Haber Chair for the Study of the Jewish Experience in the United States.
Fulbright alumnus Professor Ken Goldstein appointed Academic Director of the Asper Institute for Public Advocacy, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya
Fall 2006
Professor Ken Goldstein of the Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, who visited the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2003 as a Fulbright Senior Scholar, was appointed Academic Director of the Asper Institute for Public Advocacy of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.
Professor Goldstein is a prominent expert in the field of political communication, who has carried out important studies of news coverage of election campaigns in both the United States and Israel. The work of the Asper Institute focuses on understanding and improving Israel’s attempts to explain its policies to the world, with emphasis on the use of advanced communications technologies in public advocacy efforts.
Fulbright alumna Ruth Halperin-Kaddari elected to
UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
June 23, 2006
Fulbright alumna Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari of Bar-Ilan University was elected to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, with the support of 96 of 183 countries taking part in the vote.
Dr. Halperin-Kaddari serves as Director of the University's Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women and is Chairpersoon of the Advisory Committee of the National Authority for the Advancement of Women in the Office of the Prime Minister. Her book Women in Israel: A State of Their Own was published in 2004 by the University of Pennsylvania Press.
In 1989 the United States-Israel Educational Foundation awarded a Fulbright Doctoral Fellowship to Halperin-Kaddari in support of her doctoral studies in law at Yale University.