The Center for Energy and Sustainability & the Office of the Vice President for Research and Development are celebrating The first Annual BGU Research Fest focusing on Energy and Sustainability
With appreciation to Mr. Lucien Yehuda Bronicki Yehuda
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 | 9:30-14:30
W.A. Minkoff Senate Hall
BGU scientists conduct research in different fields every day, many times resulting in groundbreaking and innovative discoveries. This year, an inaugural research festival was held, showcasing the hidden potential of the research. The festival focused on energy and sustainability and included a session honoring Lucien Yehuda Bronicki, co-founder of Ormat Technologies, winner of the Israel Prize for Industry 2018, and the recipient of an honorary doctoral degree from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, for his activities and contributions to the field.
Prof. Raz Jelinek (pictured above left with Prof. Itzhak Mizrahi), Vice-President and Dean for Research and Development and host of the conference, spoke about the activities now all under one roof carried out at the University and about the resulting collaborations. Prof. Alva Peled, chair of the Center for Energy and Sustainability and head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, told the audience about the multi-faculty Center and its goals. The Center's vision is to connect all the scientists at the University, which will hopefully lead to unique solutions in the field of energy. The Center will also promote collaborations with industry as well as other leading universities around the world.
"Research is the essence of our activities at the University. This is what we do," said BGU President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz. "We are here to turn these research projects into something even more wonderful."
Guest of honor, Lucien Yehuda Bronicki (pictured above), told the audience about his business activities keeping the environment safe. Gil Shavit, a BGU graduate and one of the founders of GenCell, and the company's VP for business development spoke about the development and production of innovative ammonia and hydrogen fuel cells.
BGU students and researchers gave TED-style talks about their ideas for research in the environmental field, three of whom received grants; Shiri Hefetz, Dr. Yoav Green, and Oz Shoham.
Dr. Chen Cohen, Avia Ohayon-Lavi, and Karjule Neeta received scholarships for outstanding research papers, while scholarships for research projects in the field of energy while completing a bachelor's degree were awarded to Tali Motzkin, Amit Waisman, Shir Geffen, and Oren Lavi.
Additionally, certificates were awarded to the students of the faculty who received grants last year: Prof. Yuval Golan, Prof. Eugene Katz, Prof. Isaac Meir, Prof. David Katoshevski, Prof. Nadav Davidovich, Prof. Arnon Karnieli, Dr. Shabtai Isaac, Prof. Moshe Schwartz, Dr. Tanya Saroglou, Dr. Hofit Itzhak Ben-Shalom, Asaf Vanunu, Dr. Victor Moltnan, Prof. Meidad Kissinger, Dr. Naama Teschner, Prof. David Perlmutter, Prof. Raziel Riemer, and Prof. Evyatar Erell.
Finally, the award for outstanding researcher was given to Prof. Itzhak Mizrahi from the Department of Life Sciences in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev (NIBN). His research into microbial ecology has contributed to a reduction in existing environmental damage caused by the rearing of animals for food, by understanding the influence of living organisms in the microbiome of their digestive systems. Considering his global contributions, a bacterium was named after him a few years ago, the "Mizrahi Prevotella".
Prof. Edo Bar-Zeev, a researcher from the Sde Boker Campus, received a certificate of appreciation for his contribution to water research and for his original and groundbreaking article in the field of energy and sustainability.
From left to right: back row - Oz Shoham, Shiri Hefetz, Dr. Yoav Green, Oren Lavi. front row - Karjule Neeta, Mr. Lucien Yehuda Bronicki, BGU President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, and Vice-President and Dean for Research and Development Prof. Raz Jelinik.
Photo Credit: Shai Shmueli/BGU
Invitation - PDF Version | Full Photo Album »
