JANUARY 2, 2000

IN ISRAEL

TAU is launching the Price-Brodie Initiative in two Jaffa neighborhoods for the benefit of both Jewish and Arab citizens, in cooperation with the Governance of Jaffa. The project was announced at a press conference held by TAU President Prof. Itamar Rabinovich; Rector Prof. Nili Cohen; and Dr. Israel Peleg, Head of the Jaffa Governance. There will be five elements to the TAU project which will be operating under the auspices of the Price Family Charitable Fund and the Brodie Foundation, both of San Diego: scholastic enrichment from kindergarten to high school; extension courses for professional community workers in Jaffa; joint activities between Jewish and Arab residents; work with residents' committees; and community services in civil legal aid, medical care and dental care.

The TAU Faculty of Management is establishing a new school which will train top-level managers in high-tech companies, in a joint enterprise with the Sacta-Rashi Foundation. This is a pioneering enterprise unique both in Israel and overseas in its high level and scope. The School's main target is engineers, programmers and other professionals in the high-tech industry. Didi Arazi, former chairman of the board of directors of NICE Systems, will be the chairman of the School's Board of Directors. The School, due to open in January 2001, will conduct its study program in English.

A group of scientists from the TAU School of Physics and Astronomy have succeeded in measuring the mass of the largest active black holes ever observed and the correlation between the size and the energy emitted by such objects. The work, which is the first of its kind, was done by Shai Kaspi, a graduate student at TAU supervised by Prof. Hagai Netzer and Prof. Dan Maoz. The findings are based on a comprehensive, seven year observation program at TAU's Florence and George Wise Observatory in Israel. A paper describing the results has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal.

NASA's "exceptional scientific and technological contributions for 1990-1999" listing included software developed after the mathematical model of TAU's Prof. Jacob Aboudi, former Dean of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Micromechanics Analysis Code with Generalized Method of Cells: MAC/GMC.

TAU signed cooperation agreements with the following universities: Otto Beisheim School of Management - WHU Koblenz; University of St. Gallen; Universidad Anahuac; University of Witwatersrand; El Colegio de Mexico; the University of Zagreb; University of Paris 13; and the Universite de Strasbourg.

The Labor Party won the Student Union election with 45 out of 75 seats. Guy Kelner, a graduate student of the Public Policy Program, will be the Union Chairman.

CONFERENCES

TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine held its first Research Fair. The Andre De Vries Memorial Lecture was inaugurated at the opening session which was chaired by Prof. Oded Sperling, and which included a lecture by Prof. Charles T. Roberts, Jr., of the Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon, USA, who spoke on "The Insulin-Like Growth Factor System in Health and Disease." The fifth Dr. Baruch Teichman Lecture on Growth Factors and Metastasis was delivered by Thomas Maciag of Maine Medicine Center, South Portland, Maine, and Israel Vlodavsky of Hadassah Hospital, Jerusalem. A poster session followed with the participation of about 300 posters. Two parallel symposia, each presenting collaboration between basic and clinical research, were followed by eight parallel disease-oriented workshops. The family practice workshop hosted 27 Palestinian doctors from Gaza and West Bank hospitals. At the closing session awards were made by Faculty Dean Prof. Menachem Fainaru for the best graduate student posters.

The Bob Shapell School of Social Work held a conference on the links between evaluation research and the creation of social services, marking the 30th anniversary of the School and the retirement of Prof. Shimon Spiro, who served twice as the Head of the School.

Prof. Stanley Lieberson of Harvard University's School of Sociology was guest lecturer of the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies. He spoke on "Education, Race, Gender and Ethnic Influences of Tastes in First Names."

The TAU Fleischman Faculty of Engineering inaugurated the Microelectronics Laboratories of the Consortium < 0.25micron/300mm of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's MAGNET program for encouraging the development of innovative generic technologies and R&D. Members of the Consortium include the companies Steag and Jordan Valley Applied Radiation who donated some of the technologies. Guest of honor at the inauguration ceremony was Dr. Orna Berry, Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Other participants included Director of the Consortium Rafi Koriat, President and CEO of Steag CVD Systems, and Faculty Dean Prof. Gideon Langholz. Prof Yosi Shacham is the Director of the Laboratories.

The Department of Musicology of the David and Yolanda Katz Faculty of the Arts held a concert performed by winners of a competition of works by composers who perished in the Holocaust.

The Miriam and Georg Faktor Entrepreneurial Center awarded Kobi Alexander, founder of COMVERSE, the 1999 Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Irit Rappaport, founder of Pelican Security, was given the 1999 Young Entrepreneur Award. Dean of the Faculty of Management Prof. Shmuel Kandel and Leon Recanati, CEO of CLAL, bestowed the prizes. Guest of honor was Ran Cohen, Minister of Industry and Trade.

Prof. Sander L. Gilman of the University of Chicago delivered the Fritz Thyssen Lecture on the subject of the impact of German tradition on the Humanities and Sciences. His lecture was entitled "Remaking Faces: German Medicine, Jewish Physicians, and the Rise of Aesthetic Surgery, 1890-1933."

The Joseph (Buddy) Strelitz Lecture of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies was delivered by Prof. Lisa Anderson of Columbia University, who spoke on "Shrinking States, Rising Classes: Prospects for Middle Eastern Politics in the Twenty-First Century."

Prof. Stjepan Marcelja of the Department of Applied Mathematics, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, was the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies' lecturer on "How Can Theoretical Physics Be Useful for the Biologist?"

The Cummings Center for Russian and East European Studies and the Israel Science Foundation held a workshop entitled "Unraveling the Threads of Time: The Teaching of History in Contemporary Russia. " Greetings at the opening session, which was chaired by Prof. Gabriel Gorodetsky, Director of TAU's Curiel Center for International Studies, were delivered by Prof. Shulamit Volkov, Head of the School of History. The keynote lecture was delivered by Larry E. Holmes of the University of South Alabama, who spoke on "Reform in Motion: A Journey into Russia's Past and Present."

Prof. Ewald Reya of the Physics Institute, University of Dortmund, Germany, delivered the Dr. Shulamit Goldhaber Memorial Lecture on "The Fundamental Parton Structure of Matter."

TAU hosted the 1999 conference of the Zoological Society of Israel, held under the auspices of the Department of Zoology of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. Greetings at the opening session were delivered by Vice Rector Prof. Shimon Yankielowicz and Chairman of the Zoology Department Prof. Boaz Moav.

The Minerva Center for Human Rights, the American University in Washington, DC, and the Israel Bar Association held an international conference on human rights at the Buchmann Faculty of Law, under the auspices of the New Israel Fund.

The Public Policy Program of the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences held a workshop on Governance and Public Policy. Greetings at the opening session were delivered by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen, Faculty Dean Prof. Moshe Semyonov, and the Program Chairman Prof. Yossi Berechman.

The David Horowitz Research Institute on Society and Economy held a conference on "The Social Aspects of Driving" in memory of Michal Zilcha, daughter of Prof. Itzhak Zilcha of the Berglas School of Economics, who was killed by a negligent driver.

The Institute for the Study of Jewish Press and Communication held a conference entitled "'High' Culture and 'Low' Culture - The Dilemma," chaired by Dr. Mordechai Naor. The Conference marked the publication of the 26th edition of the Institute's magazine Qesher.

Prof. Bernard Lewis, Professor Emeritus of Princeton University, delivered a lecture in the framework of the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies, on "Food, Drink and History in the Middle East."

The Cegla Institute for Contemporary and Private International Law held an international conference on "Contemporary Legal Scholarship: Achievements and Prospects," coordinated by Prof. Ariel Porat and Prof. Alex Stein.

The annual Georges A. Kaller Lecture of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies was delivered by Prof. Bassam Tibi of the University of Gottingen, and entitled "The Rise of Political Islam in the Maghrib."

The TAU Institute of the Diaspora held the annual conference of the Carpathian Russian Jewry Research Project.

The Language Unit of TAU's Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities and the Camoes Institute of the Portuguese Embassy held the opening ceremony of an exhibition commemorating 25 years of the Democratic Revolution in Portugal. Greetings were delivered by Faculty Dean Prof. Marcelo Dascal and Ambassador of Portugal Jose Filipe Moraes Cabral. Prof. Michael Harsgor of TAU delivered a lecture entitled "The Testimony of a Witness."

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Prof. Moshe Phillip, Director of the Institute for Endocrinology and Diabetes, Schneider Children's Medical Center of Israel, was elected Vice Dean for Continuing Medical Education of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

The TAU Senate approved the following appointments to Chairs: Prof. Gabriel Kaufmann, the Louise and Nachum Chair in Molecular Genetics of Cancer Biology; Prof. Leonid Frankfurt, the Yuval Ne'eman Chair in Theoretical Nuclear Physics; Prof. Isaac Ben Bassat of the Department of Hematology at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, the Helen and Yehiel Leiber Chair in Cancer Research; Prof. Roy Homburg of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine the Emma Neuman Chair for Childbirth Research; and Prof. Yoel Rak of the Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, the Igor Orenstein Chair for the Study of Aging.

Theodor Wallau, the Ambassador of Germany to Israel, awarded Prof. Heinrich Mendelssohn, who has been teaching at TAU's Faculty of Life Sciences for more than 40 years, "the Cross of the Order of Merits of the Federal Republic of Germany" at a ceremony held in the Embassy, in the presence of TAU President Prof. Itamar Rabinovich; Vice President Avi Primor; outgoing Life Sciences Dean Isaac Barash; and Science Counselor Dr. Henning Eikenberg. President of Germany Johannes Rau decided to honor Prof. Mendelssohn "for his scientific work and his contribution to German-Israeli friendship and understanding."

Prof. Haim J. Wolfson of the School of Mathematical Sciences, together with members of his interdisciplinary group, Prof. Ruth Nussinov of the Institute for Molecular Medicine and graduate students Zipora Y. Fligelman and Nathaniel Leibowitz, received an award for one of five outstanding papers of the International Society for Computational Biology at a conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology held in Heidelberg, Germany. The title of the paper was "Multiple Structural Alignment and Core Detection by Geometric Hashing."

Prof. Yakir Aharonov of the School of Physics and Astronomy was invited by the University of Minnesota to deliver the 25th Abigail and John Van Vleck Lecture at an event which will take place in April 2000.

Na'aman Gur, former TAU Director-General, was appointed Chairman of Board of Directors of TAU's Elite Sports Center.

VISITS

Minister of Science Matan Vilnai visited TAU for the first time in his new post. He was hosted at a festive meeting of the TAU Senate Steering Committee. The participants included President Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, Rector Prof. Nili Cohen, Vice President for Research and Development Prof. Yair Aharonowicz, and all the Faculty Deans. The Minister of Science visited the National Natural History Collection housed in the Faculty of Life Sciences, where he was hosted by outgoing Dean Prof. Isaac Barash and Dr. Tamar Dayan, Director of the Collection.

A Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology delegation visited TAU. They toured the Department of Biomedical Engineering and its laboratories, guided by Prof. Shmuel Einav, incumbent of TAU's Berman Chair in Vascular Bioengineering, met with Prof. Yoram Shapira, incumbent of the Krongold Chair in Microelectronics, and met with members of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology and of the Department of East Asian Studies.

ABROAD

The Howard Gilman International Conference on "The Middle East: Toward the 21st Century" was held in New York, co-sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. Leslie H. Gelb, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, delivered greetings at the opening festive dinner for conference participants and for AFTAU members, presided over by TAU President Prof. Itamar Rabinovich. Stuart E. Eizenstat, Deputy Secretary, US Department of Treasury, and Nabil Shaath, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation of the Palestinian Authority, delivered addresses on "Economic Outlook for the Middle East." The conference held two sessions: one on "Political Transitions and Security Issues in the Region" and the other on "February to September: The Future of the Peace Process." Speakers at the luncheon entitled "The Future of the Region's Economy," chaired by John Lipsky of the Chase Manhattan Corporation, were outgoing Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Jacob Frenkel and Stanley Fischer, First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. The Howard Gilman Foundation held a reception for the participants at the conclusion of the conference.

COMING EVENTS

The 9th European Regional Conference of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University will take place at the Carlton Hotel, St. Moritz, Switzerland, on January 27-31, 2000. On the program: Benno Gitter Chairman of the Board of Governors, will open the first session which will include lectures by TAU President Prof. Itamar Rabinovich on "TAU On the Threshold of the New Era" and by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen on "The Role of Humanities in a Technological Age."

The second session will open with a lecture entitled "The Unfolding Israeli-Arab Peace Process" by Prof. Rabinovich; and a panel discussion entitled "High Tech: Israel's Success Story" with Prof. Yosi Shacham of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering entitled "Micro-Systems and Nano Structure: The New Era of Applied Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Technology." Panelists include Eli Barkat, Chairman and CEO of BackWeb Technologies Ltd. and Managing Director, BRM Technologies Ltd., USA; and Zohar Zisapel, Director, RAD Data Communications Ltd., Israel.

The third session will include a lecture by Dr. Norman J. Ornstein, resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C., on "U.S. Elections 2000."

The Gertler Quartet of TAU's Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music will give two performances.

For registration call: Brigitte Kirchheimer, Swiss Friends of TAU,
Tel: 411-211 60 92; Fax: 411-211 78 32

TAU wishes you all a Happy New Year

OBITUARIES

TAU mourns the passing of Edmond J. Safra, the founder of the ISEF foundation for the higher education of underprivileged youth in Israel.