How the Technion Became a Global Player in Computer Science, and Its Plans for Keeping Israel on Top
An Exclusive Leadership Webinar
with Technion President Uri Sivan, Prof. Dan Geiger, Assoc. Prof. Eitan Yaakobi, and Alumna Kira Radinsky
This webinar is for ATS national board members and local leaders only. A webinar passcode and link will be in the confirmation email. Please note that attendees will need to enter the passcode to join the webinar. Please contact [email protected].
Israel’s booming high-tech industry is fueled by a workforce of highly-skilled computer scientists and engineers. The Technion’s newly named Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science is the leading source of that know-how in Israel, and has been instrumental in earning Israel the moniker “Startup Nation.” Its high-tech sector has produced thousands of jobs annually, but that number must grow substantially to meet the country’s expected needs for economic and scientific growth.
To that end, Israel’s Council for Higher Education has directed the State’s educational institutions to expand its computer science expertise and the number of graduates — and the Technion has taken up the challenge.
We invite our ATS national and local leaders to an insider’s briefing on an important 10-year expansion plan for the Faculty of Computer Science, launched with a transformative gift from the Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation. You’ll get an insider’s view of how the Technion’s exciting plans for computer science teaching and research will provide you, and other ATS leaders, compelling opportunities to present to our current and future donors for their support.
Technion President Uri Sivan and Professor Dan Geiger, dean of computer science, will unveil their strategy for growing the undergraduate and graduate programs and expanding the laboratory and teaching infrastructure. These initiatives are critical to attracting top-notch students and faculty and enhancing research in rising fields such as geometrical image processing, robotics, virtual reality, cyber security, and artificial intelligence. Professor Eitan Yaakobi will talk about his incredible research in storing enormous amounts of data — think all of YouTube — in a single gram of DNA. And Technion alumna and Visiting Professor Kira Radinsky, co-founder and chairman of Diagnostic Robotics, will brief you on her company’s work fighting the coronavirus with a triage and monitoring system.
Since its founding 50 years ago, the Technion’s computer science faculty has produced graduates who have become leaders powering Israel’s tech industry. The faculty’s achievements have consistently earned it a coveted place in the global rankings. This major expansion will help Israel maintain its advantage in computer science engineering and deliver invaluable innovations to the world.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Professor Uri Sivan is the president of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and a renowned physicist with expertise in nanotechnology. He was the founding director of the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion, and co-creator of a Nano Bible that is housed in the Smithsonian Libraries.
Professor Dan Geiger ’85 is the Feldman Chair and Dean of the Henry and Marilyn Taub Faculty of Computer Science. Currently, he is investigating using probabilistic models effectively for mapping disease genes and for other bioinformatics tasks. Dean Geiger received bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and in computer engineering from the Technion, and his master’s and doctorate degrees from University of California, Los Angeles before returning to the Technion in 1991.
Kira Radinsky ’08, Ph.D. ’12 is a visiting professor at the Technion and the co-founder, chairperson, and CTO of Diagnostic Robotics, which uses artificial intelligence to improve healthcare. A rising star in the data science community, she first gained recognition for her work at the Technion and Microsoft Research, developing predictive algorithms that recognized the early warning signs of global events such as epidemics and political riots. She was named one of MIT Technology Review’s “35 Young Innovators Under 35” and one of Forbes’s “30 Under 30 Rising Stars in Enterprise Tech.”
Eitan Yaakobi ’05, M.S. ’07 is an associate professor of computer science. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Technion and his Ph.D. at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses on advancing coding solutions for memories and systems and their application in state-of-the-art storage systems.
