Message from the President

Terry Gardner

Hello. We’d like to welcome you to American Technion Society (ATS) Houston. We are a diverse group of Houstonians with a variety of backgrounds and interests. What brings us together is our passion for Israel and support for the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Dating to before Israel’s founding, the Technion supplied the nation with its earliest engineers and scientists.

Terry Gardner

More recently, its graduates and research span a broad range including computer science and artificial intelligence, aerospace engineering, medicine, and entrepreneurship. Technion is recognized as the primary education source for Israel’s rise as the “Start-Up Nation.”

We are proud to be associated with Technion’s contribution. We relish opportunities to meet some of the Technion’s brilliant faculty, students, and alumni at intimate luncheons, dinners and receptions. Through the years, we’ve been inspired by students’ ambitious visions and learned from scientists who described their research breakthroughs. Now that in-person gatherings are suspended due to the pandemic, we stay in touch virtually. Recently, we’ve aired exciting webinars with Technion scientists who are combatting COVID-19 with advanced PPE, therapeutics, and solutions for a coronavirus vaccine.

We invite you to be a part of our long-standing ATS Houston community. It’s a great way to expand your intellectual horizons and meet others who support Israel. You’ll also have philanthropic opportunities to support students with scholarships and fellowships, fund state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, or be part of cutting-edge research projects with potential to benefit people around the world.

We look forward to having you attend our programs and share the excitement we feel for this extraordinary institution.

Donor Spotlight

For many years now, the Lewis and Joan Lowenstein Foundation has funded various initiatives that support Technion students, from Second Chance Scholarships in Haifa to masters fellowships at the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, to an apartment in the graduate student village at the Technion, named in honor of Lewis and Joan Lowenstein.

Learn more about their philanthropic initiatives with the Technion.

Though we did not have the fortune to know the late Lewis and Joan Lowenstein, we are grateful for their values and commitment to helping others. For many years now, the Lewis and Joan Lowenstein Foundation has funded various initiatives that support Technion students, from Second Chance Scholarships in Haifa to masters fellowships at the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, to an apartment in the graduate student village at the Technion, named in honor of Lewis and Joan Lowenstein. In 2020, the Lowenstein Foundation made a gift to name the entrance lobby at the Technion’s Polak Visitor’s Center, highlighting the support of this Houston foundation for visitors from around the world.

The Lowensteins had a high regard for personal responsibility, hard work and a belief in their fellow man. In carrying forward these ideals on behalf of the Lowensteins, Foundation trustees Anna Marie and Harold Hidalgo Sr., Leonard and Barby Weiner and Gerald Zlotnik z”l, have especially enjoyed spending time with visiting students from the Technion. Their philosophy includes investing in projects that can have the biggest impact on student’s success.

“We are inspired by the brilliant students at the Technion. Their futures hold so much promise for humanity. We believe in addressing critical needs for students in Haifa, and it’s a very fitting and lasting tribute to the memory of Lewis and Joan Lowenstein, who believe in helping young people reach for the stars,” says Harold Hidalgo Sr.

Lewis Lowenstein was born in Missouri, met and married Joan Shyer in Tennessee in 1935. They eventually settled in Houston, where Lewis established an automobile loan business that grew to include offices in 10 states. He retired in 1960 and devoted his time to philanthropy. Joan passed away in 1998, and Lewis died in 2010 at the age of 100.