Dear Friends,
I’m delighted to present the 2023 “Zuckerman Effect” and share the STEM Leadership Program’s achievements for the past year.
This year’s report is presented during challenging times for Israeli and North American universities who are doing their utmost to maintain high levels of research at their institutions. Despite continuing obstacles, our program serves as a model for impactful science and our Zuckerman scholars emerge with innovative approaches, bold thinking, and a collaborative leadership spirit.
In the last year, our program expanded as we embraced new partnerships, helped our communities grow, and provided extra support to our scholars.
Evidently, “it takes a village” to maintain the Zuckerman Effect. We spare no effort in promoting the great work undertaken by our scholars. We listen to voices on the ground, meeting with university rectors, deans and supervisors at campuses in Israel and the US. As we learn about the most pressing issues, we introduce new methods to advance research and increase much-needed resources.
The expanding effect of the community we have created has no limit. Scholars come together to help each other and collaborate.
New scholars receive mentoring, guidance and strength from their peers. They have continued to work through a global pandemic, an ongoing war in Israel, and rising antisemitism on campuses across North America. Zuckerman Scholars have also achieved personal milestones—marrying and forming new homes, having babies, and maintaining the Zuckerman spirit.
We commend our community, from the leadership at Israel’s Council of Higher Education to the leadership at our partner universities, and through to our scholars conducting research in their labs. It is my absolute pride and joy to serve, lead and be part of the positive Zuckerman community.
I hope this report provides a glimpse into the exciting and hopeful world of discovery that is the “Zuckerman Effect.”
With wishes for quieter days ahead,
Lina Deshilton, Executive Director, Zuckerman Israel Institute
Breakthrough Science
We are immensely proud of the tremendous scientific contribution made by our community of researchers. In 2023 alone, Zuckerman scholars published their research in 130 journals, with dramatic advancements for the global scientific community as a whole.
Real-time gait event detection for the assessment of walking patterns and development of assistive tools A study by Arielle Fischer, Zuckerman Faculty Scholar and Assistant Professor, Technion
Enhancing acoustic performance with carbon nanomaterials Published in Science Direct by Gili Bisker, Zuckerman Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor, Tel Aviv University
An Israeli blood test for the diagnosis of bipolar disorder Research published in Nature by Shani Stern, Zuckerman Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor, Haifa University
Advanced super-resolution imaging of dynamic processes in live cells Findings published in Nature by Professor Yoav Shechtman, Zuckerman Faculty Scholar, Technion
The key to longevity and metabolic health in vertebrates Published in Developmental Cell by Itamar Harel, Zuckerman Faculty Scholar, The Hebrew University
Discovery of a polymer that emits heat when exposed to LED light, which enables the creation of new materials and the acceleration of reactions that may even save energy Published in Nature by Yossi Weizmann, Zuckerman Faculty Scholar and Associate Professor, Ben-Gurion University
Over the past seven years, we have consistently raised the bar while adhering to our vision that the next generation of leaders needs to be cultivated as they begin their scientific career paths, a strategy that has proven itself.
Scholars
Labs
Participating
Universities
IN 2023
IN 2023
IN 2023
Publications
ERC Grants
Women
Postdoc Scholar Krista Oswald of Ben-Gurion university studies human impact on bird communities in the desert
Nearly half (45%) of the scholars recruited in 2023 are women
Fulfilling our vision
Promoting women at the highest level of scientific research is critical to ensuring Israel’s position as a leader in basic and applied research, in producing an even more robust and egalitarian community of academics, and in breaking the glass ceiling. We are exceedingly proud that our program – from postdoctoral exchange through faculty – has attracted a tremendous caliber of women researchers across disciplines and in numbers nearly matching those of our male scholars. Each of these women, through her contribution and voice, is inspiring the next generation of peers and paving the way for more women to pursue scientific research.
Arielle Fischer getting ready to set up her lab
at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology
Alon Ron stands in the space for his lab at Tel Aviv University
The founding of each Zuckerman lab allows a bright, promising, young scientist to return to Israel, design a cutting-edge lab from the ground up, and recruit a team of research fellows and technicians to push the limits of research in their field. This is the first time Zuckerman faculty scholars become Principal Investigators (PIs) and learn the ins and outs of lab operations from setup through management, appeals for funding, budgets, management of human capital, and of course, guiding research conducted at their labs.
A number of these labs have made it possible for Israeli universities to acquire critical instrumentation and facilities, giving access to a more advanced research capability. Among these is the most powerful laser in the Middle East, located at Zuckerman Faculty Scholar Ishay Pomerantz’s NePTUN Lab at Tel Aviv University.
The most powerful laser in the Middle East can be found in Ishay Pomeranz’s NEPTUN Lab at Tel Aviv University
Supporting young scientists who are being recognized by the world’s most prestigious granting organizations
ERC Grants
SCHOLARS HAVE RECEIVED
ERC GRANTS SINCE 2018
ERC Grants 2023
TO NETA SHLEZINGER
TO YOAV SHECHTMAN
TO DEKEL ROSENFELD
TO YAARA OREN
The European Research Council (ERC) continues to recognize the important contribution of Zuckerman Faculty scholars, awarding three prestigious Starter Grants to scholars in 2023. According to the ERC, between 2007 and 2021, Israel had the second highest number of ERC grant recipients per capita, a reflection of Israel’s continued commitment to excellence in academic research.
Postdoc Judith Wexler, (Alum) researched Evo Devo Ento at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
We support young leaders in STEM research with meaningful scholarships at top universities in Israel and North America.
Upon their return, many postdocs secure faculty positions at their respective countries, spreading a cycle of excellence and academic exchange.
Jeana Drake, Zuckerman postdoctoral alum, University of Haifa, 2019-2021
Assistant Project Scientist and Lecturer, and Director of Marine Programming at UCLA’s Center for Diverse Leadership in Science
Tal Gilboa, Zuckerman Israeli Postdoctoral Alumna at Harvard University featured in Wyss Communications
Nadav Cohen, Israeli Postdoc Alum at Princeton University and Asst. Professor of Computer Science, Tel Aviv University, featured in The Jerusalem Post
Rachel Gur-Arie, Zuckerman-CHE Israeli Woman Postdoc at Johns Hopkins University, featured in “the conversation”
2023 saw another year our fifth of close collaboration aimed at maintaining our edge in scientific excellence. Our strategic partnership with the Israel Council for Higher Education continues to bring growth to our program, expanded this past year to include eight universities and an increase in scholar intake.
The MIT-Israel Zuckerman STEM Fund supports collaboration between faculty and research scientists at MIT and their Israeli counterparts.
Established in 2021, the Zuckerman Travel and Research STEM Fund covers costs associated with collaborative meetings and travel, as well as technology, equipment and supplies, faculty and student support, and the publication and dissemination of research between PIs at Israeli Universities and their peers at Harvard. The Zuckerman Travel and Research Fund Selection Committee accepted six proposals for the 2023-2024 funding cycle.
We are honored to have contributed to a profound academic and cultural experience for such a fine group of scholars. Today we count 181 alumni, many of whom are closely connected to their Zuckerman peers and the research they pursued during the program. We are intensely committed to our community, to its needs and to the sensibilities of each of our scholars. We expend a great deal of care and resources to ensure fluid communication among members of our community, providing enrichment and networking opportunities, and generally empowering our members inside and outside their labs.
The Zuckerman community has been stepping up since the start of the war in Israel, proving that science has the power to transcend the walls of the laboratory.
Stronger together
Five students from Arielle Fischer’s Biomotion Lab at the Technion were drafted at the start of the war. The Zuckerman Faculty Scholar thanked her students with “Stronger Together” t-shirts
One good turn…
Zuckerman postdoctoral alum Lucien Weiss, now an Assistant Professor at Polytechnique Montréal’s Department of Engineering Physics, completed his research under Zuckerman Faculty Scholar Professor Yoav Schechtman at the Technion. Weiss is currently hosting Wade Hann-Caruthers at his lab in Montreal.
From the Negev to Miami
Zuckerman Postdoc Grace Snyder began her postdoctoral research in May 2023 at Benyamin Rosental’s lab at Ben-Gurion University. With research slowing to a halt when when the young PI was drafted at the start of the war, Rosenthal’s long-time collaborator Professor Nikki Traylor-Knowles at the University of Miami, proposed to host Grace and another Ben-Gurion University student at her Cnidarian Immunity lab so as not to disrupt their research.
