In September 2013 the Li Ka Shing Foundation and the Technion announced they would be joining forces to create a new institute for technology at Shantou University, Guangdong province, south-eastern China. The Li Ka Shing Foundation pledged a grant of US$130 million for the creation of the institute. The degrees taught, including Bachelors, Masters and Doctorates, will be accredited by the Technion. The total construction costs are $147 million. English will be GTIIT's language of instruction. GTIIT will comprise three units: the College of Engineering; the College of Science; and the College of Life Science. The goal is to have about 5,000 students eventually. The institute will eventually grant Technion engineering degrees at all levels - Bachelor, Masters and PhD. Initially the courses offered are Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Materials Engineering. By 2020 the institute will start teaching other disciplines from Mechanics to Aerospace Engineering.
Unique in Israel, the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering offers a blend of courses in engineering, life and natural sciences as well as joint degree programs with the Faculties of Biology and Chemistry. The Faculty houses biotechnology laboratories, as well as a large food processing pilot plant and a packaging laboratory. It currently has 350 undergraduates and more than 120 graduate students.
Held equally by the Technion and The Israeli Ports Company, The Israeli CAMERI is the leading applicative research Institute in Israel dedicated to Physical Oceanography, Marine Engineering and Coastal Engineering. Founded in 1976 it hosts two research facilities (wave-basin and wave-flume), both are the biggest of their kind in Israel. CAMERI has become with time a national authority in various data and research aspects related to the Israeli coastal and marine environments.
Founded in 1965, the Department of Education in Technology & Science became a faculty in 2015. The faculty trains undergraduates in the most advanced methods of teaching science and technology in schools. The faculty is home to a research and development center in the field. It has over 100 graduate students and 350 undergraduate students including second career engineers and scientists who elect to study toward STEM educator career.
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Nanotechnology and science
The Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute (RBNI) was established in January 2005 as a joint endeavour of the Russell Berrie Foundation, the government of Israel, and the Technion. It is one of the largest academic programs in Israel, and is among the largest nanotechnology centers in Europe and the US. RBNI has over 110 faculty members, and approximately 300 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows under its auspices at Technion. Its multidisciplinary activities span 14 different faculties.
Energy research
The GTEP Nancy and Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program is a multidisciplinary center of excellence bringing together Technion's top researchers in energy science and technology from over nine different faculties. Founded in 2007, GTEP's 4-point strategy targets research and development of alternative fuels; renewable energy sources; energy storage and conversion; and energy conservation. The GTEP is presently the only center in Israel offering graduate studies in energy science and technology.
Space research
The Norman and Helen Asher Space Research Institute (ASRI) is a specialized institute dedicated to multidisciplinary scientific research. Established in 1984, its members come from five Technion faculties, and it has a technical staff of Technion scientists in a variety of space-related fields: (Physics, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Autonomous Systems, and Computer Sciences).
Technology transfer, partnerships and outreach programs
Technion has a dedicated office to bridge the transition of scientific and technological discovery to successfully commercialized innovation since 2007: T3 – Technion Technology Transfer. As of 2011, 424 patents were granted to Technion innovations, with 845 patents pending. T3's partners include incubators, entrepreneurs, private investors, VCs and angel groups. It has strategic partnerships with Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Philips, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, among others.
Technion offers after-school and summer enrichment courses for young people on subjects ranging from introductory electronics and computer programming to aerospace, architecture, biology, chemistry and physics. Two examples are Scitech and the Math Summer Camp, devoted to number theory.
Technion set up the Israeli chapter of Engineers Without Borders, which among other projects, installed a network of biogas systems in rural Nepal providing sustainable energy and improved sanitation.
The Technion includes students from underrepresented groups such as Haredim and Arabs through scholarships, social programs and financial support. The Technion is one of the main sponsors of the Israeli league of FIRST robotics competition which became a formal project of the Technion since 2013. The percentage of Arab students at the Technion equals the percentage of the general Arab population in Israel: 20%.
The Technion and Technische Universität Darmstadt formed a partnership in cyber security, entrepreneurship and materials science.
Technion became a partner of Washington University in St. Louis through the McDonnell International Scholars Academy.
Notable research
In 1982, Dan Shechtman discovered a quasicrystal structure. This is a structure with a Symmetry in the order of 5 – a phenomenon considered impossible until then by the then-current prevailing theories of crystallography. In 2011 he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this discovery.
In 2004, two Technion professors, Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover, won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of the biological system responsible for disassembling protein in the cell.
Shulamit Levenberg, 37, was chosen by Scientific American magazine as one of the leading scientists in 2006 for the discovery of a method to transplant skin in a way the body does not reject.
Moussa B.H. Youdim developed rasagiline, a drug marketed by Teva Pharmaceuticals as Azilec for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease, especially Parkinson's disease.
In 1998, Technion successfully launched the "Gurwin TechSat II" microsatellite, making Technion one of five universities with a student program that designs, builds, and launches its own satellite. The satellite stayed in orbit until 2010.
In the 1970s, computer scientists Abraham Lempel and Jacob Ziv developed the Lempel-Ziv-Welch algorithm for data compression. In 1995 and 2007 they won an IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal for pioneering work in data compression and especially for developing the algorithm.
In 2019, a team of 12 students won a gold medal at iGEM for developing bee-free honey.
