Rector's Award for Scientific Innovation 2024
The Rector’s Award was granted to 12 researchers for their groundbreaking research in the fields of science, society, and culture
Twelve Bar-Ilan University outstanding researchers received this year's Rector's Award for Scientific Innovation for their research achievements in 2023. The winning research encompasses a wide range of topics: secure information storage in Cloud, a new mechanism discovered in the digestive system, music collection in the streaming era, the history of minority hatred, a new model for treating repeat offenders, new technologies for genetic editing, new zero-knowledge proofs in the world of cryptography, historical analysis of Arab subversion and its implications for the Middle East, optical properties of quantum materials, establishing a corpus of Israeli Sign Language, attention mechanisms and language processing in the brain during daily activities, and reconstructing music that only remained partially.
"The knowledge we impart has a ripple effect across many fields. There is no one like you, leaders and top research pioneers, with the aim of benefiting humanity and the State of Israel,” said Prof. Arie Zaban, the president of Bar-Ilan University, during the ceremony. Doesn’t make sense. Maybe who aims to benefit? Or just You leaders and top research pioneers aim to benefit…?
“We are experiencing a difficult period, and I am glad that here, at Bar-Ilan and in academia in general, despite the challenges, the muses?? are not silent and we continue to work, strive for progress, climb the stairs of the spirit??, produce and disseminate knowledge. This is our resilience,” added Prof. Amnon Albeck, BIU’s rector.
These are the award recipients:
Dr. Gilad Asharov, of the Department of Computer Science, received the award for developing cryptographic schemes for secure access to external memory (Oblivious RAM), which is a central building block in protocols for privacy-preserving computation.
Dr. Shai Bel, of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, was granted the award for discovering the control system that regulates the amount of mucus secreted in the intestine. The digestive system is exposed to the penetration of bacteria and viruses from the environment and food. To protect against the penetration of harmful agents, the body secretes mucus which separates the body's tissues from the outside world, allowing the passage of materials (oxygen and food) but not the passage of harmful agents.
Prof. Ofer Bergman, of the Department of Information Science, received the award for his contribution to understanding the importance of collecting music in the streaming era. Streaming apps (such as Spotify) are the main way hundreds of millions of people listen to music. They allow collecting songs, but also recommend songs based on personal preferences, so collecting is optional. Prof. Bergman is the first to study the size of collections in streaming and their impact on listening enjoyment.
Dr. Tzafrir Barzilay, of the Department of General History, received the award for his book "Poisoned Wells: Accusation, Persecution and Minorities in Medieval Europe, 1321-1422". The book analyzes accusations of well poisoning against minorities in medieval Europe, a phenomenon that constituted a critical turning point in the attitude of the majority group towards lepers, Jews, and other minorities. It is an innovative contribution to understanding the phenomenon of well poisoning accusations itself and hatred of minorities in medieval Europe in general. This book corrects common assumptions about the social mechanisms that led to the emergence of the accusations, their timing, and their connection to political and environmental crises. Dr. Bareli's book combines ideological explanations alongside political and social considerations, local vision, and multi-regional perspective.
Prof. Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg, of the Faculty of Law, received the award for winning a prestigious research grant from the New York court system, under which she is leading (together with a researcher from Columbia University) the world's first study at the Brooklyn Community Court, which offers a rehabilitative-holistic model for treating repeat offenders. The aim of the study is to formulate alternative metrics to those currently used to evaluate success in community courts.
Prof. Ayal Hendel, of the Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, received the award for developing innovative technologies for genetic editing to cure blood and immune system diseases. This year, Prof. Hendel published two groundbreaking papers in the field.
Prof. Carmit Hazay, of the Kofkin Faculty of Engineering, received the award for her contribution to the development of new zero-knowledge proofs. These proofs make it possible to verify the validity of mathematical statements without revealing information about the proof itself, and they have many uses, such as protection against malicious attacks in secure computation, anonymity in blockchain and digital currencies, identity verification, compliance with regulations, and more.
Prof. Eliezer Tauber, of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies, for the Bialik Institute publication of his book "Arabs in the Underground: A History of Arab Subversion in the Early Twentieth Century", in which he proved, contrary to the prevailing perception until now, that the fate of the Middle East was not primarily determined by Western powers, but by the actions of local inhabitants. It was not Western imperialism that tore the Arab Middle East into separate states, but rather what the Arabs wanted, as they saw themselves as separate peoples from the beginning of the process.
Dr. Tomer Lewi, of the Kofkin Faculty of Engineering, was granted the award for his research related to exceptional optical properties of materials from the chalcogenide family. The research team he led measured in bismuth telluride material - a topological quantum material with unique properties, the highest refractive index ever measured in the optical domain (n~11).
Dr. Rose Stamp, of the Department of Linguistics and English Literature, received the award for establishing the corpus of Israeli Sign Language: a repository of linguistic documentation including video data of deaf people using Israeli Sign Language.
Prof. Elana Zion Golumbic, from the Gonda Brain Research Center, received the award for groundbreaking research in the field of attention mechanisms and language processing in the brain. Prof. Zion Golumbic and her group developed innovative methods, using virtual reality technologies and brain wave recording, that facilitate the study of brain activity in everyday situations.
Prof. Alon Schab, of the Department of Music, received the award for the originality of his approach to editing and reconstructing music that has survived partially??. During 2023, Prof. Schab reconstructed a sonata by Dietrich Buxtehude from a fragmentary manuscript in the Düben Collection (Sweden), and edited a hypothetical chamber "source" of the opening BWV831 by Bach. He also edited a new critical edition of Handel's coronation anthems, reflecting an original and new approach to the corrections the composer made to the manuscript of the work shortly before the coronation ceremony in which they were first performed.