Previous Fora / 2011
HERSHKOWITZ, Daniel
Minister of Science and Technology, Israel
Rabbi Professor Daniel Hershkowitz, Knesset Member and Minister of Science and Technology in the Government of Israel, head of the "Habayit Hayehudi" (the Jewish Home) party, was born on January 2, 1953, in Haifa, Israel. Both his parents are Holocaust survivors.
He is married to Shimona, principal of a special education high school. They have five children and eight grandchildren. He served as a Major in the IDF.
He got all his academic degrees (B.Sc, M.Sc and Ph.D, all in Mathematics) at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
Since 1985 he has been a faculty member at the Technion. He is a full Professor in the Mathematics Department of the Technion, and since June 2006 he has been holding the Eugene & Marlene Shapiro Academic Chair in Mathematics at the Technion. During the years 1983-1986 he was a Van Vleck Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Among the many posts he has held at the Technion: President of the Disciplinary Court for students (4 years), Dean of the Division of Continuing Education and External Studies (4 years), Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics (5 years), and the chair of the Technion Faculty Association (over 4 years).
He has been invited to deliver plenary talks in dozens of international conferences, and he has served on the organizing committees of dozens of international conferences (in many he served as the chair of the committee).
He is an author of over 80 mathematical papers. He has had 11 graduate students.
He is a member of the editorial board of the following 4 journals:
- Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra (Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor)
- Linear Algebra and its Applications (Senior Editor)
- BDD - Journal of Torah and Scholarship, Bar-Ilan University
- The Shaanan College Annual
He has been a member of the executive board and of the board of directors of the International Linear Algebra Society (ILAS) since its establishment in 1987. He served for 9 years as secretary of the society, for 6 years as the vice-president, and for 6 years as its president.
Besides his academic career he is a certified Rabbi. Since 1997 he has been serving as the Rabbi of the neighborhood Ahuza in Haifa, being in charge of 23 synagogues. Since 1996 he has been serving as the head of a Rabbinical Conversion Court. He has written numerous halachic and Jewish philosophical articles, has given numerous lectures, has officiated in close to 600 weddings, etc.
Some other public professional activities:
- Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Shaanan College, Haifa
- Member of the Board of Governors of the Jerusalem College of Technology
- Member of the academic council of the Academic Arab College for Education in Israel
- Member of the national steering committee of Science and Technology Education in Israel
- Chairman of the Executive Board of the Study Center in Shlomi
- Member of the council of the Institute of Internal Auditors, Israel
- Member of the Committee for National Responsibility
- Member of the northern council of the Constitution Project of the Israel Democracy Institute
- Member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Jewish Education, Haifa University
- Member of the board of directors of Elementrix Technologies Ltd., Haifa
ABSTRACT
12:00-13:30 17 NOVEMBER
PLENARY SESSION II. “THE CHANGING LANDSCAPE OF SCIENCE: EMERGING POWERHOUSES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY” (GEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH)
Regional R&D Centers – Increasing exposure to sciences in peripheral zones