From the President's Desk
I’m thrilled to report that the Council for Higher Education gave Weizmann an “A” ranking (the highest possible) on the Kav Hamashveh program, a national effort to advance women in science in higher education, both in terms of newly recruited faculty and the promotion of women faculty to higher ranks. This is truly an amazing achievement! Throughout the years, our Office for the Advancement of Women in Science and Gender Equality, headed by Prof. Idit Shachar, has taken on more and more new initiatives to ensure Weizmann successfully recruits a growing stream of women scientists—with a goal of achieving a more gender-balanced faculty and thus better reflecting the gender ratio of Israel’s PhD recipients in the sciences. While there is certainly more work to do, I consider the top ranking a badge of success for all of us—with science the biggest beneficiary of all. Our own Prof. Yonina Eldar helped spearhead the Kav Hamashveh initiative.
International Day of Women in Science was marked on campus with an incredibly inspiring event on March 4. Journalist Dr. Hila Korach, who has a medical degree, was the guest speaker, and we heard from a long series of women scientists, primarily PhD students and postdocs, who represent the future of science. These short and engaging lectures on a range of research avenues had something for everyone, from all corners of the scientific endeavor, and the event left attendees with a great deal of enthusiasm about where science is going and the bright minds who are leading us there.