A new initiative will bring postdoctoral and sabbatical scholars from Israel to Cornell.
The Cornell chapter of Kalaniyot, a national faculty-led initiative focused on sustaining international academic collaboration, launched at a reception Oct. 19 in the Physical Sciences Building. The new chapter joins six others at major universities across the country.
In remarks at the reception, Provost Kavita Bala highlighted Kalaniyot’s mission and its alignment with the recently released report from Cornell’s Committee on the Future of the American University.
"[The report] talks about connected communities, communities being human-centered, developing a global mission for universities, because we don’t think universities can thrive with a vision that is very closed in,” Bala said. “We believe that this kind of interaction is critical … This relationship with Kalaniyot stands for all the great things that we think Cornell should continue to do.”
The Kalaniyot Foundation was established by faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023. Part of Global Cornell, Kalaniyot at Cornell is led by academics who aim to preserve universities as inclusive and welcoming environments for students and scholars of all backgrounds.
One of the key pillars to working on a world stage is bringing knowledge back to campus, said Benjamin Z. Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). “We learn so much when our scholars go broader, and when scholars come to Cornell,” Houlton said. “A commitment to that exchange of knowledge, the way it transcends boundaries and understanding, and gives rise to better humanity, is why we continue to support these kinds of projects.”
Added Yuval Grossman, professor of physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) and board chair of Kalaniyot at Cornell: “We want to enhance research excellence at Cornell through stronger ties with top-notch Israeli researchers and we want to build a supportive campus community with an international presence, fulfilling Global Cornell’s mission to connect Cornell with other parts of the world.
“We’re very lucky to have generous alumni supporting Kalaniyot with both large and small donations, as well as strong support from the university and the national Kalaniyot Foundation,” Grossman said. “We are very grateful to all the donors and welcome additional support.”
Faculty members serving on Kalaniyot at Cornell’s board represent six colleges and schools: A&S, CALS, the ILR School, Cornell Duffield College of Engineering, Cornell Law School and Cornell Tech.
“Israeli science is world class,” said board member Lara Estroff, Herbert Fisk Johnson Professor of Industrial Chemistry in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Cornell Duffield). “The Weizmann Institute of Science, for example, has a lot of similarities with Cornell, in terms of being a top science institute, highly collaborative, and interdisciplinary. I did part of my training there, and over the past decades, my research and my students have gained so much from our friends and colleagues there. I hope that Kalaniyot will foster many new collaborations between Cornell and Israeli researchers.”
Anyone with a Ph.D. from an Israeli university or who is a faculty member at an Israeli university is eligible to apply to Kalaniyot; neither religion nor ethnicity are considered in the selection process. Cornell’s first cohort, most of whom are already on campus, has three postdoctoral fellows and three sabbatical scholars and includes members from both the Jewish and Arab communities in Israel.
Postdoctoral fellow Eden Eran Nagar will work with Elad Tako, associate professor of food science (CALS), to understand how staple crops and functional foods can combat malnutrition by improving micronutrient absorption and gut health. “Just as important, I hope to lead dialogue and mentorship initiatives that strengthen long-term scientific collaboration between the U.S. and Israel,” Eran Nagar said.
Postdoctoral fellow and hydrologist Ohad Shalom will work with Meredith Holgerson, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology (CALS), on ponds and wetlands and their influence on ecosystems locally and globally.
Fellow Shachar Yerushalmi will study the hyperspectral imaging system developed in the lab of Katie Gold, assistant professor of plant pathology and Susan Eckert Lynch Faculty Fellow (CALS), to detect plant disease before it is visible to the eye.
Sabbatical scholar Loai Basheer’s research targets how the spotted lanternfly pest affects the chemical composition and sensory quality of grape-derived products. He’ll work with Gavin Sacks, professor and chair of food science (CALS). Basheer says he is particularly inspired by “the Kalaniyot fellowship’s combination of academic excellence and community building.”
Naomi Havron will spend her sabbatical working with Nori Jacoby, assistant professor of psychology (A&S), developing infrastructure to scale up developmental science. “One of the questions I study at Cornell is how even babies start judging who is helpful and who is harmful,” Havron said. “I’m curious about the grown-up version of that question too: how we come to see each other, and whether we can do it more generously.
“As a Kalaniyot Sabbatical scholar, I hope to do excellent science,” Havron said, “and also to be someone students can talk to: to listen, to share my perspective and to have my own views challenged.”
Kalaniyot’s support will enable sabbatical scholar Ori Katz to continue his collaboration with Or Katz, assistant professor of applied and engineering physics in Cornell Duffield, and transition their project from prototype to a fully operational system. They are working with “trapped ions,” individual charged atoms suspended in electromagnetic fields that act as building blocks for quantum computers and ultra-sensitive sensors.
“More broadly, I hope to cement long-term collaborations with Cornell’s engineering and applied physics faculty across the many different research fields that intersect with my own group’s research,” Ori Katz said.
For more information about Kalaniyot, and to sign up for event announcements, updates, and other communications, please email kalaniyot@cornell.edu.
Linda B. Glaser is news and media relations manager in the College of Arts and Sciences.
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