BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY | THE WAY FORWARD

The Drahi Innovation and Entrepreneurship Building and the Helmsley Computer Science Building already stand tall against the horizon. Although currently unfinished, they are filled with promise – the infinite promise of the discoveries that will emerge from the buildings’ research labs, of the views respectfully voiced in the classrooms’ discourse, and of the cross fertilization of ideas and innovative applications possible in that small stretch of previously fallow land. These buildings will open their doors by October 2027, in time for the start of the 2027 28 academic year. The third academic building to be constructed is the Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Future Technologies Building. Construction has begun, with the excavation and earthworks completed and the pouring of the foundation nearly complete. The building is slated to include several world-class centers (for quantum information science and technology, robotics, electro-optics, and remote sensing research) and complexes (clean rooms, dry laboratories, and wet laboratories), research labs, and more. In these state-of-the-art facilities, our researchers and students will explore and develop the technologies of the future. The building’s estimated completion date is December 2028. The next building on deck is the Jan Koum Building of Digital Frontiers and High-Tech Advancement (temporary name). The formal planning and design process has begun for this prominent new building situated on two lots, which will face the Drahi Innovation and Entrepreneurship Building and the Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Future Technologies Building. The building is slated to include advanced research labs of the Stein Faculty of Computer and Information Science and the Koum School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, a nano-fabrication and prototyping lab, and many other state-of-the-art spaces. Upon their construction, these four academic buildings will complete a major corridor on the North Campus. The northern portion of this corridor contains the Student Village, which welcomed students at the start of the 2021 22 academic year. This complex consists of

13 dormitory buildings (including Beit Mark, the Robert and Joan Arnow House, the Ellen S. Marcus House, and the Phil and Cees Wynn House) and the U-Tel. At the southernmost tip of the corridor is the new Ernest Scheller, Jr. Gate of Innovation. The Infrastructure Center, which places all energy infrastructure (control, provision, and supervision) for the North Campus under one roof, is fully operational, serving the entire campus and facilitating its growth. The plans for the North Campus also include the Cyndi and Max Mintzberg Cultural and Conference Centre, a facility which will dramatically improve BGU’s ability to host academic conferences and special events, enhancing cultural life on campus and in the Negev. An architect has been selected, and the building design process is underway. The estimated completion date is October 2030. The construction of other buildings, including a civil and environmental engineering and labs building and a building dedicated to medical education, relies on additional donor support. The need for the latter arose following the Iranian missile strike on Soroka University Medical Center which destroyed critical Faculty of Health Sciences (FOHS) research and educational facilities located there. To address the urgent need for classroom space for FOHS students, with donor support, BGU is completing two floors in the Drahi Innovation and Entrepreneurship Building, which were previously planned to be left unfinished until more buildings on the campus were completed. Each of these floors will contain three large lecture halls and five seminar rooms, as well as an independent study room, and more, ensuring that the education of Israel’s future healthcare professionals and the Negev’s healthcare system are not compromised as a result of the war. The tender process for this project has begun. MARCUS FAMILY CAMPUS The Marcus Family Campus, BGU’s historic heart with 53 buildings, stands as a testament to decades of donor vision and commitment. The Rachel and Max Javit Medical Simulation and Classroom Building is the newest building on the campus. This building, with its modern

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