BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY | THE WAY FORWARD

in the world – institutions with deep pockets, state-of-the-art facilities, and seemingly infinite resources. In each instance, however, Prof. Chamovitz considered their recruitment of the utmost importance, essential for BGU’s advancement, and extraordinary efforts were made to recruit them. The President’s Distinguished Faculty Recruitment Program makes this possible, enabling us to compete with global players and bring top Israeli post-docs home from their positions abroad to build their academic and scientific careers at BGU. Central to these efforts are recruitment packages which cover the cost of establishing and equipping state-of-the art labs and provide fellowship funding for the graduate students who work alongside the new researchers, enabling them to hit the ground running and make their mark in Israel as quickly as possible. These exceptional recruitment efforts have already borne fruit. In 2023, both Prof. Chapman and Dr. Maniv were awarded prestigious European Research Council (ERC) starting grants; Dr. Chapman is studying the relations between gravityandquantummechanicsintheexpanding universe, and Dr. Maniv is developing new and exotic quantum materials for quantum devices. Prior to joining BGU, Prof. Palmer was awarded an ERC starting grant; since his recruitment, he has received Israel’s top award for young scientists (the prestigious Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in Israel) for his groundbreaking discoveries in biomineralization and sustainable optical materials, and an ERC consolidator grant, enabling him to explore the functions of crystals in photosynthetic microalgae. In another recent accomplishment, his research group published an article titled “Harnessing microalgae for the biosynthesis of molecular crystals” in Nature Biotechnology , one of the most prestigious journals in biotechnology and among the top-tier journals in the life sciences. Dr. Guendelman is in his first year at BGU, but his accomplishments are anticipated to be just as stellar, as the Distinguished Presidential Recruits are destined to go from strength to strength.

All new faculty recruits receive recruitment packages, easing their way into academia and ensuring their ability to immediately perform their research. The amount required varies on a case-by-case basis, depending on the needs and discipline of the new recruit, but in the case of the Distinguished Presidential Recruits and other exceptional researchers, these packages can easily exceed $1 million. For example, there was a need to construct the Extreme Loads Testing Facility for Dr. Alex Brodsky. Although the facility’s permanent home will be on BGU’s North Campus, to secure his recruitment and enable Dr. Brodsky to perform his research in the short term, a nearly 65,000 square feet specialized facility was constructed in Omer, a suburb of Beer-Sheva. With the aim of recruiting many top new researchers each year, the cost can only be borne in partnership with donors dedicated to the University’s advancement. BGU is blessed with many such donors who have supported the recruitment of the four Distinguished Presidential Recruits and other outstanding scholars. Chairs Professorial chairs are granted to tenured professors who have demonstrated exceptional achievements in academia through theoretical or applied research, publications, teaching innovation, and departmental leadership. A chair is held by a single professor for his or her entire academic career and is then passed to the next generation of BGU scholars, promoting academic and scientific excellence in perpetuity at BGU. Support of career development chairs enables the University to reward young scholars who have made outstanding contributions in their field of study and inspire excellence among others, contributing to a culture of excellence at the University. Since 2020, the following professorial and career development chairs have been established at the University:

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