BAR-ILAN INSTITUTE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY & ADVANCED MATERIALS | 2019 ANNUAL REPORT

International Educational Cooperation Educational initiatives abroad continue to grow, providing student mobility opportunities which include training for graduate students at European partner institutions within the framework of the EU Erasmus+ programs. Additionally, we launched two EU-funded educational consortia in nano-electronics and photonics. As a result, we sent a total of 25 students twice for one-week intensive courses: one at Politecnico di Milano, Italy and the other at the Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) in Erlangen, Germany. Recently, the Institute began promoting three new projects for European consortia for education in space technologies, graphene and forensic science. New Initiations The Joseph Fetter Museum of Nanotechnology recently opened its doors to student visitor. The exhibits, which combine the seemingly disparate disciplines of science and art, bring nanotechnology research to life in visually stunning art forms. One of the key goals of BINA director Prof. Fixler’s vision as he took office during 2018, was to integrate large industry research bodies as members of BINA. The first step towards this goal was taken with the Israeli Photonics Center. BINA and the Photonics Center have established one joint entity. This entity allows researchers from both parties to use the equipment found in both facilities and additionally, they jointly apply for grants in Israel and abroad. In the second phase, the goal is to have the Photonics Center and Soreq Nuclear Research Center (SNRC) become members of BINA. In parallel to the process of internationalization of BINA, we concentrated on making research connections with other departments at Bar-Ilan University. In this context, we established collaborations with the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Medicine, and the Department of Geography, submitting grants which focus on the regulatory aspects of the field of nanotechnology. We see great importance in preserving the database and the connections created in Israel and abroad under the Israel National Nanotechnology Initiative (INNI). The INNI site and contact point is moving to BINA and will go through some changes but will remain the gateway to the nanotechnology industry in Israel. Outreach and Youth Programs Going into its ninth year, the Nano Brain Team program, co-sponsored by BINA and the municipality of Ramat Gan, is designed to expose especially talented high schoolers to the latest developments in nanotechnology and material science. The course provides these young scientists with hands-on experience as they pursue individually supervised projects. At the end of the course, the students participate in an exciting award ceremony, during which they present their work to their parents and municipality delegates and receive their diplomas. In 2015, 28 high school students successfully completed the Nano Brain Team program, for which they received academic credit. This year’s course included an additional summer lecture, as well as a guided tour of some of BINA’s laboratory facilities. High school student members of the Nano Brain Team can go beyond the core curriculum, gaining extra credit for matriculation in Chemistry, Life Sciences or Physics under the supervision of BINA Ph.D. students. An additional example of BINA’s youth outreach is the Nanotechnology School, now in its fourth year, which operates in conjunction with the Ben-Zvi High School in Givatayim. Evolving from its initial design as a one-year program for 9th graders, the Nanotechnology School is now a four-year program. The first-year curriculum includes basic concepts in nanotechnology, familiarization with nano-metric measurements, and an introduction to specialized research equipment such as SEM, AFM, FIB and confocal microscopes. In the second year of the four-year program, small groups of tenth-grade students undertake research projects under the supervision of a Ph.D. advisor. The third year of the program is designed for a limited number of students who commit to a two-year personal research project. This research receives full credit and is recognized by Israel’s Ministry of Education. 41