13 in my position and bolstered my view of being able to push through the many requests that came my way, including a determination to find more funding and support students. I strove to positively answer everyone’s request. A particular lesson I learned is that research within the field of nanotechnology is very competitive. Not only inside the university, inside a department, between departments, between faculties, but also between universities. We all apply to the same research grant foundations and to the same highranking journals to publish our papers. My conclusion was that we needed to find a way to collaborate in this competitive landscape. This is what I established, collaborative activity in an industrial context. We understand that we are competing, but we can collaborate during this competition and this makes life much happier. If we know how to stay positive when in this situation, it puts us in a different place. We do not lose sight of who and what we are competing for, but it’s much more convenient to do it in this way. I believe I am leaving the directorship of BINA in good hands with Professor Udi Banin. My advice to him is to be himself. Everyone brings their own style of management to a position like this, and I know he will succeed in his own way. When I took over from Prof. Yuval Garini, I could not understand how I could walk in his shoes. He was an amazing person, so moderate and well-liked. When he came to offer me the position, I thought he was joking. Though I am leaving the directorship of BINA, I am not leaving BINA. I will continue to be a member of the BINA faculty, and I will also pursue a few other projects. One is to lead a partnership with Sheba Hospital to create the Health Tech Valley. Another is to shepherd the grant applications that are still in process, including a large one that was filed in the summer establishing the Israeli Center for Biodevices. I’m going back to engineering as the Vice Dean of The Faculty of Engineering. I’m going to support and help the dean, and I’m going to focus on excellence in research. We had hoped to have an internal retreat at the start of this academic year of the faculty that would focus on teaching and research. There are three elements of research I want to focus on: competitive grants; publishing papers in high-ranking journals; and bringing in PhD students and postdocs. I believe if we focus on these elements, it will put engineering in a higher place than it is today. Sadly, due to the outbreak of war and the atrocities committed by Hamas, we had to delay our retreat. To our wonderful staff and faculty, I want to call to mind a quote from Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers. Lo alecha hamelacha ligmor . “It is not your duty to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it” (Pirkei Avot 2:21). I know that BINA will continue to flourish under Udi’s baton and the extreme creativity of our faculty. Given our changed circumstances now in Israel, I want to also suggest a Hebrew proverb and a general piece of wisdom that encourages us as individuals to step up and take responsibility when needed. B’makom sh’ayn ish, tishtadel lihiyot ish. “In a place where there is no man, be a man.” May we all merit to embrace kindness and compassion, fostering understanding and unity in our scientific communities and beyond. “The second achievement of which I am proud is that I worked hard to make BINA’s building a temple for research” “BINA will continue to flourish under Udi’s baton and the extreme creativity of our faculty”
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