Scholars EMBARKING With Us
An incredible group of leaders and visionaries will embark with us to Morocco, detailing the remarkable advances Bar-Ilan University has made in partnership with the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Ben Guerir. The mission will culminate in Israel in conjunction with the annual Board of Trustees ceremonies.
Professor Arie Zaban
President, Bar-ilan university
Professor Arie Zaban was inaugurated President of Bar-Ilan University in October 2017. Previously he served as Vice President for Research and as the founding Director of the Bar-Ilan Institute for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials.
As a researcher, Prof. Zaban has been a powerful force in materials science and renewable energy, with over 24,000 citations (h-index = 77) with over 230 publications in refereed journals, 5 book chapters and 75 invited lectures. In recent years, he has developed next-generation photovoltaic cells based on metal oxides using a combinatorial methodology, perovskite solar cells, transparent conductive electrodes, and aluminum-air batteries. To assure this research has a positive impact, he has founded five companies based on eight of his patents. Now as President, Prof. Zaban has spearheaded the Impact Centers to guide multidisciplinary teams of Bar-Ilan researchers as they use their expertise to solve pressing real-world challenges.
Prof. Zaban has been a member of the Israel National Council for Research and Development, of the National Academic Renewable Energy Steering Committee, and of the Israeli Government Advisory Committee on Alternative Fuels. He has garnered numerous prizes, among them the ICS Prize for Outstanding Young Scientist, the Michael Landau Research Prize in Renewable Energy, the IVS Research Excellence Prize and the Israel Chemical Society Prize of Excellence, the Kolthoff Prize from the Technion.
Prof. Zaban joined Bar-Ilan as a bachelor’s degree student after completing his service as a pilot in the Israeli Air Force. Today he and his wife Racheli have four children and five grandchildren.
Prof. Zaban presents his vision in his inaugural speech given when he became Bar-Ilan University president.
Professor Doron Aurbach
leading innovator, energy & sustainability
Prof. Doron Aurbach, whose research in BIU’s Department of Chemistry focuses on developing alternative energy sources, is named by Clarivate (Web of Science) as one of the highly cited researchers in 2022
Prof. Aurbach is a world-renowned scientist, who is recognized for his research in the fields of energy storage and conversion. Among his many roles, he serves as the head of the university’s Electrochemistry Research Group, as Director of the Bar-Ilan University Center for Energy and Sustainability (55 research groups from seven faculties, covering all fields of energy, networks, regulation, ecology, environment, earth and climate science, and engineering) and as leader of the Israel National Energy Research Consortium (INERC, 33 research groups from seven academic institutions in Israel, which collaborate on study of hydrogen economy, solar energy, energy storage and recycling.)
The Electrochemistry Research Group he leads at Bar Ilan University develops, investigates and characterizes rechargeable batteries with high energy density for electric transportation, rechargeable batteries suitable for storing renewable energy (mainly solar energy on a large scale) , super capacitors, electronically conducting polymers, water treatment processes that include desalination by electrochemical means, creation of disinfectant solutions from tap water, and production of “green” hydrogen by electrochemical processes.