36 The Israel Chemist and Chemical Engineer Issue 8 · November 2021 · Kislev 5782 Report chemistry teachers are responsible for the fact that chemicals account for 40 % of Israel’s industrial production and 25 % of its exports. Six Israeli scientists have won the Nobel Prize in sciences, all of them in chemistry. Two presidents of the State of Israel were scientists and both professors of chemistry. Finally, I want to thank many Open University people for hosting this event free of charge: OUI President, Prof. Mimi Ajzenstadt, Dean of Research, Prof. Ofer Reany, Project Manager Asaf Shambi, and many others. I am so happy with our choice to hold the ICS Prize Ceremony in this lovely place. Many thanks also go to our administrative manager, Ms. Ayelet Baron. And thank all of you for coming to celebrate with our prize winners.” Prof. Mimi Ajzenstadt, President of the Open University of Israel, greeted the audience: “The Open University is happy to host the 2021 Israel Chemical Society award ceremony. This is the first event of its kind in which the Open University is taking part, and we hope that this type of cooperation will become a tradition in the future. The Open University is pleased to sponsor the ceremony, which will present a wide range of award winners, including high school students who participated in a chemistry research project, chemistry teachers, administrators involved in chemistry, chemistry students, young researchers, and senior scientists who contribute to science and to the community. The awarding of prizes and recognition of a wide range of scientific excellence is consistent with the Open University’s mission. We strive to make academic knowledge accessible to diverse populations through the development and integration of learning technologies in science teaching and the support of scholarly research. Research at the Open University encompasses the humanities, social sciences, and exact sciences. The Ra’anana campus serves all its faculty members via its infrastructure to develop learning technologies and the Shoham Center for Technology in Distance Education. Although the campus does not have research systems, we offer technological frameworks such as the HighPerformance Computer Center (HPC) and the Media and Digital Laboratory. Many researchers in psychology, natural and life sciences, and computer science are hosted by other universities with research infrastructure that suits their needs. In addition, the Open University awards more than 2,500 graduate degrees in the humanities and social sciences each year, and our goal is to expand to more advanced degrees in the exact sciences as well. Finally, I would like to congratulate the President of the Israel Chemical Society, Prof. Ehud Keinan, who made the courageous decision to hold the ceremony despite the uncertainty of the situation, using an online framework to allow the conference to occur in a hybrid manner. To all the winners, I wish continued research excellence.” Plenary and keynote lectures Prof. Doron Shabat of Tel Aviv University, the winner of the ICS Prize for the Outstanding Scientist, lectured on “Functional Molecular Systems: FromDrug Delivery to Signal Amplification and Aqueous Chemiluminescence.” Prof. Shmuel Carmeli of Tel Aviv University moderated the lecture. Shabat has demonstrated that molecular amplification is a practical approach to various applications in science. His group has developed the most powerful chemiluminescencedioxetane luminophores synthesized to date, suitable for use under aqueous conditions. Prof. Menny Shalom of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the winner of the ICS Prize for the Outstanding Young Scientist, presented a keynote lecture on “Carbon Nitride Materials for Photoelectrochemical Cells.” Prof. Ofer Reany of the Open University of Israel moderated the talk. Prof. Shalom introduced new approaches to growing graphitic carbon nitride (CN) layers with altered properties on conductive substrates for photoelectrochemical applications. He discussed the growth mechanism of CN materials and their chemical, photophysical, electronic, and charge-transfer properties. Prof. NormanMetanis of the HebrewUniversity of Jerusalem, winner of the ICS Prize for the Outstanding Young Scientist. Prof. Metanis spoke about “Selenium as a Tool for Chemical Synthesis, Modification, and Folding of Proteins.” Prof. Uri Banin of the Hebrew University moderated the lecture. Metanis divided his talk into three parts, focusing on the chemistry of selenium and selenocysteine in proteins. The ICS Awards Ceremony Prof. Keinan awarded the ICS prizes to all laureates, reading the citations in both Hebrew and English. Representatives of the prize sponsors or the laureate’s university joined Keinan for awarding the prize (Figure 5).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDU2MA==