Events

The students met with Dr. Dana Drachsler Cohen, a faculty member in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computers at the Technion. She completed her studies in the Faculty of Computer Science at the Technion summa cum laude, is a graduate of the Technion Excellence Program (Rothschild) and Lapidim, and won the Alon Fellowship for young faculty members. Her research focuses on algorithms for guaranteeing reliability and safety of software, particularly using deep learning models. During the event, Dana shared her experiences and spoke with the students about the main questions she has encountered over the course of her career, including: Why choose research? How will I know if research interests me? When is the right time to start research? Is it better to work in the industry first? How do you choose a research topic? How do you choose a supervisor? Can you change your decision over the course of your career? Describe a day in the life of an academic scholar.

The students met with Dr. Mira Shalah Abboud, CEO and co-founder of BeautAI and a Technion graduate, who spoke about her journey, career path, and the connection between research and entrepreneurship. Dr. Shalah Abboud is a computer scientist who specializes in computational geometry and a hi-tech entrepreneur. She began her academic studies at age 15, before she even graduated high school, as part of the Etgar program for excellent students. She then received her BSc with honors from Haifa University, began MSc studies at the Technion, and switched to the direct track for a PhD, supervised by Prof. Gil Barkat from the Faculty of Computer Science. Her PhD thesis, entitled Formulae and Growth Rates of Animals on Cubical and Triangular Lattices, addressed fundamental questions in computational geometry and solved several previously unsolved problems in this field. After completing her PhD at age 25, Mira went to Stanford University for post-doctoral studies and researched representations and modeling of three-dimensional shapes using computer software. Her articles have been presented in conferences and published in leading international journals. After completing her post-doctorate, Mira returned to Israel and founded BeautAI, a beauty-tech startup company that is developing an automatic makeup application machine, and works there today as the CTO. In 2019, Mira was featured on the Forbes magazine 30 Under 30 list.

The students met with Dr. Gil Shamai and Prof. Ron Kimmel, who presented the research they had been working on for seven years on AI-based analysis of pathology images for purposes of diagnosis, prognosis, and selecting optimal cancer treatments. The technology they developed, known as the "computerized pathologist", analyzes the genetic and molecular composition of tissue samples from malignant tumors. The system tests the samples and identifies the genetic mutations that contribute to the tumor's development, as well other indices such as proteins. This enables the technology to determine the unique signature of each tumor, which is the basis for selecting the most suitable form of oncology treatment for the specific patient.

The students met for an opening and introductory session to meet their peers in the program. During the session, the students enjoyed a humorous improvisation workshop, in which they learned and performed physical and mental exercises to maintain high energy levels for the busy, exciting semester ahead.