Prizes and Awards
In perusing this year’s list of prestigious prizes, appointments, and awards, I wondered if there might be a common denominator, something that unites all the faculty achievements that resulted in this inspiring list. And I think, in the end, that I found it: Whether through innovations that advance scientific fields, membership in committees that ensure standards of excellence, and as teachers who demonstrate special talent and dedication, Bar-Ilan faculty go beyond their job descriptions to create real impact in the world. In most every instance, these honors reflect active engagement with their wider scholarly and scientific communities and a commitment to the strength and well-being of Israeli society. This sense of motivation—which does not seek glory for glory’s sake, but instead to apply expertise toward much higher ends—is ultimately the reason that Bar-Ilan is a transformative institution. As rector, I am proud to call our faculty my colleagues, and to invite you to read through this list and learn how Bar-Ilan is changing the face of Israel, one faculty member at a time.
Prof. Amnon Albeck
Rector
Faculty members
Prof. Emeritus Doron Aurbach
of the Department of Chemistry on receiving the John B. Goodenough Award, the most prestigious award in electrochemistry worldwide.Prof. Hanoch Ben Pazi
of the Department of Jewish Philosophy on being selected as president of the Israeli Association for the Study of Religions.Prof. Jonathan Grossman
of the The Zalman Shamir Bible Department on being awarded the Rabbi Kook Prize for Original Torah Literature from the Tel Aviv Municipality for his book Joseph: The Story of Dreams.Dr. Gali Weissberger
of the Department of Social and Health Sciences on being listed on The Marker’s 40-under-40 promising leaders for 2025.Prof. Zeev Zalevsky
of the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering on receiving the SPIE Dennis Gabor Award.Prof. Cyrille Cohen
, Dean of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences on receiving an award for Special Contribution to Society and the State by the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration.Prof. Shulamit Michaeli
of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences on her appointment as member of the Council for Higher Education’s Planning and Budgeting Committee.Prof. Miriam Markowitz-Bitton
of the Faculty of Law on her selection as Bar-Ilan University’s representative to the Council for Higher Education, and on her appointment as member of the Public Committee for the Expansion of the Healthcare Services Basket.Prof. Ronit Irshai
of the Prof. Dafna Izraeli Gender Studies Program on receiving the National Jewish Book Award for her book Holy Rebellion: Religious Feminism and the Transformation of Judaism and Women’s Rights in Israel.Prof. Avraham Faust
of the Department of General History on his appointment as corresponding member of the American Institute of Archaeology.Prof. Gal Kaminka
of the Department of Computer Science on his selection as AAAI Fellow for his significant contribution to the field of artifical intelligence.Dr. Uzi Rubin
of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies on receiving a lifetime achievement award presented by the international program committee of the National Defense Industrial Association Multinational Conference.Dr. Liora Shmueli
of the Department of Management on being listed on Stanford University’s top 2% of scientists worldwide for 2024.Prof. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari
of the Faculty of Law on being chosen as one of the leading women of 2024 by Calcalist, for her efforts to have Hamas’ sex crimes recognized by the world. Also, on her receipt from Brandeis University of an honorary doctorate for her efforts to advance women’s rights, in particular surrounding the October 7th events, and on her being chosen as an honor fellow of The Academic College of Tel-Aviv Yaffo 2024: Women who have made an outstanding contribution to society in the field of public service.Prof. Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg
of the Faculty of Law on being selected as one of the recipients of the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association Excellence in Teaching Award, a prestigious, competitive recognition of excellence for teaching during her sabbatical at UC Berkeley.Prof. Emeritus Warren Young
of the Department of Economics on receiving the title Doctor of Letters (DLitt) by the University of Cambridge, for publication of innovative works on the history of modern economics.Dr. Nitzan Gonen
of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences on being selected as member of the Young Academy of Europe (YAE).Dr. Itay Koren
of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences on being awarded the Hestrin Prize by the Israel Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.Dr. Sivan Shlomo-Agon
of the Faculty of Law on being awarded the Fattal Prize in international law.Prof. Zehavit Gross
, Dean of the Faculty of Education, on being selected to head the Peace Education SIG of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) and on receiving the 2024 Premier Award from the premier of New South Wales, Australia for her outstanding contribution to social cohesiveness and the prevention of religious-based violence.Prof. Nathan Keller
of the Department of Mathematics on being awarded the Fulkerson Prize of the American Mathematics Society, and on winning the Mifal Hapayis Torah essay competition on the subject of the October 7th War.Prof. Alexander Lerner
of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine on being awarded the Minister of Aliyah and Integration prize for new immigrants.Prof. Roy Horovitz
of the Department of Comparative Literature, on being awarded a Fulbright writers program ScholarshipDr. Netanel Flamer
of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies on being awarded the 2025 Moldovan Prize for Military Literature for his book The Hamas Intelligence War Against Israel.Prof. Emmanuel Friedheim
of the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, on being awarded the 2025 Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Prize for his book Those Who Trust in Idols: Polytheism in Iudaea-Palaestina and its Surroundings in the Roman and Early Byzantine Era.Prof. Ilanit Hasson-Ohayon
of the Department of Psychology on being awarded the Landau Prize 2025.Dr. Iliya Esin
of the Department of Physics on being awarded a support grant for recruiting faculty members in quantal technologies and science – 5th year (2024-2027).Dr. Abed Saady
of the Department of Chemistry on being awarded the Maof grant for recruiting outstanding faculty from Arab society.Dr. Or Shalom
of the Department of Mathematics andDr. Amir Weiss
of the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering on being awarded an Alon Scholarship.Dr. Liel Sapir
of the Department of Chemistry on being awarded a grant by the CHE’s Planning and Budgeting Committee for recruiting members in energy and climate.Dr. Yishay Pinto
of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences on being awarded a Zuckerman STEM Leadership Faculty Scholarship to recruit outstanding Israeli faculty members from the U.S. and Canada.Dr. Paul Sharp
of the Department of Psychology on being awarded an Azrieli Fellowship.Postdoctoral fellows and students
Dr. Clara Fridman
of the Department of English Literature and Linguistics on receiving the Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship grant.Shlomo Gedamo
of the Faculty of Law on being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship.Omer Maliniak
of the Department of Music on being awarded a Rothschild Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship.Esther Shmidov
andAdi Avram-Shperling
of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences,Anat Itzhak
of the Department of Chemistry,Sapir Israeli
of the Department of Mathematics,Efrat Urbach
of the Department of Music,Sari Rima Alfi-Nissan
of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology andReut Tzabag
of the Department of Psychology on being awarded a Bar-Ilan postdoctoral fellowship for women.Dr. Esther Shmidov
andDr. Adi Avram-Shperling
of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences andDr. Sivan Jossinger
of the The Leslie and Susan Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, on being awarded the CHE-PBC Scholarship for Outstanding Postdoctoral Students.Dr. Efrat Urbach
of the Department of Music currently performing postdoctoral work at University of Cambridge, on being awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Polonsky Academy for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences.Dr. Refael Snitkoff
of the Department of Chemistry on being awarded the CHE-PBC Scholarship for Outstanding Postdoctoral Students in energy and climate.Dr. Yaakov Yudkin
of the Department of Physics on being awarded the CHE-PBC Scholarship for Outstanding Postdoctoral Students in quantal science and technology.Dr. Shauli Ravfogel
andNatalie Shapira
of the Department of Computer Science on being awarded the CHE-PBC Scholarship for Outstanding Postdoctoral Students in artificial intelligence and data science.Dr. Dana Binyamin
of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine on receiving the Zuckerman Postdoctoral Grant.Dr. Aviva Eliyahu
andSarit Feldman Gesler
of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences,Lee-or Alon
of the Department of Computer Science andShai Ben Ami
of the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering on being awarded an Azrieli Graduate Studies Fellowship.Elad Zehavi
of the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering on being awarded the Adams Scholarship.Shany Ben-David
of the Department of Computer Science on being awarded the Clore Scholarship.Sara Meir
of the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering on being awarded the CHE-PBC Scholarship for Outstanding Doctoral Students in quantal science and technology.Uri Katz and Ron Eliav
of the Department of Computer Science andRonit Gross
of the Department of Physics on being awarded the CHE-PBC Scholarship for Outstanding Doctoral Students in artificial intelligence and data science.Michal Danino Levi
of the Alexander Kofkin Faculty of Engineering andLee-or Alon
of the Department of Computer Science on being awarded the CHE-PBC Scholarship for Outstanding Women Doctoral Students in High Tech Professions.Noam Bar-David
of the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology andDana Plaut Forkosh
of the Department of English Literature and Linguistics on being awarded the CHE-PBC Rotenstreich Scholarship for Outstanding Doctoral Students in the Humanities.Sheena Peer Leeav
of the Department of Psychology on being awarded a President of the State of Israel Scientific Excellence and Innovation Grant.Yuval Moses
, on winning the gold medal, andItai Klein
on winning the silver medal at the International Physics Olympiad andGuy Zimmerman
on winning the silver medal in the Mendeleev Chemistry Olympiad.Elad Ballas
of the Department of Chemistry for winning Adams Fellowship for the 21st cohort, 2025-26.Renana Schwartz
of the Department of Chemistry in recognition of her selection to participate in the Lindau Meeting with Nobel Laureates, summer 2025.The Bar-Ilan team on coming in 11th place (of 80) in the International Mathematics Competition.
Eitan Grinzaid
won a Grand First Prize (13-14th place of 400 participants).The