Tel Aviv University's Blavatnik School of Computer Science is a trailblazer in the digital universe — creating advanced solutions and high-tech opportunities to expand our reality. Its award-winning faculty is the best in Israel and the School is ranked 14th in the world.

Fast-Track to the Future

In the half-century since the first computer was built, life on our planet has changed radically. And from the way we communicate to the way we practice medicine, the Blavatnik School of Computer Science has played a significant role.

Designing drug candidates in seconds instead of decades. A safer banking system, online and off. Quantum supercomputing. Quantifying life itself. Interdisciplinary study at the Blavatnik School intersects with numerous fields of study, including life sciences, medicine, communications and information technology.

From its home in Israel's financial hub, multinational giants such as Google, Microsoft and Intel call on the School's ingenuity to lay the high-tech foundations of tomorrow. Some major companies, such as AOL's ICQ, were grown right in the School's labs. "Computational Science is the future," says Prof. Haim J. Wolfson, Dean of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences. "Our scientists are advancing the frontiers of every imaginable discipline."

Outsized Influence

The mathematical structure underlying new cryptographic systems that are believed to be secure against quantum computers.

The tech world has taken notice. The Blavatnik School's international reputation for excellence provides the luxury of accepting just one of every five applicants — the cream of the crop. In bioinformatics, foundations of computer science, and computational geometry, the School is among the best in the world.

"Our impact on the world of computer sciences is disproportionately large," says Prof. Amiram Yehudai, head of the Blavatnik School. Why? It's not what students learn, he says, but how. "Nobody can know where the future will take us," says Prof. Yehudai, "so our young scientists learn how to act in a constantly changing environment. It becomes second nature to stay relevant, up-to-date, and future-oriented."

Advances made at the school impact our lives every day. Consider the computer vision research of Prof. Lior Wolf — without it, images on a Blackberry, iPhone or cell phone wouldn't be crisp and clear. Look at Prof. Mooly Sagiv's work, advancing our ability to ensure that software works as it should. Think about how Prof. Nir Shavit uses multi-core computers to multiply the speed of computing power.

A Net Brain Gain

Prof. Haim J. Wolfson, Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences.

With no significant natural resources to call its own, Israel has built its economy on "brainpower" — much of it, computer science brainpower. It would be hard to find a high-tech startup in Israel without a Blavatnik School grad either at its helm or in a senior development position. In this area, the "brain drain" that haunts the country has been upended — turned into a "brain gain."

The Council of Higher Education in Israel granted the School the highest possible evaluation. Its faculty has won hundreds of national and international prizes, including 4 Godel Prizes, the highest award for state-of-the-art research in theoretical computer science, as well as 7 Israel National Defense Prizes.

Venture capitalists bank on Blavatnik School research and seek one-on-one meetings with its faculty and graduates regularly. And with senior VPs and presidents of multinational companies regularly recruiting at the School, graduates can have confidence that their Tel Aviv University degree will facilitate membership in Israel's famed community of entrepreneurs.

Dean Wolfson concludes, "Our scientists are key players in the growth of a strong national economy."

How You Can Expand the Future

Creating new faculty positions for our next superstars is key to fueling that innovation. With a gift of $100,000 for each of the next three years, you can establish a new position to attract one of the discipline's most exciting young scientists. You'll allow the School to compete with top universities and global corporations for the best and the brightest.

With a gift of $1 million, you can adopt one of the School's 14 sophisticated labs, providing researchers with the specialized tools, equipment and student support necessary to stay ahead of the curve. Sponsor the Networks and Communications Lab, the Computer Aided Drug Design Lab, or any of the other 12 Labs listed to the right. Your help will bring exciting and significant breakthrough projects to swift fruition.

To push the boundaries of computing power and numbers even further, with a generous endowment of $10 million you can create a multidisciplinary Computer Science Building to house cross-discipline labs covering all aspects of life — from bioinformatics to digital communications. This building will give researchers the space to dream to the limits of their processing power.

The Blavatnik School of Computer Science
Alumni Say...

Prof. Oded Regev

PROF. ODED REGEV

B.Sc. 1995, Blavatnik School of Computer Science, TAU
M.Sc. 1997, Blavatnik School of Computer Science, TAU
Ph.D. 2001, Computer Science Research, Blavatnik School of Computer Science, TAU
Currently: Computer research scientist and professor, Blavatnik School of Computer Science, TAU

Oded Regev clearly understands speed — he earned two degrees at Tel Aviv University's School of Computer Science, then completed his Ph.D. at the age of 21. It seems fitting that his early work was in making the Internet faster.

"To be honest, I never planned to continue beyond a Masters level. I joined a start-up company, like many of the young computer scientists in Israel, but my TAU supervisor, Prof. Yossi Azar, called me every day, and told me I had to return to academia," recalls Prof. Regev with a smile.

Today he is Professor Oded Regev, a computer research scientist doing cutting edge work at Tel Aviv University. "There is a fear in the computer industry that when quantum computers are built, the secure digital communication that is used in everything from mobile phones to bank transactions will no longer be possible," he says. "My work is in cryptography, trying to guarantee that secure communication will remain possible even when quantum computers come into existence.

"I love the Tel Aviv University campus and the collegial atmosphere here. We make room for social events too, and for collaboration workshops with industry — many of the greatest discoveries we have in our field were inspired by industry."

Dorit Dor

DORIT DOR

B.Sc. Math, M.Sc. Computer Science 1987
Ph.D. Computer Science, 1995
Currently: V.P. Product Development at Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd.

Dorit Dor has risen to the top of a male-dominated field — she's Vice President of Product Development at Check Point, a leading Internet security firm. During her 13 years with the company, she's helped build the 2000-person publicly traded business into a global entity.

At Tel Aviv University, Dor earned a Ph.D. in computer science with a focus on theory, but her earlier studies provided a contrast in gender representation. "There is an equal male-female distribution in computer studies in the earlier degrees, but this deteriorates at the Ph.D. level," she says.

"There are not many women who have an R&D executive role in the computer industry. I could say there is a direct correlation between my studies and my career success. What I liked most about studying at TAU was the research and the staff.

"The problems I am solving today at work are different than what I researched then, but what I learned at Tel Aviv University was beyond subject matter — I was taught how to cope with challenges, a skill I need to use every day."

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