Weekly Report January 31st - February 12th

I went to the United States to attend the FAI Executive Committee meeting in Atlanta and then participated in a number of events and meeting in Atlanta, New York and Boston. See the Trip Report. The following report was written for me by Tamar Norkin, my administrative assistant.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report January 31st – February 5th

• It was the first week of the academic break for the students, and most of them left for home or travels elsewhere therefore it was a quiet week at the Arava Institute.
• We had a visit from Robert Barker, who is a dean at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. The School has hosted several Arava Institute alumni as teaching fellows for its summer portals program in environmental studies, and is very interested in continuing its relationship with AIES. Two Arava alumni from the Middle East will travel to Hotchkiss to teach this summer and more will be invited in the future.

Weekly Report February 7th – February 12th

This week has been a very eventful one.

• We are continuing construction of the Research and Visitors Park, and proceeding at a fast pace to have the site ready for next week’s validation center opening ceremony.
• The Academic Program Department held a meeting to review the end of the semester and look ahead to the next one.
• The Arava Institute hosted Alan Weisman, journalist and author of the best-selling book ‘The World Without Us’. He is currently traveling the world conducting research and interviews for his new book, which will be about the carrying capacity of the world. He interviewed researchers at AIES and learned about the ecology of the area.
• The big story of the week is the 4th AAPEN alumni conference, which took place this week in Aqaba. Many people have been working hard to bring together this exciting event. Close to 80 people attended the conference, a number that reflects the significant growth and development of the alumni network.
• Key speakers at the conference included Professor Alon Tal, one of the founders of the Arava Institute, David Weisberg, Executive Director of Friends of the Arava Institute, and journalist Alan Weisman. Guest attendees included members of the local government in Aqaba.
• Arava Institute alumni Shira Kronich, Ilana Meallem, Yair Teller, Suleiman Halasah and Corey Mikami gave presentations about their environmental and transboundary projects, and Jamil Sarraj led a creative thinking workshop.
• Sharon Benheim, director of Alumni Projects Department presented plans for future developments in the alumni program, including an exclusive online networking site and the initiation of alumni network branches around the world.
• In all, it was a productive and positive program that allowed us to see how far we’ve come in the last 13 years and image how far we can go in the future.

Tamar Norkin