American businessman and philanthropist Mortimer Zuckerman announced Monday he is launching the Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program, an initiative aimed at supporting future generations of leaders in science, technology, engineering and math in the United States and Israel.
Over time it is hoped the program will foster greater collaboration between "two of the world’s most advanced scientific research centers," a press release from the organization said.
The program will give the highest-achieving American post-doctoral researchers and graduate students the ability to collaborate with leading researchers at Israel’s top research institutions — Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University and the Weizmann Institute of Science.
"By providing American graduate students and post-doctoral researchers with exposure to Israel’s renowned cutting-edge research and startup culture, the Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program will raise a generation of academic, scientific and industry leaders in the United States infused with a unique spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation," the organization said.
The program will simultaneously bolster Israeli research institutions as world-leading centers for cutting edge research by providing Israeli institutions access to large-scale funding needed to develop top-tier research labs, projects and programs, according to the announcement.
"At a time when collaboration is essential to advanced scientific research, this program gives the next generations of leading American and Israeli academics the ability to work together on cutting edge research in ways that stand to benefit their fields for years to come," Zuckerman said. "The result will help transform not just the work of the scholars involved, but the way the United States and Israel approach collaboration and cooperation across the sciences."
The initiative was praised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
"This project will help bring back home some of Israel’s most brilliant sons and daughters, allow them to advance their own careers here and in so doing contribute to Israel’s growing scientific excellence," Netanyahu said. "It will also enable some of America’s brightest young scientists to conduct their research in Israel."
"New York and Israel share a deep and unparalleled connection – and the Zuckerman Scholars Program is a prime example of how we can keep that relationship strong today and in the future," Cuomo said. "By helping some of America’s best and brightest students work and learn alongside leading researchers in Israel, this program gives us a new model for cooperation and partnership that will ultimately better society as a whole."
The program will be funded from Zuckerman’s foundation and ensure that the first class of Zuckerman Scholars will begin with the 2016–17 academic year. In the next 20 years, the program intends to provide more than $100 million in scholarships and related educational activities.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.