FULBRIGHT Post-doctoral fellows Academic year 2017-2018

Thanks to the generous support of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education in Israel, the Fulbright Postdoctoral Program funds yearly over twenty post-doctoral fellows form Israel and from the United States. The fellows come from all disciplines and fields of knowledge and enjoy a generous stipend, cultural and academic enrichment activities. The program serves the fellows for the duration of their fellowship and provides networking and resource services for the rest of their career. The United States-Israel Educational foundation was established in 1956 by the governments of the United States and Israel to administer the Fulbright Program in Israel. The foundation is committed to the fostering of creative, forward-thinking young leaders in academia. Executive Director: Dr. Anat Lapidot-Firilla Program Manager: Imri Grinberg Israel Program Coordinator: US Program Coordinator: Sandy Mattar Tally Barkay

Index US Postdoctoral Fellows 1 2 3 4 Rachel Friedman Liat Gafni Lachter Sarah Kostinski Maayan Stavans Political Science Medical Sciences Physics Psychology 5 6 7 Jose Villegas Michael Wine Zackary Wainer Chemistry Environmental Sciences History Israeli Postdoctoral Fellows 8 9 10 11 Ayala Allon Nir Barak Moshe Shay Ben Haim Tamar Ben Shaanan Psychology Political Science Psychology Medical Sciences 12 13 14 15 Eran Cohen Barak Ilan Cohen Ohad Green Yonatan Israel Medical Sciences Computer Science Social Work Physics 16 17 18 19 Yael Lahav Shai Maayani Sivan Pearl Mizrahi Roy Porat Psychology Optics Biology East Asian Studies & Philosophy 20 21 22 23 Omri Ram Daniel Sharon Noam Solomon Dana Sury Barot Mechanical Chemistry Computer Science & Cognitive Science & Engineering Mathematics Education

US Post-doctoral fellows

US Postdoctoral Fellows The project: The Israeli Welfare State in Historical and Philosophical Context: Risk, Distributive Justice, and the Challenges of Universal Social Insurance Host Institution: Tel Aviv University Rachel Friedman Rachel Friedman was awarded a Fulbright Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue her research • PhD in Political Science, Harvard University, project titled The Israeli Welfare State in Historical Cambridge, MA, USA and Philosophical Context: Risk, Distributive • JD in Law, Harvard University, Cambridge, Justice, and the Challenges of Universal Social MA, USA Insurance” at Tel Aviv University. • BA in Social Studies, Harvard University, Her dissertation, written under Profs. Harvey Cambridge, MA, USA Mansfield, Michael Sandel, and Richard Tuck, explored the origins and evolution of the idea of social insurance, specifically as it emerged from mathematical probability theory. She will pursue her postdoctoral research at the Safra Center for Ethics, under the supervision of Professor Hanoch Dagan. 1

US Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Promoting Family-Centered Care: Measuring the Effect of an Interdisciplinary Intervention Host Institution: University of Haifa Liat Gafni Lachter Liat Gafni Lachter was awarded a Fulbright Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue her research • OTD in Occupational Therapy, Boston University, project titled “Promoting Family-Centered Care: Boston, MA, USA Measuring the Effect of an Interdisciplinary • MSc in Occupational Therapy, University of Haifa, Intervention” at the University of Haifa, Israel. Israel During the study, she will implement a training • BA in Occupational Therapy, The Hebrew program for interdisciplinary healthcare providers University of Jerusalem, Israel while measuring change in participants’ clinical skills and expertise in provision of family- Liat’s recent publications include: centered care. Liat’s doctoral studies took place at Boston Gafni Lachter, L. (2017). “Legislation and University and focused on promoting quality Reimbursement of Occupational Therapy healthcare by means of interdisciplinary Services.” In K. Sladyk, K. Jacobs, & N. MacRae, education and mentoring. These studies were eds., Occupational Therapy Essentials for Clinical conducted under the supervision of Professor Competence. Thorofare, NJ: Slack Incorporated. Ellen Cohn and Professor Karen Jacobs. Liat is ———. (2016). Better Together: Advancing Family an occupational therapist and aspires to see the Centered Care. Germany: Lambert Academic findings of this study be integrated into everyday Publishing. ISBN-10 3659855545. clinical practice with children and their families. Rosenblum, S., & Gafni Lachter, L. (2015) “Handwriting Proficiency Screening Questionnaire for Children (HPSQ-C): Development, Reliability, and Validity.” American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69. doi:10.5014/ajot.2015.014761 2

US Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Controlled Wave Propagation in a Complex Medium Host Institution: Hebrew University Sarah Kostinski Sarah Kostinski was awarded a Fulbright Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue her research • PhD in Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, project titled “Controlled Wave Propagation in a MA, USA Complex Medium” at the Hebrew University of • AM in Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Jerusalem. During this project she will investigate MA, USA the mechanisms by which transmission of visible • BS in Physics and Music, University of Michigan, light through disordered media is enhanced. Ann Arbor, MI, USA Her PhD research on soft matter and optical systems was conducted under the supervision Sarah’s recent publications include: of Professor Michael P. Brenner at Harvard University. Sarah will continue studies on optics Yang, Y., Miroshnichenko, A. E., Kostinski, S. as a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Yaron V., Odit, M., Kapitanova, P., Qiu, M., & Kivshar, Bromberg’s laboratory at the Hebrew University’s Y. S. “Multimode Directionality in All-Dielectric Racah Institute of Physics. Metasurfaces.” To appear in Physical Review B (2017). 3

US Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Young Children’s Conceptualization of Leadership Host Institution: Bar Ilan University Maayan Stavans Maayan Stavans was awarded a Fulbright Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue her research • PhD in Psychology, University of Illinois, project titled “Young Children’s Conceptualization Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA of Leadership” at Bar-Ilan University. This • BA in Psychology, The Hebrew University of research will investigate young children’s Jerusalem, Israel concepts of, and attitudes toward, leadership in social groups. Her PhD research was conducted Liat’s recent publications include: under the supervision of Professor Renée Baillargeon at the University of Illinois in Urbana- Stavans, M., & Baillargeon, R. (2016). “Four- Month-Old Infants Individuate and Track Simple Champaign and focused on two lines of research. In one, she explored early reasoning about Tools Following Functional Demonstrations.” leadership, investigating whether infants possess Developmental Science. doi: 10.1111/desc.12500 different expectations about the behaviors of leaders and subordinates toward others. In the other, she explored early physical reasoning, investigating how infants represent what objects are where in a scene and how objects generally interact. 4

US Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Elucidating Structure- Function Relationships at Protein-Protein Interfaces Host Institution: Weizmann Institute Jose Villegas José Villegas was awarded a Fulbright Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue his research • PhD in Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, project titled “Elucidating Structure-Function Philadelphia, PA, USA Relationships at Protein-Protein Interfaces” at the • MA in Chemistry, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, Weizmann Institute of Science. His research will NY, USA investigate the minimal structural requirements • BA in Biochemistry, University of California, for priming new interactions in non-interacting Santa Barbara, CA, USA proteins through a combination of computational modeling and in vivo experiments. His PhD José’s recent publications include: research was performed in Professor Jeffery Savens’s group and focused on the computational Zhang, H. V., Polzer, F., Haider, M. J., Tian, Y., design of protein-ligand and protein-protein Villegas, J. A., Kiick, K. L., Pochan, D. J., & Saven, interactions. José has accepted a postdoctoral J. G. (2016). “Computationally Designed Peptides fellowship in Professor Emmanuel Levy’s for Self-Assembly of Nanostructured laboratory. Lattices.” Science Advances 2 (9). doi: 10.1126/ sciadv.1600307 5

US Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Impacts of Increasing Temperatures on Ecohydrology along a Gradient of Elevation in the Jordan River Headwaters Host Institution: Ben Gurion University Michael Wine Michael Wine was awarded a Fulbright Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue his research • PhD in Hydrology, New Mexico Institute of project titled “Impacts of Increasing Temperatures Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM, USA on Ecohydrology along a Gradient of Elevation • MS in Natural Resource Ecology and in the Jordan River Headwaters” at Ben-Gurion Management, Oklahoma State University, University of the Negev. In this project he will Stillwater, OK, USA investigate effects of rising temperatures • BS in Natural Resources: Applied Ecology, and associated ecological changes on water Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA resources in the karst-influenced Jordan River headwaters. Improved understanding of the Mike’s recent publications include: hydrology of the Jordan River headwaters is critical to predicting the future status of the Wine, M. L., Cadol, D. (2016). “Hydrologic Effects Hula Lake, the Kinneret, and the lower Jordan of Large Southwestern USA Wildfires Significantly River, and will also contribute to improved Increase Regional Water Supply: Fact or Fiction?” understanding of the effects of global change Environmental Research Letters 11 (8): 1–13. on water-limited karst systems. His PhD research was performed in Assistant Professor Daniel Cadol’s group and focused on effects of ecological disturbances on water resources in the western United States. 6

US Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Canonization and Commentary Formation in the Ancient Near East Host Institution: Hebrew University Zackary Wainer Zackary Wainer was awarded a Fulbright Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue his research • PhD in Ancient Near East and Bible History, project titled “Canonization and Commentary Brown University, Providence, RI, USA Formation in the Ancient Near East” at • BA in Near Eastern Language and Culture, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. As a University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA Fulbright Fellow, Zackary will carry out the first monograph-length study of the relationship Zackary’s recent publications include: between commentaries and the transmission and reception of “canonical” texts in Mesopotamia. In Wainer, Z. (2016). “Traditions of Mesopotamian the course of his project Zackary will investigate Celestial-Divinatory Schemes and the 4th Tablet of how canonization was a continuous and diffuse Šumma Sin ina Tāmartišu.” In J. Steele, ed., The activity performed by generations of individual Circulation of Astronomical Knowledge in the scholars within Mesopotamian intellectual culture Ancient World, 55–82. Leiden: Brill. who reaffirmed or rejected components of a potential canon with each instance of textual transmission. Moreover, he will examine the extent to which canonization and commentary traditions in the ancient Near East were shaped by culturally specific ideas of genre and intellectual praxis, and to what extent they reflect cross-regional or “global” trends. He will pursue his postdoctoral research in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near East, under the supervision of Dr. Uri Gabbay. 7

Israeli Post-doctoral fellows

Israeli Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Compensation Mechanisms for Filtering Irrelevant InformationInsurance Host Institution: The Ohio State University Ayala S. Allon Ayala S. Allon was awarded a Fulbright Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue her research • PhD in Cognitive Psychology, Tel Aviv University project titled “Compensation Mechanisms for • MA in Cognitive Psychology, Tel Aviv University Filtering Irrelevant Information” at the Ohio • BA in Psychology and Interdisciplinary studies State University, Columbus, Ohio. This research in Humanities and Social Sciences, Ben-Gurion will investigate filtering mechanisms that can University of the Negev improve individuals’ ability to filter out and ignore irrelevant information in the visual environment. Ayala’s recent publications include: Her PhD research was conducted at the School Allon, A. S., & Luria, R. (2017). “Compensation of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Mechanisms That Improve Distractor Filtering and focused on compensation mechanisms for improving the filtering out of distractors from Are Short-Lived.” Cognition, 164: 74–86. doi: 10.1016/j. cognition.2017.03.020 visual working memory, their neural correlates, and interactions of filtering mechanisms with perceptual grouping mechanisms. This research was conducted under the supervision of Professor Roy Luria. Ayala’s research is aimed at providing a basis for developing ways to improve filtering processes in clinical populations and for developing practical tools to improve performance in everyday activities that require filtering of irrelevant information. 8

Israeli Postdoctoral Fellows The project: City-Zenship: Democracy, Urban Autonomy, and National Citizenship Host Institution: Columbia University Nir Barak Nir Barak was awarded a Fulbright-ISEF Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue his research • PhD in Political Science, The Hebrew University project titled “City-Zenship: Democracy, Urban of Jerusalem Autonomy, and National Citizenship” at Columbia • MA in Political Science, Tel Aviv University University. This research will analyze the • BA in Philosophy and Political Science, relationship between the rising power of cities in global politics, the growing autonomy of cities Tel Aviv University vis-à-vis the state, and democratic norms and practices in cities. Nir’s recent publications include: His PhD research focused on environmental Barak, N. (forthcoming in July 2017). political theory in cities and analyzed philosophical, “Hundertwasser—Inspiration for Environmental political, social, and policy-related aspects of Ethics: Reformulating the Ecological Self.” transitioning cities to sustainable patterns. This Environmental Values research was conducted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under the supervision of Professor Avner de Shalit. During this period Nir was a fellow in the Human Rights under Pressure joint interdisciplinary program of the Hebrew University and the Freie Universität Berlin and worked with Professor Martina Löw as co-supervisor. In addition to his academic work, Nir has a rich background of working in educational projects with disadvantaged teenagers. 9

Israeli Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Animal Consciousness and Nonconscious Processing: A Direct Dissociation Study in Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris) Host Institution: Yale University Moshe Shay Ben-Haim Moshe Shay Ben-Haim was awarded a Education Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue his • PhD in Medical Sciences, Tel Aviv University research project titled “Animal Consciousness • PhD in Behavioral Cognitive Neuroscience, and Nonconscious Processing: A Direct Tel Aviv University Dissociation Study in Domestic Dogs (Canis • MA in Cognitive Psychology, Tel Aviv University familiaris)” at Yale University (with collaboration • BSc in Biology, Tel Aviv University of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem). This • BA in Psychology and Musicology, Tel Aviv research will investigate the possibility of University conscious and nonconscious processing in intelligent animals. Shay completed a PhD in Shay’s recent publications include: Behavioral Cognitive Neuroscience at Tel Aviv Ben-Haim, M. S., Chajut, E., Hassin, R., Algom University under the supervision of Professor D. (2015). “Speeded Naming or Naming Daniel Algom in 2014. Upon completion of his Speed? The Automatic Effects of Object Speed PhD, Shay went on to study for a second PhD on Performance.” Journal of Experimental in Molecular Genetics under the supervision of Psychology: General, 144 (2): 326–38. Professor Gideon Rechavi of the Sheba Medical Center and Professor Haim Cohen of Bar-Ilan University. 10

Israeli Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Molecular and Functional Characterization of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex Neurons Regulating Physical and Emotional Pai Host Institution: Harvard University Tamar Ben-Shaanan Tamar Ben-Shaanan was awarded a Fulbright Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue her research • PhD in Immunology, Technion—Israel Institute project titled “Molecular and Functional of Technology Characterization of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex • MSc in Neurobiology, The Hebrew University Neurons Regulating Physical and Emotional of Jerusalem Pain” at the Harvard Medical School in Boston. • BSc Psychobiology Program, The Hebrew This research will apply new technologies to University of Jerusalem characterize the neuronal sub-populations in the anterior cingulate cortex underlying emotional Tamar’s recent publications include: and physical pain. Her PhD research, conducted at the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Ben-Shannan, T. L., Azulay-Debby, H., Dubovik, T., and revealed a connection between the brain’s Starosvetsky, E., Korin, B., Schiller, M., Green, N. reward circuitry, which is mostly associated L., Admon, Y., Hakim, F., Shen-Orr, S. S., & Rolls, A. with positive emotions and expectation, and (2016). “Activation of the Reward System Boosts immunity. This research was conducted under Innate and Adaptive Immunity.” Nature Medicine the supervision of Dr. Asya Rolls. Tamar aims to 22: 940–944. doi:10.1038/nm.4133 further investigate how mood-regulating neuronal circuits can affect immunity and physiology. 11

Israeli Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Understanding the Cellular Signaling Impacted by Genetic Mutation in SHOC2 Leading to Heart Defects, Skin Dysfunction, and Cancer Host institution: Northwestern University Eran Cohen Barak Eran Cohen Barak was awarded a Fulbright Education Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue his research • MD Technion—Israel Institution of Technology titled “Understanding the Cellular Signaling • BsC in Medical Science, Ben-Gurion University Impacted by Genetic Mutation in SHOC2 Leading of the Negev to Heart Defects, Skin Dysfunction, and Cancer” at Northwestern University. The aim of this research Eran’s recent publications include: is to discover pivotal processes in skin, heart, and Cohen Barak, E., Sah, M., Kerner, M., Rozenman, oncologic diseases through investigation of a rare D., & Ziv, M. (2015). “Impact of Anti-Psoriatic genetic disease as a model. Therapy on Endothelial Function.” British Journal Eran is a senior physician in the Dermatology of Dermatology, 173 (6): 1440–46. doi: 10.1111/ department of Ha-emek Medical Center, affiliated with the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology. bjd.14076 He is responsible for the hospitalization unit and the pediatric dermatology clinic and as part of his clinical activities, he treats patients with genetic diseases, which are prevalent in Ha-emek catchment area. Eran’s vision is to establish an independent research program at Ha-emek, thus merging advanced clinical and research facilities. 12

Israeli Postdoctoral Fellows The project: Large-Scale Resource Allocation Optimization Host Institution: University of Pittsburgh Ilan Cohen Ilan Cohen was awarded a Fulbright Postdoctoral Education Fellowship to pursue his research project titled • PhD in Computer Science, Tel Aviv University “Large-Scale Resource Allocation Optimization” at • MA in Computer Science, Tel Aviv University the Carnegie Mellon University and the University • BA in Computer Science, Technion—Israel of Pittsburgh. This research will investigate Institute of Technology and significantly decrease the energy waste and monetary cost of large >[email protected] Visit Our Website: http://fulbright.org.il