Unicamp received this Monday (4) a visit from Shlomo Bekhor, director of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, one of the most traditional educational institutions in that country, based in the city of Haifa. He was welcomed by the rector of the University, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, and by the general coordinator, Maria Luiza Moretti, at a meeting held at the Casa do Professor Visitante (CPV). The event was also attended by members of the Executive Board of International Relations (Deri), professors and researchers in the areas of engineering and transport. On the occasion, Bekhor presented a talk about the Technion's work and its research in the area of engineering and road safety.
“We have several partnerships between the Technion and European institutions and it would be very important for us to establish partnerships with Brazil, especially Unicamp”, stated the director. Brazilian, born in Rio de Janeiro, Bekhor said he completed all his training in Brazil, including a degree at the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA), before migrating to Israel. Currently, in addition to being director of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Technion, Bekhor is also a researcher, dedicating himself to the study, for example, of technologies aimed at sharing trips and ridesharing, more precisely the development of models to optimize travel time. people, including, in digital systems, behavioral aspects, such as the probability of people canceling requested trips.
In his presentation, he highlighted topics of interest to the Israeli faculty, especially the Technion's Transport Research Institute, such as traffic safety and the use of big data to improve traffic quality, providing, among other measures, the installation of bluetooth sensors in the road structure for data collection. “Brazil still has a long way to go in relation to road safety, and technology is an important ally in this”, he pointed out.
Founded in 1924, the Technion is one of the main higher education institutions in the country, ranking 79th in the Shanghai academic ranking. The institute has more than 15 thousand students, 17 faculties and 60 research centers. The Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering has around a thousand undergraduate students, 250 postgraduate students and 42 teachers.
For the rector of Unicamp, the rapprochement with institutions like the Technion means an important step towards the internationalization of the University, something he considers to be a great challenge. Meirelles highlighted the opportunity to implement international research centers in universities in São Paulo, in partnership with foreign institutions, based on calls opened by the São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (Fapesp). “We have great admiration for what Technion represents for the areas of engineering and technology. I count on the partnership of you and our researchers, who are leaders in their fields, to advance the internationalization process through new research”, stated the dean.
