Teaching

What’s Nature Worth to You?

February 24, 2022

Yadin

What’s Nature Worth to You?

Yadin Gindin grew up on a kibbutz near Rehovot. He always loved nature, being outdoors, and swimming in springs and rivers. He had planned to study chemistry, but when he heard about the Environmental Economics & Management (EEM) program at the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Hebrew University, he decided to enroll. He saw the combination of economics and the environment as a practical way to protect nature.

After completing his BSc summa cum laude, he continued to graduate studies, hoping to broaden his horizons from economics to include the environment. Today, Yadin is a second-year MSc student in the Agriculture, Natural Resources & Environment program. Working under the supervision of Prof. Aliza Fleischer and Prof. Yacov Tsur, he is designing a dynamic model of Israel’s water economy

“What makes the Robert H. Smith Faculty a unique academic setting is its ability to provide both a top-notch educational experience while also being a friendly, accessible, and warm environment. Beyond my classes and research, campus is simply a fun and charming place to be, a pastoral environment to pursue one’s degree. It’s truly one of its kind.”

The theoretical grounding for Yadin’s thesis is the notion of ecosystems services, which puts a price tag on services that nature provides, including provisions with a market value (e.g., fish caught) and services without a price tag (e.g., water purification, recreational activities).

As with any economy, the issue is supply and demand. Households, industry, and agriculture all vie for their share of the supply, which in Israel’s case includes rainfall, desalinated water, and reclaimed wastewater. Yet Yadin’s research adds something new to the mix: nature. By focusing on the economic value of water in nature (i.e., ecosystem services), it becomes possible to determine better water allocation policy.

Yadin will readily admit that we usually evaluate nature in qualitative terms: how it makes us feel, its beauty. Yet by placing an economic value on water allocated to nature, it becomes possible to incorporate this external (environmental) effect within a comprehensive model of water allocation and pricing for the benefit of all.

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Digging (and Crawling) Deep into the Past

February 24, 2022

Mika

Digging (and Crawling) Deep into the Past

To join Micka Ullman on a research trip, you’re going to need to pack a few things: some good lengths of rope, a handful of carabiners, a head lamp, and of course – a solid dose of courage. This is not a trip for the light-hearted or the claustrophobic.

Micka is a fourth-year doctoral student at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology, writing her dissertation on archaeological findings in prehistoric caves in Israel. Specifically, Micka studies karst caves, which are formed by the dissolution of rock. These nooks are hard to find – and even harder to explore. But once inside, they are a trove of archaeological data.

“While some Israeli karst caves are well-known and visited, others are not. I am always saddened when I find a previously unexplored cave full of modern-day trash. These caves can reveal crucial information about our collective, human past, which I hope to elucidate through my research. But even the most well-traversed caves reveal archaeological secrets that shed light on the past peoples who used them.”

Working with a team of researchers, students, and intrepid explorers, Micka surveys caves used by humans between 4,000-8,000 years ago. She looks for sherds (pieces of pottery), flint and stone tools, and any form of architecture, such as constructed walls. She also frequently finds bones, shells, and beads. After mapping the cave and the layout of the artifacts, Micka documents the archeological finds and dates them through a combination of techniques: measuring carbon-14, comparing the objects with those from other sites, and examining production techniques. Micka’s analysis then sheds light on the site: what kind of people occupied these caves? What was their culture and what was the cave used for?

When not deep underground, the Institute of Archaeology has become Micka’s second home. She earned her bachelor’s degree with a dual major in archaeology and geography, then continued to a master’s degree in prehistoric archaeology. Her doctoral research is being supervised by Dr. Uri Davidovich from the Institute of Archaeology along with Prof. Amos Frumkin from the Institute of Earth Sciences, who also founded and heads the Israel Cave Research Center.

To date, Micka has published and co-published numerous peer-reviewed articles, books, and chapters, as well as presented at numerous conferences.

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Bridging Geographical, Academic, and Disciplinary Gaps

February 24, 2022

Lilach

Bridging Geographical, Academic, and Disciplinary Gaps

Lilach Gonen knows Jerusalem’s roads well. As an undergraduate dual major in archaeology and environmental sciences, she divided her time between Mt. Scopus and the Edmond J. Safra campus – bridging two faculties and traversing the city on a nearly daily basis.

Despite the physical distance, the two fields complemented each other perfectly. As her studies progressed, Lilach grew increasingly interested in how people and cultures change in light of environmental shifts – and realized that the key to answering this question may lie precisely in the overlap.

Today, Lilach is a second-year graduate student, earning her MSc from the Fredy & Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences. Her research, under the supervision of Dr. Yonatan Goldsmith (earth sciences) and Dr. Shlomit Bechar (archaeology), asks whether it is possible to bring archaeology and climate science closer together.

Both archaeological and paleoclimate data sets exist, but correlating the two is challenging, mainly due to chronological uncertainty. In order to better understand the connections between climate and human culture and society in the past, Lilach is examining the possibility of past climate reconstruction directly from within the archaeological record.

She is conducting geo-chemical analysis and isotopic measurements on organic material extracted from soil uncovered at Tel Hazor (one of the most important archaeological sites for the study biblical periods, where she has been excavating the past few years), in hopes of discovering how rainfall amounts changed over the periods represented at the site.

If successful, Lilach’s project will help archaeologists gain a deeper understanding of the climate in which past societies lived and operated, and how changes may have affected them. Specifically in Tel Hazor, given that the site has been excavated since the 1950s, such an understanding would add a rich layer to an already well-studied past society.

“I am developing a new research approach with the hope that it will allow us a better understanding of how past societies reacted to changing climate conditions.”

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Optimizing Water Use in Agriculture

February 24, 2022

Laura Rez

Optimizing Water Use in Agriculture

In 2019 Laura Rez arrived at the Hebrew University’s Robert H. Smith Faculty as a summer research fellow. She was finishing her B.Eng in Bioresource Engineering at McGill University and wanted to gain hands-on research experience. She spent the summer contributing to modeling the reversal of soil degradation caused by high salinity in irrigation water in Dr. Yair Mau’s lab. A few months later, she boarded a plane, made aliya, and began a master’s in Environmental Quality Sciences under the supervision of Dr. Mau.

Laura’s research focuses on the hydraulic status of trees – how trees use and distribute their water – and the drastic effect of drought in this field. By inserting special sensors within the trunks of orange and mango trees in the Smith Faculty orchards, Laura has access to real-time data on the inbound and outbound flow of water – and, by extension, the amount of water that each tree holds at any given moment. Tweaking the irrigation can simulate extreme climate events – such as periodic or prolonged drought. To supplement her data, Laura uses soil sensors and a meteorological station, which provide additional data about the micro-climate in the orchard.

To analyze her findings, Laura is writing an algorithm that relates the external environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, humidity) to the inner water status of the tree, to identify the climatic conditions that can bring the tree to its most vulnerable water state. This helps her to discover how the climate, on the smallest scale, impacts the tree over time.

“I feel that I’m in the right place. Israel is the best place for developing sustainable agricultural practices, as can be seen, for example, by the extensive development and adoption of desalinated water in farming – not to mention, as well, the open-mindedness of farmers towards smart-agriculture. It’s also possible for me, at the Hebrew University, to build the network of multidisciplinary advisors and mentors who can help to ensure that we develop the best solutions and truly optimize water use and quality in agriculture!”

Looking forward, Laura hopes to transfer to the direct PhD track to further develop her research. Ultimately, she hopes to pinpoint the effect of climate change within the long life of agricultural trees, helping farmers optimize their water use throughout the years while maintaining the quality of their produce. Farmers can then be better prepared on how and when to intervene – to produce crops, make a living, and save their trees from irreparable damage.

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Role Playing for a Greener Future

February 24, 2022

Itay F.

Role Playing for a Greener Future

In the late fall, a group of 30 Hebrew University graduate students checked into a hotel in the Golan Heights. They were on a mission: to determine whether to approve the installation of 39 energy-generating wind turbines in the central Golan, at a site known as Ruach Bereshit (Genesis Wind).

The students were enrolled in a multi-disciplinary workshop on the environment, an immersive course that analyzes complex, real-world environmental dilemmas in Israel – by conducting a simulation. The course begins with a series of preparatory meetings, where the students met with stakeholders, studied the complexities of the topic, and learned to communicate across disciplines – no small feat, considering their disparate backgrounds: agriculture, social sciences, public health, science, and law. During the three-day workshop, the students worked in groups to reflect upon, and represent, various stakeholders’ positions. The ultimate goal was to reach a compromise-solution, using conflict resolution methods, and reaching a win-win situation.

"The workshop took us far off the beaten track, where we encountered residents and professionals with a variety of opinions. Talking with them, we discovered that harnessing wind power isn’t a straightforward issue – rather, it has many sides and opinions. I couldn’t have gained such deep insight into the process by sitting in a classroom – we had to travel to the site and meet with the people involved first-hand."

Yitzhak Nussbaum, Graduate Student

The multi-disciplinary workshop on the environment has been offered since the 1970s, with Prof. Itay Fischhendler teaching it for the last fifteen years. For the last four years, he has co-taught the course with Dr. Efrat Sheffer from the Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment. They are joined by Adv. Eran Ettinger, Deputy Director of Environmental Resources at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, whose academic background spans agriculture and law.

"This workshop is my favorite course to teach. It's a great opportunity, bringing together academic theory and a real-life environmental problem - by introducing students to decision-makers and industry. By the end of the workshop, I can really see how the students' thinking has developed. By participating they gain skills that will serve them well in the workforce - teaching them to identify environment problems and develop different solutions."

Prof. Itay Fischhendler

This year, the course focused on wind turbines in the Golan, and students met with a variety of people and groups with a vested interest in the matter, including kibbutzim who want to rent out their land and offer jobs; environmentalists who spoke for the birds; the Ministry of Energy that wants to promote green energy, the planning authorities, and more.

Next year, the topic will be egg farming in Israel, which faces its own set of challenges, resulting in a lose-lose situation: Israeli chickens are worse off compared with other OECD coops, while caps and quotas result in higher consumer prices. While real-life regulators have failed to resolve the stalemate, it might just be a group of Hebrew University students that comes up with the perfect solution!

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When Life Gives You Grapes

February 20, 2022

Roi Alford

When Life Gives You Grapes

Roi Alford is a second-year graduate student in the Agriculture, Natural Resources & Environment program at the Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment.

Roi grew up in the lower Galilee and has always loved nature. He was drawn to sustainability long before climate change was in the headlines, and thus pursued an undergraduate degree in biology. When he began exploring opportunities for graduate studies, he contacted Prof. Yael Mishael at the Hebrew University’s Smith Faculty.

From his first visit, Roi felt at home. The environment was welcoming, and the students and researchers immediately made him feel comfortable. Prof. Mishael’s lab works with nano-scale clay composites and polymers to remove pollutants from water; Roi is applying this technique to remove one particular toxin – Ochratoxin A – from wine and grape juice.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a naturally occurring toxin that is produced by certain molds, and it often plagues food. While a single dose is harmless, continued exposure may be carcinogenic and has been linked to kidney problems. In fact, current regulations ban anything more than the scantest traces of OTA in food. Since the toxin is capable of surviving pressing and fermentation, wineries are often forced to discard entire batches of grape juice and wine – wasting resources, time, and money.

Roi’s is working on developing a material that would filter out the toxin, resulting in a clean, healthy, and marketable product. One reason Roi’s work is so important is the apparent correlation between global warming and an increase in OTA – indicating that the problem will only get worse.

"The work at the Smith Faculty combines cutting-edge research and innovative thinking alongside the aim of making our world a better place. I feel lucky to be conducting my research in this environment. We were able to develop materials with the potential for industrial application, which would decrease food waste as well as improve public health."

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What’s Nature Worth to You?

Digging (and Crawling) Deep into the Past

Bridging Geographical, Academic, and Disciplinary Gaps

Optimizing Water Use in Agriculture

Role Playing for a Greener Future

When Life Gives You Grapes

When Life Gives You Grapes