Yoram Cohen, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been named the interim director of the Y and S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies in the UCLA International Institute. He succeeds UCLA professor of law Neil Netanel, who led the center on an interim basis for the past year.
Cohen is an internationally recognized scientist and technology developer whose work focuses on the development of water treatment and production technologies and their associated economic and policy implications; technology transfer; and environmental impact assessment and protection. He is the founder and director of the multidisciplinary Water Technology Research Center, a cofounding member of the UCLA Center for Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology, a faculty member at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and a member of the California NanoScience Institute.
“It is a pleasure to work with the Nazarian Center and support its mission to foster a broad understanding of modern Israel and its position in the Middle East region and its importance to the world,” said Cohen. “For example, Israel’s environmental, energy and water scarcity challenges have led to many scientific advances and the development of technologies that have been commercialized and deployed worldwide.”
Cohen’s teaching and research has always had an international dimension, including his service on the International Advisory Committee of the Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research Institute at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, where he was a visiting professor in 1987–88 and continues to maintain an active research collaboration. He is also currently an adjunct professor at the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
Read the complete announcement of Cohen’s appointment at the UCLA International Institute.