The Batsheva de Rothschild Seminar Physics of Microfluidics
Sde Boker, Israel
3-8 January 2017
Microfluidics -
a focus on the basics
5 days of basic science in the Negev desert
03 January 2017
The unique physics of fluids at small scales holds both challenges in the understating of basic physical phenomena and opportunities in applying these phenomena toward new technologies. Leveraging the unique micro-scale physics and chemistry to achieve new capabilities is at the core of microfluidics research. As a scientific research subject, microfluidics is highly multidisciplinary, attracting researchers from scientific fields as physics, chemistry and biology as well as from various engineering disciplines.
Many of the existing microfluidics-related conferences are strongly biased towards specific applications/technologies of microfluidics, and do not provide scientists whose research focus is the physics of microfluidics with a framework for exchange of ideas and in-depth discussions of the basic science involved. The Batsheva de Rothschild seminar on the Physics of Microfluidics will be focused on fundamental science — in particular, it will address the transport phenomena occurring in microfluidic devices from the physics and fluid-mechanics perspectives.
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THE ISRAEL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
The Batsheva de Rothschild Fund for the Advancement of Science in Israel. The American Foundation for Basic Research in Israel.
Program
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Sde Boker
Kibbutz Sde Boker is the realization of the dream envisioned by David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister and defence minister, who loved the Negev and its expanses and wanted to settle the desert and make it bloom. The kibbutz, built in the northern Negev mountains, was established in 1952 by a group of discharged soldiers and attracted the public’s attention when Ben Gurion moved to Sde Boker to live there with his wife Paula.
Ben Gurion’s vision has indeed been realized and today the Negev is a blossoming region, dotted with many communities and thriving farms. Sde Boker has retained Ben Gurion’s heritage. The hut in which he lived from the day he moved there until his death in 1973 is preserved exactly as it was when he lived there. The area around the hut has been developed and expanded for the benefit of visitors, including a display of Ben Gurion’s famous statements and photographs of the early days of the kibbutz. The hut also houses the Ben Gurion archive, which is actually his private library, containing over 5,000 books about all the things he loved. The adjacent hut, where his bodyguards lived, has been turned into a museum devoted to Ben Gurion’s special relationship with the Negev. South of the kibbutz there is a campus named after Ben Gurion, which houses a desert research institute, a Ben Gurion heritage institute, a field school and a guest house, a high school where youth from all over the country study nature from nature itself, a reptile farm and a desert sculpture museum. The nearby Ben Gurion memorial site, where David and Paula Ben Gurion are buried, offers a beautiful view of the Nakhal Tsin rift.
Kibbutz Sde Boker has several sources of income: a vineyard and boutique winery, an inn and restaurant, art gallery and souvenir shop, and agricultural crops. Sde Boker is the starting point for many wonderful tours to fascinating Negev sites, such the Ein Ovdat (Avdat) National Park, whose features include the Nakhal Tsin canyons and springs, waterfalls, plentiful plant and animal life, the archaeological site of the Nabatean city of Avdat, the Ein Eikev spring that flows year round and a Bedouin hospitality site.
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Getting there
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By Car
Set your GPS to "Midreshet Sde Boker" or "Midreshet Ben-Gurion".
If you're using Google Maps to navigate, the destination point should be this.
If you don't have internet access, once at Midreshet Sde Boker campus, ask for directions to the "Beit Sefer Sade" offices (field school offices).
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Seminar bus (recommended. ~1.5 hr)
A dedicated bus to the seminar will leave from Dan Panorama Hotel in Tel-Aviv on Jan 3 at 13:00. The same bus will arrive at Ben-Gurion airport at approximately 13:45 (meeting point near the 'Steimatzky' bookstore in the Arrivals Hall), and will leave to Sde Boker at 14:00.
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The meeting will end on Jan 8 at 12:00, and the bus will leave at 12:30. It is expected to arrive to the airport at ~14:00, and to Tel Aviv at ~15:00.
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Public transportation
From Tel Aviv (~3 hr): From any of Tel-Aviv's train stations, take a train to "Central Station Beer Sheva". Walk (2 min) to the central bus station, and take bus #60 or #64 to "Midreshet Ben-Gurion". The bus leaves you at the entrance gate to the campus, and there is a ~20 min walk to the guesthouse.
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From the airport (~3.5 hr): You must first take a train to Tel-Aviv HaHagana Station, and from there continue as instructed above.
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Weather
Average temperatures in January: 13 C (56 F) high, 2 C (35 F) low.
Precipitations: typically dry.
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Dress code: casual. ​
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Registration
Invited speakers
All invited speakers have been pre-registered.
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In order to reimburse your travel expenses (economy class flight), please email the following documents to Ms. Hila Rabi (hilarabi@tx.technion.ac.il):
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Your flight ticket, stating the price paid
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This form with your full bank details
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A copy of your passport
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During your travel to Israel, please keep
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Your boarding pass
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Border control slip from the airport (arrival to Israel)
and provide them to Ms. Rabi upon arrival.
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All other participants​
Please register by filling out this form.
The number of rooms at the guesthouse is very limited. Registration will be approved on a first-come first-served basis.
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Contact
Ms. Hila Rabi
Administrative Assistant
Microfluidic Technologies Laboratory
Email: hilarabi@tx.technion.ac.il
Ehud Yariv
Faculty of Mathematics
Technion
Email: udi@technion.ac.il
Web: http://tx.technion.ac.il/~udi
Moran Bercovici
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Technion
Email: mberco@technion.ac.il
Web: http://microfluidics.technion.ac.il