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People that they can teach candidates they need. They know better than happy with the changes in our
what they need to know—as long we do.” curriculum. We’re the first of the
as they have strong foundations to Technion’s faculties to adopt
build on.” You also have a complicated re- this approach, and we’ve done it
lationship with the private sector while holding open discussions
How has this changed the cur- because they “steal” potential fac- with existing faculty members
riculum? ulty from you. and our alumni in the private sec-
tor—professionals who know first-
“Until recently, training in “That problem does not start hand their sector’s needs—and,
mechanical engineering was or- with the faculty. It starts much ear- of course, the students. I am also
ganized around predefined spe- lier than that, with our advanced proud that with all these changes,
cialization tracks. Students were degree students. I try to convince we made sure to keep our stan-
sorted into these tracks early on our alumni to stay on and study for dards high despite the pandemic.
and specialized in these areas advanced degrees.
throughout their studies. We real- “I am proud to say that we’ve
ized that we needed a more open “An academic career is a long managed to recruit six excellent
and arduous journey: you need to new faculty members after years
of failing to recruit even a single
“We went to our most distinguished graduates in one. The market is extremely com-
industry and asked: ‘what do you want to see in fresh petitive. These individuals have ex-
pertise in all aspects of mechanical
graduates?’ Their answer was unequivocal: ‘strong engineering. Recruiting new faculty
training in foundational disciplines – mathematics, physics is a very demanding job, but it’s
very rewarding too. I was happy to
and engineering’. So we constructed a more flexible do it.”
curriculum, with a wider base and flexible tracks.”
Administrative roles in aca-
approach, one that would provide finish your PhD, go overseas for demia can be very time-consum-
students with a range of profes- your post-doc, come back as junior ing. What did you have to put aside
sional training options that suited faculty, work hard to move up the during those years?
their individual needs. Of course, ladder, get tenure, and so on and
all of this had to be done with- so forth—and even once you’ve “My research suffered a serious
out compromising on quality. The done all of that, you’ll probably be blow. When I became dean, I had a
Technion has a reputation to up- earning less than a junior engineer group of 13 students working with
hold, after all. We cannot make any at Google or Amazon. People with me. Most of them have since grad-
changes without ensuring that the PhDs in engineering get snatched uated, and I haven’t recruited any
standard is maintained. up by the private sector. It’s not new students yet. It will take many
easy to convince them to stay in years to build a good team again.
“We’ve built a broad system that academia. They need to really want The dean's role is very demanding
covers the basics of various as- it, feel like it’s their calling. But of and unfortunately doesn't condu-
pects of mechanical engineering. course, we are also glad that in- cive to sustained research work.”
We’ve established the common dustry is doing so well,” he laughs,
foundations for the profession— “even if it’s at our expense.” What are your plans for the day
and if a student successfully pass- when you’re no longer dean?
es these courses, they can contin- “Recruiting faculty is
ue to forge their own path, within a very challenging but “When I step down, I’ll take
a certain framework. This change highly rewarding task” some time off and go on a ski trip.
has passed through several itera- In the long term, I plan to rebuild
tions of testing, and we are stay- Of all Gendelman's achieve- my research group and strengthen
ing alert and constantly making ments, it is this revolution in the my collaborations with colleagues
sure it works well. I believe in our curriculum that brings him the abroad. Other than that, during my
students: once they have the fun- greatest satisfaction. “I’m very time as dean, I’ve become a grand-
damentals down, they know what father. I now have three grandkids,
and I would love to spend a little
more time with them.”

32 | MEgazine | Faculty of Mechanical Engineering