University of Haifa has won a NIS 25 million donation for the purchase of innovative deep sea research technology from the Helmsley Charitable Trust . The technology will be used by the university's new Mediterranean Sea Research Center of Israel, following Israel's offshore natural gas discoveries. The donation will help Haifa University buy undersea robots and automated vehicles, set up two undersea laboratories, one optical and the other acoustic, and for other purposes.
Leona Helmsley, who died in 2007, was an American-Jewish businesswoman from New York who amassed her fortune in the hotel business, and was crowned "the Queen of Mean". She served a jail sentence for tax evasion, and became infamous for bequeathing $12 million to her dog. However, the bulk of her $4 billion fortune was bequeathed to the Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Haifa University said that the technology would enable the research center's researchers to break new ground in two main fields. In environmental research, the technology will make it possible to understand for the first time the marine environment, from the geology through marine biology, the ecology of corals, algae, fish, and mammals, and water quality. Understanding the marine environment will make it possible to learn the human effect on this environment from rapid maritime development, including offshore oil and gas rigs, pipelines, artificial islands, and fishing in the Mediterranean, as well as the marine environment's influence on humanity.
The second field that the new technology will help investigate is risk assessment, including seafloor landslides and tsunamis. Research data will enable decision-makers to make better informed decisions on maritime development.
Haifa University will also emphasize international research relations, both by drawing foreign research students from all over the world and by strengthening existing ties and creating new ones with leading foreign marine research institutes. The university already cooperates with the International Oil and Gas Producers Association and with national research institutes in the US, Canada, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, and other countries.
Haifa University inaugurated the Mediterranean Sea Research Center seven years ago, before the large offshore natural gas discoveries, as part of the Leon Charney School of Marine Sciences.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 28, 2014
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