Alona

Postdoc researcher at the Robotic Materials department @MPI_IS | @TechnionLive alumni

[Retsef Levi @RetsefL]

This is the reality that MIT President wants to hide. A letter from Israeli & Jewish MIT students:

To all students at MIT,

Today, Jewish and Israeli MIT students were physically prevented from attending class by a hostile group of pro-Hamas and anti-Israel MIT students that call themselves the CAA.

This is after students from the CAA harassed MIT staff members in their offices for being Jewish and interrupted classes in the past few weeks. All of this has occurred with no clear response from the administration. With each passing day, MIT admin’s silence makes Jewish and Israeli students feel unsafe at MIT.

Many Jewish students fear leaving their dorm rooms and have stated that they feel MIT is not safe for Jews. This message is compounded by the public and private warnings of Hillel and many faculty that Jewish students should not enter MIT’s main lobby today, November 9th, 2023.

Instead of dispersing the mob or de-escalating the situation by rerouting all students from Lobby 7, Jewish students specifically were warned not to enter MIT’s front entrance due to a risk to their physical safety. The onus to protect Jewish students should not be on the students themselves.

MIT administration recently announced guidelines to avoid illegal and unsafe protests on campus. The CAA, which planned the protest, knowingly and proudly violated these requirements, and even invited people from outside of MIT to join them. Their actions inhibit the possibility of safe and peaceful dialogue and endanger Jewish students on campus.

The CAA hosted a blockade that not only disregards MIT guidelines, but also obstructs Jewish students from attending classes.

Some Jewish students who saw the administration’s failure to respond to the targeted harassment of Jews on campus by the CAA came together to support each other and peacefully together stand against this threat to their safety.

Four hours after the blockade started, at 12 pm, the MIT administration passed a letter to all students, threatening their suspension if the crowds did not disperse from Lobby 7. Only the Jewish students left immediately. The CAA protesters did not cooperate. Indeed, the CAA proceeded to invite more students and non-MIT protestors to join them in calling for a violent uprising (“Intifada”) and justifying the terror attacks of Hamas on Israeli civilians.

At 5 pm, all students on campus were warned through MIT’s emergency notification system to “avoid Lobby 7” –– officially recognizing the danger present to students as a result of this violent protest. No Jewish or Israeli students were present at this point.

As of 10:30 tonight MIT has officially decided not to academically suspend CAA students who repeatedly violated the administration's guidelines and threats. They have shown that actions against Jews at MIT do not have consequences. Additionally, in an email to DUSP students, the Department Head indicated that he would protect any DUSP students involved in violating MIT’s rules today by protesting with the CAA. Not only do Jewish students feel unsafe on campus, but now they also feel excluded from and unsafe in DUSP.

Today, on the 9th of November, on the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, which marked the beginning of the Holocaust, Jews at MIT were told to enter campus from back entrances and not to stay in Hillel for fear of their physical safety.

We are seeing history repeating itself and Jews on MIT’s campus are afraid.

Signed,

The MIT Israel Alliance and its supporters

[Oded Rechavi @OdedRechavi]

MUST WATCH. The best description of the situation that I've seen so far, by the German vice-chancellor, Robert Habeck.

[Philipp Rothemund @PRothemund]

2 Ph.D. positions and 1 postdoc position are available at the University of Stuttgart.
I am looking for highly motivated Ph.D. students and a postdoc for the development of soft actuators and sensors. More details can be found here: https://t.co/yRAAhC7Gp3.

[Elad Simchayoff @Elad_Si]

Parliament Square, London.
30 children are still held hostage in Gaza. 30 children. Bring them back.

[Amir Barkol @BarkolAmir]

The world must know about the bravery of Grandpa Shlomo, please share:

Shlomo was an elderly and gentle soul who, above all, loved his wife Hannah, his daughters, and his little grandchild. When Hamas terrorists approached his home on that fateful, cursed day, he realized these devils would not leave until they found everyone hiding and killed them all. Shlomo was not a retired general or an armed warrior, but in those critical moments, this precious man devised a plan to save his beloved family.

He left the safe room where he had been hiding with his wife, daughters and grandson, and settled in the living room of his home, waiting for the intruders. When the murderers arrived, they saw him sitting alone on a sofa, an elderly and frail man, and assumed he was just a lonely old person living by himself. So, they shot him and immediately left the house, believing there were no more people to find and kill.

Shlomo's plan succeeded; he willingly sacrificed his own life to save his entire family, including his grandson. Please, if you have a child, a grandparent, a spouse, or anyone else you would be willing to sacrifice your life for, share this story in memory of Grandpa Shlomo, a real hero.

[סתיו שפיר Stav Shaffir 🇮🇱 @StavShaffir]

As a member of the Green Movement, I don't know what to do with the shame you are bringing upon us. The smart girl who once convinced the world to listen to the scientists and understand the facts about our planet's future - didn't bother to do any fact-checking when coming up with this statement. You didn't bother watching any of the videos that Hamas terrorists themselves filmed while torturing, slaughtering, raping and taking captive young women your age, as well as grandmothers, and even little babies. You didn't bother listening to the survivors of this massacre. I assume you also didn't ask yourself how Palestinians in Gaza really feel about Hamas, which is taking all of them hostage with its extremism and violence. No, no questions, no facts. Nothing but pure populism, which, in this case, costs lives.

I wish you'd use your power and reach to help release the 200+ innocent Israeli citizens who are now still being held captive by Hamas - the first step towards promoting ceasefire. That is what the moral and brave Greta we once knew would be doing.

#HamasisISIS

[Asya Rolls @rolls_asya]

These are babies taken hostage. What can be more clear than this cruelty. Act to bring them back also because this is key to stopping the war.
#Hamas_is_ISIS

[Dr. Johanna Lukate @JohannaLukate]

Please RT: #phdopportunity 🎓My research group has an open position for a 3-year fully-funded #PhD @mpimmg! If you have a passion for migration studies & computational methods please check the job ad and contact me 📩
#phdposition #jobalert @maxplanckpress @maxplanckphdnet

[Alona @AlonaShagan]

@akolpoglu @MPI_IS Congrats! Well deserved! 💓

[Alona @AlonaShagan]

@JohannaLukate I will personally invite you 😉

[Alona @AlonaShagan]

It was so fun to organize this outreach activity for the young ones! 😍

[Intelligent Systems @MPI_IS]

Our Robotic Materials Dept. hosted 10 kids from our Kita "Forscherzwerge" for a fun scientific activity yesterday. The kids learned about static electricity using a Van de Graaff generator that makes the hair fly and more. Inspiration of a new generation of researchers ⚡⚡⚡

[Philipp Rothemund @PRothemund]

I am looking for PhD students for my new research group Soft Robotics for Autonomous Systems at the University of Stuttgart @Uni_Stuttgart. The positions are fully funded. Interested applicants can find more information here: https://t.co/7B9RlrD8qw

[Alona @AlonaShagan]

https://t.co/wu3Aegq7OW

[Alona @AlonaShagan]

Our paper is out! 😊
With an emerging field of research as soft robotics, the time has riped for sustainable solutions, putting waste reduction as a core demand of robotic materials along without compromising on performance 💪
Great work, Ellen and David!

[Philipp Rothemund @PRothemund]

I am excited to share our new paper published in @ScienceAdvances, in which we developed high-performing biodegradable electrohydraulic actuators. The work was led by Ellen Rumley and David Preninger in a collaboration between @MPI_IS, @jkulinz, and @CUBoulder. #Sustainability

[Wiser @Wiser_il]

Tomorrow is International Day of Women & Girls in Science. @wiser_il was founded to support women postdocs and aim to work towards advancing women to impactful positions #WomenInScience We'd like to celebrate the brilliant #WomenInSTEM on @Wiser_il program 👩‍🔬🧬🔬🔭🧪

[Alona @AlonaShagan]

@gil_shomron בלה בלה

[Alona @AlonaShagan]

@RossLabUC I was just asked to fill out a form for recommending a student I worked with, and this is actually one of the categories I have to report.. I find it disturbing, although all candidates will have it.

[Alona @AlonaShagan]

@AviSchroeder בנוסף איך אפשר לייצר הגבלה בסוגיית מימון התואר האקדמי? בישראל אפילו מענק השחרור יכול לכסות חלק מהעלויות.

[Alona @AlonaShagan]

@AviSchroeder בישראל, בניגוד למדינות ותיקות יותר, בעבר לא היה צורך בתואר אקדמי כדי להצליח להקים משפחה ממעמד ביניים ומעלה. כתוצאה מכך הרבה מאוד אנשים נכללים בקטגוריה הזאת, למרות שאינם מופלים לרעה מבחינת המערכת האדמית. האם הדו''ח לא קצת מקדים את זמנו ומתעלם מנתונים דמוגרפיים חשובים?

[Intelligent Systems @MPI_IS]

Der #MaxPlanck Campus #Stuttgart macht mit beim #GirlsDay am 27. April 2023! Mädchen ab Kl. 5 bekommen spannende Einblicke in den Berufsalltag von Forscher*Innen und erleben #KI und Festkörper #Forschung hautnah. Hier geht's zu Anmeldung zum #Girlsday: https://t.co/HyAZXTg24Y