Director’s Message Dario | Gtep Grand Technion Energy Program

Prof. Dario R. Dekel, GTEP Director

Dear GTEP members, partners and friends,

Having devoted much of my life to the advancement of sustainable energy solutions, it is a great privilege to face my newest challenge as Director of the Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP). Since I arrived at the Technion in 2015, I have been an active member and a great supporter of GTEP’s activities on campus.

Like most of the energy community, I am deeply concerned about the future of our planet. I view GTEP as an important nexus for educating future generations of scientists and for promoting research that will help us battle the climate and energy crises. I believe that overcoming these global challenges requires a deep commitment to innovation, as well as strong interdisciplinary research and scientific collaboration on a national and global scale. I am fully committed to positioning GTEP as a leading global force driving the development of cutting-edge green energy technologies.

One of my main priorities is to leverage the great resources that we have at GTEP – top-notch scientists and state-of-the-art infrastructure – to deepen our connection with the energy industry. Energy companies can play an important role in the GTEP community by tapping into our expertise and experience. To achieve this goal, we must create a platform that will facilitate collaborations between GTEP and the energy industry, both within Israel and globally. We are therefore in the process of evaluating different tools and platforms to empower us to move closer to models prevalent in other countries, whereby top universities work closely with local industry to help meet energy needs in an environmentally friendly manner.

To create a profound impact, we must invest substantially in energy-related research and education. My vision for strengthening GTEP entails significantly boosting the number of students affiliated with our research projects. By attracting a much larger number of outstanding students, many of them international, and enhancing GTEP’s role on campus, we will be in a stronger position to obtain the necessary funding required to support the development of cutting-edge technologies and help our country and the world find sustainable solutions for its ever-growing energy needs.

Sincerely,

Prof. Dario R. Dekel

GTEP Director

Meet Prof. Dario R. Dekel

Prof. Dario R. Dekel was appointed by the Technion as the new Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) Director in April 2023, after Prof. Yoed Tsur completed his seven-year tenure in that position.

Prof. Dekel embarked on his new role with enormous enthusiasm and with many great plans for GTEP for the coming years. Throughout his professional and personal life, Prof. Dekel has moved from challenge to challenge, repeatedly leaving his comfort zone to explore new fields and gain new skills.

Born in Argentina, he immigrated to Israel as an adult and, after learning Hebrew in just one year, immediately began working night shifts as a chemical engineer while at the same time studying towards a Master’s degree at the Technion. He continued on to a PhD, also at the Technion, and took a job at Rafael – in the process becoming a global leader in the field of thermal batteries and, eventually, the Director of Rafael’s Energy Department.

Prof. Dekel’s next step was to found a successful start-up company which pioneered the development and commercialization of Anion-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (AEMFCs). In 2015, after a 25-year career in industry, he decided to embark on yet another new journey – as a professor at the Technion’s Wolfson Department of Chemical Engineering, heading a multidisciplinary and international research group. Prof. Dekel has published over 100 papers and holds more than 30 patents for novel battery and fuel cell technologies. He is a world authority on Anion-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell technology, and brings with him extensive expertise in academia, industry, and entrepreneurship.