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Carole and Marcus Weinstein Building Named at BGU

Carole and Marcus Weinstein Building Named at BGU

November 20, 2014

Homeland & Cyber Security

On Thursday, November 20, 2014, the Carole and Marcus Weinstein Information Systems Engineering and Cyber Security Building was named in Beer-Sheva in the presence of Carole and Marcus Weinstein, BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi, members of the University administration and faculty, and other honored guests.

The Weinsteins were also honored as President’s Pillars, a recognition of BGU’s most generous benefactors who have given $5 million or more to the University.

“We want to thank the State of Israel, Ben-Gurion University and Prof. Rivka Carmi for allowing us the wonderful opportunity to invest in education. It’s not charity, it’s an investment,” said Marcus Weinstein in his remarks at the ceremony.

“Hackers are just the beginning and what will happen in the future will be incredible. As Jews, we can be proud of what BGU is doing for the future not only for Israel and America, but for the world,” he added.

Marcus and Carole Weinstein with BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi, M.D.

Marcus and Carole Weinstein with BGU President Prof. Rivka Carmi, M.D.

In her remarks, Carole Weinstein thoughtfully underscored the delicate task of the researchers who will use the building.

“Our relationship with BGU is one of the proudest friendships of our lives so we trust them with the moral integrity that comes with cyber security and artificial intelligence research. Who better than the Jews of the world to do this?” she asked rhetorically.

Prof. Rivka Carmi recalled that the Weinsteins first appeared at the gates of BGU during Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012 which already made her predisposed to love them. “The campus was closed. No students, very little faculty and then they told me that there was a couple here who wanted to visit,” recalled Prof. Carmi.

The importance of education and Jewish values is paramount to them, said Prof. Carmi at the ceremony, which is why they have been proud supporters of their alma mater, the University of Richmond, the Richmond JCC, the Richmond Holocaust Museum and supporters of Israeli universities.

At the November 20, 2014 ceremony in Beer-Sheva.

At the November 20, 2014 ceremony in Beer-Sheva.

The new Carole and Marcus Weinstein Cyber Security Building (17,000 sq. ft.) will house laboratories, classrooms, auditoriums, conference rooms, and offices, accommodating the various needs of information systems engineering and cyber security training and research.

“It is critically important for us here at BGU to be equipped with the tools and the environment that will allow us to proudly pioneer the information systems and cyber research race,” said Prof. Bracha Shapira, head of BGU’s Department of Information Systems Engineering.

“It is initiatives such as these that draw our most precious resource, our very own students to BGU as they understand that this is the place to be, learn and research. Having this facility will allow us to provide the sort of environment that great minds need to advance research on a global scale,” she told the Weinsteins.

Prof. Yuval Elovici, head of the University’s Cyber Security Labs and director of Deutsche Telekom Innovation Labs @BGU remarked, “Our greatest need is space to research and develop the new technologies to protect the much vaster area of cyberspace.”

In addition to the BGU’s Department of Information Systems, the new building will house the new cyber security research center jointly funded by the BGU and the Israeli National Cyber Bureau.

“Carole and Marcus Weinstein saw an opportunity to make a contribution to the future of cyber security research and they embraced it,” said Doron Krakow, Americans for Ben-Gurion University executive vice president. “Their extraordinary investment will enable BGU to build on its leadership position in Israel and help place us at the forefront of cyber security research in the Western world.”