Published: December 13, 2023
Department of Marine Geosciences remains academically appealing to a number of international students, and they do not hesitate to come to Haifa even in these disturbing times. Supervised by Dr. Regina Katsman and working in her Laboratory of Computational Physics in Marine Sciences, Xiongjie Zhou, a PhD student, and Xiaoran Geng, a Master’s degree student, arrived to Haifa from China. They believe that this difficult period will end soon. “Besides, our supervisor gives us a lot of support”, Xiaoran adds.
Both these international students are very talented. Previously, Xiongjie graduated with the Dean of Graduate Studies’ List in the Department of Marine Geosciences during his Master’s degree studies here; now, he won a two-year scholarship and research encouragement fellowship for his PhD studies. He also published two scientific articles and participated in several scientific conferences. Xiaoran was awarded with a two-year scholarship and research encouragement fellowship from the Department for his Master’s degree studies.
There are many things to be fascinated by in the Department, the students attest. “There are diverse research directions such as sedimentology, petrophysics, applied geophysics, and computational geophysical modeling, which is a fantastic combination”, says Xiongjie. Xiaoran agrees with him adding that “the Department always encourages collaboration between geologists, oceanographers, biologists, chemists, and physicists”. Both students also praise the free academic atmosphere and friendly study vibes that ease the tension during hard times. “All the members of the Department community are diverse and from many different countries”, they note.
Dr. Katsman’s Laboratory of Computational Physics in Marine Sciences particularly appealed to the two students and motivated them to come to Haifa. “In the Laboratory, there is a complete set of computational and simulation equipment allowing you to conduct the whole specter of studies in the domain of marine sciences”, Xiongjie says. The two students are excited to study in the Department and plan to keep pursuing their degrees here. Asked what motivates them, Xiongjie replied that it is “interest and passion for computational physics modeling”, while Xiaoran says that he is eager to see his academic work to be recognized by his supervisor and peers.
Xingyu Li, an international Master’s degree student, presented his study at the Israeli Association for Aquatic Sciences Annual Meeting in Tel Aviv among more than 300 scientists.
Elias Mizrahi, a second-year Master’s degree student supervised by the Head of the Department Prof. Revital Bookman, Dr. Nadya Teutsch (Geological Survey of Israel), and Dr. Tamar Guy-Haim (Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research), is working with zooplankton samples from Haifa Bay to measure concentrations of heavy metals. He is also busy with his hobbies – footvolley and soccer. Follow the link below to dive deeper into his journey.
Benjamin Ankiri, a first-year Master’s degree student supervised by Prof. Barak Herut and Dr. Eyal Rahav, takes part in an international joint sailing in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, which both benefits his research and his hobby – Benjamin is a skipper in his free time. Follow the link below to dive deeper into his journey.
