As we look forward to another year of innovative, life-improving science for the benefit of humanity, what better place to find hope for the future than in young scientists?

The Weizmann Institute of Science scours the globe for the brightest, most talented researchers, always aiming to bring fresh ideas and creative thinkers to campus. We’d like you to meet a few of these remarkable new recruits:

• Dr. Merav Parter, Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. What do multi-player online games, computer networks, ants in a colony, humans in a social network, and neurons in the brain have in common? Dr. Parter, for one.

  Dr. Parter studies the theory of distributed computing (TDC): a field of computer science that examines how systems composed of multiple components communicate with each other and coordinate their actions – e.g., how do individual ants work together to move that rubber tree plant?

  Dr. Parter’s postdoc work at MIT was supported by the Israel National Postdoctoral Award Program for Advancing Women in Science.

• Dr. Binghai Yan, Department of Condensed Matter Physics. Dr. Yan is a pioneer in the new field of topological materials, which have special properties that can be leveraged to create new materials. Imagination is also crucial: for example, bendable electronics, quantum computers, and novel medical devices all require creative brainstorming at the atomic level.

  Dr. Yan’s path has taken him from a remote farming village in Shandong Province to Stanford and Max Planck to Weizmann, where he is our first principal investigator from China. Dr. Yan is off to an impressive start in Israel: he recently won the Israel Physical Society’s 2017 prize, awarded each year to an exceptional young scientist. “[L]ife – like the materials of the future – holds many mysteries,” he says.

• Dr. Meital Oren-Suissa, Department of Neurobiology. Stereotypes aside, it is true that males and females behave differently – and Dr. Oren-Suissa aims to find out why. Besides its sociological significance, her research has tremendous potential for shedding light on gender dissimilarities in diseases and their treatment. For example, genes associated with neurological conditions, including Alzheimer’s and depression, display sex-specific divergence; however, drugs for these conditions are often developed using only male animals when, in fact, gender makes a significant difference in how one responds to the treatment.

  Dr. Oren-Suissa comes to Weizmann after completing her postdoc at Columbia University, where she was a Revson Fellow in the Israel National Postdoctoral Program for Advancing Women in Science.

• Dr. Tamir Klein, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. As climate change speeds up, Dr. Klein is among the many scientists racing to understand it. His focus: trees. Dr. Klein has already made breakthroughs that shed new light on how trees cycle water and nutrients between leaves, stems, and roots. He is also working to develop drought-tolerant species such as almond, olive, and lemon, which could help feed the hungry on a hotter planet.

  Dr. Klein completed his postdoc at the University of Basel, Switzerland, before joining Weizmann. “Studying trees matters since they are an essential part of the puzzle of global climate change,” he says.

From the environment to unimagined materials, from communication and networks to gender differences in health and disease, these brilliant young scientists hold the keys to our future – as do you.