TROY — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is partnering with a university in Israel to research new technologies that strengthen buildings against disasters or detect environmental threats.
RPI will work with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Each university received $250,000 from siblings Melisa T. Gerber and David J. Gerber to fund the research. The Gerbers said the goal is to protect civilians and use science for humanitarian work.
“We hope this fund helps their researchers pursue bold, collaborative work—across disciplines and across borders—and translate it into real solutions for a safer, more livable world,” David Gerber said. “Rensselaer and Ben-Gurion University bring together remarkable talent and a shared conviction that science, learning, and creativity should serve humanity.”
David Gerber, like his father, graduated from RPI.
In a news release, the universities said researchers may develop buildings that are more capable of withstanding earthquakes, explosions or fire, and glass that is more shatter-resistant than modern tempered glass. In addition, the partnership may work on smart sensors for detecting dissolved toxins like pesticides, chemicals or pollutants in water or air.
The Gerber siblings also created the H. Joseph Gerber and Sonia K. Gerber Research Fund, in honor of their parents.
H. Joseph Gerber survived the Holocaust and moved to the U.S., where he learned English while working full time, his children said.
He received a scholarship to attend RPI and went on to become a prolific inventor with hundreds of patents. He also founded Gerber Scientific and later went to Israel, where he joined three other engineers to build Beta, one of the country’s first high-tech startups.
Gerber’s life and work earned him the National Medal of Technology from President Bill Clinton in 1994.
Sonia K. Gerber taught in inner-city schools and was an artist, her children said.
“Given in memory of our parents, Sonia K. and H. Joseph Gerber, an artist and an inventor, it is an investment in the ideas still to come,” David Gerber said.
