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Curriculum vitae

Personalia

  • Born 1964 in Belgium. Immigrated to Israel 1996.

  • Citizenship: Belgium (by birth), Israel (under the Law of Return).

  • Married to Wendy S. Gardner, one daughter (Aviva)

  • Home address: 3 Eisenberg Street #100, 7629206 Reḥovot, Israel

  • Office address: Department of Molecular Chemistry & Materials Science,
    Kimmelman 361, Weizmann Institute of Science, 7610001 Reḥovot, Israel

  • Office phone: +972 8 934 2533. FAX: +972 8 934 3029

  • Email: gershom@weizmann.ac.il     Skype: gershom2112    

  • Website: compchem.me

 

Author Identifiers and Citation Metrics
Career History

  • Full Professor ("professor min ha-minyan"), Department of Organic Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, October 2005-present. (On leave of absence August 2010-July 2012.) Incumbent of the Baroness Thatcher Professorial Chair in Chemistry

  • Distinguished University Research Professor, Center for Advanced Scientific Computing and Modeling (CASCaM), University of North Texas, August 2010-July 2012. 

  • Visiting Professor (Sabbatical) with Prof. George C. Schatz, Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, August 2007-July 2008

  • Associate Professor ("professor ḥaver") with tenure, Department of Organic Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, October 2001--September 2005.

  • Assistant Professor ("ḥoqer bakhir"), Department of Organic Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, October 1996-September 2001. Incumbent of the Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Career Development Chair.

  • Senior Research Associate ("Onderzoeksleider", a tenured research-only faculty position) with the National Science Foundation of Belgium (Nationall Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek/Fonds National de Recherche Scientifique), 1995-September 1999. On leave of absence October 1996-September 1999.

  • NFWO/FNRS Postdoctoral researcher ("Postdoctoraal onderzoeker"), 1991-1995. On paid postdoctoral leave in the USA 1992-1993.

  • NFWO/FNRS Doctoral fellow ("Aspirant"), 1987-1991.

Education

  • Habilitation (Aggregatie voor het Hoger Onderwijs/Agrégation pour l'Enseignement Supérieur), University of Antwerp, Belgium, November 1994. [UMI ProQuest Dissertations 9532332]

  • Postdoctoral Work in the USA with Dr. Timothy J. Lee (NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA) and Prof. Peter R. Taylor (NASA Ames Research Center and University of California, San Diego), 1992-1993.

  • Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Belgium, summa cum laude et laudatur ("met de grootste onderscheiding en de gelukwensen van de jury", highest possible grade in Belgium), February 1991.  [UMI ProQuest Dissertations 9129654]

  • Licentiate (combined B.Sc./M.Sc. degree) in Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Belgium, July 1987, summa cum laude ("met de grootste onderscheiding")

Academic and Scholastic Honors

  • 2023: Schrödinger Medal of WATOC (World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists)

  • 2020: Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)

  • 2017: Prize for Excellence of the Israel Chemical Society [announced January 9, 2018]

  • 2016: Australian Symposium on Computational Chemistry (ASCC-16) in honor of Leo Radom and Jan M.L. Martin

  • 2014-Present: IUPAC Fellow, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

  • 2012-Present: Foreign Member, Royal Academy of Sciences, Literature and the Fine Arts, Belgium

  • 2008 Wolgin Prize for Scientific Excellence, Weizmann Institute of Science.

  • 2004 Dirac Medal of WATOC (World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists), 2004.

  • 2001 Prize of the Scientific Council in Chemical Sciences (פרס המועצה המדעית למדעי הכימיה), Weizmann Institute of Science.

  • 2000 Outstanding Young Scientist Award (פרס למדען הצעיר המצטיין) of the Israel Chemical Society.

  • 1996 Alumni Award of the Belgian-American Educational Foundation (Fondation Universitaire/Universitaire Stichting).

  • 1996-1999 Yigal Allon Fellow, Council for Higher Education (Israel)

  • 1994 University of Antwerp Bi-Annual Research Prize

  • 1992 Prize for Scientific Treatises of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Literature, and Fine Arts (Belgium)

  • 1992 Postdoctoral fellowships: Fulbright-Hays Travel Grant, NATO Travel Grant, and National Research Council (USA, declined by recipient due to cumulation restrictions with NFWO/FNRS appointment)

  • 1991 Jean-Servais Stas prize of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Literature, and Fine Arts (Belgium).

  • 1990 Second prize in "DSM-contest for Chemistry and Technology", Geleen, The Netherlands.

  • 1987 Essochem-prize for chemistry students.

Administrative Duties

  • Member of the Institutional Tenure and Promotion Committee ("Council of Twelve"), Weizmann Institute of Science, 2018–2021.

  • Senior Advisor to the President for Information Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, July 2008-July 2010. 

  • Member of the Teaching Board, Faculty of Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, 2004-2010.

  • Chairman of the Weizmann Institute Library Committee, 2004-2008; member, 2001-2008.

  • Member of the Steering Committee of the Weizmann Institute Computing Center, 2000-2010.

  • Member of the CHEMFARM users committee, 2020–present.

  • Member of Feinberg Graduate School Approval Board for Ph.D. Dissertations (ועדת התיזות), Academic Years 2001-2004.

  • Co-Organizer (with Michael Elbaum) of the Faculty of Chemistry Colloquium, 2004-2005.

  • Webmaster for Faculty of Chemistry and for Department of Organic Chemistry, 1998-2010.

  • Weizmann Institute representative in Steering Committee of High-Performance Computing Unit of the Israel Interuniversity Computing Center (historically)

Scientific Community Service
Teaching

  • Scientific Writing, Feinberg Graduate School, Weizmann Institute of Science (2005-2010 and again since 2013)

  • Physical Chemistry I, upper undergraduate level (UNT)

  • General Chemistry, freshman level (UNT)

  • Applied Quantum Chemistry, graduate level (Weizmann and UNT)

  • Mathematics for Chemists (Weizmann)

Scholarly Affiliations

  • member ad personam, Lise Meitner-Minerva Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry

  • member, Helen and Martin Kimmel Center for Molecular Design (Weizmann Institute of Science)

  • American Chemical Society (since 1992)

  • World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists (WATOC), life member

  • Israel Chemical Society

  • past member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and of the American Physical Society

Scholarly Avocations

  • Linguistics and EFL/ESP teaching (English as a Foreign Language/English for Special Purposes)

  • Science of Music

  • History

  • Creative Writing

Other Professional Skills
Languages

According to the US Foreign Service Institute scale:

L=listening, S=speaking, R=reading, W=writing; 

1=survival; 2=basic working knowledge; 3=professional working knowledge; 4=full professional proficiency; 5=native speaker or functional equivalent

  • Dutch (Nederlands):  L-5, S-5, R-5, W-4. 

  • English: L-5, S-5, R-5, W-5.

  • Hebrew (ivrit, עברית): L-4+, S-4, R-3, W-2

  • French (français): L-4, S-3, R-4, W-2

  • German (Deutsch): L-4, S-2, R-4, W-2

Some passive knowledge of Italian, Spanish, and Yiddish. High-school Latin.

 

According to the CEFR European Language Levels scale:

Listening, Reading, Spoken interaction, Spoken production (lecturing), Writing

  • Dutch (Nederlands): C2 for all

  • English: C2 for all

  • Hebrew (Ivrit): C2, B1, C1, C1, B1

  • French (français): C1, C1, B2, B2, B2

  • German (Deutsch)C1, C1, B1, B1, B1

B1-level reading for Italian and Spanish; A2-level reading for several additional languages. 

Computing

  • experienced Fortran programmer; notions of other programming languages

  • systems administration: Linux, Mac OS X

  • Linux cluster computing

  • Web technologies 

  • scientific typesetting

Public Outreach

  • Lectures on "The Library in the Digital Age" and "Information Management for Scientists" to audiences of academic librarians

  • Lectures on the "Science of Music" to general audiences

  • Additional lectures to general audiences on historical and linguistic topics

  • Past longtime moderator of Isramac (Israeli Macintosh Users mailing list) on Yahoo Groups

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