Biography

Yoram Shapira was born in Jerusalem on 28 June 1944. He was married to the late Dr. Ilana Shapira for 50 years and has three children and eight grandchildren. Yoram Shapira received his B. Sc. Degree (with distinction) in 1968 and his D.Sc. Degree in l973 (Under the direction of Prof. B. Fisher, Prof. A. Many), both in Physics from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. After 3 years as a Research Associate at The University of Wisconsin, U.S.A., Dr. Shapira joined the Department of Electrical Engineering - Physical Electronics in the Faculty of Engineering, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat-Aviv, Israel, where he became a full professor (1989) and incumbent of the Henry and Dinah Krongold Chair of Microelectronics (1999).

 

In June 1997 – May 1999 he was on a leave of absence for his appointment as the Science Minister-Counselor at the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D. C., U.S.A, where he was elected as the President of the Science Diplomats’ Club of Washington. Yoram Shapira has held numerous University and Faculty Committee positions, including Director of the EE Undergraduate Program (1999-2002), Chairman of the University Admission Committee (1991-1994), EE Department Head (1987-1991), and Member of the Steering Committee of the University Institute for Nano-Science and Technology of TAU (1999-2003), etc.

 

Yoram Shapira was the founder and first Director of the Wolfson Applied Materials Research Centre (1994-97, and again in 2000-05) and the Director of the Gordon Center for Energy Research (1996-97, 2000-05). He has been a Visiting Scientist at several universities and institutes around the world. He has organized and chaired several conferences and symposia. He was the founder and first President (1994-97) of the Israeli Union of Materials (AGIL). He is a Fellow of the American Vacuum Society, a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and an Honorary Member of the Israel Vacuum Society, having served as its Secretary (1982-89), President (1990-92) and as the Israeli Representative and Councilor at the International Union for Vacuum Science (IUVSTA) several terms. He was a Board Member of ISF, BSF and GIF. In 2008, he took an early retirement to pursue art interests, specifically metal wire sculpture.

 

Yoram Shapira has co-authored over 200 papers and book chapters as well as over 100 conference publications. He has supervised more than 60 graduate students and 6 post-docs. Many of them are faculty members at leading universities in Israel. The group worked in a six-room lab dubbed LASSIE – Laboratory for Advanced Semiconductor Surface and Interface Engineering.

 

His research interests included:

 

Surface Science - X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, high and low energy electron diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, surface photo-voltage spectroscopy, and radiation/surface interactions.

 

Semiconductor research - fabrication, electrical and optical properties, acousto-electronic properties, surface properties, semiconductor interfaces, hetero-junctions and quantum nano-structures. Power electronics. Sensing devices and systems.

 

Vacuum science and technology - high and ultra-high vacuum technology, system design.

 

Optics - lasers, infrared detection, solar cells.

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