Jacob Ziv

Professor Jacob Ziv is the Herman Gross Professor of Electrical Engineering in the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. From 1955 to 1959, he was a Senior Research Engineer at the Scientific Department, Israel Ministry of Defense, where he engaged in research and development of communication systems. From 1961 to 1962, while studying for his doctorate at M.I.T., he joined the Applied Science Division of Melpar, Inc., Watertown, MA, where he was a Senior Research Engineer doing research in communication theory. In 1962, he returned to the Scientific Department, Israel Ministry of Defense, as Head of the Communications Division and also served as an Adjunct of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology. From 1968 to 1970, he was a Member of the Technical Staff of Bell Laboratories, Inc., Murray Hill, NJ. He was Dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering from 1974 to 1976 and Vice President for Academic Affairs from 1978 to 1982 at Technion-Israel Institute. From 1977 to 1978, 1983 to 1984, and 1991 to 1992 he was on Sabbatical leave at the Information Research Department, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, USA. He was the Chairman of the Israeli Universities Planning and Grants Committee from 1985 to 1991. (The Planning and Grant Committee is the interphase between The Government of Israel and the Universities; it prepares the budget, presents it to the government and allocates it to the Universities; it is in charge of development and means and practices in the Universities.) He is a Member of the Israel National Academy of Sciences and Humanities and has served as its President from 1996 till 2005. His research interests include data-compression, information theory and statistical communication.