Congratulations to the winners of the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) grants for 2024-2025
The U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation, which promotes scientific research ties between the United States and Israel, recently announced the recipients of individual research grants for 2024–2025.
Two researchers from Reichman University were awarded the prestigious grant:
Prof. Gurit Birnbaum of the Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology
Sexual desire tends to wane over time, as the novelty and fantasies of the current partner that initially sustain it fade. This decline in desire may lead to thoughts of ending the relationship and being attracted to other potential partners. Professionals in the field have suggested that sharing sexual fantasies with your partner may prevent this decline, inject excitement into the relationship, and draw couples closer. However, the existing research literature is based primarily on clinical impressions and presents conflicting opinions on whether — and why —the sharing of fantasies helps or harms a relationship. To resolve these contradictions, Prof. Birnbaum will investigate whether couples can benefit from sharing fantasies, especially when partners respond with empathy and warmth. In a series of six studies — including experiments, observations, and longitudinal designs — the project will examine whether such responsive reactions to a partner’s sharing of sexual fantasies strengthen the current relationship and improve the ability to resist the temptations posed by alternative partners. The BSF grant is shared by Prof. Gurit Birnbaum and Prof. Harry Reis of the University of Rochester.
Prof. Gil Kalai of the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science:
The BSF grant was awarded to Prof. Gil Kalai of the Efi Arazi School of Computer Science in collaboration with Prof. Dor Minzer of MIT, Prof. Nathan Keller of Bar-Ilan University, and Prof. Noam Lifshitz of the Hebrew University. Their research focuses on discrete Fourier analysis, a central area in mathematics and computer science. The team will develop tools in this field — in particular hypercontractive inequalities — and expand their applications to discrete mathematics, computational complexity theory, probability theory, representation theory, and quantum computing.