While it may be a cliché, it’s true: Life isn’t about the destination — it’s the journey that matters.
At the Azrieli Foundation, we connect and nurture potential with the resources and wisdom it needs to open doors to a better world. For nearly 400 Azrieli Fellows, these doors have opened onto a new journey.
Azrieli Fellows are brilliant, out-of-the-box thinkers with the drive to make an impact. The Azrieli Fellowship encourages and supports them as they travel on their academic expeditions of research, innovation, creativity and personal growth.
Aperio magazine was created to share these journeys toward discovery. Since the program began in 2007, I have found it fascinating to learn about the array of subjects that captivate each of our Fellows — in this edition alone, they range from supernovas to architecture! While the subject matter itself is thought-provoking, it is also apparent that Fellows are open to new ideas coming from multiple and varied sources and disciplines, which allows them to view their world through different lenses.
Arielle Blonder is an architect who is now working with a physicist. The silo-breaking part of her journey incorporates natural systems into her architecture, which enables her to see problems from different perspectives.
Michael Johnson’s work also aims to see things from a range of angles — in this case, by using cutting-edge 3D modelling technology to interpret an ancient religious manuscript.
Benjamin Palmer shifted his research from studying crystals to studying what animals do with crystals. He embarked in this new direction when he read academic papers by two Weizmann professors, flew to Israel and started a postdoc.
Aperio means uncover, reveal or make clear. Azrieli Fellows remind us that amazing things can happen en route to somewhere else, if we are open to it. It is our honour to be part of their journey.
