A New Track at the Faculty of Engineering: Re'Amim Elite Academic Reserves

A new track at the Faculty of Engineering: Re'Amim, an elite academic reserve program in electrical engineering designed to train the future leaders of military technology. Created in collaboration with IDF experts, the program offers bachelor's and research master's degrees in just five years, focusing on AI, cyber, machine learning, signal processing, and communication systems, providing students with relevant skills to the defense and security spheres. "Our mission is to breed the next generation of the IDF's tech leaders for the next decade, and equip them with a broad, detailed, dynamic, and multidisciplinary set of skills," says Prof. Itamar Levi, the program's academic director.

The track, Prof. Levi clarifies, is an integrative five-year track that nurtures research thinking from the undergraduate stage and includes a solid engineering foundation and practical exposure to offensive and defensive cyber technologies and cryptography. As a structured track rather than an extension of existing courses, it ensures a direct and swift transition to a master's degree with significant research depth (contingent, of course, on meeting the transition requirements and threshold grades).

The track is intended for outstanding youth in mathematics and sciences. Participants will benefit from a supportive framework including close academic mentoring, excellence scholarships, on-campus housing, and integration into the Faculty's excellence clubs. Upon completing the track, graduates will receive a dual M.Sc and B.Sc degree and will be eligible for sought-after positions in the IDF's technological units.

Scientific depth, defense relevance

The track's vision is to create a national excellence track that combines scientific depth with cutting-edge, defense-relevant applied training suited to the IDF's advanced technological requirements. To this end, the track was constructed with a focus on connecting advanced mathematics, algorithmics, hardware, and complex systems; a particularly deep core of signal processing and communications; and the embedding of artificial intelligence, cyber, and machine learning as an inherent thread throughout. "Machine learning is not a single course but a developmental axis," Prof. Levi emphasizes. "The track places emphasis on the subject, beginning with algorithmic introductions in the first years, through applications in signal processing and communications in the third year, up to advanced thesis research in reinforcement learning and artificial intelligence in the master's degree."

The master's degree portion will have students specialize in various tracks within electrical engineering, including signal processing, communications, hardware and nanoelectronics, electro-optics and photonics, bioengineering, quantum engineering, and learning. In addition, the track offers specializations in computer engineering, in areas such as information and cyber security; hardware design and chip design; networks, communications, information, and quantum computing; algorithms and optimization; software development; and AI and data analysis.

A supportive framework, a nurturing community

Alongside engineering training, the track aspires to create a long-term academic-defense community dedicated to technological excellence. A supportive framework has been tailored for participants, which includes, alongside Prof. Levi as the program's academic director, an accompanying administrative coordinator; support and mentoring by junior faculty and outstanding students; emotional and psychological support available as needed; and general oversight by the Faculty's Chief Administrative Officer, Dr. Joseph Talyosef. In addition, participants will partake in educational tours and be integrated into the Faculty's various excellence programs, including the 700 Club, the EIP program, and the Chips Club. Excellence scholarships at both the faculty and university levels will also be offered to participants.

In addition to all of the above, participants will be offered accommodation in the student dormitories on campus, near the Faculty of Engineering, with the aspiration of shared housing. "The living conditions in the dormitories support the intensive learning the track demands, and provide a quiet environment and proximity to the Faculty," says Prof. Levi. "Shared housing is not mandatory, but living together as an organic group will strengthen collaborative learning, contribute to social bonding, and help turn the participants into a genuine community."

Click here for more information about the program

For more details, please contact Ms. Efrat Wolf Avrahami, Excellence Programs Coordinator at the Faculty of Engineering via phone 03-5317633 or email ndergradesec.engfaculty@biu.ac.il.