ארנון בנטור

Prof. Bentur earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering and his doctorate in materials engineering, all from the Technion. He has held research and teaching positions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University and University of British Columbia. He served as a research manager at WR GRACE, an international specialty chemicals company.

Dr. Bentur's field of scientific expertise is construction materials, about which he has published numerous research papers and eight books. He is considered a leading international expert in this field. He served as the President of the International Union of Research and Testing Laboratories in Materials and Structures (RILEM), a renowned organization with headquarters in Paris. He also serves as co-editor and member of the editorial board of several international journals and book series. He is an elected Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, American Concrete Institute and RILEM. He has been active in a variety of technical committees in the framework of various organizations, including RILEM, ACI and standards committees of the Israeli Standards Institute.

Arnon Bentur has held senior management positions at the Technion including Vice President and Director General; Vice President for Research; Dean of the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Founder and first Head of the Technion International School; Director of the Samuel Neaman Institute for National Policy Studies; and Head of the National Building Research Institute. In these capacities he was involved in the development and implementation of research and development policies, including technology transfer, and relations with the government, industry and business sectors.

His activities in the public sector includes, amongst many, serving as a member of the National Enquiry Committee (2001-2003), appointed by the government of Israel to evaluate the construction industry – in particular safety issues – to propose overhaul of the construction law of Israel. In recent years he served on a working commission in Israel, developing, at the request of the prime minister, a future strategy for Israel titled 'Israel 2008-2028: Vision & Strategy'.