Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev
Lab members
Tal Svoray Ph.D.
Lab PI
I serve as a professor of geoinformatics and The Harry Levi Chair in Geography. My Ph.D. thesis was focused on the synergy of optical and radar remote sensing for quantifying soil-water-vegetation dynamics in semiarid zones. Since joining the faculty at Ben-Gurion University, I mainly used space-time modeling to better understand observed vegetation and soil moisture patchiness of geo- and ecosystems. Key components of my work include investigating the processes underlying ecosystem productivity, estimates of shrub-grass ratio (SGR) and the study of desertification processes and land degradation phenomena such as soil loss, water ponding and sediment logging. Since 2016 I have started to work on human ecology and particularly develop a research program on geopsychology including studying the geography of positive and negative affects from location based social network data and mobile devices data.
About Me: I was born June 1st 1968 in Petah-Tiqwa, Israel to Yoram and Mati Svoray, a brother to Nira and Michal. I am a husband to Yona (Yuki) and a father to Yuval, Yotam, Lior and Nevo. We all live in Lehavim, a small settlement of 5K inhabitants all (including us) crazy about triathlon. My hobbies include also scuba diving, history books and chess. But above all I like jokes. Like this one: (by Meir Shalev). "When Abishag the Shunammite came back to Shunam after King David died, the lads were interested how was it with the King. So she told them: I can’t give you the details but now I know the difference between it’s been a pleasure to I had the honor."
Research: My research is focused on exploring and understanding the main factors that contribute to the formation and evolution of soil piping erosion in semiarid regions. Soil piping are discrete preferential subsurface flow paths that are parallel to the slope (Weiler & McDonnell 2007; Uchida et al. 1999; Sharma et al. 2010). Piping are an important component of erosion processes in wide areas around the world. Piping is also a dominant factor in infrastructure failure such as dam breach, sinkhole and road collapse.
About Me: I completed M.A. in the Department of Geography and Environmental Development at Ben-Gurion university of the Negev in 2009. My M.A. thesis topic was titled "Erosion and sedimentation in the margins of the Yamin plateau"; This research is done with the NRCN and the Geological Survey of Israel. I'm living in Medreshet Ben-Gurion, married to Noa and a proud father to Evyatar, Nitzan and Daniel.
Ariel Nahlieli PhD
Researcher
Research: My research aims to analyze the spatio-temporal patterns of solar panels adoption in the unformalized Bedouin settlements in the Negev, an off-grid society. Mining and mapping small scale PV will be achieved by harnessing remote sensing sources and deep learning methods for automatic identification of PV from high resolution aerial images. The temporal dynamics of the spatial patterns of the technology uptake will be examined throughout point pattern analysis and spatial autocorrelation.
About Me: I serve as a cartographer and a lecturer for statistics and Machine Learning at the Department of Environmental, Geoinformatics and Urban Planning Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. I live in the city of Beer-Sheva, married to Sharon and mother of 22 year old twin boys, Yiftach and Gilad.
Roni Blushtein-Livnon
PhD Student
M.A subject: My PhD is focused on Quantifying Shallow Overland Flow Patterns at the field scale. To do so we compute and measure runoff volume from remote and direct measurements and lab simulations. Surface flow patterns are important for understanding soil erosion at surface, redistribute water, nutrients, and biological matter in dry environments. This research done in collaboration with Shmuel Assouline from the Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, the Volcani Center.
About Me: I completed B.Sc. in the Department of Geology at Ben-Gurion university of the Negev in 2018. My family lives in Gilat and recently I moved to Beer Sheva with my girlfriend. My hobbies include playing tennis and travelling.
Osher Refaeli
PhD Student
M.A subject: My research is about environmental psychology, microclimate and urban design. In my research I examine to what extent is the improvement in the thermal comfort that influenced by exposure to vegetation, comes from psychological factors, in addition to the changes that the plants cause to the person's thermal balance with his environment? Many studies have shown that there is a positive psychological and physiological effect of vegetation on lowering heat stress and person's thermal balance. But there are almost no studies that have examined and combined the psychological and the physiological influences together. To answer the research question I will use meteorological tools to measure the microclimate in the research area, physiological tools (Empathica bracelets) to measure the physical indices of the subjects and various GIS tools. This research is done in collaboration with Evyatar Erell.
About me: I'm on my third year of bachelor's degree in the Department of Geography and Environmental Development at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. I grew up in Ashkelon and now I live in Beer Sheva. Because of my love to environment and nature I volunteer for an organization whose goal is to change environmental policy, called "Green Course". I also love dogs so I studied dog training and dog-assisted therapy.
Tali Motzkin
M.A Student
Amir Boger
M.A. Student
M.A Subject: My research is about identifying Photovoltaic (PV) panels from high resolution satellite images, using deep learning and image segmentation techniques. The purpose of this research is to determine whether such object identification can be done by using satellite images, and to compare between multiple resolutions, to better understand how they can affect the segmentation process.
About me: I'm starting my third year of my B.A degree in the Department of Environmental, Geoinformatics and Urban Planning Sciences in Ben Gurion University of the Negev. I'm originally from Ramat Hasharon, and today I live in Beer Sheva. During my military service, I was exposed to the world of GIS and remote sensing and decided to expand my knowledge in those topics. In my free time, I like swimming, exercising, reading books, and learning about history and aviation.
My project is about studying, and contributing, to assimilation of PV technology into Bedouin communities in a cost- and energy effective manner. This is done by exploring barriers and opportunities of adoption and providing technological solutions and support the assimilation process. I am particularly working on quantifying the PVs spatio-temporal distribution from remotely sensed data.
About me: I’m in my second year of bachelor's degree in the Department of Environmental, Geoinformatics and Urban Planning Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. I was born and raised in Be’er-Sheva. During my military service at the Air Traffic Section I experienced working with geographic information systems. I continued to specialize in GIS as a consultant at the Southern Geographical Committee in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior. The committee deals with boundary changes, revenue distribution and changing the municipal status of authorities. In my spare time I like swimming and playing chess.
David Ioffe
Research Assistant
Alumni
Dr. Ariel Nahlieli
Dr. Shai Sela
Dr. Rona Winter
Dr. Michael Dorman
Dr. Maya Hertz-Zehavi
Dr. Rakefet Shafran-Nathan
Anat Volcani, Msc.
Tsafra Bannet, M.A.
Shiri Bar-Yamin Gancharski, M.A.
Sharon Oberlender Msc.
Amir Arnon, Msc.
Ori Gudes, M.A.
Shlomo Dabora, M.A.
Shira Mazor, M.A.
Sagy Cohen, M.A.
Rakefet Shafran, M.A.
Yael Storz, M.A.
Hila Markovitch, M.A.
Shimom Ben-Said, M.A.
Iddo Porath, M.A.
Eitan Livne, M.A.
Orr Gevili, M.A.
Yehonathan Rubinstein M.A.
Dror Har-Gil, M.A.
Asaf Ben-Ari, M.A.
Roei Levi, M.A.
Inbar Hassid, M.A.
Ofir Miller, M.A.
Michael Vatenmacher, M.A.
Dudi Hoober, M.A.
Hodaya Bitan, M.A.
Inbar Shtutman, M.A.
Arthur Khozin, M.A.
Dori Katz, M.A.
Vladislav Dubinin M.A.
Galia Barshad M.A.
Noam Lasker M.A
Din Danino M.A.
Roni Artzi M.A.
Roni Blushtein-Livnon M.A.
Segev Tamir Msc.
Rotem Reany M.A.
Boaz Fux M.A.