Co Directors
Anca Badulescu
Teaching & outreach
Anca Badulescu is the Director of the Sourasky Central Library at Tel Aviv University. She specializes in academic library leadership, organizational development, and strategic planning, with a focus on developing forward-looking learning and research environments, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration, and advancing the integration of emerging technologies within the library. Prior to this role, she led the Exact Sciences and Engineering Library and previously managed the MFA Library and Information Center. She holds a B.A. in English Literature, an M.A. in Information Management, and an M.A. in Organizational Development and Innovation.
Prof. Tom Schonberg
Academic & Director of Minerva Center
Tom Schonberg started his academic path in the unique Interdisciplinary program at Tel Aviv University, leading directly to a Masters Degree. He received his PhD in 2010 from Tel Aviv University with Co-supervision from Caltech, on the topic of reinforcement learning in the human brain using functional MRI. In his post-doctoral research, he studied risky decision making and then behavioral change. Tom opened his lab at Tel Aviv University in October 2014, where he is now an Associate Professor in the The School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience. Tom's lab studies the neural basis of behavior change and is interested in the process of value construction in value-based decision making. Research tools in the lab include structural and functional MRI, eye tracking, sports bracelets, computational decision-making models and virtual reality. Since October 2021, Tom is the director of a Minerva center for the study of human intelligence in immersive, augmented and mixed realities. Tom is committed to the principles of open and new science.
Studio Team
Operations
Avi Budianu
Operation Manager
About The Center
TAU XR is a unique center for research and learning using virtual, augmented and mixed realities experiences.
The center was founded in early 2022 and is located in a dedicated space at the Sourasky Central Library. The center is led by Prof. Tom Schonberg from the School of Neurobiology, Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Anca Badulescu, the director of the Sourasky Central library.
Alongside the research importance, the center has an experiential pedagogical role. Virtual reality enables in-depth interactions that can enhance teaching, learning and enjoyment through digital environments such as game-building technologies, digital or responsive environments. For all disciplines, we can build new and imagined worlds that delve deeper into understanding the neural basis for human decision-making processes.
Constructing more realistic environments allows for full and monitored functioning, which goes beyond the scope of a traditional laboratory experiment. With the help of the center and the use of virtual reality, it is possible to examine human processing and reactions in a safe environment.