OUR COMMUNITY

28 | AUGUST 4 • 2022 

F

ifteen Michigan women 
recently enjoyed a 
unique multi-facet-
ed educational trip to Israel. 
Along with 14 other women 
from the U.S. and one from 
the United Kingdom, they 
participated in the Women of 
the American Technion Society 
(WATS) Mission in early June. 
This was only the second 
Technion women’s mission — 
the first was held in 2014. That 
mission included Detroiters 
Cathy Deutchman and Linda 
Kovan, who serve on the 
national board of the American 
Technicon Society. Barbara 
Cohn, also a Detroiter, joined 
the 2014 mission for several 
days while visiting her son who 
lives in Israel and participated 
in the recent WATS trip. 

According to Kovan, WATS 
missions are intended to famil-

iarize and educate participants 
about Technion’s positive 
impact in Israel and beyond, 
and to spread that knowledge. 
 Technion has been a science 
and technology powerhouse 
for Israel even before it became 
a state. Approximately half of 
the founders of Israel’s startup 
companies and the country’s 
engineers are Technion alumni, 
according to the university.
The 2022 WATS Mission was 
a comprehensive exploration 
of Israel — its people, historic 
places, religions and culture 
with a foundation of Technion’s 
scientific and technologic 
achievements. Underlying the 
itinerary was an emphasis on 
meeting high-achieving Israeli 
women — from professors to 
entrepreneurs to writers.
“We had the opportunity 
to meet students and faculty 

and learned so much about 
Technion and the world,” Cohn 
said. 
One presentation focused 
on the growing diversity of 
Technion’s student body and 
faculty. “It’s a microcosm of 
how the world should get 
along,” Deutchman said.
The mission included a 
“Technion Touch” every day 
with a program featuring peo-
ple, technology and startup 
businesses with a Technion 
connection. 
“We had brilliant students 
and professor traveling with 
us,” Kovan said. “It was a wom-
en’s entrepreneurial mission 
with participants from their 
40s to 70s. We learned about 
Israel through its literature, 
a reporter who covers the 
Knesset and professors who 
shared their work.” 

One program featured 
Technion alumna Yael Vizel 
— co-founder and CEO of 
Zeekit, a technology platform 
that enables online shoppers to 
virtually try on clothes; it was 
recently acquired by Walmart.
“We loved meeting women 
from all over and seeing 
Technion through their eyes,” 
said Andi Wolfe, a Detroiter 
and WATS Mission participant. 
She appreciated the opportuni-
ty to meet not only Israeli Jews 
from different religious back-
grounds but also non-Jewish 
Israelis, including women from 
Druze and Arab communities.
Kovan, who is interested 
in high tech, was impressed 
with a Technion speaker she 
heard years ago. Subsequently, 
she became involved with the 
local chapter of the American 
Technion Society, eventually 

Michigan delegation learns from high-achieving Israeli women.

Women’s Technion Mission 
Educates and Inspires

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

LINDA KOVAN AND CATHY DEUTCHMAN, TECHNION

An aerial 
view of the 
delegation at 
the Technion 
Visitors Center.

