Prof. Joel Bernstein
Department of Chemistry
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
P.O. Box 653
Beer Sheva, Israel 84105
After obtaining a B.A. at Cornell University, he earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Yale University for research on the solid-state spectroscopy of organic compounds. Following two-year postdoctoral stints in X-ray crystallography with the late Ken Trueblood at UCLA and in organic solid-state chemistry with the late Gerhardt Schmidt at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovoth, Israel, he joined the faculty of the newly established Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where he is now Professor of Chemistry. His research interests center on the organic solid state, with particular emphasis on understanding and utilizing polymorphism, structure-property relations, hydrogen-bonding patterns and graph sets, and organic conducting materials. His career has been punctuated by visiting professorships at the University of Illinois, Cornell University, the University of Minnesota and as a visiting scientist at the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre.
He is a member of a number of professional organizations (American Chemical Society, American Crystallographic Association, Royal Society of Chemistry, Israel Chemical Society, Israel Crystallographic Society (served twice as president), European Crystallographic Association (served as vice president 1997-2000), American Association for the Advancement of Science (elected Fellow, 1999). He serves on the editorial board of six international journals.