The University Library in mid-January dedicated its Area Studies Room (Map Room) in memory of Aviel Ron, late director of the Israel Mapping Center who was killed along with his children in a terrorist attack in Haifa in the spring of 2002. 

    Ron was a friend of the Library and the Geography Department, both of which he supplied with materials and service.  Director of the University Library Prof. Baruch Kipnes, a geographer himself, noted that Ron, who worked for the Artillery Corps, had received the Israel Defense Prize for his development of the canon for the Merchava tank. 

   Dr. Amatzia Peled of the Geography Department explained to guests, among them Ron’s widow Carmit, who came for the dedication ceremony the department’s sophisticated GIS—Geographical Information System—and remote-sensing laboratory and hailed Ron’s assistance to the University.