Colleges will try to get the good students. That's the way to go. When I chaired my department of Materials Engineering at the Technion in 1990, we started a program for which we set the bar very high. It was the highest at the Technion, above electrical engineering and medicine.

The good people look for challenges. When teaching becomes a prestigious profession, then you'll get good people.

My childhood dream was to study mechanical engineering. After reading 'The Mysterious Island' - which I read 25 times as a boy - I thought that was the best thing a person could do. The engineer in the book knows mechanics and physics, and he creates a whole way of life on the island out of nothing. I wanted to be like that.

The message from the Technion when I was a student was: 'You will be so good that when you graduate, everyone will want to hire you.'

She certainly paved the way. The colleges know we have a good program.

It's a win-win. Our students get to do the engineering design work, and they get to work with the professionals on the manufacturing. They both win.