Eliahu Stern

Parallel to his academic career, he consulted to the economic division of the Ministry of Transportation, to the educational television, the banks union, to UNEP "Blue Plan', to Cross Israel Highway company and served in numerous governmental and other public committees. In 1988 he established with Shaul Krakover a consulting company named EnviroPlan. The projects conducted by the company were highly evaluated and they have won, twice, the Local Israeli Government Award. In 2012 Prof. Stern received the Israel Planners Award from the Israel Planners Association.

He lectured and conducted research in several universities among which are Texas University, Pretoria University, New South Wales University, and Delft University. Alongside his academic career he was a researcher in the chief scientist office of the Ministry of Transportation, assisted to establish the Israeli Association of Transport Planning and Research and served as its third president for three years (1985–1987). Later he was the president of The Israeli Geographical Association (1990–1992), and the Chair of Israel's Planners Association (2001–2005). During the period 1980–2000, prof. Stern was an active member and a group chair in the European Science Foundation NECTAR, a research network in transportation as well as in the American-European research network Stella, both dealt with behavioral aspects in transport. Since 2003 he also serves as a member in the Israeli World Heritage Committee for Unesco. During 2014 and 2015 he chaired the committee and assisted in prescribing many of the Israeli sites to the world heritage list. Since 2009 he is the Israeli representative to the IGU Applied Geography Commission. In 2012 he was elected as Secretary of the commission. Currently he is a member of the pioneering team for the preparation of "Israel 100 strategic plan" for the year 2048.

Eliahu Stern, the oldest son of Debora and Itshak Stern, was born in Tel Aviv and grew in Petach Tiqva and Ramat Gan, Israel. He studied both his undergraduate (geography and archaeology) and graduate studies (M.A. in urban geography) at Tel Aviv University. His doctorate is from the University of Minnesota involving three disciplines: geography, urban planning, and transport planning. This background directed his interdisciplinary research career as an applied geographer. While studying in Minnesota he worked as a private planner on the land use scheme around the Twin-Cities international airport, and as an academic researcher in the University of Minnesota he mapped for NASA the lakes of Minnesota using satellite imageries. In 1976 he joined the department of geography at Ben-Gurion University and served as its chair twice, 1981–1982 and 1984–1988. Together with Avinoam Meir he established the journal Geography Research Forum which he edited for ten years, 1983–1993.

Eliahu "Eli" Stern (born January 5, 1948) is a professor emeritus of geography and planning, in the department of geography & environmental development at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, and former secretary of the IGU Commission of Applied Geography.