In a remote section of arid land on the Israel-Jordan border, ground was broken March 9 for an environmental research center that will be operated by Stanford and Cornell universities. The Bridging the Rift Center, which will open in three to five years, will be dedicated to studying the unique ecology of the Dead Sea region. Seed money for the multimillion-dollar project was provided by the Bridging the Rift Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit, in hopes of promoting peace through science. Graduate students will spend two years studying in the United States before conducting research at the center.

“The development of a critical mass of professionals and researchers in science is essential for more equitable economic advancement of the region,” says Marcus W. Feldman, PhD ’69, a professor of biological sciences who chaired the academic planning committee of the foundation. “As Israelis and Jordanians study and work together with scholars from around the world, the benefits of peace will become too obvious to ignore.” He says the center could eventually house 1,000 Middle Eastern scholars. “There’s really no limit if people of goodwill want to participate.”