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Greetings!
This is the latest issue of the electronic bulletin produced by the
Fulbright Academy of Science & Technology. It is sent to educational
innovators and leaders in scientific and technical fields in the US and
around the world, including Fulbrighters, hosts of Fulbrights,
commissions, and program administrators. Other issues can be found on our
website: www.FulbrightAcademy.org
For additional information about the Academy and its mission, please
refer to our webpage or the end of this bulletin. The Academy can be
reached at info@fulbrighter.org
If you are not a member, please consider joining. We look forward to
your involvement in the Academy.
This Month's Sci & Tech Quiz
In December, the days are short in Northern latitudes and long in the
Southern latitudes. In places like Barrow, Alaska (Northern-most city in
the US - population 4,581), the sun disappeared on November 18th, and
won't appear again until January 23rd. In Iceland, the sun is up for just a few hours.
The question: Do you see the moon in December if you live in a place
like Barrow (71 degrees North Latitude)? Do the moon and the sun both disappear for weeks
on end? Or is the moon's progression through the sky the same in the
summer and the winter?
The
US Naval Observatory has the answer,
and it will also be in next month's newsletter.
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Fulbright Forum - Upcoming Programs |
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| The Fulbright Forum is a series of events, held
in the United States and abroad, that bring together Fulbright
scholars, Academy members, leaders in the various scientific and
technical disciplines, and the public.
For example, in conjunction with the Arizona Chapter of the
Fulbright Association we invite you on a "Water Issues Field Trip"
on March 12, 2005. This field trip will involve following the Santa
Cruz River from Nogales, Arizona to Tucson. Presentations, living
history, and discussions will take place along the way with staff
from the Sonoran Desert Ecoregion Program, the Tumacacori Mission,
and Pima County Waste Water Management. The event is part of a
series funded by an Enrichment Grant to the Chapter from the U.S.
Department of State.
The Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts is one of the
premier institutions in New England for art, architecture &
culture, much of it relating to the early trade ties between New
England and Asia, and the Fulbright Association Massachusetts
Chapter is organizing an event there on April 17. Because of Eric
Howard's past relationship with the PEM, we hope that Academy
members will be able to join the tour and enhance the program
through our participation.
The Academy is seeking two major sponsors for this series of
Forums. A more complete listing of upcoming Forums will be announced
once those sponsorships have been arranged. In the meantime, we
expect to be involved at programs at the following meetings:
- the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual
Meeting, Washington, DC, February 21, 2005
- the Fulbright Berlin 2005 Seminar, Berlin, Germany, March 1-4.
(www.fulbright.de)
- the Fulbright tour at the University of Arizona on March 12
- the Fulbright tour at Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem, MA on
April 17
- a Fulbright Forum at McGill University in Montreal, Canada,
date to be determined.
For information on general programs »
Fulbright Forum - sponsor information (PDF) »
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Increased Science Research from Latin America |
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| Output of science and engineering (S&E)
articles by Latin American authors rose almost 200 percent between
1988 and 2001. This increase, from 8 to 17 percent, was
substantially greater than for authors from emerging and developing
countries in Eastern Europe, Russia, Asia, the Near East and North
Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa during this period.
The increase in the number of articles from Latin America was
concentrated in four countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and
Mexico. Together they generated close to 90 percent of the region's
articles in 2001. Brazil, the largest producer of S&E articles
in Latin America, experienced the most growth, with its output
quadrupling between 1988 and 2001, while Mexico, the second largest
producer of S&E articles, saw its total number of articles more
than triple. The number of articles by Argentine and Chilean authors
also exhibited strong growth.
On a per capita basis, Argentina and Chile produced more
scientific articles than any other Latin American country, with an
average of more than 70 articles published per 1 million inhabitants
during 1999-2001. The per capita output of Brazil, the largest
article producer on a volume basis, was about half that of Argentina
and Chile's per capita output during this period. In terms of per
capita article production, the Latin American countries -
particularly Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, and Costa
Rica - were higher than many Asian countries but were below the
level of several Eastern European countries.
Growing internal and international collaboration accompanied the
increases in publication and citation of Latin American authors and
parallel a worldwide trend. During the period between 1988 and 2001,
the number of countries collaborating with Latin American countries
rose sharply. This development may reflect the increasing importance
of the Internet and World Wide Web.
SOURCE: Hill, Derek L. "Latin America Shows Rapid Rise in S&E
Articles." INFO BRIEF Science Resources Statistics, August 2004, as
reprinted in the Newsletter of the Fulbright Commission in Chile
Fulbright
Chile Newsletter »
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Follow-up from the International Fulbright
Conference |
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| Fulbrighters from some 30 countries gathered
last month in Athens for a series of seminars and lectures and to
build ties among Fulbrighters worldwide. The previous international
conference had been held in Hungary in 1996.
There were several important outcomes for the Academy. First, we
strengthened ties with national alumni groups. For example,
Fulbright organizations in the UK, Ireland, Morocco, Nepal, and the
Middle East are promoting the Academy to their members through
announcements in their bulletins.
Second, the Academy was asked to play a role in the Fulbright
Centennial Celebrations. Senator Fulbright was born on April 9,
1905, and we will be working with Harriet Mayor Fulbright (his
widow), alumni groups, Fulbright commissions, and others on
organizing an array of events throughout the coming year. The
Centennial webpage - www.Fulbright100.org - is now up and
running. Please visit the site and post events that you are organizing
on the calendar so that we can include them under the umbrella of
the Fulbright Centennial.
Some of
the people who were in Greece »
Fulbright Centennial website »
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Other News from Members & Affiliated
Organizations |
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 The Fulbright
International Center is pleased to announce that the Fulbright Centennial website
is up and running. If you are organizing an event that has
international implications or explores an issue from an
international perspective, please consider organizing it within the
umbrella of the Fulbright Centennial by listing the event on the
Centennial website.
For example, the Fulbright Academy is organizing a series of
events, under the title of The Fulbright Forum, that will be
part of the Centennial Celebrations for Senator Fulbright.
Universities and Fulbright alumni groups around the world are also
organizing events.
The Middle East Technical University (METU) and the Turkish
Scientific and Research Council (TUBITAK) are organizing an
International Conference on Air Pollution and
Combustion from June 22-25, 2005 in Ankara, Turkey. The
aims of the conference are to identify and promote best practices in
air pollution research, resource management and planning, to present
realistic scenarios and reliable economic analysis of air pollution
issues, to achieve a better understanding of air pollution problems,
and to offer their solutions. Additional information is available
from the confernece website: www.metu.edu.tr/capac.
In October, Harvard University and Mexico's National
Council of Science & Technology (CONACYT)
announced a partnership agreement, creating a fellowship program at
Harvard for outstanding PhD students from Mexico. Composed of 27
Public Centers of Research and Technological Development, CONACYT's
mission is to strengthen scientific development and to guide the
technological modernization of Mexico. It is also Mexico's foremost
agency supporting graduate education and research. Administrators
expect that approximately 20 to 25 additional students will be
supported at Harvard each year. The Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences currently has a total of 23 Mexican students enrolled in
PhD programs, including biomedical sciences, biostatistics,
molecular and cellular biology, physics, government, and economics.
Jaime Parada Avila, director general of CONACYT, said, "Our
country is fully aware of the challenges and opportunities posed by
globalization and the knowledge economy. For this reason, we need a
critical mass of world-class researchers and engineers involved in
cutting edge innovation and entrepreneurial endeavors. The
partnership with Harvard University should be instrumental in
developing this much-needed base of human capital."
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Selected New Academy Members |
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Brigham Young University has joined the Academy as an
institutional member, and is represented by Dr. Gary Reynolds,
Director of their Office of Reserch and Creative Activities. BYU has
a strong program for mentoring undergraduate research - in the
2003-2004 academic year, the university awarded more than $600,000
to 400 undergraduates whose research proposals merited grants. BYU
also gave a total of $1.7 million to more than 900 faculty members
specifically for projects involving undergraduates. In 2002, The
Chronicle of Higher Education recognized BYU as the best
university in the nation at turning research dollars into inventions
and new companies. The Chronicle also noted that BYU ranks third
among American universities in earning income from inventions
relative to research spending.
Dr. Philip Nasca is Associate Dean for Graduate Education,
School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst. His research interests relate to the
epidemiology of cancers in women and children. Click here for a story about
his Fulbright lecturing expereince in Vietnam, as published in
the Vietnam Fulbright bulletin.
Dr. David Lohman is a postdoctoral research scientist in
the Forest Insect Group at the Department of National Parks,
Wildlife and Plant Conservation in Jatujak, Thailand. His doctoral
work was done at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His
Fulbright experience was in Australia, immediately after graduating
Summa Cum Laude and with Honors from Bradley University in 1995.
Dr. John Herring is the Dean of Continuing Education at
the University of Central Asia in Almaty, Kazakhstan. A US native,
he was introduced to Central Asia through his Fulbright experience
in Bishkek, Kyrgystan in 2000.
Prof. Jean Pierre Boon is a research fellow and professor
of physics from the Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex
Systems at the Free University in Brussels. He has served as
Secretary of the European Physical Society's Statistical and
Nonlinear Physics Division. His Fulbright experience was for
post-doctoral research at the University of Chicago in 1964-67.
Please join these
Fulbrighters as members of the Academy »
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Your Organization and Your Membership |
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The Fulbright Academy is an independent
non-profit organization based in the United States. We receive
organizational and financial support from institutional and
individual members, selected Fulbright alumni groups and commissions, corporations, foundations,
and other entities interested in developing an international network
of leaders in science and technology. We are not affiliated with the
Fulbright Association (US), the US State Department or the Board of
Foreign Scholars.
The Fulbright Academy of Science & Technology uses the
expertise of our network of Fulbrighters and leaders in science to
address critical problems in education, scientific innovation and
economic development. Our database has over 10,000 Fulbrighters and
scientists around the world.
Our projects are funded by contracts, grants, and donations from
those that share our mission. The Singapore Agency for Science,
Technology and Research A*STAR is a partial sponsor for
this electronic news bulletin. Membership income is an important
part of our annual budget; if you or your institution is not
a member, please consider joining today by making a donation of at least
$60 (or $15 from low & middle-income countries).
Click here for a
listing of supporters »
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