The Fulbright Academy of Science & Technology is an independent organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging Fulbright scholars and other leaders in partnerships that advance science and society. We help innovative ideas come to fruition by building ties, by supporting individual growth and by advocating for science and technology. It was established by alumni of the Fulbright Exchange Program.

This issue has updates on our Conference, which discusses international development; a workshop on digital libraries; and news about Fulbright colleagues and cooperating institutions.

Preparations for our March 1-4 Panama Conference are in full swing. The most recent registration came from Dr. Ann Debaldo, Associate Dean for International Programs at the University of South Florida, College of Public Health and a 2004 Fulbright grantee to India. She is a specialist in global tropical public health, with research and travel in the Caribbean and throughout Southeast Asia and India. Her work emphasizes public health and preventive aspects of parasitic and communicable disease in developing countries.

As previously announced, the conference will be focusing on four areas of international development: education, medicine, health and environmental sustainability. The discussions will be framed within the context of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals: How can Fulbright ideas and innovations in the fields of science and technology be applied to addressing poverty, hunger, maternal health, economic development, and diseases such as AIDS? In addition, we will have special workshops on the first day focusing on marine conservation and criminology. Please recall that “science & technology” includes medicine, engineering, social science and related disciplines, such as political science, psychology, public administration, business management, law etc.

We are currently holding 150 rooms at the El Panama Hotel, a hotel which was initially furnished with chairs, tables and other products made by Fulbright Industries, a firm owned by Senator Fulbright. We also have rooms at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, which will be the site of program on the final day. Your registration for the conference includes most of the costs for the four-day program (but not all – for the example on Sunday afternoon you can rent a kayak or request a private guide for a rainforest tour)

Our first “Fulbrighters Conference” was held in Berlin earlier this year, with attendees coming from two dozen countries – including three people from Panama who requested that our 2007 conference be held in their country. One of the three, Dr. Rafael Vasquez, was recognized last month by the Panamanian Fulbright Alumni Association as their 2006 Fulbright of the Year. The subject of a two-page spread in Siete magazine on October 15th, he is a chemist at the University of Panama and at Florida State University-Panama.

If you would like to know more about the Academy and our programs, a DVD about the two-and-a-half day Berlin conference is available from the Academy. Registration for the Panama conference is $400, with discounts for Academy members, employees of institutional members, and participants from low- and middle-income countries. The conference is open to alumni, hosts of Fulbrighters, and interested members of the public.

The registration for our workshop on Digital Libraries for North Africa has also opened. "Implementing a Maghreb Digital Library for Education, Science and Culture” will be held in Rabat, Morocco on January 25-27. We are expecting 60-75 attendees from North Africa, Europe and the United States, including Susan Miller of the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies; Glenn Gray, an archivist at California State University in Fresno and currently on a Fulbright in the UK; and Terry Weech, a Fulbrighter at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A planning meeting was held two weeks ago at the National Science Foundation, with representatives from the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Getty Museum, the State Department, and the Egyptian and Moroccan governments.

On a related subject, we note that Syracuse University, a FAST institutional member in New York, is using digital libraries as a way to create bilateral research collaborations with Kim Chaek University of Technology (KUT) in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Since March 2002, there have been eight research exchanges in the general area of integrated information technology, including five by KUT researchers to Syracuse, NY. The research focuses on adapting open source software to develop a back-end library management system for the new KUT digital library. Digital libraries depend upon adherence to international standards, and so the collaboration on the protocols for cooperation is providing an opportunity to build long-term trust between North Korean and American institutions.

This year the Pan American Health Organization instituted an internship program for Fulbright student grantees in the United States. The Fulbright-PAHO Internship in Public Health brought five Fulbright students in Public Health from Latin America and the Caribbean to PAHO headquarters in Washington, D.C. for a summer internship in 2006. The first year’s cohort of Fulbrighters worked in the technical areas of HIV/AIDS, Non-Communicable Diseases, Maternal and Child Health, and Sustainable Development and Environmental Health. The interns were Dr. Charles Patrick Almazor (Haiti), Claudia Pereira (Brazil), Dr. Erika Arteaga (Ecuador), Dr. Rachel Cassagnol (Haiti), and Dr. Abraham Salinas (Nicaragua).

Fulbrighter Dr. Allen Taylor of Tufts University has helped establish a new organization that will provide graduate-level science and medical training to Palestinian and Israeli students or medical fellows. The objective is to train pairs of Israeli and Palestinian students together in order to foster co-existence and build bridges to peace while also accomplishing building of critically needed capabilities for each nation. Science Training Encouraging Peace - Graduate Training Program (STEP-GTP) focuses on certain disciplines based on a needs assessment with Palestinian and Israeli academic leaders. The fields include nutrition, genetics (especially genetic counseling), clinical biochemistry, ophthalmology, diabetology, and health communications. Tufts University is serving as the umbrella institution, providing program administration via the International Nutrition Foundation.

Dr. Hans Rosling of Sweden has prepared an absolutely fascinating presentation on recent developments in global health. In addition to being informative, interesting and humorous, the talk also provides a new, statistics-based perspective on many preconceived ideas we have about this world. He is not a Fulbrighter, but the presentation is so compelling that we strongly suggest that you watch at least the first five minutes of the 20-minute talk - the link is below.

Guatemalan Fulbrighter Maria Pacheco was recognized for her leadership in developing economic programs, which provide opportunities that empower poor, indigenous women in her home country. She was named among the “Top Ten Most Influential Women in Guatemala” by El Periodico, Guatemala’s leading investigative daily publication. She was also a participant in a FORTUNE magazine/State Department International Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership program, which brought leading businesswomen from around the world to the U.S. for a month.

Two Fulbright Alumni were awarded prestigious Musgrave Medals by the Institute of Jamaica for distinguished contributions in the literary, scientific and artistic fields. Fulbrighter Franklyn McDonald of the National Environmental Protection Agency of Jamaica was honored for his contribution in the environmental sciences concerning marine, coastal and natural resource priorities within the region. Renowned author and educator Dr Velma Pollard was awarded the Musgrave Medal for her acclaimed literary works on the culture of the West Indies. Named for the founder of the Institute, Sir Anthony Musgrave, the medals have been awarded since 1879 to West Indian nationals who have given distinguished service and excellence in the fields of art, science and literature.

Dr. Darrell E. Ward spoke at Oregon State University in September about his Fulbright work on the AIDS epidemic in Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. His presentation focused on three women doctors caring for the poor in Northern Zimbabwe. The associate director for cancer communications at the Ohio State University Medical Center, Ward is an alum of Oregon State. He is currently writing a book to help nurses, reporters, secondary school teachers and others in developing countries understand HIV and AIDS.. He has also written “Reporting on Cancer: A guide for journalists.”

American Fulbright Alumna Natasha Seeley has been the Managing Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Finland for the past year. In 2002, she helped coordinate the Helsinki Woman Business Leadership Summit at the American Embassy. She is also very active in the Fulbright community in Finland and in other Finnish-American friendship groups, such as the American Women's Club, and the Finnish-American Club 1932.

A Fulbrighter produced a documentary about Mexican immigrants that is being broadcast nationally on PBS in October and November. "Letters from the Other Side" interweaves video letters carried across the U.S.-Mexico border by the film's director with the personal stories of women left behind in post-NAFTA Mexico. Fulbright Director Heather Courtney provides an intimate look at the lives of the people most affected by America's immigration and trade policies. Her use of video letters provides a way for these women to communicate with both loved ones and strangers on the other side of the border. The documentary paints a complex portrait of families torn apart by economics and communities dying at the hands of globalization.

On October 5, a group of 18 Fulbrighters and friends met in Cambridge, MA to enjoy dinner and attend the annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. These prizes are given each year to award unusual science research – that makes you laugh AND makes you think. Some of this year’s winning subjects were Ornithology – exploring and explaining why woodpeckers don’t get headaches; Nutrition – showing that dung beetles are finicky eaters; Acoustics – research on why people dislike the sound of fingernails scraping on a blackboard and Biology – discovering that female malaria mosquitoes are equally attracted to limburger cheese and the smell of human feet. The Fulbright Academy is a co-sponsor of the Ig Nobel Prize Lectures, which were given two days later at MIT.

We would like to give awards modeled on the Ig Nobels at our conference in Panama on March. We also are looking for nominations – self-nominations are allowed. The criteria are that the nominees must be a Fulbright scholar, the work must be published, it must be science & technology-related and the work must be within the past 4 years. Note that FAST defines science quite broadly – to include Fulbright disciplines such as business management, IT, public administration, all social sciences, as well as the more traditional natural and life sciences. The winner must to be present in Panama to accept the award.

The foreign ministers of 131 developing nations have backed plans to transform a network of science ministries, academies and research councils into a new body to promote science-based development. The Consortium on Science, Technology and Innovation for the South (COSTIS) will replace the existing Third World Network of Scientific Organizations (TWNSO). The decision was made in mid-September in New York at the annual meeting of foreign ministers of the 131 member states of the so-called Group of 77 (G-77). The move is intended to put science and technology closer to the heart of economic-development policy. COSTIS will focus on organizing South-South forums on developing appropriate and affordable technologies in sectors such as energy and water. It also plans to support the creation of scientific 'centers of excellence' and promote scientific cooperation between the G-77 member states through information-sharing, exchange programs and joint research projects. COSTIS is set to be fully operational by January 2007.

As part of an initiative to strengthen the alumni network in Jamaica, the U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica Brenda LaGrange Johnson addressed a reception for Fulbrighters and alumni of other exchange programs in Kingston on September 29. Johnson encouraged alumni to increase their involvement in nation-building initiatives, and Fulbrighter Monica Forbes (’95) gave a presentation that highlighted the association’s current monthly visits to inner-city schools.

Please note that we have a new fax number: 1.815.846.1756. This is a fax-to-email number - it converts your fax into a PDF file, allowing us to move closer to being a paperless office.

The Fulbright Academy is a non-profit membership-based organization that serves scientists, executives, and scholars worldwide. Our sponsors and supporters include institutional and individual members, Fulbright alumni groups and commissions, corporations/businesses, and foundations.

After three years of operation, the Fulbright Academy has a growing membership base. By joining the Academy, you will be supporting our work - our conferences, the study committees, and our Fulbright Forums. You will receive invitations to special events, and we also help members link up with other Fulbrighters in their respective fields. Individual memberships start at $60, with reduced rates available for students, retired individuals and those living in low- and middle-income countries.

Institutions in the US and elsewhere are collaborating with the Academy on several projects and programs. These collaborations typically are funded by a grant or contract from a foundation or agency. The first step is in this process typically is joining as an institutional member. Information on institutional memberships is available on our website.

This newsletter contains original material as well as information gleaned from internet-based resources. The Fulbright Academy is not affiliated with the US State Department, the US Fulbright Association or the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. We are independently funded, and so your support is very important to us.

As a fellow grantee of the Fulbright program (Germany '89), I look forward to having you as a member and participant.

Sincerely,

Mr. Eric S. Howard, Executive Director