Officeof

International Science & Engineering (OISE)

Advisory Committee Meeting

October 29, 2007

OISE

• Serves as a visible focal point, both inside and outside NSF, for international science, engineering and education activities

• Promotes the development of an integrated, Foundation-wide, international strategy

• Manages international programs that are innovative, catalytic and responsive to the broad range of NSF interests

FY 2008 Request:

$45.00 M (+$4.39M/10.8%)

Currently operating under Continuing Resolution

OISE Budget Themes

• Developing STEM workforce of the 21st Century

• Promoting research excellence through international partnerships

OISE FY 2007 Actuals

$1.0$1.6

$3.2

$4.5

$2.6

$3.8

$6.6

$10.2

$7.2

$0.0

$5.0

$10.0

$15.0

$20.0

$25.0

$30.0

StewardshipLearningDiscovery

Do

llars

in M

illio

nsMultilateral Org

PIRE I&II

Other Collab. Res.

Other

EAPSI

IRES

IRFP

Other

IPAs/Fellows

Number of People Involved in OISE ActivitiesFY 2007

OISEManaged

Split Funded

Senior ScientistsPost Docs (within 6 years of PhD.)

Graduate StudentsUndergraduatesForeign (all levels)

1023647

14121043

381

14295

412238

40

Notable Research Accomplishments

Research collaboration funded through the Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) program is developing a faster and more accurate method of detecting viruses (Germany).

U.S.-East Africa Workshop on Humanitarian Relief Research and Education, Kenya used insights from Darfur, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2005 tsunami, taken with systems engineering, to improve the logistics and communication of humanitarian relief. Follow-up workshop at NSF in January 2007 developed a research agenda for this emerging field

Notable Research Accomplishments

A participant of the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) in Japan, David R. Shelly (Stanford University) published an article entitled “Low-frequency earthquakes in Shikoku, Japan, and their relationship to episodic tremor and slip” in NATURE.  

Notable Research Accomplishments

The Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute (PASI) on Energy Conversion and Environmental Protection assembled 40 students and 20 lecturers from industry, academia, and government to plan new research in the critical areas of fuel cells and catalysis for emissions control. Countries represented included: Argentina,

Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, and the U.S. Half of the students came from outside the U.S.

Notable Research Accomplishments

International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) in Atomic Physics: A U.S.-Polish Collaboration

•Research at the Joint Polish-U.S. Atomic Physics and Photonics Lab at Jagiellonian University

•Developing and applying new atomic physics techniques for magnetic-field measurements

•U.S. undergraduate and graduate students

Notable Research Accomplishments

OISE supplement to Directorate for Biological Sciences grant to University of Wisconsin-Madison enabled U.S.-Nordic expert deployment of wireless sensor network

----------------

U.S. graduate students gained field experience and participated in European GLEON meeting

Notable Research Accomplishments

Modeling and risk analysis of vessel traffic in the Bosporus Strait, Turkey has generated models to decrease accidents; these are being considered for application to the Delaware Harbor and the Port of Philadelphia.

Notable Research Accomplishments

For each Federal dollar invested by NSF and NIH in the international Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP), the United States receives $2 in return via:

• significant numbers of HFSP’s long-term fellows at U.S. institutions and laboratories; and

• participation by U.S. principal investigators in HFSP’s research team awards.

"Intercontinentality" is an essential component of the Human Frontier Science Program.

Notable Research Accomplishments

With mentors at the University of Geneva, U.S. International Research Fellowship Program (IRFP) awardee, Peter Armitage, developed an innovative system to perform optical and infrared spectroscopy on solid samples under high pressures at low temperatures.

Notable Research Accomplishments

Key Elements for OISE Funding

• Leading-edge research and/or education• Intellectual Collaboration• Synergistic – utilizes skills, expertise,

facilities of foreign counterparts• Junior researchers and students• Catalytic – new international collaboration

OISE

Organized into four Regional Programs

• Africa, Near East and South Asia Program (ANESA)

• Americas Program (AMERICAS)• East Asia and Pacific Program (EAP)• Europe and Eurasia Program (EE)

and

• Global Initiatives

OISE Personnel Overseas

Paris: Dr. David Stonner

Tokyo: Dr. Machi Dilworth

Beijing: Dr. William Chang (Recruitment Underway)

U.S. Mission to UNESCO: Dr. Geoffrey Prentice

Kuala Lumpur: Dr. Larry Weber

Ed Murdy, Acting Deputy Director, OISEVanessa Richardson, Director of Operations and Analysis, OISEAdrienne Huston, AAAS Fellow, ANESA and EEJessica Robin, Program Manager, AMERICASRuth McDonald, Einstein Fellow, AMERICASLarry Weber, Senior Program Manager, EAPAndrew Backe, Program Specialist, EAPCynthia Singleton, AAAS Fellow, EAPAlice Boone, on detail from OIG, GIMark Suskin, Senior Program Manager, GIJohn Tsapogas, Program Manager, GI

OISE Staff Changes (incoming)

Kathryn Sullivan, on detail to IRM/OADFrank Wodarczyk, Program Manager, AMERICASGarie Fordyce, Associate Program Manager, AMERICASMichael Pritchard, on detail to OIG, GIChristine Galitzine, Senior Program Manager, GIJordan Hau, WIN InternAlan Miller, Einstein FellowBianca Rodriquez, HACU Intern

OISE Staff Changes (outgoing)

Embassy Science Fellows Program

Larry Suter EHR/REC Portugal 2006Susan Kemnitzer ENG/EEC Italy 2006William Zamer BIO/IOB Jordan 2005Judith Plesset BIO/IOB Russia 2005Bradley Keister MPS/PHY Armenia 2004Deh-I Hsiung EHR/REC China 2004Jorn Larsen Basse ENG/CMS Croatia 2004Elizabeth Vanderputten EHR/REC Germany 2004Frederick Heineken ENG/BES Germany 2004Geoffrey Prentice ENG/CTS Lithuania 2004Lawrence Goldberg ENG/ECS Moldavia 2004John Hurt ENG/EEC Portugal 2004

Visitors OISE has hosted recently

Alexander Balyshev Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR)

Magda Cringasu National University Research Council, Romania

Christine Devlin University of Virginia @ NSF Europe Office

Zeynep Durmusoglu Turkey Council for Science &Technology (TUBITAK)

Ipek Erzi Turkey Council for Science &Technology (TUBITAK)

Gül Pelin Kaya Turkey Council for Science &Technology (TUBITAK)

Vladimir Konnov Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR)

Jianjun Li National Science Foundation China

S. Tanveer Naim Higher Education Council, PakistanHiroyuki Sasai Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT Fellow)

Nakita Vodjdani Agency National de la Recherche, France

International Institutional Cooperation

In addition to hosting foreign visitors, OISE works with foreign counterparts in international S&T infrastructure building. Recent examples include:

• Grant Agency Fundamentals (Nigeria, Syria, Poland)• Merit Review (Vietnam)• Research Program Management (Korea)• Award Administration (Japan, China)• Innovation and Science Policy (Finland, Norway, Spain

and European Research Council)

Africa, Near East and South Asia Program (ANESA)

IRES: U.S. students study how West African monsoons influence U.S. hurricanes, Senegal

• U.S.-Egypt program changes - mainstreamed into the research Directorates, OISE will continue to coordinate;

• Funding projects in a wider range of countries in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia;

• Sending more students for research/education in the region:

U.S.-India Nanoscale Science & Eng. Advanced Studies Institute

IRES: U.S. students study Giant Sea Anemones and symbiotic Anemone Fish on Red Sea coral reefs, Jordan

Americas Program (AMERICAS)

• Emphasis on developing applications of the growing cyberinfrastructure in the region through workshops on:

Applications of cyber tools to biodiversity in Panama, 2006;

Applications of sensor technologies to the environment in Argentina, 2007;

Applications of cyber tools to genomics in Peru, 2008

• PASI program is in 7th year of support and has promoted 60 PASIs in the region

• Many 2007 awards focus on global change

East Asia and Pacific Program (EAP)

• EAPSI additional hosts: NZ ('07), Singapore ('08)

• EAPSI stipend raised to $5,000 in '08.

• New U.S.-Japan initiative for collaboration in sensors research

• Addition of China to Chemistry collaborative program and negotiations with Japan

• CASS (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) joins as sponsor for Summer Institute  in China

• U.S.-China workshops on climate change

• Embassy Tokyo Environment, Science and Technology Section merged with Economics Section

Europe and Eurasia Program (EE)

• Program development under recent S&T agreements (Sweden, Norway, Poland, Russia)

• Doctoral college program with France in energy and sustainability at consortia of universities in both countries

• OISE/EHR/Wellcome Trust meetings on STEM education (NSF, Oct. 2006; York, England Sept. 2007)

• European Research Council, European counterpart to NSF, established by the European Commission (January 2007)

• New UK Research Councils office opening in Washington (Nov. 2007)

Global Initiatives

• Fall 2007 OECD Global Science Forum NSF-initiated activities in (1) research integrity and (2) policy applications of the science of complexity

• UNESCO 2007 biennial General Conference featuring President’s Science Advisor and NSF Director and Deputy Director in science ministerial round table

• 39 IRFP awardees (20 females/19 males) going to 21 countries in 2007; 120 proposals received in 2008 (68 males/52 females)

• 20 new PIRE awards

PIRE I Awards PIRE II Awards

O/D Leadership in Science Diplomacy

• Dr. Bement serves as the U.S. Chair of the U.S. –Pakistan Joint Committee on Science and Technology

• UNESCO: Dr. Bement, is Vice-Chair of the U.S. National Commission’s Natural Sciences Commission and Dr. Olsen is a member of the Review Committee for UNESCO’s Science Programs

• Dr. Bement participates in the annual meeting of the G-8 Heads of Research Councils. In 2007, the U.S. hosted the meeting at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

O/D Leadership in Science Diplomacy• Dr. Bement was an invited speaker at European Heads of

Research Councils (EUROHORC) Conference on Peer Review, Prague, October 2006

• Dr. Bement visited New Zealand in January 2007. As follow-up to that visit, he is chairing the U.S.-NZ Joint Commission Meeting, being held in Washington on October 29 together with the NZ Minister of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST), Steve Maharey

• Dr. Bement participated in the U.S.-Brazil bilateral meeting, July 2006, in Washington, DC, chaired by Dr. Marburger

• Dr. Bement visited Korea in June 2007 for 30th anniversary of KOSEF

O/D Leadership in Science Diplomacy

• Dr. Olsen is Vice President of Human Frontier Science Program Board of Trustees

• Dr. Olsen serves as U.S. Chair of the U.S.-EC Biotechnology Task Force

• Dr. Olsen led the U.S. Delegation to the recent Global Science Forum (OECD) meeting in Istanbul

National Science Board Reports

• Task Force on International Science Draft Report out for Public Comment Due November 1, 2007

nsbinternational@nsf.gov

• Task Force on Transformative Research Report Issued May 2

NSF Response

1. The Office of Science and Technology Policy should work with the Department of State and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to make international S&E partnerships a priority for U.S. foreign policy and for U.S. R&D policy. Towards this end, OSTP should consider re-establishing the position of Assistant Director for International Strategy.

2. The Department of State and USAID should do more to encourage and help fund S&E Partnerships as instruments of diplomacy that in turn create and help sustain more stable relationships among nations based on the universal language and values of science and engineering, which also build the economic capacity of developing countries.

NSB Task Force on International Science Recommendations

3. Through the National Science and Technology Council, OSTP should re-establish a committee on international science and engineering to coordinate the activities of the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the various Federal Mission Agencies in international science and engineering.

4. Each relevant Federal agency should designate a lead official who is empowered to proactively encourage and develop international S&E strategy and coordination.

5. Congress should amend the Government Performance and Results Act to require Federal agencies to address strategy development and performance planning for international S&E partnerships, and OMB should include this in its Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) guidance to U.S. Federal agencies.

NSB Task Force on International Science Recommendations cont.

6. Congress should direct the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to balance U.S. security policies with the needs of international science and engineering including intellectual property protection, management and access to data, export controls, technology transfer, and visa issues.

7. OSTP and NSF should continue to work with their counterparts in other countries with significant partnership potential to institute common standards and processes: for the review and funding of proposed international S&E projects; to encourage other countries to establish common policies for granting ownership of intellectual property developed with government support; and to define common financial and compliance policies that establish best accountability practices to support international partnerships in S&E research.

NSB Task Force on International Science Recommendations cont.

8. The National Science Foundation should better publicize its practice of encouraging PIs to request modest supplemental funding through their research grants for foreign collaborators from developing countries.

9. Congress and the Department of State should facilitate “brain circulation”, as opposed to “brain drain”, in employing S&E talent to improve global quality of life and economic circumstances through:

• Reinvigorating the interest of American students in S&E through support of study abroad opportunities with foreign scientists and engineers

• Streamlining the visa process for foreign scientists, engineers and S&E students;

• Encouraging foreign study and collaborative scientific work of American scientists, engineers and students through incentives for return to the U.S. as well as the incentive of work itself; and

• Increasing use of U.S. and foreign specialized facilities for S&E.

NSB Task Force on International Science Recommendations cont.

10. The Department of State should consider elevating the role and career paths of properly qualified Science Advisors at key U.S. Embassies to promote science, engineering and technology because of their many economic and quality-of-life benefits in improving global relations.

11. The Administration and Congress should enact the recommendation of the National Research Council’s report: The Fundamental Role of Science and Technology in International Development: An Imperative for the U.S. Agency for International Development to renew the once significant science and engineering capacity at USAID and encourage the Agency to better employ science, engineering and technology in fulfilling its international development charge.

NSB Task Force on International Science Recommendations cont.

12. The National Science Foundation should coordinate and cooperate more closely with USAID in support of international science and engineering partnerships intended to build capacity in developing economies.

13. The Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of State, and other U.S. Federal agencies should work with non-governmental organizations and the private sector in utilizing S&E partnerships for improving relations between countries and improving the quality of life and environmental protection in developing countries.

NSB Task Force on International Science Recommendations cont.

Sigma Xi Workshop Report

Embracing Globalization: Meeting the Challenges to U.S. Scientists and Engineers July 2007

• Dr. Elizabeth Kirk was the PI on the NSF award for the NSF supported workshop. Dr. Gretchen Kalonji was a member of the steering committee.

• Participants in the Sigma Xi workshop made more than 40 recommendations for education, research and industry.

Need to develop a culture within the U.S. S&E community that embraces international engagement and sees that global competence is a fundamental part of training scientists and engineers.

Sigma Xi Workshop Report

Recommendations to the National Science Foundation:

• Embed global competence skills sets in all of the Foundation’s research and education programs.

• Sponsor programs in which members of industry, government and academia can discuss together how to achieve global competence.

• Work to convince the public and policymakers of the importance of achieving global competence.

• Promote the adoption of proven models of global engagement at academic institutions nationwide.

OISE and the NSF Directorates

Working together to:

• Identify international research and education priorities

• Identify new international co-funding opportunities• Co-fund strong international collaborations• Provide expertise and reviewers• Promote cooperation with international science

organizations

OISE and the NSF Directorates

• International Collaboration in Chemistry between U.S. Investigators and their Counterparts in Germany, United Kingdom and China (NSF-07-593) was developed with guidance from OISE.

• International Research Experiences for Engineers (IREE) (NSF-07-32) is a supplements program sponsored by the Directorate for Engineering with co-funding from OISE. In FY 2007, 132 awards were made for at total of $3.9M ($1.7M from OISE). New for 2007: Participants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

• OISE provides support and advice on visa related correspondence with NSF clientele and manages the F-1 Visa Waiver provisions for NSF to act as an Interested Federal Agency.

NSF Committees, Working Groups, etc.

• Impact of Proposal and Award Management Mechanisms (IPAMM)

• Broadening Participation

• International Cooperation with Developing Countries

International Polar Year (IPY)

NSF FY 2007 IPY Solicitation had three emphasis areas

Understanding Change

Human/Biotic Systems

Education

Goals include encouraging interdisciplinary work and new international collaborations

Build on prior IPY investments

International Polar Year (IPY)

• Solicitation identified ~$42M available

• Received 376 proposals that requested $207M

• Anticipate 87 awards receiving ~$46M

In FY 2007/2008 OISE will fund 8-9 projects for approximately $1M