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PROGRAM INPUTS AND OUTPUTS In November l973, an assessment of the Brazil Chem- istry Program by Brazilian and American participants led to a decision that satisfactory progress was being made and that another two years would be needed beyond the initial five-year phase in order to fulfill program objectives. During the seven-year life of the joint program, substantial inputs were made in money, facilities, and equipment, and in the time and effort of participants. It is estimated that an investment equal to about 2.6 million dollars came both from Brazilian sources (about l.5 million), and from American sources (about l.l mil- lion). The program participants included 3l Brazilian and American panel members, a program coordinator on each side, l8 visiting lecturers, l7 NAS Fellows, and about l06 Brazilian graduate students. The seventeen men and women who served as NAS Fellows were a key element of the program. They were the agents for transferring knowledge and techniques related to the target areas of research and teaching. Their ability to transfer their knowledge and experience depended greatly on their capacity to adjust to a different culture, different educational system, and different university pattern of organization and control. The Fellows received salaries that were based roughly on the equivalent pay for beginning Assistant Professors at U.S. universities. Married Fellows received extra allowances for dependents and school expenses. Certain additional allowances were paid to Fellows for Portuguese language lessons and other expenses, including page costs for publication of papers in scientific journals.
- 9 - The range of individual service in Brazil for the Fellows was from l5 months to 40 months, with an average stay of 28 months. The Fellows contributed to the pro- gram a total of 48l months in Brazil, or just over 40 person years. Among the sixteen U.S. panelists for the program, the average length of panel service was 5l/2 years, a figure that indicates good continuity. Because of differing responsibilities and needs within the various projects of the Chemistry Program, the time that U.S. panel members spent in Brazil or on related matters in the U.S. varied considerably. If one assumes that each panel member spent an average of 20 days per year on activities for the program (including correspondence and calls and meetings in the U.S.), then about 300 weeks, or slightly more than six person years were contributed by U.S. panel members, who served without compensation. (Travel and per diem expenses were, of course, provided to panel members when travelling on pro- gram business.) The sixteen Brazilian panel members also made a very substantial contribution of time and energy to the pro- gram, but it is impractical to estimate the time involved because so many program related activities were inextri- cably involved with normal university and departmental efforts. Active administrative support was given to the pro- gram by the Staff Coordiantors in the NAS and CNPq. For about the first two years of the program, the NAS coordi- nator worked full time on program related matters, and was assigned to the program for 50-75 percent of his time during the remaining years. He was helped by a staff assistant. The responsibilities of the coordinator â who travelled to Brazil regularly â ranged over the whole spectrum of the program, from fund-raising, to liaison with Brazilian authorities, to personal counseling of NAS Fellows. His role was critical â the cement that helped hold together the many elements of the program. The CNPq staff coordinator provided valuable administrative support and devoted over half his time to program matters.
- l0 - The financial costs of the program are difficult to analyze. The $2.6 million contributed from Brazilian and U.S. sources supported the special costs of the Brazil Chemistry Program, including support for the NAS Fellows, travel and daily expenses of U.S. panelists, NAS staff costs, certain items of equipment, and small purchases of imported chemicals and reagents needed for research in the program. Not included in the $2.6 million were major items such as costs of Brazilian faculty salaries, over- head for laboratories, or support for the graduate stu- dents (except for a few small stipends). From the inception of the program in late l969, joint projects were eventually established at the Federal Uni- versity of Rio de Janeiro in polymers, photochemistry, x-ray crystallography, and biochemistry, and at the Uni- versity of Sao Paulo in electron scattering, ion cyclo- tron resonance, photochemistry, organic and inorganic synthesis, and electro-analytical chemistry. Examining the seven-year lifetime of the joint pro- gram, certain figures give some sense of the results obtained from the projects just described. From September l969 through October l976, 76 graduate degrees â 60 M.Sc. and l6 Ph.D. â were awarded to students in the program. Over the same period of time, research groups produced a considerable number of papers: 99 papers were published in international journals and ll in national journals, while 34 papers were presented at international meetings and l75 at national meetings. One research group obtained two patents. At the time of the assessment visit in late l978, nine chemistry projects established through the program were still in operation, six at Sao Paulo, and three at Rio de Janeiro. Since the end of the joint program in l976, l8 M.Sc. and l0 Ph.D. degrees have been awarded in these projects, and numerous papers have been published.
