Interacademy Programs Between the United States and Eastern Europe 1967-2009 The Changing Landscape (2009) / Chapter Skim
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2 Individual Exchanges
2 Individual Exchanges
Pages 23-34
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From page 23... ...
Initially, from the Washington vantage point, these visits were intended primarily to open doors into a closed region of the world for American participants and to provide opportunities for Eastern European colleagues to become familiar with developments in the United States. In some cases, there had been earlier exchange visits between colleagues under other auspices.
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From page 24... ...
But the academy systems were widely recognized in Eastern Europe as a good, although tightly controlled, international route for research scientists to follow in order to help ensure availability of funding and to avoid at least some potential political and security problems. The requirements for American participants in the interacademy programs in the early days, which changed very little over the years, were as follows: Any American citizen who possesses a doctoral degree (or its equiva lent)
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From page 25... ...
Financial responsibility for local travel was determined on a case-by-case basis, with participation in local scientific meetings encouraged by the sending academies. The academies of Eastern Europe were required to cover international travel costs for their participants and presumably continued paying the base salaries of the participants.
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From page 26... ...
Although the findings were unique to the Hungarian program, they indicated the types of impacts the program was probably having in other areas of Eastern Europe as well. Two Hungarian and two American scientists with substantial research responsibilities were selected for each of three topical panels that reviewed scientific exchanges. They reviewed responses to questionnaires completed by hosts and visitors from both countries over a 10-year period (312 questionnaires were sent, with a 73 percent return rate)
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From page 27... ...
THE SPECIAL CASE OF THE GDR During the 1980s, very few East-West scientific exchange programs involving scientists from the GDR were in place. The limited contacts were usually through mechanisms established by international organizations, and particularly conferences in Europe.
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From page 28... ...
. Additional comments by American scientists close to the program indicated that they were particularly impressed by the high degree of technical competence of the East German participants, who were thus able to bring important perspectives to collaborative activities. After analysis of the results of the survey and a review of the situation developing with the demise of the GDR, the NRC staff reached the following conclusions concerning the limited interactions with scientists in the GDR: • American scientists were not well acquainted with the majority of colleagues conducting similar research, and a familiarization period would be needed to match interests and capabilities.
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From page 29... ...
Significant Influenced methodologies New access Results priorities brought back to people achieved Physical sciences 63% 61% 39% 33% Biological sciences 44% 66% 55% 22% Social sciences 50% 0% 50% 50% Examples of other benefits attributable to exchange program: • Set stage for further cooperative research • Permitted longer visits to research laboratories than otherwise available • Provided a window into East German science and scientists Former U.S. hosts of GDR exchangees (62 respondents from 95 queries)
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From page 30... ...
Beginning in 1993, the program operated on the basis of an open regional competition among American scientists who wanted to work with colleagues in Eastern Europe. The bureaucracies of the Eastern European academies were not pleased with this change, having used the quota system for several decades in dealing with many countries.
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From page 31... ...
NSF was concerned over the small level of exchange activity with these two countries and correctly assumed that a twinning program would be an attraction for more applicants. As an example of the overall program, the organizations that housed the twins selected in 1995-1996 were as follows: • Michigan Technological University, and in Bulgaria the Institute of Mathematics, the Technical University in Gabrovo, and the University of Shoumen: boundary of the theory of combinatorial designs and the theory of error-correcting codes • University of Virginia, and in Bulgaria the Institute of Solid State Physics: photoexcitation of autoionizing resonances from intermediate excited states • Cornell University, and in Bulgaria the Institute of Polymers: synthesis and characterization of novel amphiphilic polymers • University of Delaware, and in Bulgaria Sofia University: relationship between monetary policy and development of financial institutions in Bulgaria
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From page 32... ...
Nationality, Discipline, Gender, and Age Diversity During the process of selecting the best qualified applicants for the program, special efforts were made to include projects involving a diverse range of different countries (particularly beyond Russia) and fields of science (such as social science and environmental science)
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From page 33... ...
The limited duration of usually 2 weeks to 2 months of the visits of Eastern Europeans to the United States reduced the likelihood that the exchanges would encourage emigration. In this regard, families almost never accompanied short-term exchange visitors to the United States.
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From page 34... ...
Although these data cover exchanges involving countries throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, the results were comparable for exchanges involving only Eastern European scientists. Source: COBASE program data.
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