The Consortium of the Americas for Interdisciplinary Science

在追求全球训练有素的劳动力目标方面，一个成功的战略依赖于学生接触到个别美国科学家与他们在外国的同行之间的合作研究。这通常涉及在教师和学生招聘方面做出相当大的努力，但在为学生提供国际经验方面相当成功，特别是在较发达的国家。这一美洲计划奖支持一种新的方法，通过依靠新墨西哥大学美洲跨学科科学联盟的经验，加强美国科学家和拉丁美洲科学家之间的富有成效的合作，创建一支可能更适用于发展中国家的全球多元化劳动力队伍。通过强有力的跨学科导向和与教育的明确联系，该联盟将通过鼓励杰出的拉丁美洲研究人员及其学生到新墨西哥州进行短期访问，在美国和拉丁美洲组织国际研讨会，以及支持美国学生和教师到拉丁美洲进行合作研究访问，为国际合作和学生交流提供协调框架。在该大学和附近国家实验室的智力和文化资源的推动下，跨学科网络和伙伴关系有望发展，这将导致在这笔赠款的支持下，美国学生和教师到拉丁美洲的中心和实验室进行更成熟的合作和交流。将追求三个研究主题：与生物相关的复杂系统、新型材料以及纳米和中尺度科学。拟议的工作将集中于将来自美洲的物理学家、生物学家、化学家、数学家和工程师及其学生聚集在一起。其目的是深入了解困难和具有挑战性的问题，如果没有这种多学科方法，这些问题就不会得到解决。研究工作将涉及目前对生物技术和公共卫生的基本和应用方面的兴趣激增，包括对传染病传播、生物膜的形成和特性以及细菌菌落动态的基本和实际了解。来自美洲的不同背景的研究人员将在从原子到宏观的截然不同的长度尺度上对过程进行研究。新材料，如自组装实体和颗粒压实将被研究。无论是因为技术或人类的重要性，还是因为它们构成的内在科学挑战而重要的问题，都将得到解决。达成基本理解的跨学科方法构成了拟议合作的关键要素，并将指导学生交流和参与国际活动。

0336343KenkreOne successful strategy in pursuing the goal of a globally trained workforce relies on students' exposure to collaborative research between individual U.S. scientists and their counterparts in foreign countries. This often involves considerable efforts in faculty and student recruitment but is quite successful in providing students with an international experience, particularly with the more developed countries. This Americas Program award supports a novel approach to the creation of a globally diverse workforce, that may be more applicable to developing countries, by relying on the experience of the Consortium of the Americas for Interdisciplinary Science of the University of New Mexico to bring about enhanced and productive collaborations between scientists in the U.S. and scientists from Latin America. Through a strong interdisciplinary orientation and explicit linkages to education, the Consortium will provide a coordinated framework for international cooperation and student exchanges by encouraging short-term visits by outstanding Latin American researchers and their students to New Mexico, organizing international workshops in the US and in Latin America, and supporting collaborative research visits by US students and faculty to Latin America. Interdisciplinary networks and partnerships are expected to develop, abetted by the intellectual and cultural resources of the university and the national laboratories nearby, that will lead to more mature collaborations and exchanges of US students and faculty, supported under this grant, to centers and laboratories in Latin America.Three research themes will be pursued: biologically relevant complex systems, novel materials, and nanoscale and mesoscale science. The proposed work will focus on bringing together physicists, biologists, chemists, mathematicians and engineers and their students from the Americas. The purpose is to gain insights into difficult and challenging problems that would not be solved without such a multidisciplinary approach. Research efforts will address the current explosion of interest in fundamental and applied aspects of biotechnology, and public health, including a basic and practical understanding of the spread of infectious diseases, of the formation and properties of biofilms, and of the dynamics of bacterial colonies. Investigators from the Americas with a variety of backgrounds will carry out research on processes at drastically different length scales, from the atomistic to the macroscopic. Novel materials such as self-assembled entities and granular compacts will be investigated. Problems that are important both because of their technological or human importance, and because of the inherent scientific challenges they pose, will be tackled. Interdisciplinary approaches to a fundamental understanding form the key element of the proposed collaborations and will guide student exchanges and their involvement in international activities.