· Advancing the frontiers of exploration: A well known example of
international scientific collaboration, sixteen nations are partnering to build
and operate the International Space Station (ISS) as a world-class research
center in the unique environment of space. The participating nations are
striving to solve crucial problems in medicine, ecology and other areas of
science. This endeavor will also lay the foundation for developing
space-based commerce and create greater worldwide interest in space and science
related education by cultivating the excitement, wonder and discovery that the
ISS symbolizes. (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/iss/home.html)
· Battling hunger through developing sustainable agriculture:
Sustainable agriculture has been substantially advanced through international
cooperation, enabling the global community to better respond to the
interrelated issues of poverty, hunger, population growth, and environmental
degradation. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) produced one
of the first of the modern, high yielding, varieties of rice that helped stave
off the mass famine that was predicted for Asia in the1970s. IRRI is just
one of the sixteen international agricultural research centers that makeup the
global network known as the Consultative Group for International Agricultural
Research (CGIAR). The CGIAR mobilizes the world's best in agricultural
science on behalf of the world's poor and hungry. (http://www.cgiar.org/)
· Unlocking the roots of disease through the Human Genome
Project: The Human Genome Project is an international scientific effort to map
all of the approximately 100,000 genes on the 23 human chromosomes and to
sequence the 3 billion DNA base pairs that make up the human genome.
Through international collaboration of the countries engaged in these efforts,
the project will help reveal the basis of genetic diseases such as muscular
dystrophy and Alzheimer's. (http://www.ornl.gov/TechResources/
Human_Genome/home.html)
· Discovering unprecendented information about the origins ofthe
universe from the Gemini telescope: The Gemini North telescope in Hawaii
was built by an international partnership of seven nations and is the first of
two large telescopes that can explore the entire northern and southern skies in
optical and infrared light. Gemini North andits twin, Gemini South under
construction in northern Chile, are expected to obtain unprecedented views of
stars, galaxies, and the most distant outposts of the known universe. They will
allow today's scientists to collect data on astronomical events that took
place billions of years ago. (http://www.gemini.edu/public/)
· Protecting our planet's ozone layer: Beginning in the
early1980s, hundreds of scientists from around the world worked under the
auspices of the UN Environment Program and the World Meteorological
Organization to identify, understand and communicate the seriousness of the
threat to the ozone. The common international scientific understanding
provided by their collaborative efforts led to an international agreement to
correct the threat, by eliminating nearly all production of the offending
chemicals in the industrialized countries, and by working to reduce them in the
developing countries.
· Saving lives from natural disasters. Scientists from the
U.S. Geological Survey's Volcano Hazards Program and their with
counterparts worldwide have worked together to improve volcano monitoring and
eruption warning schemes. Just prior to the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in
1991, these systems enabled Philippine authorities to evacuate 60,000 people
from villages in the region of destruction, and the U.S. military to
evacuate18,000 families from Clark Air Force Base before it was covered in
ashand debris. In September 1999, U.S. and Ecuadorian scientists began
monitoring two volcanic crises in Ecuador. As these two volcanoes could
remain active for many months, their collaborative efforts will protect tens of
thousands of people nearby. (http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/)
· Uncovering the Building Blocks of Matter: A good example
of international scientific cooperation is CERN – the European
Organization for Nuclear Research that has 20 European member states and half a
dozen“observer states,” including the U.S. It has been a world
leader in particle physics for half a century, and is currently building the
world's biggest particle accelerator, the LHC – “Large Hadron
Collider.” The LHC will smash two beams of protons against each other
to permit large detectors to probe the structure of protons, that is to address
specific questions about the fundamental building blocks that make up all
matter. This is something like trying to learn about electronics by
smashing Volkswagons against each other at such high speeds that parts of their
radios fly out. The LHC will have two detectors built by two international
collaborations. One of these, called ATLAS, is being built by a
collaboration of over 500 scientists, from over a hundred institutions, from
more that 30 countries, I bet that more than one student here today will do
graduate research using the LHC. For the rest of us, the results will both
change our views of what matter is made out of and shed light on the first
instants of the big bang. (http://www.cern.ch/)
· Preventing the Spread of AIDS: The U.S. Government has
joined the International Partnership Against HIV/AIDS in Africa (IPAA) to
expand and intensify response to the growing AIDS pandemic and its serious
impact. In fiscal year 2000, the U.S. Government is launching the
Leadership and Investment in Fighting an Epidemic (LIFE) initiative with U.S.
support to fourteen countries in Africa and India to help: 1) reduce HIV
transmission through primary prevention of sexual, mother-to-child, and
blood-borne transmission; 2) Improve community and home-based care and
treatment of HIV/AIDS; and 3) strengthen the capacity of countries to collect
and use surveillance data and to manage national HIV/AIDS programs.(http://www.cdc.gov)
· Stopping the Transmission of Polio -- STOP: In the
past 100 years, we have had many great successes in the area of public
health. For example, because of the invention of vaccines, fewer and
fewer children are getting diseases like measles and mumps, and even chicken
pox! However, since diseases don't recognize country borders, the need
for vaccines continues until a disease has been eradicated from the
world. Small pox was the first disease to be eradicated, and within the
next five years, polio will be next. You may not know much about polio,
but if you ask your parents or grandparents, they'll probably remember when
thousands of kids became crippled from polio each year. Right now there
is an incredible international team effort to make the world polio-free.
This partnership includes health professionals, scientists, and others from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rotary International, WHO, and many
other individuals and organizations throughout the world, all working together
to vaccinate young children at risk, find suspected cases of polio, and confirm
cases through laboratory tests. These STOP Teams are assigned to
countries where polio is common and spend approximately three months in the
countries working. Currently, there are 180 countries around the world that
have been declared polio free, but there are still 25 countries where polio is
common, infecting thousands of children each year. Achievement of global
polio eradication will set the stage for tackling other vaccine-preventable
diseases, like measles. (http://www.cdc.gov)
· Promoting Peace: Cooperation in science and technology provides a springboard for economic prosperity and sustainable development when relations between countries are good. Yet, in times of strained international affairs, scientific lines of communication between countries typically remain open even when most other forms of contact have collapsed. Even during the chilliest periods of the Cold War, U.S. scientists maintained ties with their counterparts in the Soviet Union, and these relationships were of substantial value in promoting the transition to warmer relations.
International scientific collaboration with Russia and the countries of
the Former Soviet Union is exemplified by its support of the International
Science and Technology Center (ISTC), an intergovernmental organization
established by the European Union, Japan, the Russian Federation, and theUnited
States, and a counterpart organization, the Science and Technology Center of
Ukraine (STCU). The ISTC and STCU coordinate with governments,
international organizations, and private sector industries to give former
Soviet Union weapons scientists an opportunity to redirect their talents to
peaceful activities, such as cancer research and commercially viable
technologies for use in environmental studies. (http://www.irf.lviv.ua/istc.html&
http://www.irf.lviv.ua/istc.html)
Global Science and Technology Week - May 7-13, 2000
Examples of International Scientific Collaboration
Teachers and students working in COMB's SciTech Center
Letter from Dr. Neal Lane, Issues in Global Education
A Message to the American Forum for Global Education
A Message to the National Science Teachers Association
Proclamation: Global Science and Technology Week, 2000
Building International Science & Technology Workforce Partnerships
Examples of International Scientific Collaboration
Global Science & Technology Week
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