News Archive

January 2003

A team of SIG board and staff members visited Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi at the invitation of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Vietnam Education Foundation to help develop recommendations for the implementation of MSI centers of excellence.

December 2002

The MSI Program sought to revitalize Chile's science and technology system by supporting advanced training of human capital by world class scientists engaged in cutting edge research. It sought to demonstrate the effectiveness of transparent merit-based allocation procedures and investigator autonomy in improving the quality and efficiency of scientific research and training.

December 2001

Formulas and recommendations for advancing science throughout the world will have little effect if they are not accompanied by missionary zeal—and by means to exercise such convictions. For that reason, I propose establishing an International Corps for Global Science to allow science missionaries, young and old, to help build a global culture of science by working in those parts of the world that underserved by science now. How would this work? Obviously it would require funds from public or private sectors. It would need some administrative structure. It would need eager participants.

June 2001

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, science departments in many African universities, including the University of Lagos in Nigeria, Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, Accra in Ghana, and Khartoum in Sudan, were among the finest in the developing world. Once heralded as beacons of progress on the continent, these departments now suffer from a host of problems that have made it all but impossible for them to meet even minimal responsibilities. The difficulties encountered by Africa's science departments have impacts that extend well beyond the departments themselves.

January 2001

This paper argues that the acquisition of science and technology is a critical determinant of the development status of countries. Those countries that have excelled in science and technology are the most developed, while those with a weak scientific and technological base are the least developed. It is imperative that a series of concerted actions be adopted and sustained to permanently institute a scientific and technological culture in Africa.

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