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News Release 11-034
NSF Builds More Partnerships for International Research and Education
PIRE program supports fifteen international projects and facilitates global collaboration to forge scientific breakthroughs and grow institutional diplomatic capacity
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NSF's Partnerships for International Research and Education program has been going strong for six years.
Credit: NSF
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Scott Saleska of the University of Arizona, shows a field video in his presentation, "Global Issues and Basic Research: the Future of Amazonian Forests in a Changing Climate." His presentation was during the PIRE Symposium on Feb. 14, 2011 at NSF, for which principle investigators from nearly three dozen PIRE programs gathered to learn from each other and NSF.
Research collaborators from the University of Arizona, several other U.S. universities, and universities and companies in Brazil, are studying the Amazon rainforest to better understand how tropical forests will respond to environmental change. Some models suggest that a warming globe will cause Amazonian forests to experience unprecedented drought. Climbing tall trees and digging deep pits is revealing how forests function to trap carbon and move water.
Credit: NSF
Susannah Scott of the University of California (UC), Santa Barbara, presents "Chemical Approaches to Sustainable Energy Production: A U.S.-China Collaboration in Catalysis." Her presentation was during the PIRE Symposium on Feb. 14, 2011 at NSF, for which principle investigators from nearly three dozen PIRE programs gathered to learn from each other and NSF.
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara and the Dalian Institute for Chemical Physics in China are working to understand how small particles on the surfaces of catalysts are able to speed up important chemical reactions. Stubborn chemical processes, like converting plant materials to ethanol, may become economically feasible when the chemistry of catalysis is better understood. The near goal is to design nano-scale surfaces with predictable chemical catalytic properties. The ultimate goal is to develop a predictive design theory and apply it to key industrial and environmental problems, such as pollution abatement, conversion of methane to liquid fuels, solar energy and industrial chemical production.
Credit: NSF