Costa Rica and IICA organize the Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas 2011, in which countries will be challenged to modernize their innovation systems. San Jose, Costa Rica, October 7, 2011 (IICA). To enable farmers in the Americas to increase their production, despite their limited quantity of natural resources, and to do it with quality, health and safety, countries must strengthen their national innovation systems and transmit that knowledge to agricultural farms. In addition to these challenges, small and medium-scale producers must transform their activities into businesses that generate economic and social well-being for rural territories, goals that can also be promoted through technological innovation. With these prioritary objectives on the agenda, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica (MAG) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) outlined the details of the Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture of the … [Read more...]

The Nicaraguan Council of Science and Technology (CONICYT), in collaboration with the Vice Presidency of Nicaragua and the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT), carried out Nicaragua's first edition of its Week of Science, September 26 through 30, 2011. The event drew an attendance of approximately 1,000 people, which included university students, high-ranking government officials, university authorities, business and chamber leaders, international delegations and those of multilateral organizations, as well as various representatives from civil society. Two of Nicaragua's most recognized universities, the Central American University and the National Engineering University, were the hosts for the event. In this context, over a period of two days, members and representatives of the Advanced Research and Technology Collaboratory for the Americas (ARTCA) had the honor of participating as keynote speakers, in a technological session that spanned from topics such … [Read more...]

Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) is an NSF-wide program that supports international activities across all NSF supported disciplines. The primary goal of PIRE is to support high quality projects in which advances in research and education could not occur without international collaboration. PIRE seeks to catalyze a higher level of international engagement in the U.S. science and engineering community. International partnerships are essential to addressing critical science and engineering problems. In the global context, U.S. researchers and educators must be able to operate effectively in teams with partners from different nations and cultural backgrounds. PIRE promotes excellence in science and engineering through international collaboration and facilitates development of a diverse, globally-engaged, U.S. science and engineering workforce. This PIRE competition will focus exclusively on the NSF-wide investment area of Science, Engineering, and … [Read more...]

Check out the rankings for Latin American Universities for 2011. 1. Universidade de São Paulo Brazil 2. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile Chile 3. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp) Brazil 4. Universidad de Chile Chile 5. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Mexico 6. Universidad de los Andes Colombia 7. Tecnológico de Monterrey (ITESM) Mexico 8. Universidad de Buenos Aires Argentina 9. Universidad Nacional de Colombia Colombia 10. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Brazil Visit website … [Read more...]

When Adam Rabinowitz was 15 years old, his aunt, an archaeologist, invited him to join her on a dig in Sicily. Twenty-three years later, Rabinowitz, now the assistant director at the Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICA) at The University of Texas at Austin, is still traveling around the world getting dirt under his nails. And though much remains the same about archaeology since he first picked up a duster brush, a lot has changed. Adam Rabinowitz “For a long time, the history of archaeology came from the desire to have pretty objects,” he said. “Then, in the 19th century, the desire to prove the historical accuracy of Greek epic poetry, like the Iliad and the Odyssey, became important as well.” Documentation has always been important to archaeology, but over the course of the 20th century, it became more important to preserve the contextual associations among objects and layers of history. These changes have altered the theoretical underpinnings of … [Read more...]

Schedule We will be using Google Wave as a collaborative space for participants to discuss this year´s presentations. To sign up for a free Google Wave account, please scroll to the bottom of the wave.google.com page and select to "request an invitation." It will take 24-48 hours for your account to be authorized. We encourage you to sign up no later than April 10, 2010, to ensure that your account is active in time to participate in the conference. A complete list of all waves associated with the HASTAC 2010 conference is available here. We would also like to invite participants to join us in the official HASTAC 2010 "Break Room" Wave to discuss the conference theme of Grand Challenges and Global Innovations with each other. There is also a "feedback" wave, where you can leave your general comments about the conference. HASTAC 2010 will also host events in Second Life. Second Life is a free 3D virtual world where users can socialize, connect and create using free voice … [Read more...]

"The Advanced Research and Technology Collaboratory for the Americas (ARTCA), complying with its prime directive of providing ground-breaking computational approaches, resources, tools and educational programming, is supporting the Vice Presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua, the Nicaraguan Council of Science and Technology (CONICYT), and the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) of Mexico in the 'I Week of Science'. With the goal of expanding the knowledge and scientific interest of the wider Nicaraguan public, September 26th through 30th, Nicaraguan Civil Society, Universities, Businesses, Commerce Chambers, NGOs, Public Institutions, Scientific Associations and Foundations will engage in a series of stimulating presentations and discussions on Science, Technology and Innovation, all completely free of charge." Visit site … [Read more...]

As a result of a March 2010 Washington DC Summit on Research and Technologies in the Americas, the Organization of American States (OAS) formed a strategic alliance with the Advanced Research and Technology Collaboratory for the Americas. A Memorandum of Understanding between OAS and the Costa Rica USA Foundation established OAS as financial administrator for funding granted by CRUSA in support of ARTCA. These funds seed execution on collaboration between OAS Departments and ARTCA affiliated research and technology initiatives. In this sense, ARTCA is currently supporting OAS´ Inter-American Program of Scientific Journalism (PIPC), through a complementary effort entitled "Reimagining Science and Technology Journalism in the 21st Century with Data-Driven Computational Inquiry", which has been awarded a Hewlett International Conference Grant; and its "Engineering Education for Competitiveness: Improving Engineering Curricula in Latin America and the Caribbean - Industrial … [Read more...]

During the foundation's early years, and spurred on by Senator and Mrs. Guggenheim's Second Letter of Gift, dated June 7, 1929, the Trustees of the Foundation sought to more fully realize the goal of "better international understanding" by expanding eligibility for Fellowships to citizens of other countries in the Western Hemisphere. As Senator Guggenheim explained, in their First Letter of Gift he and his wife had intentionally not limited the Foundation to appointing Fellows from the United States: "We had in mind then what we desire to make effective now by this new endowment, namely, to assist in increasing the interaction among the American republics, each upon the other, in the arts and sciences, in education, and in the learned professions. "My brothers and I have long been engaged in commerce with many of the republics to the south of the United States, and we know that there are no longer any important factors of economic isolation separating us. But a similar commerce … [Read more...]

Knight News Challenge winners receive $4.7 million, including $1 million in support from Google; winners include traditional news organizations and Internet entrepreneurs, projects focused on government transparency, mobile and more. Cambridge, Mass. (June 22, 2011) Sixteen ideas that push the future of news and information will receive $4.7 million in funding as winners of the Knight News Challenge, an international media innovation contest funding digital news experiments that inform and engage communities. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced the winners today at the MIT-Knight Civic Media Conference. The ideas come from leading Internet entrepreneurs including Christina Xu and Jesse James Garrett, and top legacy newsrooms like the Associated Press and Chicago Tribune, and originate in North Carolina, Chile and the U.K.  Together, they employ a range of techniques for delivering news and information in the digital age. They include experiments to: Help … [Read more...]