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Synopsis of Program and Background
Since 2003, Pakistan and the United States have joined together to support the Pakistan-US Science and Technology Cooperation Program, which provides grants supporting research partnerships in a broad range of fields including education, health, engineering, agriculture, water resource management, and economic development. In the wake of the devastating earthquake of October 2005, the two countries launched a special grants program specifically designed to support Pakistani-US research collaboration in earthquake-related fields. Approximately $1 million provided by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was available to be awarded in 2006 to support projects aimed at building capacity in Pakistan and strengthening Pakistani-US cooperative relationships in earthquake-related research and development. Potentially eligible fields included but were not limited to engineering; construction management; geology; seismology; risk assessment; building code design and compliance; urban planning; and sociological, psychological, and health impacts. Projects Funded Beginning in 2007 Following independent peer review on both the Pakistani and US sides and a joint selection meeting in Pakistan in December 2006, three projects were selected for funding beginning as of February 1, 2007. Updates on each are available through links on the project titles below: Education and Learning after the Pakistan Earthquake: Can the Children Recover? Ali Cheema, Lahore University of Management Sciences Tahir Andrabi, Pomona College Pakistani Funding: $240,000 US Funding: $83,700 Project Dates on US Side: February 1, 2007 - January 31, 2011 Development of a Framework for Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Maps for Pakistan Irshad Ahmad and Akhtar Naeem Khan, NWFP University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar Scott Olson and Youssef Hashash, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Pakistani Funding: $130,000 US Funding: $174,705 Project Dates on US Side: February 1, 2007 - October 31, 2011 Building Pakistan’s Capacity for Instruction, Research, and Practice in Earthquake Engineering and Retrofit Sahibzada Rafeeqi, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi Brian E. Tucker, GeoHazards International, Palo Alto Pakistani Funding: $220,000 US Funding: $241,595 Project Dates on US Side: February 1, 2007 - October 31, 2011 Back to Pakistan-US Science and Technology Cooperation Program Main Page
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