THE BOARD ON INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS

WHO WE ARE…

The Board on International Scientific Organizations (BISO) oversees a network of more than 20 U.S. National Committees (USNCs) corresponding to the various International Council for Science (ICSU) scientific member bodies in an effort to strengthen U.S. participation in international scientific, engineering, and medical organizations. 
Learn more about BISO… 

WHAT'S NEW…

Workshop on Mathematics of Climate Change, Related Natural Hazards and Risks
The Workshop on “Mathematics of Climate Change, Related Natural Hazards and Risks” to be organized at CIMAT in Guanajuato, Mexico, 29 July - 2 August 2013. The workshop will bring together about 40 young researchers, mainly from Latin America and the Caribbean and a dozen distinguished scientists, each of which will give several lectures on a chosen topic. The workshop is part of the world initiative “Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013” (www.mpe2013.org). It is jointly organized by the International Mathematical Union (IMU), the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM), and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG). It is sponsored by the International Council of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) and partly funded by a grant from the International Council for Science (ICSU). It is supported by the ICSU Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC), the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR), the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias, and CIMAT (Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas). The members of the Scientific Committee are Susan Friedlander (IMU), Ilya Zaliapin (IUGG) and Paul F. Linden (IUTAM). More details are available on the following website: http://www.mca2013.org/en/programme/satelite-activities/workshop-on-mathematics-of-climate-change.html

Charles M. Vest NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering™ International Scholarship Program
This program offers an unprecedented opportunity for international graduate students to work and study at one of eight US universities performing leading research in one or more of the areas described in the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges for Engineering. The new scholarship program, named after outgoing National Academy of Engineering (NAE) President Charles M. Vest, will foster international collaborations among graduate students whose studies are focused on tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges. The goals of the Vest Scholarships are to provide a platform to exchange ideas, share problem-solving skills and strengthen international relationships in order to advance progress in some of the most critical global challenges in the twenty-first century. The scholarship has been endorsed by both the NAE and the U.K.’s Royal Academy of Engineering. Additional details about the scholarship can be found on the website. Applications are due by September 1, 2013. Apply now!

ICSU's Future Earth Program
Future Earth is a 10 –year international program on Earth system research for global sustainability. The program is being carried out through the Science and Technology Alliance for Global Sustainability (the Alliance), comprised of the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), the Belmont Forum (composed of international science funding agencies, including NSF), the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the United Nations University (UNU), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as an observer.

Future Earth will offer many opportunities for the U.S. scientific community to become involved. Even though plans and structures are still being defined, a number of the U.S. national committees (USNCs) are watching closely in order to be ready to act. These include the USNCs in the Earth sciences (IUGS, IUGG, INQUA, and Soils), the biological sciences (DIVERSITAS), the social sciences (IUPsyS) and math and the physical sciences (IMU and IUPAC), and the USNC for the Pacific Science Association (PSA). Each USNC will reach out to its own community in different ways, including town halls, symposia, and communications with professional societies.

BISO is working with the USGCRP (United States Global Change Research Program), NSF and NASA on a Future Earth regional consultation for North America, and more information will be posted in the coming weeks.

Please see the ICSU website for the latest information about Future Earth.

Education and Training in Optics and Photonics Conference, ETOP’2013
The 12th Education and Training in Optics and Photonics Conference, ETOP’2013, is being jointly organized by Portugal’ and Tunisia’ Territorial Committees of ICO and will be held at Faculty of Science of the University of Porto in Porto, Portugal on July 23 to 26, 2013. Please refer to the announcement for more details.

IIASA's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
IIASA’s Postdoctoral Program is an annual program that provides funding for up to two postdoctoral researchers for a 12-24 month period. The program serves to:

• Encourage and promote the development of young researchers.
• Offer young researchers the opportunity to further their careers by gaining
  hands-on professional research experience in a highly international scientific environment.
• Enrich IIASA’s intellectual environment and help achieve research program goals.
• Successful candidates are expected to conduct their own research within one of IIASA's research programs or special projects on topics related to IIASA's agenda.

Visit the IIASA web site for an overview of IIASA’s research activities, conditions and eligibility, and application materials.

The Case for International Sharing of Scientific Data: A Focus on Developing Countries
The Board on International Scientific Organizations (BISO), and the U.S. Committee on Data for Science and Technology (US CODATA) under the Board on Research Data and Information (BRDI), in consultation with the Committee on Freedom and Responsibility in the conduct of Science (CFRS) of the International Council for Science (ICSU), organized a 2-day international symposium in Washington, DC on April 18-19, 2011. We are pleased to announce the release of the proceedings of the speaker presentations from that meeting, The Case for International Sharing of Scientific Data: A Focus on Developing Countries. It is available electronically at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=17019.

The main objective of the symposium was to gain better understanding of the data access and sharing situation in the developing world, with a focus on barriers, opportunities, and future actions. There are various hurdles to the access and sharing of scientific data collected by governments or by researchers using public funding. Such obstacles include scientific and technical; institutional and management; economic and financial; legal and policy; and normative and socio-cultural barriers. Some of these difficulties are possible to diminish or remove, whereas others seek to balance competing values that impose legitimate limitations on openness.

Print copies of the report may be ordered through the National Academies Press.

2013 Young Scientists Summer Program
The U.S. National Member Organization for IIASA sponsors advanced graduate students from U.S. institutions to travel to Austria to take part in IIASA’s 3-month Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP). YSSP fellows work closely with IIASA’s senior scientists on projects within the Institute’s research areas. 

Participants are able to develop and expand their research topics and partake in a worldwide network of specialists with broad interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives. Since the program’s conception in 1977, more than 1400 participants from over 70 countries have collaborated with IIASA researchers and engaged in scientific research of regional and global importance. Visit the IIASA web site for an overview of YSSP’s research activities, conditions and eligibility, and application materials

2013 USNC/IUPAC Young Observer Program
The U.S. National Committee for the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry will send Young Observers to the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress and IUPAC General Assembly, to be held August 8-16, 2013, in Instanbul, Turkey. The Young Observer Program provides an excellent opportunity for U.S. chemists under the age of 45 with interests and expertise related to the work of IUPAC to become involved in the work of the union, develop an international network of scientists and engineers, and represent U.S. colleagues in the chemical sciences. For more information click here.

IIASA 40th Anniversary Conference 
IIASA’s 40th Anniversary Conference was held October 24-26, 2012, at the Hofburg Congress Center in Laxenburg, Austria. The conference will examine the many sustainability and development challenges such transformations impose and explore options for resolving them. It will explore new ‘future worlds’: Worlds that accommodate our collective needs and aspirations, while living within, and respecting, planetary boundaries. You can view conference news and updates from the IIASA conference website at http://conference2012.iiasa.ac.at/news.html. For more information on the conference please visit the 40th Anniversary Conference website.


Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for our Nation
For the last six years, the U.S. Advisory Committee on Optics has urged the National Research Council to update its 1998 report, Harnessing Light I, Optical Science and Engineering for the 21st Century. With the August 13^th release of Harnessing Light 2, Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for our Nation, that goal has been achieved. The U.S. Advisory Committee on Optics was instrumental in the early stages of the effort. In 2007, the committee wrote a white paper in 2007 which outlined the need for such an update and eventually served as the basis for the study. Two members of the USAC served on the committee releasing the new report. Alan Willner served as co-chair of the Optics and Photonics: Essential Technologies for our Nation report committee, and Duncan Moore, chair of the USAC and president of the International Commission on Optics, served as a committee member. The sponsoring society members of the USAC, particularly SPIE and the Optical Society of America (OSA), have pledged their active engagement in report dissemination. Visit the National Academies Press homepage and read or download this report for free.

Rio+20

Over 1,000 people attended the Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro from June 11-15, with many more watching the live webcast and interacting via social media. The forum brought together scientists, policymakers, industry, NGOs, journalists and youth from the world over to exchange ideas, solutions and policy recommendations.

Future Earth, a new 10-year interdisciplinary initiative on research for global sustainability was launched at the Forum. For more information, please visit http://www.icsu.org/future-earth.

The final outcome document on “The Future We Want” can be viewed here. It contains several important references to science.

Please visit the forum website to view sessions, photos, and blog and media highlights: www.icsu.org/rio20/science-and-technology-forum

 

2013-2014 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Opportunities
Up to 49 grants are available in the 2013-2014 competition for U.S. academics, professionals, and mid-career researchers to teach and/or conduct research in Brazil. The governments of the United States and Brazil, through the U.S.-Brazil Fulbright Commission, are expanding teaching and research exchange opportunities in science and technology through the new Fulbright-Science Without Borders Scholar Program. For more information, please view the flyer. Description copied from flyer.

Sponsor
BISO is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0614728.