PORTUGAL: S&T SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LISBON 000513 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR OES/STC, EUR/WE KEVIN OPSTRUP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TSPA TBIO SENV PREL PO SUBJECT: PORTUGAL: S&T SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING HIGHLIGHTS SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. In preparation for the February 21 Bilateral Commission, Embassy officials met with Portuguese counterparts on February 14 to review and discuss bilateral science and technology (S&T) cooperation. Discussions focused on climate change, renewable energies, and the Embassy Science Fellows (ESF) Program. The Portuguese delegation provided updates on various partnerships between the Portuguese institutions and American universities. END SUMMARY. COMMITTEE MEMBERS -------------- ¶2. On February 14, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted the S&T Subcommittee meeting in preparation for the February 21 Bilateral Commission. The Embassy delegation was led by the Pol/Econ Counselor and included the Deputy Pol/Econ Counselor and a Pol/Econ Officer. The Portuguese delegation was led by Manuel Grainha do Vale, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Americas Office, Henrique Azevedo, Desk Officer at the MFA's Americas Office, Ana Faisca, Director of the Department of European, Bilateral and Multilateral Relations at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education's Foundation of Science and Technology (MCTES/FCT), Sofia Seabra, Director of International Cooperation at MCTES/FCT, and Rui Manuel Pinheiro de Oliveira Gomes Vallera, Advisor at the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD). CLIMATE CHANGE & WIREC 2008 -------------- ¶3. The Pol/Econ Counselor discussed the important role that climate change has played since the May 2007 S&T Subcommittee meeting. He highlighted the September visits of White House Council on Environmental Quality James Connaughton and EU Special Envoy Boyden Gray to Lisbon to discuss the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change, and the visits of Governors Jonathan Corzine (D-NJ) and Eliot Spitzer (D-NY) who attended the signing ceremony of the International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) in October. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also participated via digital video conference. ¶4. Pol/Econ Counselor also highlighted the Washington International Renewable Energies Conference (WIREC) 2008, which will be the third global ministerial-level conference on renewable energies. Economy Minister Manuel Pinho will lead the Portuguese WIREC delegation. THE EMBASSY SCIENCE FELLOWS (ESF) PROGRAM -------------- ¶5. Pol/Econ Officer announced that the Embassy Science Fellows (ESFs) Program, which was placed on hold during Portugal's EU Presidency, will recommence with two ESFs from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),a specialist on climate change and a marine ecologist. The Pol/Econ Officer also briefed on the recent activities of previous ESFs. Elizabeth Williams from NASA arranged for a Portuguese flag to be flown onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis during its June 2007 mission to the International Space Station. This flag was presented to the University of Coimbra's Museum of Science during its first anniversary celebration in December. Kathleen Collins from the National Institutes of Health joined with FLAD to create a three-year conference series on tropical diseases. The first conference, which focused on tuberculosis, took place in October 2007 and the next two conferences on malaria and HIV/AIDS will take place in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Larry Suter from the National Science Foundation participated in a lecture on student achievement in mathematics at the Gulbenkian, while Ann Marie Thro from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is working with the University of Coimbra to arrange for an American professor to teach statistics there. NASA COOPERATION -------------- ¶6. In November 2007, NASA hosted its fifth annual technical workshop in cooperation with the Portuguese Center for Pollution Prevention (Centro para Prevencao da Poluicao aka C3P). The workshop focused on environmental and energy issues that are common to Portuguese and American industries, and on current and future projects between the two organizations. Of particular emphasis, several technical sessions were devoted to the pollution cleanup and renewable energy initiatives planned for the Berlenga Grand Island. NUCLEAR REACTOR FUEL CONVERSION -------------- ¶7. In summer 2007, the Portuguese Technological and Nuclear Institute (ITN) successfully converted highly enriched uranium in Portugal's only nuclear research reactor to low enriched uranium. Officials from both the U.S. Department of LISBON 00000513 002 OF 002 Energy and its Argonne National Laboratory visited Lisbon in November to discuss the results of the project and while an exact date has not been set, the uranium will be returned to the U.S. in 2008. INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS WITH AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS -------------- -------------- ¶8. The MCTES/FCT representatives updated the S&T Subcommittee on the status of international partnerships between several Portuguese universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Texas-Ausin (UTAustin),and pending agreements with Harvard University's School of Medicine, Thomas Jefferson University and Columbia University. In 2007, seven new PhD and advanced studies programs were created under the MIT-Portugal initiative in energy systems, leadership, technology management, bioengineering, and transportation systems; four master degree and five PhD programs under the CMU-Portugal initiative in software engineering and information and communications technologies; and a new technology transfer program in digital/multimedia, advanced computing and S&T commercialization under the UTAustin initiative. MCTES/FCT also funded 124 international fellowships, two of which were awarded to American students, to study in Portugal. Twelve Portuguese students were selected to participate in the Fulbright Program. ¶9. The MFA delegation members discussed current and future research cooperation agreements on topics ranging from marine ecology to computer science between the Portuguese National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) and the University of Oregon, Old Dominion University, the University of Delaware, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT),and the National Science Foundation (NSF). ¶10. The FLAD representative spoke about an educational program at Coimbra University's hospital where life-like and human-scale medical models from Harvard's Medical Center are being used to train doctors in simulated emergency rooms. Stephenson