The proposal is for support of an Advanced Study Institute (ASI) for US-Africa on Environmental and Biological Applications of Lasers (EBAL 2008), to be held in Cairo, Egypt in January 2008. The collaborating scientists are Dr. Sekazi Mtingwa, Senior Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Harith, National Institute of Laser Enhanced Science (NILES) at Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. The ASI will provide education and training for both U.S. and African advanced graduate students, and selected HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the U.S.) faculty who would like to acquire sufficient knowledge to begin having an impact in these research areas. At the same time, EBAL 2008 will allow a distinguished group of U.S. and African researchers to chart future directions for applying lasers to environmental and biological problems. Specifically the objectives are: 1) Host an advanced research and learning institute by bringing together U.S. and African experts, post-docs, advanced graduate students, and other researchers, including HBCU faculty, and giving them a state-of-the-art, cutting edge view of important and exciting research directions; 2) Share information on new breakthroughs in the field; 3) Explore the commonality of interests and promote collaborations between U.S. and African researchers, with special attention to promoting women in the research enterprise; 4) Establish joint research projects among different participating Institutions. The meeting will expose U.S. and African advanced graduate students at the beginning of their careers to research directions that could have the greatest positive impact on the world's environment and health. The African effort is to focus primarily on experimental studies. The latter is conducted mainly at the participating laboratories of the African Laser Centre www.africanlasercentre.org , which is a recently created network of laboratories strategically located at over thirty institutions on the African continent to promote laser research and training activities. The U.S. organizers will select U.S. postdocs and advanced graduate students and assist with the selection of African advanced graduate students. Also, the U.S. organizers will select U.S. faculty and senior researchers based upon their prominence in the fields of interest or their desire to acquire the research knowledge and tools necessary to pursue these disciplines. Intellectual merit: The project is to bridge the gap between US and African science, as leading US and African researchers will have the opportunity to exchange ideas and make new connections. The EBAL 2008 Institute will have a focus on both experimental and theoretical methodologies of the interaction of laser light with environmental and biological systems. The speakers will present the combination of current theory and cutting-edge experiments of lasers for detection of environmental pollutants, agricultural methods, photodynamic therapies, and microbiological applications. The topics offers capabilities for advanced research activity on both microscopic (atoms, molecules, and cellular) and macroscopic (tissues, liquids, and gaseous) scales. The array of research topics provides a strong balance of appropriateness and expertise. The research projects and associated teams provide a diverse opportunity for new collaborations in meaningful areas such as medicine, agriculture, and meteorology for Africa. The PI, the host institution, and the participating colleagues have a solid, collective research track record and large doctoral student-base that will promote an increase of under-represented minorities in STEM and the laser sciences in particular. Broader impacts: The ASI will be beneficial to both U.S. and African advanced graduate students and post-docs, and provides for involvement of men and women African American faculty, researchers, and students, along with their African counterparts. The PI and co-organizers present a diverse U.S. and international group of faculty well-suited to conduct the proposed Institute and promote ongoing research in Egypt, South Africa, and other African countries in this field. Through the connections made at the EBAL meeting, new avenues for collaboration will be developed. This meeting opens up a currently scientifically underserved part of the world to US researchers, and exposes US researchers to colleagues in Africa, to help advance research on both continents. The topic is sufficiently broad enough, but at the same time very timely, and could blend over into such rapidly growing fields as biofuels or medical applications of lasers. The ASI further promotes global awareness by all parties involved and creates interesting possibilities for global exchange of students, postdocs, and researchers.
