This Pan-American Advanced Studies Institutes (PASI) award, jointly supported by the NSF and the Department of Energy (DOE), will take place June-July, 2009 at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution in Balboa, Panama. Organized by Dr. Rachel Collin of the Smithsonian Institution, the PASI will provide advanced international graduate students, post-docs, and young investigators in state-of-the-art methods and concepts for the study of tropical algae. The proposed PASI will combine lectures, laboratory exercises, and fieldwork led by a diverse group of established experts and young professionals in one of the richest algal floras of the Caribbean.
The activity will introduce young participants from throughout the Americas to the possibility of conducting research in a high-tech research facility in the Western tropics. The PASI will strengthen existing relationships and ultimately, help to establish new collaborations between junior and senior researchers in Latin America and their counterparts in North America. PASI results will be disseminated through a comprehensive website, including methodological protocols and bioinformatics results and reports from exercises conducted during the workshop. Bilingual teaching materials will be generated for download by K-12 and undergraduate educators. Updates from participants on future collaborative and international projects in their regions of study will be posted regularly.
