ABSTRACT CTS-9413259 J. Zemel and J. Santiago-Aviles University of Pennsylvania will organize "coalition" of universities to promote joint research and educational projects between U.S. universities and institutions from Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico). The research topics will cover water quality control, flow measurements, biosensors and actuators, and turbulent flow studies. A network of six universities has been created, and other universities will be contacted for their collaboration after the coalition will be active. The co-P.I.s plan to apply the "sandwich" program for graduate students, where the students conduct research in two universities and receive joint degrees. The research topics were selected to be suitable for the group of Latin American countries involved. A main benefit of the proposed coalition is the student and faculty exchange program. Secondary benefits of this experiment are networking of researchers from different countries, and the generation of common data bases to serve the community at large. The development of joint educational and research projects with Latin America is of importance for the U. S. community. If successful, the proposed educational/research coalition may provide useful results in research and human resources in several countries, as well as a reference for future collaborative projects. ***
