The proposal seeks NSF support for twelve controls and signal processing researchers and teachers from the U.S.A. to attend a joint Balkan/USA/EC/Japan workshop on research and education in control and signal processing. Similar proposals have been submitted to the EC and Japan to support attendance by members of those communities. Approximately three-dozen attendees from the Balkans are expected. The intellectual merit of having a delegation of twelve Americans participate in such a workshop is in the opportunities to learn from the other participants and in the opportunities to teach them. There will be many attendees who are outstanding in their specialties. Because of the recent troubles in the Balkans, many of their excellent researchers have been isolated from the rest of the research community. This will be an opportunity for us to learn of their work and for them to catch up with what we have been doing. The broader impacts of such a joint workshop are large. First, the Balkan countries have been a source of many outstanding researchers in the past. The workshop will help bring younger researchers and students from the Balkans into the broader international research community. Second, the meeting itself will help foster further collaboration between the participants, their institutions, and their countries. Lastly, such meetings generally contribute to broader understanding among people and nations.
