This award is to support participation by six scientists, four from the United States, and two from the Middle East and South Asia, in a U.S.-Pakistan Workshop, and the associated International symposium, on `Nitrogen Fixation with Non-Legumes` to be held in Faisalabad, Pakistan, October 16-21, 1996. The organizers are Dr. Frans deBruijn of the Department of Microbiology at Michigan State University, in East Lansing, MI, and Dr. Kauser Malik, Director, National Institute for Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) in Faisalabad, Pakistan. The meeting is intended to :1. report and discuss the results of recent research being carried out on nitrogen fixation with non-legumes and to assess the potential for enhancement of crop productivity; 2. to provide opportunities for U.S. and Pakistani scientists to establish contacts and to develop collaborative research projects in this area; and 3. to identify various aspects of nitrogen fixation research which should be emphasized in the immediate future. The proceedings are expected to be published and to become widely available to U.S. scientists and to scientists in other countries interested in this topic. Scope: This award is to fund travel of four U.S. scientists and two key scientists from developing countries to participate in an important workshop and symposium where discussions will deal with a topic of great importance to most of the agrarian countries in the world. The research results to be discussed, and the deliberations on future research are intended to accomplish the twin objectives of reducing the burden of the cost of nitrogen fertilizers, and also reduce the pollution from the manufacture and use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. The resulting collaborative research would involve a group of active young researchers from Pakistan, a predominantly agricultural country, with scientists from the United States, in various fundamental science topics, including genetics, biochemistry and physiology, that are related to enhancing nitrogen fixation in non-legumes. The project meets the objectives of the Division of International Programs in promoting collaboration with foreign scientists in areas of mutual interest.
