Foundation Works with Scientists in Uzbekistan on Research Projects

06/04/2009

Steven Bergen (right), a program manager with the U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation, speaks with Dr. Mansur Amonov of the Tashkent State Agrarian University near a device that takes air samples at the Hydrometeorological Research Institute

Representatives of a U.S. program that funds scientific research in nations of the former Soviet Union visited Uzbekistan in May and June to evaluate projects that could improve air quality, advance medical techniques and lead to new types of digital video screens.

Julie Wilson and Steve Bergen were in Tashkent and Bukhara from May 27 to June 3 for site visits of four projects funded by the U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation (CRDF). The foundation, established in 1995 by the U.S. Congress, uses U.S. Government funds to support science projects through grants, technical support and training. Many of the projects are collaborative efforts between U.S. scientists and their colleagues in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

The support is meant to provide scientists, many of whom previously worked on weapons projects, with civilian research opportunities. The goal is to further non-proliferation efforts while encouraging technical innovations that will help their respective economies.

Nearly 80 percent of the projects result in publications in scientific peer-reviewed journals. Most of CRDF’s funding comes from the U.S. State Department, National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.

This is highly technical scientific research: Among the projects in Uzbekistan is one at the Institute of Nuclear Physics entitled “Nonconventional Tight-Binding Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Silicon Nanoparticles,” which CRDF says aims to improve nanotechnology, with applications in photovoltaics and bio-imaging. Another project, at the Tashkent State Technical University’s Center of Science and Progress, is called “Molar Mass Distribution and Structural Parameters of Water-Soluble Polymers and their Derivatives.” It has medical applications in anti-viral and anti-bacterial research. 

Other projects in Uzbekistan are one that monitors air samples in a study meant to characterize and improve air quality in Tashkent, and another that analyzes strategies for reducing health risks among intravenous drug users.

Wilson and Bergen said they were impressed with the progress of each of the projects in Uzbekistan, and that CRDF has seen very positive results from other projects here. They noted that in a recent evaluation of CRDF-supported research facilities in eight countries, the Regional Experimental Support Center at the Uzbek Heat Physics Institute was rated as one of the top facilities.

They also noted that researchers in Uzbekistan and the U.S. had collaborated on several successful projects.

“U.S. collaborators were highly enthusiastic about the research being conducted, and the site visits demonstrated how the projects offered benefits to both U.S. and Uzbek teams. … Collaborative research projects also allow both Uzbek and U.S. scientists access to technologies or methods that might otherwise have been unavailable,” Wilson and Bergen wrote in a report from their visit. “Administrators of funded institutions were extremely supportive of their researchers.”

The CRDF representatives said they planned future projects in Uzbekistan, with a particular focus on water and agricultural issues. They said CRDF was eager to expand environmental research in Uzbekistan and has been in discussions with officials in the Government of Uzbekistan about cooperative projects.