International Collaborations

Overview. The UMN MRSEC faculty members have established numerous strong international collaborations (a total of 63 individuals in 50 international institutions). Though many of these interactions have been established based on the reputation of the faculty alone, some have been facilitated by the visibility of the Center and the access to its resources. We encourage existing interactions and the development of new ones, with a particular focus on opening avenues to international laboratories for junior faculty, who typically have not yet established international connections. Our overall goal is to expand the impact of the Center beyond the U.S., leverage resources in partner institutions, and provide our graduate students and postdocs with an increased awareness of research at the international level. Specific MRSEC-sponsored international efforts include:

Interactions with Korea. The UMN MRSEC and CEMS is implementing a recently established cooperative agreement with the Brain Korea-21 (BK-21) program, which is supported by the Korea Ministry of Education. This program sponsors graduate students from Seoul National and Pohang Universities who perform research at the UMN with full financial support - stipend, research expenses, tuition, and housing - from BK-21. The UMN and BK-21 program rely on a protocol wherein a student from one of the BK-21 institutions, the student's BK-21 faculty advisor, and a UMN research faculty member draft a written research proposal that describes the scope of research, a work plan, and expected contributions of each individual. This formalized procedure was devised to ensure a high-quality research experience that is beneficial to all the participants. The UMN MRSEC and the KOSEF-ERC, centered at Korea University, also recently entered an agreement aimed at collaborative interactions. For a list of BK-21 participants, click here.

International symposia. The UMN MRSEC, Max Planck Institut für Polymerforschung (MPI, Mainz, Germany), and the Weizmann Institute (Rehovot, Israel) will continue their rotating joint symposia, which was inaugurated in the summer of 2001 at the MPI with a symposium on "Functional Nanostructures." These "family meetings" are designed to catalyze collaborations between the participating institutions, with a particular focus on jumpstarting interactions involving junior faculty in these institutions. We are extending the sphere of European institutions to the Risø Laboratory in Denmark, and Université Louis Pasteur and the Charles Sadron Institute, both in Strasbourg, France. The visiting institutions are responsible for travel expenses incurred by their participants. The host institution bears responsibility for local expenses such as housing, meals and meeting accommodations. The next symposium will be held at the UMN in Winter Y2003.