UNM has received a $100,000 National Science Foundation grant to hold a two-week interdisciplinary science institute in Argentina in June.
Professor V.M. Kenkre, director of the Consortium of the Americas for Interdisciplinary Science at UNM, is in Argentina making arrangements with local organizers of the scientific conference, which is sponsored by UNM and will be in Bariloche.
The consortium, housed in UNM's Physics Department, was established in July to encourage collaborations between top American and Latin American scientists in the areas of nanoscience, computationally complex systems and novel materials. The grant is one of five of its type, with UNM receiving it for the second time in three years, according to a recent University statement.
Kenkre said he will be making a presentation in Buenos Aires about the consortium and will be attending the International Complex Fluids Conference where he will talk about his research on granular materials.
He said the two-week institute in June titled, "Modern Challenges in Statistical Mechanics: Patterns, Noise and the Interplay of Non-linearity and Complexity," will bring established scientists together with 60 young researchers and students from the United States and Latin America to foster discussions on the cutting edge of the scientific topics.
"The young people will get hands-on experience of how interdisciplinary science thinking is done by the world experts in the field," Kenkre said.
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He added that the selection process will be rigorous but expected some UNM students to be chosen.
As director of the Center for Advanced Studies at UNM from 1996 to 2000, Kenkre established collaborations at the University with several high profile research centers in places such as Denmark, Russia, Australia, Italy and South America.
The consortium has had seven workshops in Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Albuquerque. Kenkre was on the organizing committee of three of them.
He said Los Alamos National Laboratories has given UNM $450,000 to make the consortium a reality and has supported it in many ways.
Alan Bishop, director of the Theory Division at Los Alamos National Laboratories and a well-known physicist, will be one of 12 distinguished lecturers at the scientific workshop in Argentina. The Department of Energy has also funded the consortium.
Fritz Allen, deputy dean of Arts and Sciences, said the consortium has far surpassed his expectations, citing numerous publications that have resulted from the workshops.
"I was especially pleased that the Consortium of the Americas has continued to offer the workshops that have been its mainstay while greatly increasing its extramural funding and network of interactions within the state."
In addition, he said the consortium also helps to recruit Latin American graduate students into the science and engineering programs at UNM.
Kenkre said he believes that the flavor of UNM, along with its surroundings and capabilities, makes it better suited to Latin American interdisciplinary activities than any other university in the country.
He said he has always wanted to see UNM develop its international research collaborations and interdisciplinary research connections.
"The former brings together nations, the latter disciplines. I am delighted it is all happening through the consortium," he said.
He said the scientific conferences will establish lifelong friendships between the young people from various countries, leading to improved understanding.
For more information, visit panda.unm.edu/consort/consortium.html.
