UA News

Currently, there are 53 graduate students and three binational research and outreach programs at the UA that receive funds from CONACYT.

Juan Carlos Romero-Hicks, director general of CONACYT, the Mexican Science and Technology Council, met with University of Arizona President Robert N. Shelton and other University leaders on Tuesday to announce the establishment of a U.S.-Mexico border research initiative.

During his visit, Romero-Hicks met with Shelton, Joaquin Ruiz, dean of the College of Science, Maria Teresa Velez, associate dean of the UA graduate college, Francisco Marmolejo, assistant vice president of the UA's Western Hemispheric Programs, and other UA representatives who work closely with CONACYT-funded programs at the UA.

CONACYT is a grant-making agency in Mexico with a role similar to that of the National Science Foundation in the U.S. It works to develop and strengthen ties that will allow for collaborative research as well as the exchange of graduate students and faculty between the UA and Mexican institutions.

Romero-Hicks, former governor of Guanajuato and former president of the University of Guanajuato, oversees CONACYT, Mexico's principal federal agency responsible for innovation, science, technology, policy, research and programs, including the funding of Mexican graduate students studying in Mexico and abroad.

During his remarks, Romero-Hicks acknowledged the leadership of the UA in a variety of areas including borderlands research.

According to Romero-Hicks, this leadership is the main reason why CONACYT has decided to join efforts with the UA in the development of a unique U.S.-Mexico border research initiative to be launched officially before this summer. This program will make funds available for faculty and student exchanges and for the development of specific binational collaborative research partnerships in areas such as water, sustainable energy, optics, environment, education, health, security, transportation and food, among others.

Romero-Hicks was joined during his visit by Jose Antonio De la Peña, deputy director for academic and scientific development at CONACYT.

Currently, there are three binational research and outreach programs at the UA that receive funds from CONACYT, said Marmolejo, who also serves as executive director for the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration.

The three programs are: the U.S.-Mexico Binational Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology, the Binational Optics Consortium and the U.S.-Mexico Lymphotoxicology Consortium. During the session with Romero-Hicks, presentations were made showing examples of the innovative exchanges between the UA and universities in Mexico that have developed through the partnership.

One example included the work UA students and their university counterparts working in Mexico have had in the development of scientific discovery toward practical applications using clues from the genealogy of venomous animals through research led by a collaboration of scientists working with the UA's Leslie Boyer, director of VIPER (Venom Immunochemistry, Pharmacology and Emergency Response).

Another CONACYT collaborative example was presented by Ken Smith, professor of the Eller College of Management, wherein UA graduate students in science and business have been working with Mexican scientists to identify innovations at three Mexican research optics centers that are being transformed into promising business enterprises. The goal of the collaboration is to develop institutional capacity for technological innovation with business applications in Mexico.

During her presentation, Velez said there are currently 53 graduate students enrolled at the UA pursuing a variety of degrees thanks to funding from CONACYT. The UA has the greatest number of CONACYT-funded students outside of Mexico.

Velez also presented data on a UA undergraduate research summer program that recruits Mexican students in their last few semesters of bachelor's degree study to conduct research with UA scientists. By participating in this program, students are more likely to continue their graduate studies at UA.

"The collaboration with CONACYT and with Mexican universities has really helped to recruit top-level Mexican graduate students and to engage our institution in productive research collaboration with Mexico," Velez said.

Shelton created the Office of Western Hemispheric Programs to identify collaborative opportunities for the UA with Canada, Mexico and Latin America, which in addition to the UA's ties with CONACYT, works to develop student and faculty exchanges and research exchanges.