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News from ICTP 111 - Monitor
ICTP, Iran Ministry
Sign MOU
Jafar
Towfighi Darian (centre), Iranian Minister of Science, Research
and Technology, visited ICTP on 22 November to sign a memorandum
of understanding (MOU) with the Centre that calls for the creation
of two joint postdoctoral positions, co-sponsored by ICTP and
the Ministry, in basic physics and mathematics; the expansion
of the existing federation agreement between ICTP and Isfahan
University of Technology to include an additional university;
and the admission of up to two Ph.D. students each year in a 'sandwich'
programme funded jointly by ICTP and the ministry. ICTP and the
ministry also agreed to explore the establishment of cooperative
regional activities.
Pius Yasebasi Ng'wandu, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education of Tanzania, met with ICTP officials and staff on 30 November. Discussions focused on ways ICTP could be of even greater help to sub-Saharan Africa. The minister acknowledged the enormous contribution that ICTP has made to the physics and mathematics communities throughout the region. But he also stated that he believes that more can be done, especially in areas where science can be put to use to improve the lives of the region's most impoverished citizens.
Djoomart Kaipovich Otorbaev (left), Deputy Prime Minister of the Kyrgyzstan Republic, accompanied by Minister Giancarlo Riccio, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, met with ICTP director K.R. Sreenivasan on 8 November to discuss opportunities for additional collaboration between Kyrgyzstan and ICTP.
Arthur J. Carty (left), the Canadian government's National Science Advisor, visited Trieste's scientific institutions on 6 December to discuss possible avenues of international scientific co-operation, especially in nanotechnology. Carty learned about the full range of scientific research in Trieste through a series of presentations that included talks by ICTP director, K.R. Sreenivasan (centre), and AREA Science Park president, Maria Cristina Pedicchio. He also visited Elettra Synchrotron Light Laboratory and the Centre for Molecular Biomedicine in AREA Science Park. The last stop on his day-long tour was ICTP on the Miramare campus. He was accompanied by Paul Dufour, Senior Advisor on International Affairs, and John Picard, Director of the Science and Technology Program of the Canadian Embassy in Rome, Italy.
ICTP's Pakistan Chapter
Mohammad Khaleeq-ur-Rahman, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, and former ICTP Associate Arshad Saleem Bhatti, University of the Punjab, Lahore, have been elected president and secretary of the Pakistan Chapter of ICTP. They will replace former ICTP Associates Imtinan Elahi Qureshi, Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Islamabad, and Anis Alam, University of the Punjab, Lahore. The Pakistan Chapter, which is celebrating its second anniversary, serves as a forum for the distribution of information on ICTP activities and, more generally, on research in physics and mathematics. For additional information, contact arshadsb@lhr.paknet.com.pk.
Public Eye
ICTP director Katepalli R. Sreenivasan, along with University of Trieste Rector Domenico Romeo, participated in a public forum, "Moving Lives: Fluidity and Exchange Inside the Science Community," held at Teatro Miela in downtown Trieste on 10 November. Sreenivasan and Romeo spoke about Trieste's enhanced role in international science and praised the community's response to Open Day (see News from ICTP, Autumn 2004, p. 12), expressing hope that this event will mark the beginning of stronger ties between Trieste's scientific community and the public.
Trieste's local television station, Tele4, broadcast
an interview with Seifallah Randjbar-Daemi, head of ICTP's
High Energy, Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics group, on 12
November, exploring his work as a scientist and his personal experiences
as a resident of Italy for the past 20 years.
Retirements
Hilda Cerdeira, staff member of the ICTP Condensed Matter
and Statistical Physics group and head of the eJournals Delivery
Service, has retired. Cerdeira, who arrived at ICTP in 1986 to
help Stig Lundqvist organise the Adriatico Research Conferences,
subsequently played a major role in the development of the Centre's
research and training activities. She assisted in organising workshops
and conferences in condensed matter physics and was the lead person
in the Centre's efforts to expand electronic access to scientific
literature for scientists working in the developing world, especially
in the least developed countries (LDCs). Cerdeira will relocate
to Brazil to join her family and friends. The Centre thanks her
for her service and wishes her well.
Faheem Hussain, head of ICTP's Office of External Activities from 1998 to 2004, retired on 15 December. Born in India and educated in the United Kingdom, Hussain first came to ICTP in June 1970 to attend a summer school in high energy physics. During the 1980s, he became a frequent visitor to the Centre, initially as an Associate and then as a visiting scientist in the High Energy Physics group. In 1990, he was hired as a permanent staff member and given the task of helping to launch the Diploma Programme. He was a representative of ICTP's staff union for two terms. Hussain will also be fondly remembered for organising weekly cricket matches for visitors and staff. Hussain will be relocating to Pakistan to teach physics. He will be missed.
Global Security
ICTP hosted the XVI Amaldi Conference on Problems of Global Security
on 18-22 November. The three-day event, which was sponsored by
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Italy, featured discussions
on the problems of providing independent scientific advice to
governmental security policy; nuclear weapons, biological weapons
and biodefence research; and dual use technologies.
Wolfgang K.H. Panofsky
More than 25 scientists from 13 nations and international organisations were in attendance.
IN MEMORIAM
Gabriel Olalere Ajayi, an ICTP Associate from 1992-2004, died on 12 December 2004, in Abuja, Nigeria. He was 63. Ajayi played an essential role in developing ICTP's activities for the advancement of information and communication technologies in Nigeria and he lectured regularly at the Centre's annual schools on digital radiocommunication. A former professor at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, Ajayi was the director general and chief executive officer of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Federal Ministry of Science and Technology. His professional experience covered a wide range of activities in telecommunications, broadcasting and computers, including teaching, training, research and development. His friends at ICTP extend their condolences to his family and colleagues.
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