UA opens Mexico office to bolster research efforts
BYLINE: Michelli Murphy, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson
Oct. 13--The University of Arizona has opened a Mexico City office to foster collaborative research and solve problems affecting both sides of the border.
The purpose of the satellite office is "to engage in collaborative efforts in research and innovation so we can contribute, in the long run, to the economic development of both Arizona and Mexico," Manager Jose Lever said in a phone interview from Mexico City.
The office, an extension of the UA's new Office of Western Hemispheric Programs, will strengthen the long history of scientific and economic collaboration with Mexico, said Joaquin Ruiz, dean of the UA College of Science.
Mexico is "working hard to become an economic power," Ruiz said, and has an "incredible amount of scientific strength" to offer.
That strength has already manifested itself in the optics arena and resulted in the 2003 partnership between the UA and Mexico's federal science and technology program to help bring Mexico's optical technologies to market.
Mexico has also been a long-time contributor to UA research in the geographic and ecological sciences, said Ruiz.
Identifying all the areas of common interest between UA and Mexican researchers is the current goal, Lever said.
Because Mexico faces so many of the same environmental issues as Arizona, it makes an ideal research partner, Ruiz said.
The satellite office has already played a role in supplying two board members for the UA Biosphere 2, Lever said.
Under UA management since June, Biosphere 2 will be a center for scientific research addressing global environmental change, according to the Biosphere 2 Web site.
Jose Sarukhan, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Adrian Fernandez, president of the National Institute of Ecology, will contribute to the efforts to solve environmental problems, said Lever.
Beside university funding, the satellite office receives financial aid from federal and scientific organizations in Mexico, Lever said.
--Contact NASA Space Grant intern Michelli Murphy at 573-4197 or at mmurphy@azstarnet.com
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