Beyond Boundaries

Fostering S&T Networking Beyond Boundaries Bilateral Workshops 2007- 2012 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Indo-US Science and Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking Beyond Boundaries Bilateral Workshops 2007- 2012 Indo-US Science and Technology Forum From the Executive Director’s Desk I The Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) established under an agreement between the Governments of India and the United States of America in March 2000, is an automomous, not-for-profit-society that promotes science, technology, engineering and biomedical research through substantive interaction among government, media and industry. t has always been the endeavor of IUSSTF to catalyze, promote and support capacity building and networking activities in areas of importance to the US and India. Over the years, we have been getting a large number of proposals for joint workshops/training schools and joint networked research and development centers through our regular call for proposals. After a competitive review process, the IUSSTF supports about 20 to 25% of these proposals.These workshops are aimed to disseminate information and create awareness on topical and thematic areas of interest through substantive interaction between Indian and American scientists and researchers from academia, laboratories and industry with the explicit aim to develop sustained linkages. The success of these workshops have been amply demonstrated by joint publications, patents, reciprocal student and faculty exchanges, and most significantly in the ability of some of the participating groups to garner national funding in their respective countries by showcasing the strength and value of such networked partnerships enabled through IUSSTF support. We feel proud to mention that in January 2011, IUSSTF crossed the milestone of catalyzing and supporting 200 India-US bilateral workshops since the inception of IUSSTF in March 2000. In this compilation, we have put together the details of workshops held during 2007-2012. We hope that this information would be helpfulforinterested Indian and US scientists in specific areas to network together as we believe that this bilateral networking has a considerable potential for Indo-US collaboration to derive synergy from complementary individual strengths in diverse areas of Science and Technology. We look forward to a continued support to groom and connect the next generation of scientists and researchers which will shape the future of science and technology cooperation between India and the United States. Rajiv Sharma Executive Director Contents Preface / From the Executive Director’s Desk�� 1 2012 January - March�� 8 April - June.......................................................................................................................................... 27 July - September�� 29 October - December�� 35 2011 January - March�� 39 April - June.......................................................................................................................................... 53 July - September�� 57 October - December�� 61 2010 January - March�� 75 April - June.......................................................................................................................................... 84 July - September�� 58 October - December�� 88 2009 January - March�� 99 April - June........................................................................................................................................ 107 July - September�� 110 October - December�� 112 2008 January - June�� 125 July - September�� 132 October - December�� 136 2007 January - March�� 149 April - June........................................................................................................................................ 158 July - September�� 161 October - December�� 163 Bilateral Workshops 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Cellular and Molecular Medicine : Cancer, Stem Cells and Inflammation Looking within; Interdisciplinary Approaches to Consciousness Christian Medical College 05-07 January 2012 | Vellore, India National Institute of Advanced Studies 05-07 January 2012 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators B.S. Ramakrishna Shiv Pillai Christian Medical College, Vellore Email: rama@cmcvellore.ac.in Key Participants India Satyajit Rath National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi Gagandeep Kang Christian Medical College, Vellore B.S. Ramakrishna | Alok Srivastava Christian Medical College, Vellore Vikram Mathews | Jayandharan G Rao Christian Medical College, Vellore Maneesha Inamdar Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore Annapoorani Rangarajan Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Sayan Basu LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad USA Shiv Pillai Harvard Medical School, Boston Anindya Dutta University of Virginia School of Medicine Lalita Ramakrishnan University of Washington David Scadden Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Konrad Hochedlinger Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Mahendra Rao NIH Center for Regenerative Medicine, Bethesda 8 Harvard Medical School Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston Email: pillai@helix.mgh.harvard.edu W e are now at a watershed in molecular medicine where the rapid advances in cellular and molecular biology of the last few decades can be linked to an unprecedented amount of sequence information from human disease subjects obtained from powerful next generation sequencing approaches. Communication and collaboration between investigators in the US and India in the context of this exciting era was the goal of this symposium on Cellular and molecular medicine: cancer, stem cells, and inflammation. The four goals of this event were: a) To make available to a broader Indian audience of basic science investigators, biomedical investigators, health care professionals, graduate students and medical students, research findings from leading laboratories in India, the US and elsewhere; b) To foster discussion and collaboration between investigators in India and investigators in the US, and also provide broader insights about the close links between basic science and translational research; c) To communicate basic knowledge about basic science and molecular medicine to medical and graduate students in a one-day primer linked to the symposium; and, d) Make science accessible to the general public in India and this was accomplished by two open plenary lectures by Nobel laureates. Sangeetha Menon National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore Email: prajnana@yahoo.com C onsciousness studies is an important scientific discipline that is emerging as one of the most significant areas of cutting edge research and would have a revolutionary impact on many fundamental concepts that we have today in brain sciences and physics. The Indo-US conference titled Looking within: interdisciplinary approaches to consciousness discussed merging areas of research in the country that included brain sciences, cognitive neuroscience, quantum neuro-physics, and neuropsychiatry. The conference educated students and researchers on the current debates in the field and helped identify new problems of research interest. The conference focused on three themes and dedicated one day each for the three focal areas: neurophysics, quantum mechanics, artificial intelligence; animal consciousness and cognitive neuroscience; and self in neuropsychiatry, neurophenemenology and neurophilosophy. l Mani L. Bhaumik University of California, Los Angles Email: mlbhaumik@earthlink.net Key Participants India Sisir Roy Indian Statistical Institute R Srikanth, Poornaprajna Institute of Scientific Research, Bangalore Shobini Rao NIMHANS, Bangalore Milind Watve Institute of Science Education and Research Pune B V Sreekatan | Anindya Sinha S P Arun | Malavika Kapur Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Shridhar Sarma Union of Psychiatry, Jaipure Nilanjana Sanyal University of Calcutta Gautam Chatterjee Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi Two major recommendations that stemmed out of this event were: (i) To create a train-the-trainers type of event where a structured kind of teaching is imparted to medical college basic science teachers to enhance the quality of teaching in our medical colleges; and (ii) To accelerate efforts to create MD-PhD programs in the country in order to create a cadre of physician-scientists. As an outcome of this event two joint projects were identified: one involving the University of Washington (Seattle) and CMC Vellore to generate a clinical trial, based on research findings at Seattle, to shorten the duration of treatment for patients with pulmonary tuberculosis; and another one to develop biomarkers to identify intestinal inflammation in early childhood as a predictor of long term growth and cognition between CMC Vellore and Tufts University (Boston, USA).l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum 2012 USA Mayank R Mehta Keck Center for Neurophysics Mani L Bhaumik University of California, Los Angles Ramanath Cowsik Washington University Robert Hampton Emory University Jonathan Shear Commonwealth University Philip Clayton Claremont Lincoln University Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 9 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Nanophotonics and Nanoplasmonics Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) and Aviation Aafety Indian Institute of Science 09-12 January 2012 | Bangalore, India National Aerospace Laboratories 09-10 January 2012 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Gary Wiederrecht Jaydeep Basu Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Email: basu@physics.iisc.ernet.in Key Participants India Sushil Mujumdar, TIFR Mumbai S. K. Ray, IIT Kharagpur D. N. Rao, University of Hyderabad N. R. Jana, IACS Kolkata S. A. Ramakrishna, IIT, Kanpur George K Thomas IISER, Thiruvananthapuram R. Vijaya, IIT, Bombay G. V. Prakash, IIT, Delhi A. Patra, IACS Kolkata D.D. Sarma Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore D. Chaudhuri, IISER, Kolkata S. Sapra, IIT Delhi USA Greg Salamo, University of Arkansas Stephen Gray Argonne National Laboratory Galina Khitrova University of Arizona Lasse Jensen Pennsylvania State University Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne Email: wiederrecht@anl.gov N anophotonics and nanoplasmonics have recently emerged as exciting and promising areas of research with the potential to provide solutions to various challenges in energy, communication and IT in the near future. Research in this area is beginning to gather momentum and has developed very rapidly in the US and India. As a result, collaborative research between scientists from these two countries can be mutually beneficial and keeping this in mind an IndoUS workshop on Nanophotonics and nanoplasmonics was organized. This event brought together top scientists from the United States and India to interact and exchange ideas on the present status and future prospects in the field. The conference addressed recent technological advances in these fields of that are of great importance to both countries, such as energy, communication and information technology, and bio-medical technology. C NASA Ames Research Center, California Email: ashok.n.srivastava@nasa.gov urrent generation aircrafts are complex systems and the next generation aircraft designs promise to be even more advanced. They will be equipped with the technologies to predict in real time, the onset of a fault, facilitate isolation and diagnosis of the fault, minimize the false alarms and enable prognosis of the subsystem/system life while accurately indicating the mission life at any instance continuing with the onboard faults, if any. Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) is an interdisciplinary area being pioneered by NASA involving academia, industry and researchers. It deals with the ever increasing complexity in aircraft system on one hand and a compulsion to have cost-effective maintenance on the other by incorporating the health management philosophies right at the design process. This facilitates an integrated maintenance and logistics system that supports the equipment throughout its life time. Contd. on pg. 38 Key Participants India Kota Harinarayana | DS Kothari DRDO Chair ADA Bangalore Vinay Jammu, GE –GRC, Prognostics Laboratory, Bangalore S. Gopalakrishnan, Dept of Aerospace Engg., IISc, Bangalore Nalinaksh Vyas | N C Nigam IIT Kanpur P Kallappa, India Science Lab, General Motors, Bangalore PS Krishnan, Director, ADE PR Viswanath, Boeing Research & Technology, India Yogesh Kumar, NAL-NCAD Sudarshan | R.M. Subramanya INFOSYS Consulting As an outcome of the workshop, the following three joint projects were formulated: Ultrafast plasmon-semiconductor coupling in copolymer environments (Jaydeep Basu, IISc and Gary Wiederrecht, Argonne National Laboratory); Electric field enhancements and other properties of metallic dimers (George Thomas, IISER Thiruvananthapuram and Stephen Gray, Argonne National Laboratory); and, Photoluminescence of quantum dot/metal nanoparticle systems (Jaydeep Basu, IISc Bangalore, Stephen Gray, Argonne National Laboratory, and Alexander Govorov, Ohio University). l USA Ashok Srivastava | Robert Mah Gary Hunter NASA Ames Research Center Pradeep Lall, Auburn University Eric Feron | Nagi Gebraeel | George Vachtsevanos Georgia Institute of Technology Natarajan Shankar, SRI International Michael Pecht, University of Maryland Dinkar Mylaraswamy Honeywell - Aerospace AT Prashant Kamat University of Notre Dame Pranav Patel, GE Aviation Alexander Govorov Ohio University Steven Holland, Warren MI USA Gary Wiederrecht Argonne National Laboratory Deepak Shankar, MIRABILIS Arvind Hosagrahara, Mathworks UA Ranjit | Sandeep | Preeti CALCE UMD Victor Klimov Los Alamos National Laboratory 10 Ashok Srivastava Satish Chandra National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore Email: schandra@nal.res.in; schandra.nal@gmail.com 2012 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 11 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 5Th Winter School of Immunology Frontiers of Excellence in Photovoltaic Science and Technologies International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology 10-15 January 2012 | Jodhpur, India IIT Bombay 15-17 January 2012 | Mumbai, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Kanury S.V. Rao Vijay K. Kuchroo International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi Email: kanury@icgeb.res.in Key Participants India Narinder Mehra All India Institute of Medical Research Kanury Rao ICGEB, New Delhi Pawan Sharma ICGEB, New Delhi USA Vijay Kuchroo Harvard Medical School, Boston Abul Abbas University of San Francisco San Francisco, California David Hafler Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT Yasmine Belkaide National Institutes of Health Bethesda, MD Janet Hafler Yale University School of Medicine New Haven, CT, USA Barbara Bierer Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston Shannon Turely Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston Harvard Medical School, Boston Email: vkuchroo@rics.bwh.harvard.edu T he course provided an intense and thorough exposure to basic immunology, infectious disease immunology and cancer immunology. The major components of the course were didactic lectures, open discussions (including discussions of new technologies), and clinical case discussions, over a period of 6 days. Prior to arrival at the course, the trainees were sent course schedule and were given copies of the presentation as a binder. A variety of interactive teaching strategies were employed within each day to enhance learning, such as lectures, round table discussions, individual meetings with the faculty members, problem-based learning tutorials and research seminars. The content in each session was designed to be integrated and to build upon a sound knowledge base in immunology. It was especially important to cover some of the basic aspects of Immunology before focusing on Infectious disease Immunology, Tumor Immunology and Biology, because many of the students did not have a good exposure or background in Immunology. The major topics included antigen presentation, immune regulation, tolerance, T cell differentiation, infectious diseases immunology, cancer immunity, and vaccination. The participants received about 30 hours of direct classroom instruction, 6 hours of selfstudy, and 10 hours of individual contact time with the faculty members. The problem-based tutorial discussions offered each participant with a typical day included one or two didactic lectures in the morning, an Immunology case Contd. on pg. 38 12 IIT Bombay, Mumbai Email: vasi@ee.iitb.ac.in Harvard University Email: shriram@seas.harvard.edu T Key Participants As part of the plenary talks, Prof. Anil Kakodkar emphasized the importance of harnessing solar energy and suggested that concentrated solar cell technology should also be looked at as a viable option; Prof. A.K. Barua gave an example of successful industrial implementation of amorphous silicon solar technology in the Indian context; and, Dr. Minh Le shared the perspective of the Department of Energy of the USA on solar and key problems they would like to get resolved for the deployment of PV technologies. The following recommendations were made at the end of the workshop: silicon based PV technology continues to have lots of room for innovation; encourage use of earth abundant material for PV fabrication for long term viability and sustainability; use of low-cost (including atmospheric) processing techniques that may be particularly relevant to Indian conditions; use of nanostructures as an important route for increased solar cell efficiency and stability; and, efficient tackling of stability issues in organic solar cells for them to find commercial applications and innovations continue to increase the cell efficiency. l Shiv Pillai Mass General, Boston Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Shriram Ramanathan Juzer Vasi he Government of India is committed to increasing power generation from renewable sources, especially solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies. This commitment has been clearly spelt out in its national action plan and the national solar mission statement. Similarly, the US has been giving tangible support and encouragement for solar PV development and deployment. In view of the critical importance of this area of research and development, an Indo-US workshop on Frontiers of excellence in photovoltaic science and technologies was organized. The workshop brought together researchers, scientists and technical experts from academia and industry, from India and the United States. The event helped benefit research, development and deployment of solar PV technologies in the immediate future in both the countries. Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2012 India Amlan J. Pal, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Ashok Kumar Barua, Bengal Engineering and Science University Durga Basak, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science Juzer Vasi, IIT Bombay K.P. Vijayakumar, Cochin University of Science & Technology K. S. Narayan Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research Satishchandra B. Ogale National Chemical Laboratories Satyendra Kumar, Lanco Solar Shaibal K Sarkar, IIT Bomaby Souvik Mahapatra, IIT Bombay S.Sundar Kumar Iyer, IIT Kanpur Viresh Dutta, IIT Delhi USA Ajeet Rohatgi Georgia Institute of Technology Charles Black Brookhaven National Laboratory Charlie Gay, Applied Materials Maikel Van Hest, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Mark S. Lundstrom Purdue University Minh Le, Department of Energy Rakesh Agrawal, Purdue University Shriram Ramanathan Harvard Univeristy Supratik Guha IBM Research (also adjunct faculty at Columbia University) Vikram Dalal, Iowa State University 13 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Intraplate Seismicity Nanoscience and Technology Institute of Seismological Research 16-18 January 2012 | Gandhinagar, India International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials 20-23 January, 2012 | Hyderabad, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators B.K. Rastogi Susan E. Hough Institute of Seismological Research, Gandhinagar Email: dg-isr@gujarat.gov.in; dgisrgad@gmail.com Key Participants India Harsh K Gupta, NDMA, New Delhi BK Rastogi, ISR, Gandhinagar VP Dimri | Mrinal K Sen NGRI, Hyderabad VC Thakur, WIHG, Dehradun KSR Murthy NIO, Visakhapatnam JR KayalJadavpur University, Kolkata Javed Malik, IIT, Kanpur SK Biswas, ONGC, Mumbai T Harinarayana, GERMI, Gujarat PBV Subba Rao, IIG, Mumbai CD Reddy, IIG, Mumbai Nilesh Bhatt, M S University, Baroda TJ Majumdar ISRO, Ahmedabad Prabhas Pande Formerly Adl DG, GSI, Kolkata Saurabh Baruah, NEIST, Jorhat NPC Rao | ML Gupta | D Sarkar K. Sain | A. Manglik | MM Dixit B. Singh | V. Gahalaut S. Roy | K Suryaprakasam PR Reddy | VM Tiwari P. Mandal | M Ravi Kumar NGRI, Hyderabad AG Chhatre, NPCIL, Mumbai USA P. Talwani Univ. of South Carolina Susan Hough | R.D. Catchings US Geological Survey 14 US Geological Survey, Pasadena Email: hough@gps.caltech.edu T he scientific issues associated with the earthquakes that strike away from active plate boundaries are of paramount importance for understanding earthquake hazard in both India and the United States. The Indo-US workshop on Intraplate seismicity included lectures on intraplate seismicity, seismic hazard, and tectonic models, with emphasis on key recent theoretical and observational advances, as well as identification of key data sets that could be collected and/or made available to address outstanding issues. The workshop aimed to take stock of Intraplate seismicity studies in the US and India and come out with future directions to better understand key remaining questions, including: faulting and seismicity in continental intraplate regions; recent intraplate earthquakes: source parameters and effects; long term behaviour of faults and earthquake hazards in intraplate continental regions; paleoseismology and archeoseismology; crustal structure and processes; the new Madrid and Kachchh seismic zones; and, strain accumulation inside continents. During the workshop, participants discussed potential collaborative projects to further investigate key remaining questions about intraplate earthquakes, including which regions are most at risk of damaging earthquakes, the average long-term rate of large earthquakes in different regions, and the overall scientific framework to explain why intraplate earthquakes occur. Specific targets for collaborations were identified, including projects to better understand the geological setting of the Kachchh region; the on-going deformation of the crust in Kachchh and elsewhere in India; the rates of past earthquakes as revealed by geological investigations; and the space-time distributions of aftershocks and other activity in Gujarat. l Tata Narasinga Rao Apparao M. Rao International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad Email: tata@arci.res.in N anoscience and technology has captured the imagination of the research fraternity worldwide as no other discipline has in the past. Consequently, the field has witnessed extremely rapid growth in recent times with an accompanying spurt in the pace at which new research findings are being reported. Due to its interdisciplinary nature, nanoscience and technology attracts the attention of chemists, physicists, biologists, materials scientists and engineers alike. Consequently, significant nano-related research is already on-going worldwide and expert groups with immense competence in niche areas have emerged in both India and the US. However, it is abundantly clear that judicious establishment of crosscontinent teams to meet identified targeted objectives that are accorded a high priority by both sides has considerable potential to not only hasten progress towards accomplishing the set goals but also result in saving of resources through sharing of infrastructure and expertise to achieve a common aim. The Indo-US discussion meeting on Nanoscience and technology was organized to explore recent technology advancements in the field in the two countries that are of either immediate commercial interest or have promising future prospects in the industry. Contd. on pg. 38 Clemson University, Clemson Email: arao@clemson.edu Key Participants India Ashutosh Sharma, IIT, Kanpur Tata Narasinga Rao ARCI, Hyderabad Shanti Nair, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi Pushan Ayyub, TIFR, Mumbai A.K. Raychaudhuri S.N.Bose National Centre, Kolkata G. Kulkarni / S. Shivaprasad JNCASR, Bangalore B. R. Mehta IIT Delhi U. Ramamurty I.I.Sc D. Bahadur IIT Bombay S. Ramaprabhu IIT, Chennai USA Uzi Landman Georgia Institute of Technology Jagdish Narayan North Caroline State University V. Dravid North Western University, Il Apparao M. Rao Clemsen University Sadhan C. Jana University of Arkon, Ohio Nikhil Koratkar Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY Arun Bansil North Eastern University, Boston Ganpati Ramanath Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY Roger Bilham, University of Colorado Larry Nagahara Oncology National Cancer Inst John E. Ebel, Boston College V Novosad Argonne National Laboratory, Il Charles Langston, Univ. of Memphis R. Sooryakumar The Ohio State University Indo-US Science & Technology Forum 2012 Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 15 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Thermoelectrics – Theory, Materials and Applications The evolving Role Of Solid-State Chemistry in Pharmaceutical Science Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay 30 January - 01 February, 2012 | Mumbai, India Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 02-04 February, 2012 | Gurgaon, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Terry M. Tritt Satish Vitta Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Mumbai Email: satish.vitta@iitb.ac.in Key Participants India A.M. Umarji, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Pallab Banerji, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur C.V. Tomy, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay R.C. Mallik, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore D.K. Misra National Physical Laboratory Deep Prakash, BARC Navi Mumbai 400705 D.K. Aswal, BARC Mumbai Satish Vitta, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai USA Apparao M. Rao Clemson University, Clemson David Johnson University of Oregon, Oregon Thierry Caillat California Institute of Technology S.D. Mahanti Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Clemson University, Clemson Email: ttritt@clemson.edu T hermoelectric energy conversion is a process that facilitates utilization of waste heat and converting it into useful form of energy, such as electricity. Though this phenomenon has been known for several decades, this topic has recently received significant interest worldwide because ‘Sustainability and Resources Conservation’ have become issues of utmost importance. The energy conversion efficiency of the thermoelectric devices is at the heart of large-scale utilization of this phenomenon. Hence, the main objective of this workshop was to discuss various issues related to efficiency improvement vis-à-vis the current developments in materials for thermoelectric energy conversion including the role of nanoscience and technology. The Indo-US workshop on Thermoelectrics – theory, materials and applications aimed to sensitize various organizations and the research community at large. The workshop was a first-ofits-kind in the area of thermoelectrics in India and the speakers included theoreticians, researchers from university and federal laboratories and industry participants who are involved in materials development for different applications. Several new approaches for synthesizing thermoelectric materials such as creating new type of crystals (ferecrystals), solution phase synthesis, controlled devitrification, alloy engineering and utilizing ‘nano’ features, all to realize high figure of merit were discussed during the course of the workshop. l G. Jeffrey Snyder California Institute of Technology S.J. Poon University of Virginia, Charlottesville George S. Nolas University of South Florida, Tampa Gautam R. Desiraju Mike J. Zaworotko Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Email: gautam_desiraju@yahoo.com University of South Florida, Tampa Email: xtal@usf.edu D Key Participants ifferentiating a co-crystal from a salt, scaling up of active pharmaceutical ingredient co-crystals, stabilizing meta stable polymorphs, predicting polymorphs for a given active pharmaceutical ingredient from its molecular structure, predicting the solubility of co-crystals, and developing robust scalable crystallization processes to minimize batchto-batch variations are some of the major challenges faced by researchers world-wide. There are a significant number of researchers in both India and the US who are working on the above mentioned facets of solid-state chemistry research. The purpose of the workshop on The evolving role of solid-state chemistry in pharmaceutical science was to bring together the researchers from academic institutions as well as pharmaceutical R&D in India and the US to share their expertise on crystal design, crystal nucleation, crystallization and crystal growth and other facets of solid-state chemistry to set directions for future research, and explore potential collaboration opportunities. The December 2011 release of a draft Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance concerning regulatory classification of pharmaceutical co-crystals of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) addressed two matters of topical interest to the crystal engineering and pharmaceutical science communities. An entire session at the workshop was devoted to the FDA guidance and it generated strong consensus on the need to define co-crystals more broadly. It was also concluded that the diversity of API crystal forms makes it difficult to classify solid forms into three categories that are mutually exclusive. An article detailing this perspective has already been submitted to the journal Crystal Growth & Design. l Terry M. Tritt Clemson University, Clemson 2012 India G. R. Desiraju, IISc, Bangalore T. N. Guru Row, IISc, Bangalore K. Biradha, IIT Kharagpur A. K. Bansal, NIPER, Chandigargh C. M. Reddy, ISER, Kolkatta T. Thakur, CDRI, Lucknow R. K. Thaper, Ranbaxy, Gurgaon P. Vishweshwar Dr. Reddy’s, Hyderabad R. K. R. Jetti, Mylan, Hyderabad T. Rajmannar Sun Pharma, Vadodara P. Ghogale, Piramal, Mumbai B. N. Roy, Lupin, Mumbai A. Ramanan, IIT Delhi Ram Thaimattam Ranbaxy, Gurgaon USA M. J. Zaworotko University of South Florida N. Rodriguez-Hornedo University of Michigan L. Yu University of Wisconsin J. Swift Georgetown University A. Myerson MIT, Cambridge C. Sun University of Minnesota 16 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 17 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Ataxia Telangiectasia Cardiovascular Research Convergence Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research 07 February, 2012 | New Delhi, India All India Institute of Medical Sciences 17-18 February, 2012 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators B.C. Das Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Center for Biomedical Research University of Delhi, New Delhi Email: bcdas48@hotmail.com A taxia telangiectasia is a rare, genetic immunodeficiency disease that affects multiple organ systems and is characterized by neurodegeneration and cancer predisposition. The objective of the symposium on Ataxia telangiectasia was to bring together basic and clinical researchers working on various aspects of the clinical and cellular phenotypes of ataxia telangiectasia mutated gene to understand its role in neural differentiation and neurodegenerative disorders, NA damage response and genomic Tej K. Pandita UT Southwestern Medical Center Email: tej.pandita@utsouthwestern.edu instability as well as cancer, in a comprehensive and stimulating atmosphere to promote scientific interactions, discussions and crossdisciplinary research collaborations. The symposium also allowed for young scientists like students, post-doctoral fellows and young clinical researchers to gain exposure to the current status of knowledge in this field and also provided them the opportunity to present their work. l Balram Bhargava All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Email : balrambhargava@yahoo.com T he conference on Cardiovascular research convergence was aimed at providing a common platform for clinicians, scientists and researchers from both USA and India to acquire knowledge, exchange ideas and form fruitful collaborations for undertaking translational research in cardiovascular sciences. The conference provided the opportunity for a comprehensive overview of the latest research developments in cardiovascular therapeutics; heart failure; rheumatic heart disease; atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease; experimental cardiology; stem cell research; proteomics; cardiovascular epidemiology; and, research methodologies for interdisciplinary and translational approach. The conference began with a Presidential address by Prof. James T. Willerson on “Update on adult stem cell treatment of coronary heart disease and severe heart failure in humans”. This was followed by fifteen sessions with specific themes and speakers presenting their work and new ideas. The new developments presented at the event included an update on stem cell therapy; panel discussion on cardiac transplantation; and, ethical concerns in research, proteomics and genomics of cardiovascular diseases. l 2012 Jay (Jawahar) L. Mehta University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock Email: MehtaJL@uams.edu Key Participants India N K Ganguly THSTI, New Delhi K K Talwar NAMS, New Delhi K S Reddy PHFI, New Delhi C C Kartha RGCB, Trivandrum S. Chatterjee Anna University, Chennai D Prabhakaran CCDC, New Delhi Madhu Dixit CDRI, Lucknow V. Dhawan PGIMER, Chandigarh Pratibha Nallari Osmania University, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh R. Renuka Nair SCTIMST, Trivandrum Shivakumar K. SCTIMST, Trivandrum Ajay Bahl PGIMER, Chandigarh S. Kotamraju IICT, Hyderabad S. Chakraborti University of Kalyani USA James T Willerson The University of Texas at Houston J.L. Mehta UAMS and VAMC Sathyamangla V. Naga Prasad Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, USA Sudhir Kushawaha Mayo Clinic, USA Subhash Banerjee University of Texas Southwestern, USA Mahesh P. Gupta University of Chicago, USA 18 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 19 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Global challenges: Climate Change, Water, Environment and Society Modelling Electrical Activity in Physiological Systems ITM University 5-6 March, 2012 | Gurgaon, India Indian Institute of Science Education and Research 05-10 March, 2012 | Agra, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Ram Karan Singh Alex S. Mayer ITM University, Gurgaon Email: ramkaransingh@itmindia.edu Key Participants India Ram Karan Singh S.Shanthakumar A.K. Misra ITM University, Gurgaon Sangeeth Srivatsava ITM University, Gurgaon Anil Kumar Singh Indian Council for Agricultural Research, New Delhi Kapil Gupta, IIT, Bombay Sanjay K. Jain National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee Kayitha Ravinder, Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi Awadhesh Kumar Singh Regional Centre for Urban and Environmental Studies, Lucknow Anupam K. Singh PDP University, Gandhinagar P.K. Joshi, TERI University, New Delhi Arvind K. Nema, IIT, Delhi Nandkishor More Samanpreet, Kaur USA Alex S. Mayer Michigan Technological University, Houghton, USA Amlan Mukherjee Michigan Technological University, Houghton, USA David W. Watkins Jr. Michigan Technological University, Houghton, USA Bruce E. Seely MichiganTechnological University, Houghton, USA Richard N. Palmer University of Massachusetts, USA 20 Michigan Technological University, Houghton Email: asmayer@mtu.edu I n recent years the global issue of climate change and its impact on the environment, glaciers melt, spatial and temporal change of precipitation both on global and regional scale has become more visible. Globally, a changing climate will present challenges for some sectors, and opportunities for other sectors. The problem of water and environment are intertwined and these problems will continue to grow globally. An Indo-US workshop on Global challenges: climate change, water, environment and society was organized to bring together educators, researchers, social scientists, practitioners, planners, managers, administrators and policy makers to discuss the problems related to the sustainable management of water resources in light of population increases, climate change, land use change, and increasing water withdrawals. The workshop was interdisciplinary in nature and discussed the challenges related to water and environment for the 21st century with the following specific objectives: water and environment problems and their solutions; current state of understanding of watershed technologies and water resources; interdisciplinary problems, approaches and solutions through theoretical frameworks and models; social issues related to water and environment problems; and, research directions for a sustainable future. The delegates noted that there was a need to investigate the causes of change in sunshine hours and their regional perspective to delineate the comparative impact of climate change as well as of anthropogenic aerosols that are being generated locally and /or regionally at different rates by the changed land-use pattern and increased polluting mechanism, such as socio-economic change, industrial growth and illplanned development processes. They also opined that the lack of observed data for the various parameters to model the physical processes is limiting models from providing robust projections of the water potential of river basins in response to climate change. There were also expressions of concern regarding the impact of climate change on glacier-fed water systems, agricultural yields, and freshwater ecosystems. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Somdatta Sinha Richard Bertram Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali Email: somdattasinha@gmail.com Florida State University, Tallahassee Email: bertram@math.fsu.edu T Key Participants he Indo-US workshop on Modelling electrical activity in physiological systems was aimed at introducing participants to the techniques and concepts of mathematical and computational modelling of the electrical events underlying neuron and endocrine cell activity. The events are important for the proper functioning of brain and endocrine cells, and thus to physiological processes controlled by the brain and by hormones released from endocrine cells. Speakers at the event included both theoretical and experimental scientists from the United States and India. The aim was to facilitate scientific interactions that would yield collaborative programmes between India and the US in the area of electrical processes underlying neural, endocrine, and neuroendocrine systems. A mixture of mathematical and experimental developments was presented at the workshop. One important new mathematical development was the use of linear algebra techniques to greatly reduce the complexity of a neural model. Another was the development of a mathematical model for insulin-secreting cells and a novel technique for analysing the behaviour of the model. New techniques for analysing models of bursting behaviour, as well as experimental measurements of bursting behaviour, were also discussed. An interesting model that can describe the evolution of uterine oscillations before childbirth was presented. From the experimental side, recent developments used in studying the vast communication that goes on within and between hormone-secreting pituitary cells were presented, as well as some novel approaches to testing hypothesis about rhythm generation in pancreatic islets. Imaging of electrical activities in brain using threedimensional Magnetic Resonance Imaging techniques with improved analytical methods was also discussed. Development of collaborative strategies between theorists and experimental biologists were illustrated at several points throughout the workshop. l 2012 India G. Rangarajan Rishikesh Narayanan Indian Institute of Science Bangalore Neeraj Jain Prasun K. Roy Shripad Kondra National Brain Research Centre, Haryana Pranay Goel, IISER, Pune Rohit Manchanda, IIT Bombay Saroj Ghaskadbi University of Pune, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune Sitabhra Sinha Institute of Mathematical Sciences Taramani, Chennai Somdatta Sinha, IISER, Mohali Sujit K. Sikdar Indian Institute of Science Bangalore USA Arthur Sherman, National Institute of Health, Bethesda Arturo Gonzalez-Iglesias, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL David Terman The Ohio State University, Columbus Leslie Satin, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor Richard Bertram, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL Robert Butera Georgia Institute of Technology Steven Cox Rice University, Houston Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 21 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Biosecurity and Public Health Challenges in veterinary Hospitals in India – Bridging the Gap between Human and Animal Health Preventing Road Crash Injury through Vehicle Safety Design College of Veterinary Science 05-08 March, 2012 | Hyderabad, India Indian Institute of Science 06-07 March 2012 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators K. Satish Kumar M. D. Salman College of Veterinary Science, Hyderabad Email : dr_petlover@yahoo.co.in Key Participants India S. Umamaheswar Rao CVSc., Tirupati Nitin Bhatia Intas Pharmaceuticals Ahmedabad Umesh Mars International (India) Bangalore T. Anitha Indian Institute of Public Health Hyderabad USA M.D. Salman Colorado State University, Fort Collins Doreene Hyatt Colorado State University, Fort Collins Katie Steneroden U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3, Cairo, Egypt Sangeeta Rao Colorado State University,Fort Collins Colorado State University, Colorado Email : m.d.salman@colostate.edu B iosecurity and infection control strategies in veterinary hospitals play a significant role in providing a safe environment to veterinary patients and in reducing the spread of nosocomial infections to animals as well as humans. Nosocomial infections or “hospital-acquired infections” are infections that are a result of treatment in a veterinary hospital or clinic. Nosocomial infections in veterinary hospitals are not solely a concern for patient-care, but the spread of infectious agents can also significantly affect normal hospital operations, revenue, client confidence, public image, and the morale of hospital personnel. There is a critical need to evaluate biosecurity and infection control practices in veterinary hospitals and to establish programs for carrying out the activities related to disease control. With this in mind, an Indo-US workshop on Biosecurity and public health challenges in veterinary hospitals in India – bridging the gap between human and animal health was organized to bring together experts from the US with Indian veterinarians and public health officials to collaborate on this important issue and raise the level of animal and human health for India. The major recommendations of the event were as follows: (i) there is a need for periodical microbial surveillance in veterinary hospitals to get baseline data; (ii) measures to manage risks through infection control committees are recommended to monitor the physical standards; (iii) there is a need for training of staff to build awareness on “Biosecurity” in teaching hospitals and infection control methods on regular basis; and, (iv) need for continuous education on biosecurity measures and monitoring employee’s health. l Anindya Deb Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Email: adeb@cpdm.iisc.ernet.in F atalities and injuries caused by vehicle-related crashes are assuming menacing proportions in India. In USA, the total number of annual fatalities has stagnated in recent years after being reduced substantially from higher levels a number of years ago through the introduction of a range of safety measures including improving the passive safety features of vehicles. The Indo-US workshop on Preventing road crash injury through vehicle safety design was aimed at addressing the challenging crucial issue of reducing and preventing fatalities primarily through sustainable and innovative vehicle passive and active safety design by bringing together experts from USA and India. Some of the topics of relevance covered at the symposium included statistical analysis of accident data and epidemiology of injuries; vehicle platform and system level crash safety design; crash safety design of vehicles; impact biomechanics and injury prediction; crash safety design optimization with multi-disciplinary constraints; design methodologies and algorithms; innovation in vehicle safety design; and, impact of road infrastructure, enforcement of safe driving practices, and driver education on road safety. l 2012 Jesse Ruan Ford Motor Company, Dearborn Email: jruan@ford.com Key Participants India Puneet Mahajan | Sudipto Mukherjee IIT‐Delhi, New Delhi R. V. Prakash IIT ‐ Chennai A. V. Mannikar Automotive Research Association of India, Pune Amit Chowdhury, BESU, Howrah Narendran M. Balan General Motors Global R&D, Bangalore G. Gururaj, NIMHANS, Bangalore P. Sachin, Ashok Leyland, Chennai M. S. Prasad Ashok Leyland, Chennai Suresh Nagesh Voith Engineering Services, Bangalore Anindya Deb, IISc Bangalore Anil Kumar C. Tata Motors, Pune James Remfrey Continental Automotive, Bangalore USA Jesse Ruan Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI Jeff Crandall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA Cing-Dao Kan | Azim Eskandarian George Washington University, Washington, DC Clifford C. Chou Wayne State University, Detroit, MI Subrata Saha, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY Narayan Yoganandan Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI Pankaj K. Mallick, University of Michigan, Dearborn, MI 22 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 23 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Green Chemistry for Environment and Sustainable Development Shale Gas HNB Garhwal University 11-13 March 2012 | Dehradun, India Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University 19-20 March 2012 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Bimal K. Banik D.S. Negi HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Email: devendra_negi@yahoo.com Key Participants India V.K. Singh Director, IISER, Bhopal B.C. Ranu, IACS, Kolkata Ganesh Pandey, NCL, Pune M. Periasamy Univ. of Hyderabad A. Chakraborti | I.P. Singh NIPER, Mohali S.C. Roy|S. Ghosh IACS, Kolkata J.M. Moorthy | MLN Rao IIT Kanpur R. Bandhichoor Dr Reddy’s Lab, Hydrrabad The University of Texas Pan American, Edinburg Email: banik@utpa.edu G reen chemistry is the utilization of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture and application of chemical products. The Indo-US workshop on Green chemistry for environment and sustainable development presented the latest trends in the field of green chemistry. The workshop was a combination of lectures, discussions, and demonstrations. During the lecture sessions, speakers addressed the challenges and opportunities in green chemistry education. The participants deliberated upon strategies for designing, adapting and incorporating new green methods of synthesis. l C. Subramanyam IIT Hyderabad Srinivasan Reddy, NCL, Pune A.K. Sinha, IHBT, Palampur Manab Das, TERI, New Delhi A.K. Misra Bose Institute Kolkata B. Basu. NBU Darjelling Anirbid Sircar Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar Email: anirbid.sircar@spt.pdpu.ac.in S hale gas belongs to the category of unconventional natural gases, which also includes coal bed methane, gas from tight sandstones and gas hydrates. Shale is a sedimentary rock formation which contains clay, quartz and other minerals. Much of the oil or gas formed in the shale which is known as source rock, being the source of the hydrocarbons migrates to porous and permeable beds. The Indo-US workshop on Shale gas was aimed to provide a platform to use the experience of US to understand and exploit shale gas plays in India. The workshop participants deliberated upon the inherent reservoir rock properties for stable hole conditions; lateral and vertical communication resulting from the frac jobs; quality water required for Hydro fracturing and for multi stimulation jobs; well design and primary cement bond in old wells, surface facilities, fields under improved recovery processes, sophisticated equipment with knowledgeable skilled personnel; shale gas policies etc. As a recommendation of the workshop, the attendees requested the Govt. of India to publish the Shale Gas policy of India to nurture the commercial interest of shale gas in India. Both US and Indian representatives felt that consortia need to be formed to understand shale gas plays in India. Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University has also resolved to set up a Shale Gas Excellence Centre at their campus in Gandhinagar. l B. Shah. University of Delhi Vineet Kumar, FRI Dehradun S.S. Chimni GND University, Amritsar P. Das, IIIM, Jammu Rakesh Maurya, CDRI, Luck now P. Selvam, IIT Chennai USA Robin Rogers. Univ. of Alabama Chandra Rai The University of Oklahoma, Norman Email : crai@ou.edu Key Participants India Anirbid Sircar, PDPU P.K. Bhowmick, ONGC P. Elango, Cairn India Ltd. Mukul Srivastava, Reliance Industries. Limited Mubumbai V.K. Rao, RNRL P.B. Pandey, ONGC Akhilesh Negi, Resonance Energy Rajeev Sonthalia | Rajeev Kumar Schlumberger, India Dev Dutt Sharma, OILEX V.A. Mende Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research Matin Hafeez | G.M. Bhatt Jammu and Kashmir University G.P. Karmarkar, PDPU A.M. Dayal, NGRI, Hyderabad S.K. Singh, Essar Energy Sanjay Chawla, DGH USA Carl H Sondergeld University of Oklahoma J.M. Fortunak Howard University John Lee University of Houston B. K. Banik, University of Texas R. S. Varma | John Leazer US EPA, Cincinnati, Ohio Chandra Rai | Yashwant Chitrala Deepak Devegoda | Subhash Shah University of Oklahoma B. Bakshi. Ohio State University Peter A Hansen Cairn India Ltd. K. V. Katti University of Missouri B. Singh Univ. of Massachusetts, Dartmouth Ajay Kumar Universidad Metropolitana, San Juan 24 2012 Danny Rathan Tudor Pickering Hold & Co. Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 25 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2nd US-India Network-Enabled Research Collaboration Workshop Chronobiology ERNET India 22-23 March 2012 | Washington DC, USA North Eastern Hill University 20 June-3 July 2012 | Shillong Principal Investigators Principal Investigators James G Williams N. Mohan Ram ERNET India Email: mohan@eis.ernet.in Key Participants India Arun Agarwal, Univ. of Hyderabad Anshu Bhardwaj Open Source Drug Discovery Kamal Bijlani, Amrita University Samir K Brahmachari Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research P.S.Dhekne Raja Ramanna Fellow at BARC Debapriya Dutta Counselor (S&T), Embassy of India Rajendra Joshi, C-DAC, Pune Ajit Kembhavi, IUCAA, Pune Mohan Natarajan | Dipak Singh ERNET Arun K Singh Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of India, USA Indiana University Email: william@indiana.edu T he aim of the 2nd US-India network-enabled research collaboration workshop was to drive network-enabled collaboration between research groups in India and the United States through innovative applications using advanced cyber infrastructure involving the national research and education networks in India (ERNET, NKN) and the US (Internet2, ESNet, NLR), the international circuits connecting the two countries (TransPac3 and TAJ), and other nation-wide cyber infrastructure facilities in India and the US. The major recommendations of the event included the following: (i) evaluation of network infrastructure and advanced communications services; (ii) raise awareness on network-enabled access to and hosting of global research facilities and datastores; (iii) pay greater attention to the changing science architecture, explosion of availability of science data and making network-enabled collaboration intuitive to the user: and, (iv) raise awareness of the potential for Indo-US network-enabled collaboration. l USA H. Boyles | A. Jackson | T. Miller Indiana University B. Chang | D. Skow | M. Lueck National Science Foundation 2012 Vinod Kumar A. S. Dixit Department of Zoology North Eastern Hill University, Shillong Email: asdixitnehu@rediffmail.com Department of Zoology University of Delhi, Delhi Email: drvkumar11@yahoo.com C hronobiology is a field of Science that examines periodic (cycle) phenomena in living organisms and their adaptation to solar and lunar related rhythms. “Chrono” is related to time and “biology” means the Study, or Science of life. Chronobiology studies have relations with various other branches of biology such as comparative anatomy, physiology, genetics, molecular biology and behaviour of organisms within biological rhythms mechanics. Other aspects include development, reproduction, ecology and evolution. Chronobiology is an interdisciplinary field of investigation. It interacts with medical and other research fields such as sleep disorders, endocrinology, geriatrics, sports medicine, Space medicine and Photoperiodism. Brain clocks are an interesting example of the link between the activity of specific neurons and behaviour and extensively investigated. Indeed, we have made considerable progress with reference to the various clock genes, their anatomical location in the brain, the factors that activate and deactivate them, and the number of physiological process they orchestrate. However, much remains to be understood, for example, the circuitry that processes the information on sleep wake, neuroendocrines, body temperature, thirst and appetite with reference to the clock, need to be defined. Key Participants India Vinod Kumar University of Delhi, Delhi Vijay Kumar Sharma | Sheeba Vasu JNCASR, Bangalore Sangeeta Rani University of Lucknow, Lucknow Anand S. Dixit NEHU, Shillong USA Eric Herzog Washington University Jeffery L. Price University of Missouri-Kansas City Satchidananda Panda Salk Institute for Biological Studies Department of Science and Technology (DST), initiated the School activity in Life Science in the year 2002 with the induction of SERC School in Chronobiology. The main aim of SERC School has been to train young biologist in India in the field of Chronobiology. After successful organisation of ten School in different Universities/ Institutes in the past, the eleventh school was organized by the Department of Zoology, NEHU, Shillong from 20 June-03 July 2012 with Dr. A. S. Dixit as the Coordinator. Eric Bone | Molly Teas US Department of State Grant Miller, NCO, NITRD A.Doyle | E. Moynihan | M. Sullivan Internet2 Harvey Newman, CalTech Josh Polterock, CAIDA M. Veeraraghavan, Univ. of Virginia Paul Love, Private Consultant SERB School on Clocks, Rhythms and Behaviour provided an opportunity to explore the close interrelationship that exists between oneself, one’s brain, and how time regulates Contd. on pg. 38 26 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 27 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Technology Commercialization through Public-Private Sector Partnerships Modeling and Data Assimilation for Tropical Cyclone Prediction Michigan State University 8-14 July 2012 | Michigan, U.S.A Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi 9-14 July 2012 | Bhubaneswar, Odisha Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Ram Srivastava Karim M. Maredia IPR Cell and Business Development Unit CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Haryana Email: rb_sri@rediffmail.com Key Participants India Shashank Mauria ICAR, New-Delhi Rajababu Vyas Anand Agricultural University ,Anand Ram B. Srivastava CCS Haryana Agricultural University Hisar Puneet Kumar Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar Sudha Nair Golden Jubilee Biotech Park for Women, Madras Kiran Sharma ICRISAT,Hyderabad USA Karim Maredia World Technology Access Program (WorldTAP) June Blalock USDA-ARS Office of Technology Transfer, Beltsville, Maryland Tom Herlache MSU Technologies; MSU Law College Karen Kimble Technology Law, PLLC Janice Strachan US Plant Variety Protection College of Agric. and Natural Resources, Michigan State University, U.S.A E-mail: kmaredia@msu.edu P ublic institutions in India and the US are generating numerous innovations and technologies that can benefit society in terms of enhancing food and nutritional security, environmental quality, and economic growth. Public sector institutions in the United States have accumulated a wealth of experience in technology transfer, management, and commercialization and in working with the private sector through public-private sector partnerships, so that society can benefit from the new innovations and technologies. An Indo-US workshop onTechnology commercialization through public-private sector partnerships was organized by Ram Srivastava (CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar), Suresh Kumar Kunhikannan(Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council, New Delhi), Karim M. Maredia (Michigan State University, East Lansing) and Callista Ransom (Michigan State University, East Lansing) to bring together technology managers and practitioners from public and private sector institutions in India and the US to share experiences and lessons learned. The workshop focussed on sharing experiences of US Land Grant Universities and USDA Agricultural Research Service (USDAARS) with the technology managers from public and private sector institutions in India for mutual benefits. The workshop included field visits, case studies, business plan development, technology valuation, licensing, negotiation skills, and development of a roadmap for technology commercialization. In addition, participants used real-world case studies from their own institutions, companies, and regions that have commercial potential to develop a business plan for product commercialization and deployment. l Richard S. Cahoon Cornell University Jane Payumo Washington State University Prof. U. C. Mohanty Center for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi Email: ucmohanty@gmial.com I 2012 S.G. Gopalakrishnan Modeling Team Leader Hurricane Research Division, NOAA, Miami Email: gopal@noaa.gov n their November 2010 Joint Statement, Prime Minister Singh and President Obama renewed their commitment to the relationship between India and the United States as a defining partnership of the 21st Century. They identified weather and climate forecasting for agricultural production as a priority area for collaboration between the two countries. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has since signed a bilateral agreement with India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences (MOES) to improve tropical cyclone forecasting over the Indian seas. In order to share NOAA’s advanced understanding and forecasting techniques acquired in the last few years, an Indo-US workshop on Advanced modeling and data assimilation for tropical cyclone predictions with special reference to the hurricane weather research and forecasting (HWRF) system was organized by U.C. Mohanty (IndianInstitute of Technology-Delhi), S.K. Roy Bhowmik (India Meteorological Department, New Delhi), Sundararaman G. Gopalakrishnan (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Miami) and Frank Marks (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Miami). The first half of the workshop covered various aspects of tropical cyclone research, developments and future advancements. This was followed by advanced training on research aspects of the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF), high-resolution regional modeling system currently used in USA for track, intensity and structure predictions with a focus on the following topics: tropical cyclone inner core initialization and data assimilation issues over Indian seas; joint development of a next generation research and operational system, including a HWRF coupled storm surge prediction system for tropical cyclone prediction over the Indian seas and the subsequent flooding of land falling storms; and, impact analysis, risk and vulnerability assessment aspects of tropical cyclones. l Key Participants India Arun Agarwal, Univ. of Hyderabad Anshu Bhardwaj Open Source Drug Discovery Kamal Bijlani, Amrita University Prof Samir K Brahmachari Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Dr P.S.Dhekne Raja Ramanna Fellow at BARC Dr Debapriya Dutta Counselor (S&T), Embassy of India Rajendra Joshi, C-DAC, Pune Ajit Kembhavi, IUCAA, Pune Mohan Natarajan | Dipak Singh ERNET Arun K Singh Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of India, USA USA H. Boyles | A. Jackson | T. Miller Indiana University B. Chang | D. Skow | M. Lueck National Science Foundation Eric Bone | Molly Teas US Department of State Grant Miller, NCO, NITRD A.Doyle | E. Moynihan | M. Sullivan Internet2 Harvey Newman, CalTech Josh Polterock, CAIDA M. Veeraraghavan, Univ. of Virginia Paul Love, Private Consultant Fred Erbisch| Muralee Nair Michigan State University 28 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 29 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Triple Trouble : Malnutrition, Tuberculosis and Hiv in India Flame Stabilisation and Combustion Instability National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis 03-05 August 2012 | Chennai, India Indian Institute of Technology, Madras 9-14 July 2012 | Bhubaneswar, Odisha Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Soumya Swaminathan Christine A Wanke National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai E-mail: doctorsoumya@yahoo.com Key Participants India Soumya Swaminathan National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis [ICMR] Anura Kurpad St John’s Medical College & Hospital, Bangalore Thambu David Sudarsanam Christain Medical College & Hospital Swarna S. Vepa MSSRF Anita Shet St. John’s Medical College &Hospital, Bangalore Sai SubhaShree Raghavan SAATHI Krishna Swetha G National Institute of Nutrition Beena E Thomas National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis Ramakrishnan National Institute of Epidemiology Division of Nutrition and Infection Tufts University, Boston, USA Email: christine.wanke@tufts.edu I n a setting where HIV infection and tuberculosis (TB) are operating in a population characterized by poverty and malnutrition, there is a greater need to focus on nutrition in those individuals with HIV infection or with both HIV infection and TB. Policy makers in resource-poor regions need information on both the efficacy and feasibility of providing nutritional supplements (of various types) in different settings. Although there have been many calls for integration of HIV and nutrition programs, data is lacking on how such programs can be implemented in resource-constrained settings, what the composition of the supplement should be, and which subgroups should be targeted. The Indo-US workshop titled “Triple trouble”: malnutrition, tuberculosis and HIV in India was organized by Soumya Swaminathan (National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai) and Christine A. Wanke(Tufts University, Boston) with the following objectives: to review existing data on HIV infection, tuberculosis and malnutrition in India and to identify research gaps; to develop concept notes for future research and identify areas for potential collaboration between India and US partners on HIV-TB and nutrition; and, to develop recommendations on nutrition for HIV and TB, focusing on the acceptability, effectiveness and feasibility of nutritional supplementation in India. l USA Christine Wanke Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston Alice Tang Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston Peggy Papathakis California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Catherine L Carpenter David Geffen School of Medicine UCLA, Los Angeles S. R. Chakravarthy Department of Aerospace Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Email: src@ae.iitm.ac.in F Prof. S. K. Aggarwal Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering University of Illinois at Chicago Email: ska@uic.edu lame stabilization and combustion stability is an area of active research interest and industry focus in both India and the United States. With this in mind S. R. Chakravarthy (Indian Institute of Technology Madras), T. M. Muruganandam (Indian Institute of Technology Madras), S. K. Aggarwal (University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago) and T. C. Lieuwen (Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta) organized an Indo-US workshop on Flame stabilisation and combustion stability to bring together researchers from both academic/research institutions and the industry of the two countries. The key topics covered at the workshop included: modeling combustion instability – role of nonlinearity and non-normality; dynamical systems approach to flame stabilization and combustion stability – bifurcations and chaos; experimental database and characterization on flame stabilization and combustion stability; study of flame stabilization and combustion stability in practical energy systems using biofuels or syngas; role of chemical kinetics of biofuels/syngas in dynamic flame stabilization; receptivity of fame-stabilizing shear layers to acoustic oscillations; aerothermo-acoustic sources from bluff-body/swirlstabilized combusting flows in practical burner devices; role of oscillatory liquid fuel spray injection and its response to acoustic oscillations; practical events of combustion instability and flame de-stabilization, and approaches to combat them; active and passive control approaches to flame stabilization and combustion stability; and, impact of control strategies on pollutant emissions. l Key Participants India Satya R. Chakravarthy T. M. Muruganandam IIT Madras Sundar Krishnaswamy GE Bangalore Saptarshi Basu IISc, Bangalore R. V. Ravikrishna IISc, Bangalore Sudarshan Kumar IIT Mumbai Santosh Hemchandra IISc, Bangalore Abhijit Kushari, IIT Kanpur Achintya Mukhopadhyay Jadavpur University, Calcutta R I Sujith, IIT Madras V. Babu, IIT Madras USA S K Aggarwal Univ. Illinois, Chicago, IL T. Lieuwen | Vishal Acharya Georgia Tech., Atlanta, GA Dom Santavicca Penn. State Univ., University Park, PA Mike Renfro Univ. Connecticut, Storrs, CT Sumanta Acharya Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA Jacqueline O’Connor Sandia National Labs, Livermore, CA Ken Yu Univ. Maryland, College park, MD Amie N. Heap USAID, Washington DC 30 2012 Preetham Balasubramanyam GE GRC, Niskayuna, NY Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 31 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Cloud Computing and Web Services Systems Architectures, Human Usability, Security/Privacy for Streaming Data Coimbatore Institute of Technology 08-10 August 2012 | Coimbatore, India Amrita University 16 August 2012 | Kochi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators A. Kannammal Coimbatore Institute of Technology Coimbatore W ith the rapid advances in Computing technology, the past decade has witnessed a proliferation of powerful parallel and distributed systems, networking, Internet and the Web. The emerging Cloud Computing facilitates convenient on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources like hardware, software, network, servers, storage, applications and services that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort. The Indo-US bilateral workshop on Cloud Computing and Web Services organized by A. Kannammal (Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, India) jointly with Subhash Kak (Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, USA) at Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, India served as a platform to bring together researchers from academic institutions / R & D organizations and practicing professionals for exchange of idea s / hypotheses and to discuss state-of-theart approaches and results of current research. The invited talks by renowned professors from Subhash Kak Oklahoma State University Stillwater US and Indian Universities like Oklahoma State University, University of California, Arizona State University, USA and IIT, IIIT, IISC, CDAC, India along with practicing professionals from VMware, IBM and Microsoft, panel discussion and demos loaded with tons of information about the ideas, issues and directions helped the participants to gain in depth knowledge in Cloud Computing and Web Services. This event has helped in the networking of the researchers, academia and industry of both the countries on a focused and extremely vital domain. The interactions have helped the participants to get the valuable suggestions and guidance from eminent resource persons to resolve the issues of their research and to initiate research collaborations at individual and institute level. The discussion at the high level has led to the initiation of collaborative activities to setup R & D centers at Coimbatore Institute of Technology in collaborations with US universities and industries and visitation opportunities for faculties and students of CIT. l 2012 Krishnashree Achuthan Amrita University Email : krishna@amrita.edu T he confluence of innovation in mobile technologies, high speed networks, affordable data analytics architectures/ algorithms, social network infra-structures, and scalable cost effective data center server, network and storage architectures are enabling the generation, sharing, analysis and archival of data like never before in human history. Increasingly, the data being generated in this information highway is in the form of streaming media (text, audio and video) where the data is continuously generated analyzed and stored. The Indo-US workshop on Systems architectures for big data organized by P. Venkat Rangan (Amrita University, Kochi), KrishnashreeAchuthan (Amrita University, Kochi), Sreeranga Rajan(Fujitsu Lab, Sunnyvale), Kaladhar Voruganti (NetApp Advanced Technology Group, Sunnyvale), Michael Franklin (University of California Berkeley), Ethan Miller (University of California Santa Cruz), Guha Ramanathan (Google), C. Mohan (IBM), Patrick McDaniel (Pennsylvania State University) and Margo Seltzer (Harvard University, Boston) focussed on the streaming aspects of data impacts the following different areas: system architectures, algorithms, security/privacy, and human usability factors. l Key Participants India Vijay Bhatkar, IIT Delhi Sai R Susarla, NetApp, Bangalore Sumit Ganguly, IIT, Kanpur Gopinath, IISc, Bangalore Ullas Nambiar, EMC, Bangalore Janakiram, IIT, Chennai Lipika Dey, TCS Karmeshu, JNU P.J. Narayanan, IIIT Hyderabad USA Kaladhar V, NetApp, Sunnyvale Ram Akella, UC Santa Cruz Sajal Das, UT, Arlington Rajesh Gupta, UC, San Diego Gene Tsudik, UC, Irvine Palaniappan K, NetApp, Sunnyvale Ethan Miller, UC Santa Cruz Venkatesh Prasad K Ford, Univ of Michiga P.A. Subrahmanyam Stanford University Srinivas Jaini Cloud Security Alliance, SFO Sree Rajan, Stanford University 32 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 33 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Pancreatic Islets From Isolation to Transplantation 21st Century Developments in Bone Regeneration Technology Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and Asian Healthcare Foundation September 14-15, 2012 | Hyderabad, India Panjab University 10-11 October 2012 | Shimla, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators D. Nageshwar Reddy Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and Asian Healthcare Foundation, Hyderabad Email: aigres.mit@gmail.com I slet cell dysfunctions, as encountered in diabetes, pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer including neuroendocrine tumors of pancreas, pose enormous health challenges and cause considerable morbidity and mortality globally. Progressive islet dysfunctions lead to loss of glycemic control and its associated pathology. Patients with type-1 diabetes or chronic pancreatitis often resort to islet transplantation when it is considered that favourable glycemic control cannot be optimally achieved by conventional therapeutic approaches. Transplantation of isolated islets of Langerhans (the insulin secreting cells from the pancreas) offers a physiological approach towards optimal glycemic control. Islet transplantation offers the advantage of being less invasive than whole organ pancreas transplantation and is currently offered at a few advanced centers in American Balamurugan Appakalai University of Minnesota, MinneapolisUSA Email: bala@umn.edu and European countries, although at a high cost to the patient. Current experience shows that multiple transplants are required and longterm islet function remains poor. In order to optimize methods related to isolation, culture, preservation and transplantation of islets and initiate measures within India to establish islet transplantation centers, D. Nageshwar Reddy (Asian Healthcare Foundation, Hyderabad) and Balamurugan N. Appakalai (University of Minnesota, Schulze Diabetes Institute, Minneapolis) organized an Indo-US workshop titled Pancreatic islets: from isolation to transplantation. The workshop brought together clinicians and scientists working in this field not only to translate such efforts for patient benefits, but also to usher in active collaborations between research groups in India and the US. l Ashish Jain Panjab University Chandigarh, India T he confluence of innovation in mobile technologies, high speed networks, affordable data analytics architectures/ algorithms, social network infra-structures, and scalable cost effective data center server, network and storage architectures are enabling the generation, sharing, analysis and archival of data like never before in human history. Increasingly, the data being generated in this information highway is in the form of streaming media (text, audio and video) where the data is continuously generated analyzed and stored. The Indo-US workshop on Systems architectures for big data organized by P. Venkat Rangan (Amrita University, Kochi), KrishnashreeAchuthan (Amrita University, Kochi), Sreeranga Rajan(Fujitsu Lab, Sunnyvale), Kaladhar Voruganti (NetApp Advanced Technology Group, Sunnyvale), Michael Franklin (University of California Berkeley), Ethan Miller (University of California Santa Cruz), Guha Ramanathan (Google), C. Mohan (IBM), Patrick McDaniel (Pennsylvania State University) and Margo Seltzer (Harvard University, Boston) focussed on the streaming aspects of data impacts the following different areas: system architectures, algorithms, security/privacy, and human usability factors. l 2012 John Ricci New York University College of Dentistry, New York Key Participants India Suresh Meshram SDDM College,Panchkula,Haryana T K Pal Guru Nanak Institute of Dental Sciences & Research, Panihati, Kolkata Lanka Mahesh Professor , New Delhi, India Jeevan Aiyappa Department of Oral Surgery Abhay Kolte V.S.P.M’s Dental College & Research Center,Nagpur Vivek Soni DY Patil dental college, Mumbai Sanjay Kalra BRS Dental college, Panchkula, Haryana Vimal Kalia BRS Dental College,Panchkula Nymphea Pandit DAV Dental College,Yamunanagar USA Robert Horowitz New York University Sachin Mamidwar Orthogen, LLC Thomas Van Dyke The Forsyth Institute Albert Price Boston University 34 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 35 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Disorders of the Developing Brain Frontiers in Cancer Biology and Therapeutics Manipal, India 09 November 2012 | New Delhi, India All India Institute of Medical Sciences 09 November 2012 | New Delhi, India 17 Nov., New Delhi and 19 Nov. Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators John M Graham Jr Clinical Genetics and Dysmorphology Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles Email: john.graham@cshs.org D evelopment of brain from the implanted embryo to the adult is one of the most intriguing and fascinating aspects of human life. It not only involves the physical (structural) growth and attainment of adult morphology but also the complex networking of different cells and regions to serve optimal cognitive function and behavior. The morphogenesis as well as functional maturation involves coordinated interactions between multiple genes. Any deviation from the normal has the potential to result in intellectual disability, seizures and behavioral problems. Results of human genome project are revolutionizing the practice of medicine in general and clinical genetics in particular, thereby providing a basis for personalized medicine. New information becomes available on a daily basis, and this meeting of clinical scientists from India and US was held to facilitate interaction and intensive deliberation regarding disorders of brain development, which affect about 2-3% of the population. The meeting began with a review of current status of neurogenetics in India. The major topics covered recent advances in genetics of epilepsy, pharmacogenomics, application of exome sequencing in clinical setting, human brain development, malformations of cerebrum and cerebellum, neuronal migration and disorders, metabolic brain diseases and abnormalities of brain size. The meeting 36 Girisha K.M Kasturba Medical College and Hospital, Manipal Email: girishkatta@gmail.com highlighted the importance of single cases of rare disorders and included two sessions of case discussions to stimulate research interests among the clinicians and basic scientists. An entire session was dedicated to discussing Indo-US research collaboration. This session highlighted the mutual benefits of collaboration for brain research and technology exchange. We discussed joint training of junior faculty and possibility of applying for research grants jointly. The experts agreed that the scientific climate favors collaboration between our two countries for high impact scientific research considering the technological capabilities of the USA and strength of the Indian scientists in terms of their wealth of clinical material. It was strongly felt that scientists from both the countries should come together for identification of new genes causing human brain diseases that will have significant impact in terms of understanding pathogenesis and exploring treatments based on knowledge of the genetic basis of such diseases. Lalit Kumar he World Health Organization projects over 12 million deaths worldwide in 2030 due to cancer up from 7.6 million in 2008, and over 70% of all mortality will be from emerging economies. In order to develop stronger partnerships between the two countries to leverage the strengths and opportunities to advance understanding of and cures for cancer, Lalit Kumar (All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi) and ShiladityaSengupta(Harvard Medical School, Cambridge) organized an Indo-US workshop on Frontiers in cancer biology and therapeutics. The symposium brought together Nobel laureates, a Pulitzer Prize winner, inventors of cancer therapies with knowledge opinion leaders, leading oncologists, young trainees and faculty and lay public to transform the current state of cancer research and perception in India. It also aimed to create a platform for enabling a public private partnership around setting up a center of excellence for molecular understanding of Indian cancers in partnership with US partners. l Harvard Medical School Email: shiladit@mit.edu Key Participants India Lalit Kumar All India Institute of Medical Sciences, (AIIMS) Pradip Majumder Mitra Biotech/India Innovation Research Center Monideepa Roy Invictus Oncology/ India Innovation Research Center Raja Sekhar Vundru Dept. of Pharmaceuticals Shripad Banavali Tata Memorial Hospital (Mumbai) Ashwin Mallipatna Narayana Nethralaya/India Innovation Research Center USA Roger Tsien Univ. Of California, San Diego Shiladitya Sengupta Harvard Medical School Jeffrey Karp Harvard Medical School Seven clinical scientists from USA and 25 from India participated as faculty for this event. There were 130 registered delegates from all over India. The meeting facilitated interaction between faculty and delegates. The symposium also provided an opportunity for young scientists to present their work and interact with the faculty. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Shiladitya Sengupta All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Email: lalitms@yahoo.com T 2012 Siddhartha Mukherjee Columbia University Pankaj Bhargava Dana Farber Cancer Institute Aditya Bardia Massachusetts General Hospital Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 37 Integrated vehicle health management (IVHM) and aviation safety Contd. from pg. 11 The Indo-US workshop on Integrated vehicle health management (IVHM) and aviation safety was an important step to take the S&T cooperation to a newer level by networking the researchers, academia and industry of both the countries on a focused and extremely vital domain. The theme of the workshop was the development of IVHM methodologies, architectures, and technologies for aerospace applications. This addressed both sensors and diagnostic & prognostic algorithms development. The two major recommendations of the event were: (i) Formation of a core group of IVHM professionals in the country by drawing strengths from various organizations (comprising academia, R&D and manufacturing etc.,) and creation of an IVHM Center that will cater not only to aerospace but also to other domains, e.g., industrial and automotive health; and (ii) Analysis of legacy flight data from various airlines and predict the future anomalies that affect flight operations. l 5th Winter school of Immunology Contd. from pg. 12 study in the afternoon, and a research seminar on a cutting-edge topic in the area of expertise of the faculty in the evening. The case study method has been a big success in the past four courses because it integrates basic science and clinical relevance in a way that is optimal for learning (Please comments from the students). The case study method of teaching also brings students and teachers (generally 6-8 students per faculty member) in close discussion groups and improves understanding and synthesis of the course material. It was also a big success in the 5th winter school. l Nanoscience and technology Contd. from pg. 15 The meeting clearly brought out the overwhelming feeling on both sides that there was considerable potential for IndoUS collaboration to derive synergy from complementary individual strengths in diverse areas related to nanotechnology. In particular, areas including energy systems, environmental systems, information systems and biomedical systems were considered to be attractive areas in which joint activities could be pursued. The participants also identified a number of issues that should ideally be considered to promote bilateral interactions. l Chronobiology Contd. from pg. 27 all this so that we remain in synchrony with the cyclicity in the nature. The frontiers are rapidly extending and it was just the right time and place to hold the School so as to attract the younger and inspired minds to this exciting area and have an opportunity to be trained by some of the most accomplished and inspired workers in the field. This School provided unique opportunities to learn Chronobiology from experts in the field like Prof. Erik Herzog 38 (USA), Prof. Jeffrey Price (USA), Prof. Vinod Kumar (Delhi), Dr. Geoff Hyde (Australia), Prof. V. K. Sharma (Bangalore), Prof. Sangeeta Rani (Lucknow), Prof. Mewa Singh (Mysore) and Prof. K. S. Krishnan (Bangalore), Dr. Sheeba Vasu (Banglore), Dr. Satchidananda Panda (USA), Dr. A. S. Dixit (Shillong) along with some faculty from the Department of Zoology, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong.l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Bilateral Workshops 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Base Excision Dna Repair, Brain Function & Aging Self-Assembled Fibrillar Gels Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University 10-12January 2011 | Hyderabad, India Indian Institute of Science 5-8 January 2011 | Thiruvananthapuram, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Bilhelm A. Bohr Kalluri Subba Rao Centers for Innovative research and Biotechnology, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad-500085 E.mail: ksrsl@yahoo.com Key Participants India K. Muniyappa IISc, Bangalore Rama Devi Mittal, SGPIMS, Lucknow Umesh Varshney, IISc,Bangalore H.S Misra, BARC, Mumbai Nihar Ranjan Jana National Brain Research Center, Gurgaon Umakanta Swain | A.K.Konadapi University of Hyderabad Kalluri Subba Rao Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad M.K.Thakur Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi USA George Martin | Larry A Loeb Univ.of Washington, Seattle Samuel H.Wilson, NIEHS, NIH Diane C.cabelof. Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, I Division of Molecular Gerontology National Institute on Aging (NIA), Baltimore, MD.USA E.mail: bohrv@grc.nia.nih.gov t is now clear that even the information-carrying master molecule, DNA, is not spared from attack by chemicals and free radicals in cells. This feature necessitated, over evolution, the development of defenses against such attacks. Hence various mechanisms to repair structural damage to DNA have evolved. As the complexity of organisms has grown, so have the many ways in which the DNA can be damaged. In responding to this, higher organisms have evolved both complex and specific DNA repair pathways to deal with such damages. Base Excision Repair (BER) isthe pathway best equipped to handleoxidative and other common, small lesions in DNA, and therefore this pathway has a close link to free radical metabolism. An Indo-US workshop on Base excision DNA repair, brain function and aging was organized to discuss the fundamental role of BER in health and disease,particularly in post-mitotic tissues such as brain, in a focused manner. The workshop shed light on interesting findings emerging from the labs in India and the US which would be central to organizing a collaborative effort in the field among the two countries. The workshop provided a platform for more focused collaborations, even at Georgetown University, Washington, DC E-mail: weissr@georgetown.edu T he field of gel research, especially molecular gels, has experienced an enormous growth in interest during the last two decades among scientists in very diverse fields, including organic chemists,theoreticians, molecular biologists, physicists and chemical engineers. Keeping in mind the enormous interest in fibrillar gels; the growing recognition that there are important, but not fully appreciated links between self-assembled and polymeric systems; coupled with limited interaction among gel scientists in India and the US; an IndoUS workshop on Selfassembled fibrillar gels was organized in January 2011 at Trivandrum. A wide range of themes under the general area of ‘fibrillar gels’ was discussed – these included new organo- and hydrogelators, enzyme-mediated gelation, nanocomposites based on gelators, functional gelators, rheological properties of gelators, structural studies of gels by neutron diffraction, theoretical understanding of the gelation process, etc. A few of the presentations, by design, addressed issues that are tangential to the current thrust of research in the area of fibrillar gels Contd. on pg. 70 Contd. on pg. 70 Key Participants India Ayappanpillai Ajayaghosh NIIST Trivandrum V.K. Aswal, BARC Mumbai Braja Gopal Bag Vidyasagar University, Medinipur Arindam Banerjee, IACS Kolkata S.Bhattacharya | Uday Maitra S. Ramaswamy | Ajay Sood IISc Bangalore Prasanta Das |Arun Nandi | Parthasarathi Dastidar IACS Kolkata Suresh Das, NIIST Trivandrum Joykrishna Dey, IIT Kharagpur Subi George, JNCASR, Bangalore T. Mohan Das Madras University, Chennai USA Contd. on pg. 41 Kevin Caran James Madison Univ, Harrisonburg, VA Paul W Doetsch, Emory University, Atlanta. Jack Douglas, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD Sankar Mitra, University of Texas TX Ferenc Horkay, NIH, Bethesda, MD Leona D Samson, MIT, Cambridge Bruce Demple Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook Vilhelm A Bohr | David M Wilson III National Institute on Aging, NIH,Baltimore CynthiaT.McMurray Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley John A Tainer, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley 40 Richard G. Weiss Uday Maitra Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore E-mail: maitra@orgchem.iisc.ernet.in 2011 Vijay John, Tulane University, New Orleans George John, CUNY, New York Dong Chan Lee University of Nevada, Las Vegas Darrin Pochan Univ of Delaware, Newark, Delaware Srini Raghavan Univ of Maryland, College Park, MD Greg Tew Univ of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA Richard Weiss Georgetown Univ, Washington DC Bing Xu, Brandeis Univ, Waltham, MA Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 41 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Science, Diplomacy and Policy Nanosonics and Ultrasonics National Institute of Advanced Studies 11-13 January 2011 | Bengaluru, India St. Joseph’s College 12-14 January 2011 | Trichy, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Dilip Ahuja Tom Wang National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore E-mail: dahuja@nias.iisc.ernet.in Key Participants India A. Ramachandran, Chairman, TERI Ronen Sen V. Siddhartha, Cen. for Air Power Saurabh Kumar, NIAS Jayant Prasad, Min. of Ext. Affairs S. V. Raghavan, Office of the PSA C. Dasgupta, TERI P. S. Goel, DRDO R. N. Ganesh R. B. Grover, DAE R. Narasimha, JNCASR V. Sumantran, Hinduja Motors Amitav Mallik V. S. Ramamurthy, NIAS L. K. Sharma, New Scientist K. P. Vijayalakshmi, JNU L. V. Krishnan M. R. Srinivasan M. Vijayan, INSA, IISc S. K. Sahani, INSA American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC E-mail: twang@aaas.org A n Indo-US workshop on Science, diplomacy, and policy was organized to strengthen the harnessing of the power of science diplomacy and to explore strategies for enhancing the capacity of both countries to conduct science diplomacy and cooperate on science components of global issues. The workshop was characterized by high-level participation by over 45 academics, current and former Ambassadors, Admirals, Government Secretaries and other officials from both nations. The workshop was inaugurated by Ambassador Ronen Sen. The keynote address was delivered by Alan Leshner (CEO of AAAS and Executive Publisher of the journal Science), who emphasized the role of S&T for building relationships between countries and exhorted the participants to come up with concrete suggestions for follow-up action. The various sessions covered a recounting of science and diplomacy in action; global issues in science and diplomacy; mechanisms in science and diplomacy; capacity building for science diplomacy; and the context for science diplomacy in both countries. Contd. on pg. 70 USA Alan Leshner | Tom Wang AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy Silvana Martini I. Johnson St. Joseph’s College, Trichy E-mail: jnaadarsh@hotmail.com D ispersion and de-agglomeration by ultrasonication are a result of ultrasonic cavitation. Ultrasonication improves the mixing of the pre-cursors and increases the mass-transfer at the particle surface. This leads to smaller particle size and higher uniformity. The use of high-intensity ultrasound for food processing applications has been constantly explored. Extraction of gingerol from ginger, homogenisation of milk and generation of high quality emulsions from food ingredients are some examples where ultrasonication has been found to be efficient, at least in laboratory-scale trials. These ultrasonic processes primarily rely upon the physical effects of ultrasound. However, the potential restrictions and/or uses of the chemical effects generated by ultrasound-induced cavitation phenomena have often been overlooked.With thisbackground, an Indo-US workshop on Nanosonicsand ultrasonics was organized with the aims being to identify, focus, discuss and hence to solve the research problems associated with the application of high power ultrasound in food processing in order to make ultrasonic food processing a safe, viable and innovative processing technology in the food industry; and identify and discuss the applications of ultrasonics to nanomaterials (Nanosonics) which have manifold effects.The new developments presented at the event included the possibility of breast cancer detection by ultrasound at an earlier stage; detection of tiny defects in welds by nanotechnology and ultrasound; a novel online, non-destructive and non-invasive method for crystallization of food substances; and advanced blood characterization by nanotechnology. l 2011 Utah State University, Logan E-mail: silvana.martini@usu.edu Key Participants India M.Vijayalakshmi IGCAR, Kalpakkam Vilas Thabane University of Pune, Pune R.J. Pardikar BHEL Mahavir Singh National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi Gardash Ramesh Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai Mrudul Gadhvi St. Xavier’s college, Ahmedabad,Gujarat Anandan National Institute of Technology, Trichy USA Silvana Martini Utah State University Osvaldo H. Campanella Purdue University Kambiz Pourrezaei Drexel University, Philadelphia Paula Dobriansky, Thomson Reuters Robert Gagosian Consortium for Ocean Leadership Kenneth Bernard U.S. Public Health Service William Colglazier U.S. National Academy of Sciences Vaughan Turekian | Al Teich AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy 42 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 43 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Transportation and Greenhouse Gas Emission Effective Teaching in Engineering and Computer Science/Information Technology Programs Central Roads Research Institute 10-11 February 2011 | New Delhi, India Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology 10-12 February 2011 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Anuradha Shukla Josias Zietsman Central Roads Research Institute, New Delhi E-mail: anuradha.crri@nic.in Key Participants India Anuradha Shukla Central Road Research Institute,New Delhi Anil Singh Central Road Research Institute,New Delhi S.D. Attri Indian Meteorological Department, New Delhi Sumana Bhattacharya Ministry of Environment & Forests GOI Shyam Lal Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura Rakesh Kumar NEERI, Mumbai Zonal Centre C. Sharma National Physical Laboratory,New Delhi Ashwani kumar CEPT University, Ahmadabad USA Joe Zietsman Texas Transportation Institute Laurence Rilett University of Nebraska-Lincoln Texas Transportation Institute, College Station, Texas E-mail: Zietsman@tamu.edu G reenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their effects on global climate change are a major concern throughout the world. Transport is a key and crucial element in the infrastructure needed for the developmental process. Though transport makes a significant contribution to our national economy and to our quality of life, the negative impacts of transport on the environment include GHG emissions gases, air pollutants, noise, and damage to both natural and built environments. It is also a leading sector for energy consumption together with associated GHG emissions, and one of the most difficult sources to control. Addressing GHG emissions is a global issue requiring international action and cooperation. With this in mind, an Indo US workshop on Transportation and greenhouse gas emission was organized. Significant issues with regard to transportation-related GHG emissions were explored through a series of technical session’s facilitated open discussions, and networking opportunities. Facilitated discussions explicitly explored lessons learned from each country and areas where India and the US can work beneficially together in follow-up activities. The event brought together a range of participants representing the private and public sector, universities and research agencies from both India and the United States. The workshop included a series of five technical sessions spanning two days, in which topics ranging from broad policy overviews, inventory methods, sources and mitigation Jason Adsit Pankaj Jalote Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Delhi E-mail: jalote@iiitd.ac.in W hile initiatives to improve learning and teachingat the college/university level are in vogue in the United States with many universities establishing “Teaching and Learning Centers” to conduct research in this area as well as to disseminate best practices among teachers, this area is yet to pick up in India as the focus of education improvement is mostly on the subject areas themselves. Recognizing the need to begin adiscussion on this important but overlooked topic in India, an Indo-US workshop on Effective teaching in engineering and Computer Science/Information Technology programs was organized to address wide spread concerns about the quality of education, and the desire and need in the country to rapidly expand the higher education sector. Participants in this workshop included experts in teachinglearning from the United States, and respected academicians from India. Discussions were initiated on the important area of pedagogy at the University/College level. The workshop generated interest in various quarters about the importance of this area and the need to conduct research. The participants also initiated a discussion on establishing a center on teaching and learning in India in collaboration with such centers that already exist in various Universities in the US. l 2011 University at Buffalo, The State University of New York E-mail: adsit@buffalo.edu Key Participants India Sanjay Goel Jaypee Insitute of Technolgy Vijay Gupta, Lovely University P Kumaraguru | Pushpendra Singh Surendra Prasad | M Balakrishnan Amarjeet Singh | Vinayak Naik IIIT-Delhi Raghuvir Saran | Dheeraj Sanghi IIT Kanpur Srikanta Moorthy, Infosys Kirti Garg | Rajeev Sangal Vasudeva Varma|Kamal Karlapalem IIIT Hyderabad Bhushan Trivedi, GLSIT K P Jaikiran, University of Trivandrum USA Jeff Froyd TAMU Jason Adsit University of Buffalo Lucinda Finely University of Buffalo Rajan Batta Contd. on pg. 71 Sumit Ghosh John Storey Oak Ridge National Lab Linda Nilson Robert O’Loughlin Transportation Research Board Alberto Ayala California Air Resources Board Joanne Potter Cambridge Systematics, Inc.USA Tara Ramani Texas Transportation Institute 44 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 45 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Skeletal Dysplasia Translational Cancer Biomarker Discovery and Prevention Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences 12-13 February 2011 | Lucknow, India Narayana Hrudayalaya Foundations 13-17 February 2011 | Bengaluru, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators David L. Rimoin Shubha R. Phadke Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow E-mail: shubharaophadke@gmail.com Key Participants India Ishwar Verma | Ratna Dua Puri Gangaram Hospital, New Delhi Shyam Agarwal | Shubha R Phadke | Rakesh K Gupta R V Phadke | Preethi Dabadhgao Balraj Mittal | Sarita Agarwal Sunil Kumar | Suraksha Agarwal SGPIMS, Lucknow, India Madhulika Kabra India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Girish K M | Hithesh Shah Kasturba Medical College,Manipal, Karnataka Meenakshi Bhat Centre for Human Genetics, Bangalore, India Vipul Shah American academy of cerebral palsy Shashikant Apte Sahyadri speciality hospital, Pune Sujatha Jagadeesh Genetics Chapter IAP, Chennai, India Prof M L Kulkarni J J M Medical College, Davangere Sumita Danda Christian Medical College, Vellore Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, University of California Los Angeles E-mail: David.Rimoin@cshs.org A common medical condition as a group, skeletal dysplasia, is a major cause of morbidity all over the world. Significant advances in understanding of clinical manifestations, pathophysiology and genetic defects have had a tremendous impact on patient care, teaching and research in this field. In order to facilitate a meeting of scientists from India and United States to share clinical experiences, create awareness on recent advances, and explore the possibility of collaborative efforts in training manpower and research in this field, an Indo-US workshop on Skeletal dysplasia was organized at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow. The workshop enabled a confluence of the technical expertise from the United States and the huge, diverse population (and patients) in India byenhancing knowledge and understanding in the areas of diagnosis, treatment and care for patients with skeletal dysplasia. The eminent US and Indian faculty deliberated on all the aspects of skeletal dysplasia which included anatomy, clinical evaluation, radiological analysis, genetic testing, pathophysiology, animal models, specific therapy, supportive/rehabilitative care, genetic counseling, prevention and prenatal diagnosis. As a result of the event, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences will now participate in the Skeletal Dysplasia Registry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. l University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor E-mail: dbrenner@umich.edu G lobal reduction in cancer mortality can be achieved by dissemination and implementation of cost effective early detection and preventive interventions for populations at risk. There is a significant disparity in these efforts between developing and developed nations. As cancer becomes the leading cause of mortality in developing countries such as India, it is important that population-specific preventive strategies are developed to reduce cancer related mortality. The Indo-US workshop on Translational cancer biomarker discovery and prevention brought together leading scientists, clinicians and policy makers from the United States and India to discuss and develop cancer preventive strategies which could be adopted to decrease the cancer burden around the globe.The major aims of the workshop were to identify mutually beneficial translational cancer prevention research questions that address early detection of cancer and prevention priorities; compare population-based gene-environment interactions in India with those of other countries; and review preventive strategies in organ site specific high incidence and mortality cancers common to India and the United States. As part of the developments presented at the event, discussions concentrated on cancer screening and epidemiology (mainly focused on the challenges faced by large scale screening Contd. on pg. 71 Mamta N Muranjan S GS Medical College & KEM Hospital, Mumbai Sankar V H Government Medical College Kerala Key Participants India Kiran Mazumdar (Biocon), A. Nandakumar, S. Bhambani, N. Bhatla, N. Singh, PK Julka (AIIMS, Delhi), P. Chathurvedi, S. Chiplunkar, A. Dutt, GB Maru, R. Mulherkar, R. Sarin (ACTREC, Mumbai) , K. Chaudhry, L. Kant, T. Kaur , M. Kumar, B. Shah , K. Chaudhry, L. Kant, T. Kaur, M. Kumar, B. Shah (ICMR, New Delhi), Das, BC, (BRARCBR, New Delhi), Vaidyanathan, K, (AIMS, Kochi), Jacob, Martha, (PATH, New Delhi), Kapur, S, (Insitutute of Pathology, New Delhi), Kondiah, P, Soumasundram, K (IISc, Bangalore), Basu, Partha, (CNCI, Kolkata), S. Kumar, VK Srivastava, (KGMU, Lucknow), V. Kekatpure MA Kuriakose P. Narayanan , A. Pais P C Salins (Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Center, Bangalore), M. Ravi (MLN Medical College, Allahabad), Mittal, Balraj (SGPGMI, Lucknow), Shastri, SS , K. Mohandas (Tata Mem. Hospital, Mumbai), N S Murthy (RMC, Bangalore), A. Nandakumar (Natl. Cancer Registry Programme of India), P. Binay (Strand Genomics, Bangalore), P. PM (Ameri Cares India Foundation), P S Patel (GCRI, Ahmedabad), P. Radhakrishna (RGCB, Thiruvananthapuram), Raj Mehrotra (KGMU, Lucknow), Ramdas, K (RCC, Trivandrum), Ranganathan K (CDRF, Chennai), S. Dhananjaya (Reliance Life Sciences), S. Saxena (Institute of Pathology, New Delhi), S. Paul (RCC, Thiruvananthapuram), Devi Shetty (Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore), R. Sirdeshmukh (CCMB, Hyderabad), E. Vallikad (SJMC Bangalore), M Vijaykumar, KMIO, Bangalore. USA B. John (Univ. of North Carolina), B. Powell (MD Anderson Cancer Center), Cote, Michele (Wayne State Univ.), F. Ziding (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center), S. Rengaswamy S. Franceschi (IARC), G. Judy (Dana Farber Cancer Institute), G. Ajay (Baylor Univ. Medical Center), P. Iyengar (Univ. of Texas), T. Kensler (Univ. of Pittsburgh), Kotha, Sudha Rani (CGH), P. Gitika (Centers for Disease Control), C. Thomas , D. Brenner , D. Patel , N. Ramnath, L Rozek, S. Merajver , K. Chandan , M. Kakarala H. Hu, S. Gruber (Univ. of Michigan), Saraiya, Mona (CDC), Sen, Subrata , G. Ann (MD Anderson Cancer Center), A. Srivastava , E. Szabo , S. Srivastava , L. Ford (NCI), S. Sara (Johns Hopkins Univ.), U. Elizabeth (Centers for Disease Control), Wollins, Dana (ASCO) USA John Graham Jr | Ralph Lachman Moise Danielpour | David L Rimoin Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles William Mackenzie Alfred I.duPont Hospital for Children of the Nemours Foundation Uwe Kornak Charite-Universitaetmedizin Germany William Horton Shriners Research Institute Oregon OHSU 46 Dean Brenner Moni Abraham Kuriakose Mazumdar Shaw Cancer Centre Narayana Hrudayalaya Foundations, Bangalore E-mail: makuriakose@gmail.com 2011 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 47 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Modern Trends in Macromolecular Crystallography Precision Agricultural Techniques and Technologies Indian Institute of Technology 21-23 February 2011 | Mumbai, India Punjab Agricultural University 28 February - 3 March 2011 | Ludhiana, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators S.E. Ealick Ruchi Anand Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay E-mail: ruchi@chem.iitb.ac.in Key Participants India J.K. Dattagupta SAHA Institute of Nuclear physics, Kolkata S. Karthikeyan, IMTECH, Chandigarh R.V. Hosur, TIFR, Mumbai S. Krishnaswamy, MKU, Madurai K. Suguna | M. Vijayan S. Ramakumar | B. Gopal Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore N. Gautham | D. Velmurugan | K. Ponnuraj University of Madras, Chennai T.P. Singh | Punit Kaur AIIMS, New Delhi S. Gourinath, JNU, Delhi Amit Kumar Das, IIT-Kharagpur P. Chakrabarti, Bose Institute, Kolkata Dinakar M. Salunke, NII, Delhi S. Ramaswamy, INSTEM, Bangalore Amit Sharma, ICGEB,New Delhi Deepak Nair, NCBS, Bangalore Ashok Varma, ACTREC, Mumbai R. Sankaranarayanan, CCMB, Hyderabad Debi Sarkar, UDSC, New Delhi Ravindra D. Makde, BARC, Mumbai USA B.V.V Prasad, Baylor College of Medicine C. Deivanayagam, Univ. of Alabama Lawerence. Stern, UMASS, Amherst Tadhg Begley, University of Texas A&M Cornell University, Ithaca, New York E-mail: see3@cornell.edu M acromolecular crystallography has undergone rapid transformation in the past few decades. X-ray Structure of biological macromolecules can illuminate vast amount of information about the functioning of the cell. Since the advent of macromolecular structure determination with the first protein structures of myoglobin and hemoglobin being determined, the field has seen a complete metamorphosis. From a structure determination effort, what used to take years earlier can now be completed, sometimes, in a few hours, because of the availability of synchrotron radiation and extensive effort on software development. There has been a dramatic rise in the total number of protein structures deposited in the protein databank. In addition, several structure determination consortia have also been formed in an effort to mine data for future use. In an effort to bring together scientists from both India and the United States to discuss the basic concepts and the current developments in the field of macromolecular crystallography, an Indo-US workshop on Modern trends in macromolecular crystallography was organized at New Delhi. The topics covered in the various sessions included synchrotron data collection and processing strategies, macromolecular protein complexes, structure based drug design, structure determination and phasing techniques, crystallization techniques, emerging trends in macromolecular crystallography, data collection and processing, phasing techniques, crystallization and cryo-freezing techniques, and model building and visualization software. l I n order to provide a platform to US and Indian experts to share their current knowledge, discuss, prioritize and identify areas where there is mutual interest for collaboration, a bilateral workshop on Precision agricultural techniques and technologies was organized at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Precision agriculture is an art and science of utilizing advanced, innovative, cutting edge, site-specific techniques and technologies for management of spatial and temporal variability in farm fields for enhancing productivity, efficiency and profitability of agricultural production systems. With a major population increase in the world over the next 20 to 50 years, precision agricultural techniques have to be employed to overcome the lag in potential agricultural yield. The event held at Ludhiana was attended by about 50 participants including twelve resource persons from the United States and fifteen from India. Besides the overview session, the workshop themes covered - constraints and opportunities for agricultural production in India; precision agricultural practices and opportunities to incorporate new techniques; precision water management techniques and new technologies for enhancing food production; precision nutrient management techniques and new technologies for enhancing food production. The final session discussed and enumerated opportunities to collaborate. There were also several farmland visits organized as a part of the workshop. l Colorado State University, Fort Collins E-mail: raj.khosla@colostate.edu Key Participants India Manjit S. Kang J.S. Mahal | Bijay Singh Punjab Agricultural University V. M. Mayande Dr. P. Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth Krishna Reddy Indian Institute of Information Technology Manjeet S. Makkar Punjab Agricultural University P. K. Sharma Punjab Remote Sensing Center Man Singh Indian Agricultural Research Institute M.L. Jat CIMMYT-India Office M.B. Patil University of Agricultural SciencesRaichur Sesha Sai National Remote Sensing Agency Bhabani Das Indian Institute of Technology USA Raj Khosla Colorado State University Craig Beyrouty | Dwayne Westfall Neil Hansen Colorado State University K. Rajashankar Advanced Photon Source, Chicago Steve Ealick | Yang Zhang Cornell University Mary Stromberger Colorado State University Jeff Abramson, Univ. of California-LA Newell Kitchen USDA-ARS, Columbia Clay Clark, University of North Carolina Eric Bennett, Pfizer Global Biotherapeutics David Mulla University of Minnesota Arun Malhotra, University of Miami Ronen Marmorstein Wistar Institute of Cancer Research Tom Terwilliger, Los Alamos Natl. Lab. Bing Hao, University of Conneticut 48 Raj Khosla Manjit S. Kang Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana E-mail: vcpau5264@yahoo.co.in 2011 David Franzen University of North Dakota Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 49 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Aging and Age-related Diseases The Critical Global Challenge: Managing Water Resources for Food Security and Sustainability National Institute of Immunology 3-4 March 2011 | New Delhi, India M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation 5-6 March 2011 | Chennai, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Arnab Mukhopadhyay Andrew Dillin National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi E-mail: arnab@nii.ac.in Key Participants India Bhavana Shivu Indian Institute of Technology, Rajasthan Chinmay Mukhopadhyay Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi G Bhanuprakash Reddy National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad Jamuna Subramaniam Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur Madhu Dikshit Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow Muthuswamy Balasubramanyam Madras Diabetes Research Foundation Chennai Patrick D’ Silva Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Prakash Babu University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad S. Sivakami, University of Mumbai Sagar Sengupta | Sarika Gupta Vineeta Bal | Sanjeev Das Avadhesha Surolia | Arnab Mukhopadhyay National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi Subramaniam Ganesh Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur Ullas Kolthur, TIFR, Mumbai USA Glenn Center for Aging Research, Salk Institute, La Jolla, California E-mail: dillin@salk.edu A dvancements in medical sciences and improved living conditions have led to a dramatic increase in the average human life span over the last century. This in turn has seen an increase in elderly population as well as age-related diseases in many countries, including the US and India. Thus, a lot of research focus is being diverted into the field of aging research as well as on diseases that occur primarily as we age. A large group of scientists in US are actively working in the field of aging/longevity. In order to introduce the field of molecular aging research to Indian scientists as well as host a close interaction between scientists of the two countries to discuss progress in research oriented towards understanding age-related diseases, an Indo-US workshop on Aging and agerelated diseases was organized. he symposium had four main sessions on metabolism and aging; signalling, development, stress and aging; genomic instability and aging; and agerelated diseases. Many interesting new developments were presented at the meeting including: therapeutic interventions that delay or reverse osteoporosis in a mouse model; work on biphenyl ethers that can bring about fibril disruption which has great implications in treatment of amyloid diseases; data on identifying PGC-1 as a novel coactivator of p53, linking metabolism and cancer; reactive oxygen species-sensitive cellular mechanism of iron deposition in hepatic and neuronal cells that may contribute to age-related hepatic iron overload or neurodegenerative diseases; and studies indicating that structural and epigenetic integrity of telomeres may influence senescence by modifying core histones and their chaperones. l Ajay Parida M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai E-mail: executivedirector@mssrf.res.in A s leading global food producers, India and the United States also are leading irrigators and consumers of water, making it critically important that we work towards greater water productivity in agriculture in order to maintain – and increase – the food production that is critical to world food security. Our countries have differences in our histories, resources, needs, and approaches to water management in agriculture, but we share many of the same challenges, particularly in the areas of water quantity and quality, efficient use of water in irrigated and rain-fed agriculture, the effects of climate change, and the human dimensions of water use, involving policy, law, and human behaviour. Water-related challenges in the United States, India, and globally arise from multiple causes, and potential solutions will demand diverse approaches. India and the 2011 Prem S. Paul University of Nebraska-Lincoln E-mail: ppaul2@unl.edu United States, with their common role as key food producers and their diverse expertise and resources, together can create the innovative solutions needed to increase agricultural productivity in a time of increasing demand for water and climate uncertainty The IndoUS workshop on The critical global challenge: Managing water resources for food security and sustainability brought together leading scientists and decision-makers from US and Indian institutions and the private sector to address the issues and challenges surrounding water and food productivity, an area of critical interest to both countries. The participants discussed potential paths to solutions and established priorities for innovative research, technologies, and policies related to the optimal use and management of water for agriculture.l Andrew Dillin | Jan Karlseder Salk Institute for Biological Studies. La Jolla, Heidi Tissenbaum UMass Medical School, Worcester James Mitchell Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Malene Hansen Rolf Bodmer SBMRI, La Jolla Tom Johnson UCB, CO 50 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 51 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Climate Change Health Adaptation Indo-US Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery Public Health Foundation of India 28-30 March 2011 | Mumbai, India JSS University 20-22 April 2011 | Mysore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators K. Srinath Reddy Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi E-mail: ksrinath.reddy@phfi.org C urrent domestic and global climate science is largely focused on efforts to mitigate climate change. However, given experts’ predictions of increased temperatures, rising sea levels, and changing disease patterns, there is a pressing need for enhanced scientific research on climate adaptation with a particular focus on the public health implications of global warming for the world’s most vulnerable populations. Preparing for, and responding to, health emergencies caused by a changing climate will be critical to saving lives around the globe and protecting developing economies. However, in both the United States and India, efforts to model, understand, and research shifting climate patterns and exposed communities are still in early stages. The Indo-US workshop on Climate change health adaptation brought together leaders in this field to discuss strategies for the development and implementation of vulnerability assessments and related preparedness plans. Through the workshop, the aim was to increase the resilience and responsiveness of Indian urban centers to climate health emergencies. The conference also promoted enhanced scientific research on Kim Knowlton Global Warming and Health Project Natural Resources Defense Council, New York E-mail: kknowlton@nrdc.org climate health adaptation both domestically and globally. Over the course of three days, the workshop covered a vast range of topics. An introduction on heat stress was provided to familiarize all participants with the health effects of extreme temperatures and how heat stress affects other climate-health impacts including chronic diseases, infections and air pollution related conditions. Scientists from the US shared case studies, research methodology, study protocols and findings from heat stress studies in America. Subsequently, Indian scientists shared information from occupational health studies and heat-related productivity studies. Participants from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation shared the city’s climate profile, the municipality’s experience with heat stress, and measures currently being undertaken to address heat vulnerability. There were discussions about the availability of datasets and the lack of surveillance of heat related mortality and morbidity in hospitals. Workshop participants also engaged in detailed discussions in two working groups: environmental and W ith the revolution in biomedical sciences in the past few decades, the field of medicinal chemistry has evolved from the chemistry of bioactive compounds to works at the interface of chemistry and biology. For most of the 20th century, the majority of drugs were discovered either by identifying the active ingredient in traditional natural remedies, by rational drug design, or by serendipity. However, with the advancement in medicinal chemistry during the past several decades; chemists are not only synthesizing new compounds, but also contributing to understanding the molecular basis of a disease and its control, identifying bio-molecular targets implicated as disease-causing, and ultimately inventing specific compounds that block the bio-molecules from progressing to an illness, or control a disease. The Indo-USworkshop on Frontiers in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery brought together outstanding scientists and researchers from India and the US, not only to discuss exciting advances and opportunities in their own fields, but also to learn and discuss about research at the cutting edge of other disciplines, while building new ties between future leaders of both the nations scientific enterprises. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum National Cancer Institute - Frederick Email: malhotrasa@mail.nih.gov Key Participants India Prabhat Arya University of Hyderabad Erode Prabhakaran, IISc Bangalore M.D.Nair | S.P.Thyagarajan Consultant To Healthcare Industry, Chennai R. Banerjee, IIT, Bombay Asit K. Chakraborti, NIPER, Punjab Palpu Pushpangadan AIHB, Products Development Yamini Bhusan Tripathi Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi A. Shah, Saurashtra University, Rajkot J.S Yadav | G. V. M. Sharma Indian ICT, Hyderabad G. Mugesh, IISc Bangalore M.J Nanjan JSS College of Pharmacy, Tamilnadu Rajini Kaul, ICMR, New Delhi Ravi Prasad, HDC, Bangalore USA Michael Walters, UN, Minneapolis Donna Huryn, UPCD, Center Visakantha Murthy, University, Hershey Barbara Laughon (NIAID), US National Institutes of Health Anil K. Patri, NSFNCI, at Frederick Barry Keefe National Cancer Institute, NIH S.G. Tsodikova, University of Michigan D. Mukhopadhyay, MC, Rochester Sanjay V. Malhotra National Cancer Institute, Frederick Philip DeShong University of Maryland, College Park Krishna Kumar Howard University, Washington Contd. on pg. 71 52 Sanjay V. Malhotra B. Suresh JSS University, Mysore Email: sureshjssuni@hotmail.com 2011 Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 53 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 New Functional Materials: Synthesis, Properties and Methods Biofuels: Research Challenges in the Areas of Combustion and Fuel Injection Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research 02-07 June 2011 | Manali, India Indian Institute of Science 22-23 June 2011 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators C.N.R. Rao Martha Greenblatt Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore Email: cnrrao@jncasr.ac.in Key Participants India C.N.R. Rao | N. S.Vidhyadhiraja U. Waghmare JNCASR, Bangalore A. K. Ray Chaudhuri | T. Saha-Dasgupta S N Bose Centre, Kolkata S. Dattagupta, IISER, Kolkata A. K. Ganguli | M. Sharma, IIT Delhi D. Sarma | A. Sood | J. Gopalakrishnan Indian Institute of Science Bangalore A. Bharathi, IGCAR, Kalpakkam R. C. Budhani, NPL, New Delhi R. Vijayaraghavan, VIT University, Vellore M. Thirumal | R. Nagarajan | S. Deka University of Delhi C. S. Sundar Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam A. K. Tyagi, BARC, Mumbai USA John Freeland | John Mitchell Argonne National Laboratory Martha Greenblatt, Rutgers U Andrew Millis, Columbia University K. V. Ramanujachary, Rowan University Mas Subramanian Oregon State University, Corvallis Rutgers University, New Jersey Email: martha@rutchem.rutgers.edu F unctional materials are of intense interest to leading experimental and theoretical researchers world-wide. These materials are important for understanding fundamentally important phenomena including metal-insulator transition, charge density wave, spin density wave, magnetoresitance, magnetic ordering, and superconductivity. Understanding the structure-properties affecting these important phenomena is required for the control and design of materials properties for technological applications. An Indo-US workshop on New functional materials: synthesis, properties and methods was organized in order to bring together world leaders, active in the field, both experimentally and theoretically, in the area of functional materials, to exchange ideas, develop collaborations and advance this important multidisciplinary field. The technical program of the meeting consisted of 2 plenary lectures, 25 invited lectures, 10 oral presentations, 22 poster presentation and 4 presentations by poster awardees. The plenary and invited talks were focused on fundamental and applied research including properties and application of grapheme; superconductors; electronic instabilities (e.g., metal-to-insulator transition, charge density wave (CDW) and spin density wave (SDW) states, and electronic phase separation); magnetic and charge ordering; and, multiferroics. Several new developments were presented at the event, such as graphene based materials and their inorganic analogues; novel magnetic devices/switches based on grapheme; confinement of 2D electrons in specifically designed thin multilayers; importance Ranganathan Kumar Saptarshi Basu Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Email: sbasu@mecheng.iisc.ernet.in University of Central Florida Email: ranganathan.kumar@ucf.edu A viation turbine fuel, or jet fuel, is produced exclusively from crude petroleum feedstock that is processed in a refinery to make many useful products including gasoline, diesel, petrochemicals, and asphalt components. Kerosene jet fuel is a hydrocarbon fuel composed almost entirely of hydrogen and carbon elements. The hydrocarbon composition consists mainly of paraffins, cycloparaffins, and aromatics. Aviation fuels, such as Jet-A, developed over many years of application, have a relatively high energy density per unit weight and volume. The main issues with petroleumbased aviation fuels are availability and sustainability; environmental pollution; and energy security. Carbon neutral renewable liquid fuels are needed to replace the petroleumderived transport fuels. Many critical technical and economic challenges need to be surmounted before economically viable and environmentally sound bio-jet fuels can be produced for partial or complete replacement of the petroleum-based jet fuels. The Indo-US workshop on Biofuels: research challenges in the areas of combustion and fuel injection focused on two major aspects/challenges in biofuel research - combustion dynamics and atomization and vaporization of biofuel. The workshop brought together eminent scholars from universities and industries in India and USA that are major players in alternative energy research. The workshop involved panel discussions, keynote speeches and posters, Contd. on pg. 72 Contd. on pg. 71 2011 Key Participants India Saptarshi Basu R.V Ravikrishna Indian Institute of Science Bangalore Indian Institute of Science Bangalore P. Mehta A.Ramesh IIT-Madras IIT- Madras Anjan Ray Amitava Dutta IIT-Delhi Jadavpur University S. R Chakravarthy P. J Paul IIT-Madras Indian Institute of Science Bangalore Karthik Ramanathan GM USA Arvind Atreya, UMICH, Ann Arbor T. Avedisian, Cornell Jackie Sung, Uconn E. Petersen, Texas A & M Ranganathan Kumar, UCF B. Simmons, Sandia Jak Tchakhalian University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Arvind Atreya, UMICH, Ann Arbor T. Avedisian, Cornell Maria Varela del Arco Oak Ridge National Laboratory Jackie Sung, Uconn E. Petersen, Texas A & M Arunava Gupta University of Alabama Ranganathan Kumar, UCF Darrel Schlom Materials, Cornell University, USA Ward Plummer Astronomy Louisiana State University 54 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 55 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Synergy and Diversity of Molecular Medicine – Scope for Collaborative Research and Better Healthcare Cognitive Neuroscience PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research 27-28 June 2011 | Coimbatore, India Indian Institute of Science 05-14 July 2011 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Peter Bitterman Ramalingam Sankaran PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore Email: drrampsg@gmail.com Key Participants India Thangaraj Thangaraj Rajkumar CCMB,Hyderabad Adayar Cancer Institute, Chennai C Adithan Shubha Phadke JIPMER, Pondicherry SGPGI, Lucknow Nandhini Kumar ICMR USA Peter Bitterman Minnesota Medical School, USA Douglas Yee University of Minnesota, USA Kumar Belani University of Minnesota, USA Ashok Saluja University of Minnesota USA Jonathan D’Cunha University of Minnesota USA University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis Email: bitte001@umn.edu M olecular medicine strengthened particularly by the advances in molecular biology and –omics, has brought personalized medicine closer to reality than ever before. In addition, it has ramifications in public health, and drug development as well. Hence, molecular medicine has all the potentials for being the major driver of health-care and economics. A strong molecular medicine base in a country helps one to understand the dynamics of populations, agenthost interactions and to initiate important scientifically informed decisions. The primary objective of the Indo-US workshop on Synergy and diversity of molecular medicine – scope for collaborative research and better healthcare was to facilitate an international level collaborative approach for individual and inter-institutional R&D work in the area of molecular medicine. The major technological advances pertaining to this field were presented and discussed at the workshop. The major topics covered included HIV and molecular mechanisms of T-lymphocyte activation; molecular mechanisms of lung cancer, cardiac repair, and lung repair; experimental therapeutic of breast cancer, molecular oncology in resource-limited settings; differences in molecular medicine at population levels; clinical practice of molecular medicine in resource-limited settings; molecular advances in neurological diseases; role of genetic epidemiology in practice of molecular medicine; and, ethics of molecular medicine research and clinical practice. Indo-US Science & Technology Forum The Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, La Jolla Email: tom@salk.edu C ognitive neuroscience research and training in India is at a key point in its evolution, which presents an extremely important concern for Indian faculty and students: the establishment and maintenance of connections with the international community. Such connections provide access to the latest research findings, offer opportunities for international collaborative research, and lead to greater international awareness of discoveries made by Indian neuroscientists. In recognition of this need, the Indo-US workshop on Cognitive neuroscience paved the way for new collaborations and mutual exchange of students and ideas. The workshop accommodated 40 students recruited from neuroscience communities throughout India, with admission based upon merit and need. The workshop faculty consisted of 14 distinguished neuroscientists from the United States of America and a similarly distinguished group of 14 neuroscientists from India. The workshop itself had three basic educational components: lectures, lab practicum, and discussion groups. These components were interleaved with other group activities that were largely social in nature and intended to promote discussion and informal interactions between students and faculty. l Key Participants India Arun SP | Aditya Murthy IISc Bengaluru Upinder Bhalla | Sumantra Chattarji, NCBS Bengaluru Chandrasekhar Pammi Univ. of Allahabad Y. Doreswamy | Neeraj Jain Soumya Iyengar | Nandini Singh NBRC Manesar Bappi Raju Univ.of Hyderabad Shobini Rao | BS Shankarnarayan Rao NIMHANS Bengaluru Narayanan Srinivasan CBCS Allahabad USA Thomas Albright | Edward Callaway | Lee Cambell Salk Institute U.S.A Aniruddha Das | Michael Goldberg Columbia Univ. U.S.A Charles Gross | Jeffrey Krichmar Princeton Univ. U.S.A Mark Pinsk | John Krakauer Princeton Univ. U.S.A Giacomo Rizzolatti Univ of Parma Italy Highlights of the scientific deliberations included- regulatory and control mechanisms at molecular level in cancer biology; discovery and development paradigms of drugs in cancer; practice of molecular oncology and clinical genetics in resource poor settings; ethics governing research with special reference to molecular research; evolutionary and population genetics; and, genetics of drug-metabolizing enzymes. l 56 Thomas D. Albright Aditya Murthy Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Email: aditya@cns.iisc.ernet.in 2011 Keiji Tanaka RIKEN Brain Science Institute Japan Pratik Mutha University of New Mexico USA Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 57 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Astronomy with Adaptive Optics on Moderate-Sized Telescopes Biocomputing Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics 22-25 August 2011 | Pune, India National Institute of Technology 12-13 September 2011 | Calicut, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Christoph Baranec A. N. Ramaprakash Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics, Pune Email: anr@iucaa.ernet.in Key Participants India A. N. Ramaprakash | S.Prabhudesai R. Nityananda | J. Bagchi M. P. Burse | G. Dewangan C. Ishwarachandra | S. N. Tandon IUCAA, Pune S. K. Saha | R. Banyal IIA, Bengaluru A. K. Gupta IRDE, Dehradun A. R. Ganesan IITM, Chennai A. Omar ARIES, Nainital R. A. Bayanna USO, Udaipur USA C. Baranec | S. Tendulkar R. Dekany | T. Morton | S. Hildebrandt R. Riddle | L. Hillenbrand S. Kulkarni | V. Bhalerao | R. Smith Caltech, USA N. Law Univ. of Toronto B. Ellerbroek TMT, USA G. Hallinan Berkeley, USA P. Choi Pomona College California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Email: baranec@astro.caltech.edu A daptive optics (AO) counteracts the severe blurring effect (“seeing”) introduced by the Earth’s turbulent atmosphere, when celestial objects are observed using telescopes. AO techniques have been successfully employed in astronomy for more than three decades now. However, large overheads and low efficiency still limit the applicability of AO on large telescopes for which operational costs per unit time are high. On the other hand, small and medium sized telescopes are many more in number and their operational costs are substantially lower. A reasonably powerful AO system, which works with minimal overheads and provides good sky coverage, will greatly enhance the scientific capabilities of small and medium sized telescopes by opening up the possibility of hitherto unavailable observational approaches. Caltech and IUCAA have entered into an equal partnership to develop an automated, affordable and efficient AO system suitable for use on 1-3m class telescopes. The Indo-US workshop on Astronomy with adaptive optics on moderate-sized telescopes initiated the process of forging collaborations between astronomers in India and the USA, for taking up novel and unique scientific explorations exploiting Robo-AO. Wide dissemination of the results from these studies would transform Robo-AO to an archetype for a new class of AO system for small and medium sized telescopes. In addition to exploring problems of mutual interest, the workshop helped identify new synergies in the resource pools and expertise available in the two countries so as to forge new initiatives in astronomical research and development. l S.D. Madhu Kumar National Institute of Technology, Calicut E-mail: madhu@nitc.ac.in 2011 Mathew J. Palakal Indiana University School of Informatics, Indianapolis Email: mpalakal@iupui.edu B ioinformatics is an area that entails many scientific and technological advances, realizable only through a concentrated global collaborative effort. The primary objective of the Indo-US workshop on Biocomputing was to provide a common platform for exchanging ideas/hypotheses and to initiate and catalyze dialogues for developing long-term research and educational strategies in the field of bioinformatics for the two countries. The workshop brought together domain experts from India and the US to create a forum which would act as a focal point for engineers, scientists and academics, to exchange views, develop curricula and improve the quality of research in the area of bioinformatics for the benefit of both countries. The workshop focused on the following aspects: gaining exposure to research developments and research problems in the field through expert talks and discussions by eminent researchers and academicians; identification of important research issues of common interest with scope for collaborative research; formulation of strategies for curriculum development incorporating latest advances in the area of bioinformatics for engineering students and scholars; drafting policy suggestions for the Indian and US governments to achieve closer bilateral collaboration in the field of bioinformatics; and, catalyzing the exchange of scholars and transfer of bioinformatics technologies between institutes/universities of both nations. Contd. on pg. 72 Key Participants India G P S Raghava Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh Rajanikant G K National Institute of Technology, Calicut Ashish V Tendulkar Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Pawan K Dhar Symbiosis International University, Pune Pramod Wangikar Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay Ramesh Hariharan Strand life Sciences, Bangalore USA Thomas E Ferrin University of California, San Francisco Mona Sing Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University Mathew J Palakal Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Keith Dunker Indiana University Tarynn M Witten Virginia Commonwealth University G. Helou IPAC, USA Lang Li Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Teresa M Przytycka National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda 58 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 59 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Women in Science Development and Use of Molecular Markers for Crop Improvement Ara Healthcare Pvt Ltd. 12 September 2011 | New Delhi, India Ch. Charan Singh University 29-31 October 2011 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Rama Mukherjee Mark Templer Ara Healthcare Pvt Ltd., Gurgaon Email: rama.mukherjee@arahc.com Key Participants India T. Ramasami Department of Science & Technology Vinita Sharma Department of Science & Technology Indira Nath Indian Council of Medical Research Svati Bhogle Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE) Sudha Nair M S Swaminathan Research Foundation Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath Indian Institute of Science Geetha Bali Karnataka State Women’s University Indu Gupta National Informatics Centre Vibha Gupta Center for Science for Villages USA Shirley Malcom American Association for the Advancement of Science U.S. Embassy, New Delhi Email: templerm@state.gov T he US and India have a strong history of scientific collaboration, and both countries have produced many preeminent women scientists and science policy makers. Yet, despite these achievements, women in both countries still face significant socio-cultural and institutional challenges to achieving their full potential in science-related careers. To address these issues, the one-day US-India workshop on Women in Science followed by a US-India roundtable meeting on Women in Science Issues with experts from both countries, enabled a dialogue on the topic of empowering women in science and generated concrete suggestions to improve opportunities in the workshop’s three key focus areas – science education for girls, success stories by women achievers, and promoting access to technology and interest in science education for women in rural areas. This conference addressed three major areas of the strategic US-India relationship: Science and Technology, Education, and Women’s Empowerment. The workshop brought together approximately 200 participants from the US and Indian governments, industry, research institutions, NGOs, and academia. D NA marker technology is changing at a very fast pace. A shift from PCR/gel/capillary based system to sequencing based systems is already underway. The use of molecular markers in genomics and genetic studies has been common for the last 2-3 decades but their use in crop improvement especially in cultivar development has been slow to come especially in the public sector. The Indo-US workshop on Development and use of molecular markers for crop improvement was precisely designed to (i) share the experience of the scientists from the two countries, (ii) explore possibilities of future collaboration for harnessing the benefits of the emerging technologies for crop improvement, and, (iii) provide an opportunity to younger scientists and students to learn about the current and emerging technologies in the area of the symposium. l Blair Hall (Minister-Counselor for Economic, Environment, Science and Technology Affairs, US Embassy) opened the inaugural session discussing the importance of science and technology and noted that the challenges women in India face are global challenges. T. Ramasami (Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India) discussed the competing priorities women have of home-making and nation building. He looked to the critical role Washington State University, Pullman Email: ksgill@wsu.edu Key Participants India Balyan, H. S. CCS University, Meerut Bansal, K.C. Genetic Resources, New Delhi Bentur, J. S. Directorate of Rice Research, Hyderabad Bhan, M. K. | Bhatia, C. R. Department of Biotechnology, Government of India Chhuneja, Parveen PAU, Ludhiana USA Akhunov, E. Kansas State University, Manhattan Bayly, Warwick Washington State University, Pullman, USA Dhugga, Kanwarpal S. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Jhonston Gill, Bikram S. Kansas State University, Manhattan Canada & Germany Datla, Raju Plant Biotechnology Institute, NRC of Canada, Sasktoon Contd. on pg. 73 Jennie Hunter-Cevera RTI International Ordon, Frank Institute for Resistance Research & Stress Tolerance, Quedlinburg, Germany Blair Hall U.S. Embassy Timothy Neely U.S. Embassy 60 Kulvinder S. Gill H. S. Balyan Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut, India Email: hsbalyan@gmail.com 2011 Pozniak, C. University of Saskachewan, Saskatoon, Canada Randhawa, H. S. Lethbridge Research Centre, Lethbridge Canada Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 61 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Nutritional Epidemiology Nanomedicine: Prospects and Challenges Centre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi 05-09 November 2011 | New Delhi, India Institute of Chemical Technology 14-15 November 2011 | Mumbai, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Dr. Aryeh Stein Dr Shweta Khandelwal CCDC, New Delhi, India. Email : Shweta.khandelwal@phfi.org Key Participants India Bachani D Ministry of Health & Family Welfare Bhan MK Ministry of Science and Technology Ebrahim S South Asia Network of Chronic Diseases, New Delhi Goenka S Indian Institute of Public Health, New Delhi Hameed SS, Planning Commission Katoch VM | Mathur P ICMR, New Delhi Khandelwal S | Reddy KS Public Health Foundation of India Kurpad A St John’s Medical College, Banglore Laxmaiah A | Sesikeran B | Polasa K National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad Pandey R M | Tandon N AIIMS, New Delhi Prabhakaran D | Tandon R Centre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi Puri S, Delhi University, New Delhi Ramachandran P Nutrition Foundation of India, New Delhi Sachdev HPS Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research, New Delhi Associate Prof, Emory University Atlanta, USA Email : Aryeh.stein@emory.edu T he discipline of nutritional epidemiology involves methodological approaches to determine the association between dietary factors and the occurrence of human healthrelated outcomes which is a challenging task. Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach is needed to assess any relation between diet or lifestyle and disease occurrence. Nutrition epidemiology in India is at a very nascent stage and needs capacity and skill building. Limited evidence in the field of nutrition, health, diet and disease is resulting in improper implementation of policies and programs. To reduce this knowledge gap and its implementation through policies, nutrition research is needed so as to define measures to apply epidemiologic methods to nutrition including designing epidemiological studies, data collection, statistical analysis, interpretation of results and evaluation. Thus, an Advanced training course on Nutritional epidemiology was organized by Shweta Khandelwal (Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi) and Aryeh Stein (Emory University, Atlanta) in New Delhi. The specific objectives of the program were to understand and define the domains of nutritional epidemiology; to apply and assess epidemiological methods in nutritional research; to differentiate and evaluate various study designs utilized in nutrition research; to critically appraise published research and policies in nutrition; and to develop policy recommendations based on critically reviewed evidence. l Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai Email: pvdevarajan@gmail.com “ The purpose of the Indo-US symposium on Nanomedicine: Prospects and Challenges was to bring together experts in the field of nano-drug delivery, nanomedicine, nanobiotechnology and allied areas on a common platform for intense deliberation on nanomedicine. Nanomedicine for cancer, infectious diseases and targeting to the brain, including the relevant biology and drug delivery approaches scale up and nanotoxicity issues were discussed. The myriad applications of nanomedicine and the means to surpass challenges were also deliberated. A poster session on nanomedicine showcased research in this important field being carried out in India. Senior, eminent scientists and research students representing Indian industry, institutes and universities working in nanomedicine across the country participated in the symposium. l PLerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Email: labhasv@ccf.org Key Participants India Padma V. Devarajan | Vandana B. Patravale Institute of Chemical Technology, India Amit Misra, Ph.D. Central Drug Research Institute Shantikumar Nair, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Chandra P. Sharma, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology Suresh P. Vyas Dr. H. S. Gour University Pradeep R. Vavia Institute of Chemical Technology, India Manoj Kharkar Ph.D. Dow Wolff Cellulosics, India Purnima Parkhi Ph.D. Agilent Technologies USA James Basilion, Ph.D. Case Western Reserve University (USA) Diane J. Burgess, Ph.D. University of Connecticut (USA) Ashutosh Chilkoti, Ph.D. Duke University ,USA Harish C Joshi, Ph.D. EUSM, Atlanta (USA) Vinod Labhasetwar, Ph.D. Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland USA Samir Mitragotri, Ph.D. University of California, Santa Barbara USA Maciej Zborowski, Ph.D. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic USA USA Popkin BM School of Public Health, North Carolina Poulter N Imperial College, London Stein AD, Emory University, Atlanta Subramanian SV, Harvard University Van Horn L Northwestern University, USA 62 Vinod Labhasetwar Padma V. Devarajan Nanomedicine” or the exploration of medical applications of nanotechnology, is evolving from laboratory research to clinical applications, particularly in the areas of imaging, diagnostics, drug delivery, and monitoring the response of therapy and disease progression. Nanotechnology is expected to dramatically change the way disease is detected and treated, with implications for personalizing management strategies in clinical practice, patient-physician communication, and outcomes measurement. 2011 Mark A. Tracy, Ph.D. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (USA) Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 63 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Space Weather Studies Frontiers in Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems Indian Institute of Geomagnetism 28 November - 01 December 2011 | Goa, India IIT Madras 10-12 December 2011 | Chennai, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Umran S. Inan B. Veenadhari Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Mumbai Email : veenaiig@gmail.com Key Participants India A.K Kamra Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune P. K. Manoharan Radio Astronomy Centre, TIFR, Udhagamandalam (Ooty) D. Pallamraju Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad D.R. Lakshmi Osmania University, Hyderabad A. K. Gwal Barkatullah University, Bhopal Birbal Singh R.B.S. College, Bichpuri, Agra Devendraa Siingh Indian Institute of Tropical, Meteorology, Pune Abhay K Singh Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi Ashok K Singh University of Lucknow, Lucknow P. Pant, ARIES, Manora Peak, Nainital Sandip Chakrabarti S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata B. Veenadhari | Rajesh Singh Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Navi Mumbai USA Stanford University Email: inan@stanford.edu E xtremely Low Frequency (ELF, 30‐3000 Hz) and Very Low Frequency (VLF, 3‐30 kHz) waves are powerful tools for remote sensing of dynamic processes in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. ELF‐VLF waves have their origin in a wide variety of both natural (eg. lightning discharges) and man‐made (eg. VLF transmitters) sources. For the past several decades, satellite and ground-based observations of whistlers and VLF emissions all over the globe has been used as an important diagnostic tool to understand the process in the complex ionosphere and magnetosphere. Advancing VLF science through the Global Atmospheric Weather Electromagnetic System for Observation, Modeling, and Education (AWESOME) network concentrates on some of the key issues involved in space weather studies through observations of VLF waves across the global AWESOME VLF sites. The Indo-US workshop on Space weather studies focused on a wide variety of VLF-related phenomena, including lightning, solar flares, gamma rays, electron precipitation, and earthquakes. The workshop also addressed innovative methodologies for analysing VLF data and extending local VLF studies to global initiatives. The sessions gave researchers an opportunity to develop collaborative research initiatives with other VLF scientists. Detailed tutorial sessions were also held, with the end goal being scientific publications. The scientific sessions during the workshop was broadly categorized into four categories related to results on (i) lightning discharge and related ionospheric perturbation (ii) broadband magnetospheric VLF phenomena (iii) narrowband VLF phenomena, and (iv) space weather. l 2011 Paul E. Sojka Mahesh Panchagnula IIT Madras Email: mvp@iitm.ac.in Purdue University, W. Lafayette Email: sojka@purdue.edu T he Indo-US workshop on Frontiers in liquid atomization and spray systems was an effort to spark joint research in liquid spray systems and atomization using a bilateral technical conference as the seed. Spray and atomization systems are the basis for several engineering activities including power generation, aviation, ground transportation, painting/coating, pharma/medicine, materials processing, and agriculture. While research and development in both academia and industry in the US is at an advanced stage, the same is not true for India. This conference helped rectify that deficit by identifying several avenues for collaborative research that will advance the scientific knowledge and technology bases for spray-related industries in India. An important feature of this conference was the participation of industry R&D personnel. The United States is by far the world’s biggest commercial producer and consumer of spray and atomization systems. The presence of industrial personnel at this conference facilitated the exchange of ideas with academic researchers so as to allow all participants to tailor their future research towards industry-specific solutions. The technical presentations were representations of the state-of-the-art as well as outlining current research results. Some highlights of the novel research results included the following : a novel CFD methodology for modeling primary Contd. on pg. 73 Key Participants India John Tharakan, ISRO B.N.Raghunandan | R.V. Ravikrishna IISc Bangalore A. Mukhopadhyay | Amitava Dutta Jadavpur Uni. D. Sivakumar | Gaurav Tomar IISc Bangalore R.I. Sujith | V. Raghavan | A. Kumar TNC Anand | Shamit Bakshi Mahesh Panchagnula IIT Madras USA John Abraham | Paul Sojka Purdue Marcus Herrmann Arizona State Univ. Guillermo Aguilar Univ. California, Riverside Shankar Subramaniam Iowa State Univ. Jeff Naber Michigan Tech Univ. Steven Collicott Purdue Sibendu Som Argonne National Lab Milind Jog Univ. Cincinnatti Morris Cohen | Deborah Scherrer Naoshin Haque | Ben Cotts Kevin Graf | Vijay Harid | Umran Inan Stanford University, USA Vikas Sonwalkar University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks Nicolas Rimbert Universite Henri Poincare Santosh Hemachandra Univ. Aachen Nat Gopalswamy NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, USA 64 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 65 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Nanoparticle Assembly: from Fundamentals to Applications Application of Molecular Marker Technology for Food and Nutritional Security in India IIT Delhi 15-19 December 2011 | New Delhi, India The Energy & Resources Institute 03-09 December 2011 | New Delhi and Jalna, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Sanat K. Kumar Charusita Chakravarty IIT Delhi Email: charus@chemistry.iitd.ac.in Key Participants India A. Ajayaghosh, NIIST Trivandrum Biman Bagchi | Jaydeep Basu IISc Bangalore S. Bandyopadhyay, IIT Kharagpur Anil K. Bhowmick, IIT Patna Arun Chattopadhyay, IIT Guwahati Virander Chauhan, ICGEB Delhi Pradeep Ghorai, IISER Kolkata Swapan K. Ghosh | H. N. Ghosh BARC Mumbai Gourav Goel | Shalini Gupta Sanat Mohanty | Sameer Sapra IIT Delhi G. U. Kulkarni, JNCASR Bangalore G. Kumaraswamy | Ashish Lele B. L. V. Prasad, NCL Pune Priya Mahadevan, SNBNCBS Kolkata A. Patra, IACS Kolkata T. P. Radhakrishnan, UoH Hyderabad Surajit Sengupta, IACS Kolkata Ashutosh Sharma | Jayant Singh IIT Kanpur K. George Thomas, IISER Trivandrum Mukta Tripathy, IIT Gandhinagar USA Arijit Bose, University of Rhode Island Jack F. Douglas, NIST, USA Timothy S. Fisher, Purdue University Venkat Ganesan | Thomas M. Truskett University of Texas Austin Oleg Gang, Brookhaven Natl. Lab. Alamgir Karim, University of Akron R. Krishnamoorti, Rice Univeristy V. N. Manoharan, Harvard University A. Z. Panagiotopoulos Princeton University 66 Columbia University, New York Email: sk2794@columbia.edu T he last decade has seen a rapid expansion of synthetic methodologies for controlled production of nanoparticles with specific size, shape and functionalities. While intermolecular forces, such as dispersion, short-range repulsion, electrostatic, bonding and solvophobic forces are reasonably well-understood on the atomic scale; extrapolation of these forces to the nanoscale is not always trivial. Moreover, many applications depend upon creating appropriate two- and three-dimensional assemblies of nanoparticles. The synthesis of such nanostructured materials in amounts necessary for technological applications requires some variants of selfassembly, under either equilibrium or non-equilibrium conditions, and possibly directed by external fields or substrate templates. The Indo-US workshop on Nanoparticle assembly: from fundamentals to applications focussed on new advances in the production of nanoparticles with controlled surface chemistries, the development of novel methods for characterizing the multiscale structure (and dynamics) of the assemblies, and related theory and simulations. The workshop brought together experiments, theory and simulations centered on the theme of nanoparticle assembly, hoping to catalyze the development of novel, globally relevant technologies particularly germane to the Indian subcontinent, i.e., energy, environment and sustainability industries. These applications are of particular relevance to emerging nations, such as India, due to their relatively large needs in these areas, especially those that can be developed with the smallest possible environmental footprint. The meeting highlighted interdisciplinary perspectives from engineering, chemistry, physics and biology were on synthesis, characterisation, simulations and theoretical approaches focusing directed and self-assembly in organic (e.g. liposomes, peptide-based structures), hybrid inorganic-organic (e.g. gold-DNA etc, goldthiol, semiconductor-ligand) and polymer nanocomposite materials. A number of interesting applications were illustrated, including the oil emulsification and detection of surface defects. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum 2011 Cholani Weebadde Vibha Dhawan The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi Email: vibhad@teri.res.in Institute of International Agriculture Michigan State University, East Lansing Email: weebadde@anr.msu.edu E nhancing agricultural productivity on a sustainable basis is a key priority of the Governments of India and the United States for ensuring long-term food security and economic growth. With the intensification of agricultural systems during the past five decades, and the key emerging issues such as climate change, depleting soils, biodiversity and water resources, the world is faced with a challenge of stagnating and declining yields and agricultural productivity of staple crops threatening long-term food and nutritional security. An exciting new wave of modern biotechnology tools such as molecular marker technology offers a great opportunity for enhancing the agricultural productivity through rapid and efficient crop improvement programs. Molecular plant breeding offers a unique opportunity to speed up the development and delivery of new and improved crop varieties that can address the multitude of biotic and abiotic stresses faced in the agricultural sector such as drought, salinity, heat and cold tolerance and pests and diseases. Unlike the products of genetic engineering, molecular marker technology is not controversial, less expensive and is utilized by both the public and private sector. Key Participants India Swapan K Datta ICAR, New Delhi K C Bansal National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources A K Singh Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi Arvind Kapur Rasi Seeds Pvt Ltd. Satish K Sanwal Indian Institute of Vegetable Research Vibha Dhawan The Energy and Resources Institute Anandita Singh The Energy and Resources Institute USA Karim M Maredia Michigan State University Building on more than 20 years of experiences in biotechnology capacity building, Michigan State University and The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI) came together with IUSSTF Douglas D Buhler Michigan State University Contd. on pg. 73 David Douches Michigan State University Cholani Weebadde Michigan State University Suneth Sooriyapathirana University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 67 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2011 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Large-scale Data Analytics and Intelligent Services Virtual institutes for Computational and Data-Enabled Science & Engineering Tata Institute of Fundamental Research 18-20 December 2011 | Bangalore, India Indian Institute of Science 21-22 December 2011 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators N. Balakrishnan Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore Email: balki@serc.iisc.ernet.in T he Indo-US workshop on Large-scale data analytics and intelligent services was intended to bring together major software analytic and service providers from India and the US, together with their customer firms and users of their technologies, and leading researchers from universities in the US and India. The major theme was to focus on analytic methods and machine learning, including those bundled with intelligent services and data/text mining and information retrieval and extraction. This was in the context of application areas such as business analytics and services, healthcare, educational technologies, e-governance, homeland security, energy analytics, and others. The intent was to review the state of the art research-based technologies and define new needs and directions that require cutting edge research. Ramakrishna Akella University of California at Santa Cruz Email: akella@soe.ucsc.edu The overall scope of the workshop was to define the key analytic techniques and methods in this area, in the context of several verticals (business and financial services; healthcare; computational biology; search and advertising; energy, oil and gas; IT and data centers; homeland security; software engineering; IP and law; intelligent transportation; smart cities; smart structures and smart environments; and educational technologies). The intersection points are many, between the very many horizontals (machine learning, including dynamic mechanisms with learning; large-scale data mining with massive data sets; data, text, image, video, multimedia analytics; statistical natural language processing; semantic mining, analytics, and search, incorporating concepts, entities, relations; information retrieval and extraction, summarization including crosslanguage IR; opinion mining and sentiment Contd. on pg. 72 68 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Manish Parashar R. Govindarajan Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore E-mail: govind@serc.iisc.ernet.in Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Email: parashar@rutgers.edu D ata-intensive and date-centric computing will be at the fore-front of research in this decade. The objective of the Indo-US workshop on Virtual institutes for computational and data-enabled science & engineering was to explore opportunities for synergy and collaboration in the area of Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering (CDS&E). The longer term goal was to establish a virtual institute that will provide a hub of excellence in CDS&E and catalyze new thinking, paradigms, and practices in STEM research and education. Leading researchers and industrial leaders from the US and India participated in the event. There were presentations and panel sessions on the main research directions in three major areas, namely computational mathematics & statistics, data-intensive computing & astrophysics, and cyberinfrastructure, by researchers from the universities, national labs and industrial labs in US and India. The major recommendations of the event included a proposal to produce a whitepaper (concept paper) on cyberinfrastructure which could be used a base for a proposal on a Virtual Institute for Cyberinfrastructure; a proposal to organize a set of summer schools and virtual meetings on HPC system administration, software managements, sharing of best-practices and expertise; and evolving a proper roadmap for the VI-MSS (Mathematics and Statistics) programme once a joint Indo-US Steering Committee is in place. l Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2011 Key Participants India Naveen Vasistha Department of Science and Technology Rajeev Sharma Indo-US Science and Technology Forum USA Edward Seidel NSF, Mathematical and Physical Sciences Sastry Pentula NSF, Mathematical and Physical Sciences Gabrielle Allen NSF, Office of the yberinfrastructure 69 Base Excision Dna Repair, Brain Function & Aging Transportation and Greenhouse Gas Emission Contd. from pg. 40 the clinical level that would help set an agenda to establish the precise role of BER in aging and other neurological disorders. Several new developments were presented at the event and included new leads that point out the importance of BERDNArepairpathway inbothhealthand diseases like cancer and Huntington, and general aging of post mitotic cells like neurons; studies revealing that mutator phenotypes of BER genescould responsible for cancer; that BER enzyme DNAPolymerase β may be involved in the causation of Down syndrome; and finally Contd. from pg. 44 indications of improved genomic stability (in terms of cellular DNA single and double strand breaks) when experimental ratswere fed with an Ayurvedic preparation - Amalika Rasayana for varying periods of time. A major and far reaching question that emerged out of this workshop was whether it would be possible to decelerate agedependent general deterioration and appearance of neurodegenerative diseases if ways and means are found to maintain good level of BER repair pathway. l but which were potentially important to future advancements in the field. Most of the lectures included unpublished work of the investigators that included work being carried out on novel gelators, functional gels, application of gels, novel composite materials, application of new theoretical models for understanding the gelation process, etc. Thirteen of the student participants presented their work in the form of posters. They were on view and defended during three very well attended sessions, held on three separate days.In fact, several new collaborations between Indo and US participants were established during the conference (Dong-Chan Lee, University of NevadaLas Vegas and Subi George, JNCASR, Bangalore;Parthasarathi Dastidar, IACS, Kolkata and Srini Raghavan, University of Maryland; Braja Gopal Bag, Vidyasagar University, Medinipur and Richard Weiss, Georgetown University; Joykrishna Dey, IIT Kharagpur and Richard Weiss, Georgetown University; and Kevin Caran, James MadisonUniversity and Santanu Bhttacharya, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) and several otherswere being planned after email exchanges to define better goals and protocols. l Science, Diplomacy and Policy Contd. from pg. 42 Five high-level conclusions emerged from the deliberations at the workshop; each underpinned by an increased level of scientific cooperation. With countries that have differences at the political level, science diplomacy through research cooperation and exchanges provides a good avenue for keeping channels of communication open and building trust. While it is neither generally desirable nor possible to convert diplomats into scientists, nor scientists into diplomats; it is useful for them to understand each other’s language and compulsions. It was recommended that initially, the “Foreign Policy Institutes” in both countries build capacity in science diplomacy. India and the United States should explore the possibility of undertaking joint projects in third 70 emissions from the transportation sector was one that provided many avenues for future research and collaboration – for example in mitigation strategies, inventory and modeling approaches and innovative data collection and use. The workshop also highlighted the opportunities for the research community and industry in India and the United States to learn from each other in tackling this global issue.l Translational Cancer Biomarker Discovery and Prevention Contd. from pg. 47 Self-Assembled Fibrillar Gels Contd. from pg. 41 strategies, technological solutions, modeling approaches, policies and programs, and other transportation sector interventions were covered. The final plenary session of the workshop was a guided brainstorming session in which workshop participants discussed areas for future research and potential collaboration. It was noted that while policies, needs, and the local context may vary between India and the United States, the topic of greenhouse gas countries (such as in Afghanistan), focusing on projects that can synergize the relative strengths and knowledge base in both countries. The IUSSTF has successfully catalyzed collaborative S&T research projects in both countries and provided a mechanism for developing priorities for large-scale programs. Given the immense amount of goodwill and interaction that exists at the level of individual scientists, the scientific relationship would benefit again from commitments to major large-scale projects. For this to happen, barriers to mobility of scientists in both directions should be minimized, and increased levels of dedicated support should be explored. The success of 50:50 joint venture partnerships in the private sector provides one such model. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum programs and the significance of targeted chemoprevention in cancers of breast, cervix, and head and neck). The use of PPARγ activators such as Pioglitazone andEGFR inhibitors (Erlotinib) in chemoprevention were discussed. Early detection methods for the cancers of the oral cavity and cervix were debated upon; the established methods such as visual examination were compared with the others like optical property changes, spectroscopy, in vivo microscopy and salivary electrofluidics. One of the major developments in biomarker discovery that were discussed at the workshop included the utility of miRNA as diagnostic and prognostic markersin lung cancers and oral cancers. The use of next generation sequencing methods such as exome and transcriptome sequencing as a strategy for biomarker discovery were also discussed; identification of gene fusions, their functional relevance and utility as therapeutic targets being the main focus. At least nine different joint projects were identified as an outcome of this workshop.l Climate Change Health Adaptation Contd. from pg. 52 community determinants of vulnerability, and influences on adaptive capacity. Each working group identified the availability of data to address key questions, data gaps and methods to overcome them, institutional opportunities and institutional challenges. The groups further discussed policies and programs currently in place to address risks, gaps in current policies and programs, possible future approaches to identify vulnerability and create resilience against heat stress, and methods to remove existing barriers for effective, low cost adaptation measures against heat stress, including infrastructural, behavioral and institutional/legal.l New Functional Materials: Synthesis, Properties and Methods Contd. from pg. 54 of lower-valent nickel oxides and their properties; development of new oxypnictide and related superconductors with high critical fields; non-toxic inorganic chromophores and their structures; etc. As an outcome of this workshop, an MoU was signed between Rowan University and Jamia Milia University with reference to teaching and joint programs. One post–doctoral position at Rowan University has been created in materials under the aegis of this MoU. The first student to receive a fellowship under this has also been identified. Also, Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries the following two joint publications have been generated: Sarkar S, Dasgupta I, Greenblatt M and SahaDasgupta T (2011) Electronic and magnetic structure of bi-layer, La3Ni2O6 and tri-layer, La4Ni3O8 nickelates. Phys. Rev. B84, 180411/1-4, (R). Ahmed J, Saha S, Govind, Trinh P, Mugweru AM, Ramanujachary KV, Lofland SE and Ganguli AK (2011) Enhanced electrocatalytic activity of copper – cobalt nanostructures. J. Phys. Chem. C, 115, 14526.l 71 Biofuels: Research Challenges in the Areas of Combustion and Fuel Injection Contd. from pg. 55 and covered the following topics: combustion stability, emission characteristics of biofuel, biofuel reaction kinetics, biofuel certification and portability to industries, fuel injection, mixing and vaporization of biofuel blends, droplet combustion, operational testing in gas turbines and engines, numerical work in droplet combustion, and, general state of biofuel research and possible research directions. It was agreed that both Indian and US researchers have considerable expertise in complimentary areas and can collaborate to tackle mutliscale, multi-level problems in the above mentioned research areas. Contd. from pg. 60 As a result of the workshop the following collaborative joint projects were identified: Combustion instability and diagnostics of biofuels (IIT-M, IISc, Gatech, UCONN, Purdue); Spray: atomization and vaporization (IIT-M, IISc, JU, IIT-D, Cornell, UCF, Sandia, Purdue); Droplet combustion (IIT-M, IISC, UCF, Cornell, Sandia); Chemical Kinetics (Texas A & M, UCONN, IIT-M); Fundamental flame studies (IIT-D, IISc, JU, Texas A & M, UConn, UMICH); Pollutant measurement and control including novel strategies like nanoadditives (IIT-M, Texas, IISc, UCF, Cornell); and, Biofuel production and supply (Sandia, UMICH). l Biocomputing Contd. from pg. 59 Information, USA); protein disorder in the indegenic regions (Symbiosis International University, Pune, Madurai Kamaraj University and Indiana University School of Medicine); E-cell development and text mining (Symbiosis International University, Pune and IUPUI, USA); text mining across text lines (Bharathiyar University and IUPUI, USA); cyanobacteria (IIT Bombay and IUPUI); molecular informatics- developing The major outcome of the workshop is the chemical dictionary (NCL, Pune and IUPUI); International center of excellence on Biocomputing miRNA interaction with protein disordered region which has been set up at NIT Calicut. This (Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta and IUPUI); center is organized jointly by the Department of WNT -signalling (Indian Statistical Institute and Computer Science & Engineering and School IUPUI); structural and functional analysis of of Biotechnology, NIT Calicut and School of VPG in intrinsically disordered protein (Madurai Informatics, Indiana University-Purdue University Kamraj University and IUPUI); evolutionary aspects of disordered protein (Bose Institute and Indianapolis IUPUI, USA. IUPUI); binding prediction of disordered protein As a result of the interactions during the workshop, (Bharathidasan University and IUPUI); drug the following joint projects were identified among designing based on protein-protein interactions the participating institutions: computational (Nizam College and IUPUI); and, prokaryotic modeling and analysis of biological processes (NIT linear motif discovery (Madurai Kamraj University Calicut and National Center for Biotechnology and IUPUI). l The workshop consisted of thirteen expert lectures by eminent researchers both from India and USA on various aspects of Biocomputing such as computer aided drug discovery, role of bioinformatics in designing therapeutic peptides, computational tools for genome sequencing and analysis, disordered proteins, biomarker discovery, systems biology and literature mining. Large-scale Data Analytics and Intelligent Services Contd. from pg. 68 analysis; dynamic bayesian recommender systems and social networks; and, large-scale computing, storage infrastructure and cloud analytic) and the equally large number of verticals, and define research topic areas which the centers can pursue. 72 Women in Science Consequently, during the workshop, indicative subsets of these were covered. The intent was to learn about industry needs, mutual interest, and then develop a collaborative agenda to address the open spaces and gaps. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum government can play in promoting women in science through a sound policy framework. Shirley Malcom (Head, Education and Human Resources, American Association for the Advancement of Sciences) discussed the challenge of finding local solutions that link science and technology to the issue women face daily such as health, water, and food security. Vinita Sharma (Advisor, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India) discussed the progress the government of India has made in promoting women in science, and praised the increasing numbers and success of women in the private sector science-based industries including the areas of pharmaceutics, software development, and biotechnology. At the US-India roundtable meeting, Blair Hall and Arabinda Mitra (Head, International Division, Department of Science & Technology) convened the discussion of key action items from the workshop deliberations and US-India bilateral collaborative opportunities on women in science issues. The roundtable participants suggested various areas for joint programs between the two countries. Participants suggested training programs on quality systems and leadership, and mentorship workshops on topics such as writing good research proposal practices. Some participants suggested collaboration of universities and colleges on both sides to ensure international exposure of students in respective countries, and facilitate visits of women scientists from both countries. Others expressed interest in joint programs on solution-oriented science in the areas of water, health, energy, and indoor air pollution. l Frontiers in Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems Contd. from pg. 65 atomization, research into applications of vegetable oils in IC engines, and, application of rigorous multiphase modeling approaches to sprays. Discussions at the event were focused on three areas – gas turbine applications, IC engine sprays and fundamentals of liquid atomization. A book of abstracts has been generated from the abstracts submitted to the conference. The workshop was also archived in the form of videotapes which is available in the public domain, as appropriate. In addition, fifteen joint publications will be developed which will outline the state-of-the-art in the respective areas and will be included in a set of special issues of the International Journal of Spray and Combustion Dynamics. l Application of Molecular Marker Technology for Food and Nutritional Security in India Contd. from pg. 67 support to organize an Indo-US workshop on Application of molecularmarker technology for rapid development and delivery of new crop varieties for enhancing food and nutritional security in India. Around 40 participants from various public and private sector institutions in USA and India participated in this workshop to share and exchange information, tools and research experiences in the application of molecular marker technology in plant breeding and crop improvement programs for food security and high value crops. The workshop also provided hands-on experience in the application of cutting-edge molecular marker Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries technology and tools for the improvement and rapid breeding of field, fruit and vegetable crops of mutual interest. A highlight of the workshop was for the participants to observe plant breeding in action at both the Rasi Seeds Company as well as at the Bejo Sheetal Seeds Company in Jalna. Given the importance of improving the efficiency of plant breeding programs, participants of the workshop wanted to develop a strong network amongst themselves to further enhance the research and teaching in the area of molecular plant breeding. l 73 Bilateral Workshops 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Infectious Diseases: Novel Strategies for Design and Development of Vaccines and Drugs Parallelism and the Future of High-Performance Computing Tata Institute of Fundamental Research 05-08 January 2010 | Mumbai, India Indian Institute of Science 09-10 January 2010 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Richard J. Kuhn Gotam K. Jarori Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai E-mail: gkj@tifr.res.in Key Participants India Arabinda Mitra, IUSSTF, New Delhi Ashok Vaidya KHSM, & Research Center, Mumbai A. Surolia, NII, New Delhi B. Ravindran, ILS, Kolkata B. Das, VSS Medical College, Burla Chetan Chitnis | Dinkar Sahal ICGEB, New Delhi Dhanpat Kochar Kothari Medical & Research Centre, Bikaner Gotam K Jarori | Haripal Sonawat Shobhona Sharma | Deepak Mathur TIFR, Mumbai H. Padh, PERD Centre, Ahmedabad Neena Valecha, NIMR New Delhi Om Prakash Meena R.N.T. Medical College, Udaipur, Rajasthan Partha Majumder, ISI, Kolkata Sandhya Visweswariah | Utpal Tatu Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Shailly Tomar, IIT, Roorkee Sudha Bhattacharya, JNU, New Delhi Swati Patankar Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Bindley Bioscience Center, Purdue University, IN E-mail: kuhnr@purdue.edu E merging drug resistance, lack of vaccines, and limited antimicrobials for several infectious diseases is posing substantial dangers to a very large fraction of the world population residing in under-developed and developing nations. There is an urgent need to devise novel strategies for vaccine development as well as target pathogenspecific pathways for the discovery and development of novel chemotherapeutics. Recent advances in structural and functional genomics and proteomics are providing unprecedented opportunities to vigorously pursue pathogen related research leading to prevention and cure. In this context, an Indo-US workshop on Infectious diseases: novel strategies for design and development of vaccines and drugs was organized at TIFR. The main goal of this workshop was to bring together the lead scientists and clinicians from India and USA working in the field of Infectious Diseases with a focus towards design and development of vaccines and drugs. There were 16 US and 21 Indian lead speakers besides a large number of students who presented posters at the event. In the presentations recent studies on several pathogens like Plasmodium, Leishmania, Contd. on pg. 98 USA D. Griffin, JHB, School of Public Health N. Kumar, Johns Hopkins University P. Sharma, Purdue Discovery Park Richard Kuhn | Rushika Perera Jiri Adamec | Harm HogenEsch Catherine Hill | Charles Buck | Suresh Mittal Purdue University Steven Meshnick UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health R. Govindarajan Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore E-mail: govind@serc.iisc.ernet.in David Padua University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL E-mail: padua@illinois.edu I n order to initiate interactions between Indian and US researchers in the area of parallel programming an Indo-US workshop on Parallelism and the future of High-Performance Computing was organized at the Indian Institute of Science as a pre-conference event for two major international conferences, namely the International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA-2010) and the Symposium on Principles and Practice of Parallel Programming (PPoPP2010). The bilateral event was attended by 16 speakers from India and 25 from USA. Besides 15 US students and 7 Indian students presented posters as a part of this workshop. Key Participants India P.P. Chakrabarti | Mainak Chaudhury IIT-Kharagpur Sharat Chandran | Uday Khedker IIT-Bombay Mike Goddard, AMD, Bangalore R. Govindarajan | Matthew Jacob Y.N. Srikant | S.K. Nandy Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore M. Gupta, IBM Research, New Delhi V. Kamakoti, IIT-Madras Gautam Joshi, Intel, Bangalore The bulk of the workshop consisted of six panels. Four were on research areas, one on industrial research and one on education.The technical sessions included, high performance embedded computing; parallel applications; programming languages and compiling techniques; and high performance architecture. Participants at the workshop covered areas related to parallel architecture, compiling techniques, parallel applications, and embedded systems. In addition, a range of interests including compiler, architecture, applications, and runtime systems were also covered. Ashwini Nanda HPC Research Inc, New Delhi Emphasis on promoting collaboration among researchers including education and industry relevant research were specifically discussed. It is expected that there will be multiple focused engagements between the Indian and the US researchers based on research interests of individual members in areas spanning micro-architecture, compiling techniques, design methodologies, simulation engines/platforms, application synthesis and hardware reconfiguration. A binational committee has been constituted to coordinate the collaborative efforts in the field. l G. Gopalakrishnan, University of Utah P.J. Narayanan, IIT-Hyderabad Dheeraj Sanghi LNMI of Information Technology, Jaipur K. Vaswani, MRB USA Arvind | Charles Leiserson, MIT Dhruva Chakrabarti, HP Labs Sandhya Dwarkadas | M. Scott University of Rochester N. Dutt, University of California, Irvine Laxmikant Kale | Bill Gropp | Wen-Mei Hwu David Padua | Josep Torrellas University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign S. Kannan, NSF, University of Pennsylvania John Crummey | Vivek Sarkar Rice University T. Mudge, University of Michigan Kunle Olukotun, Stanford University Sam Midkiff, Purdue University Jaime Moreno, IBM Research Yale Patt | Keshav Pingali University of Texas, Austin Guri Sohi, University of Wisconsin Susan Pierce | Thomas Wellems Nathan Peters | Louis Miller NIAID, NIH 76 2010 A. Subasubramaniam Pennsylvania State Univ. Uzi Vishkin, University of Maryland Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 77 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Marine Mammal Stranding Identification of Giftedness with Special Focus on Science and Mathematics Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute 21-23 January 2010 | Cochin, India University of Delhi 27-29 January 2010 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Mridula Srinivasan E. Vivekanandan Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochin E-mail: evivekanandan@hotmail.com Key Participants India Kumaran Sathasivam & K. Natarajan Marine Mammal Stranding Network of India Ravi Chellam Wildlife Conservation Society B.S. Corrie Dept of Forests, Kerala E.Vivekanandan Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi Sunil Chaudhary Bhagalpur University Muntaz Khan & P.Jayasankar Chilika Development Authority USA Janet Whaley NOAA Dave Rotstein & Charley Potter NOAA & National Museum of Natural History Sarah Sharp International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Sarah Sharp International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Dave Rotstein & Charley Potter NOAA & National Museum of Natural History Sarah Sharp International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) 78 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Maryland E-mail: mridula.srinivasan@noaa.gov M arine mammals are apex predators, but also serve as indicators of ecosystem conditions. Despite decades of research, much remains to be learned about these charismatic yet vulnerable marine animals that spend much of their lives below the surface. Marine mammals are defined as ‘stranded’ when they are out of their natural element, in deteriorating health and need of rescue. In most countries, including India, what we know about marine mammals is from stranding events on beaches or riverine areas. Given the ecosystem importance of these species, their vulnerability to climate change, and the need to fill a void in the data gap that exists regarding marine mammals in India, an Indo-US workshop on Marine mammal stranding was organized at Cochin to increase awareness and interest in marine mammals among the scientific community and the local public, and to provide the impetus to create regional stranding networks in more parts of coastal India. A total of 37 participants including 6 resource persons from US and 6 from India participated in the workshop which was partially supported by NOAA. A more specific goal was to communicate the inherent scientific value of data collection from stranded animals, maintaining a stranding database, and engaging in environmental stewardship to conserve and protect marine habitats and their inhabitants. New developments presented at the event included the mechanism of functioning of Marine Mammal Stranding Network in USA and the sampling of marine mammals for life history and pathology including reproductive physiology, anatomy, life history and impacts of human and environmental disturbance. It was suggested that NOAA can provide guidelines and share their experiences towards establishing and maintaining marine mammal stranding network for India including regulatory framework for authorizing stranding response, collecting scientific data from stranded specimens, data storage and analysis. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Joseph S. Renzulli Krishna Maitra University of Delhi, New Delhi E-mail: krishnamaitra46@yahoo.com University of Connecticut, Storrs E-mail: joseph.renzulli@uconn.edu G Key Participants ifted children have innate capabilities that set them apart from other children. A great deal is happening across the world in the field of gifted education. Advancement in education and psychology has brought empirical and scientific credibility to the field of gifted education. The United States being the pioneer country in the development of Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) has created various federal and state laws and regulations to make policies on educating the gifted and talented in all the states of the U.S. Although in India, there are various agencies/departments working in talent search programs in different subjects, there is a need for collaborative and sustained research based practices. With this in mind, an Indo-US round table discussion on Identification of giftedness with special focus on science and mathematics was organized under the aegis of Indian National Science Academy (INSA) at New Delhi. The discussions lead to empirical and descriptive understanding of issues concerning gifted education particularly in science and mathematics, and provided a platform for exchange of ideas and sustained collaboration in this area of research. The deliberations focused on early identification of highly gifted children and planning the appropriate mentoring program for them. Distinguished speakers from the US and India summarized the current status of practices as well as possibilities for collaborations. The meeting provided a highly interactive forum to the participants for in-depth discussions and to share common concerns. A comprehensive model for early identification and mentoring of gifted children was presented on the final day. 2010 India USA Marcia A. B. Delcourt The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented, Western Connecticut State University Caroline Cohen The National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented Simeon Brodsky Johns Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth Patricia A. Metz Johns Hopkins University, Center for Talented Youth As an outcome of these discussions, a detailed action plan for India has been submitted. The action plan recommended the need to build up a community of highly committed professionals including scientists, mathematicians, educators and researchers from both the countries who can work on long term commitments of mutual exchange and joint projects to strengthen the field of gifted child education. l Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 79 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Emerging Trends in Intelligent Transportation Systems Plant Genomics in Crop Improvement Indian Institute of Technology-Madras 11-13 February 2010 | Chennai, India CCS Haryana Agricultural University 25-27 February 2010 | Hisar, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Laurence R. Rilett Lelitha Devi Vanajakshi Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, Chennai E-mail: lelitha@iitm.ac.in Key Participants India Ashok Kumar Saroha Ministry of Urban Development Aravind S Bharadwaj CEF, Automobile Infotronics Ltd. G. Ramadurai | Lelitha Vanajakshi Indian Institute of Technology Madras C. Kandasamy MS, Road Transport and Highways Krishna Kumar CMS Traffic Systems Pvt. Ltd Md.Shakeel Akhter Traffic,Chennai Police Muralidharan, CDAC Trivandrum Partha Chakroborty Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur Praveen Kumar Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Ram Ramjee Microsoft Research Lab India, Pvt. Ltd. Tom V. Mathew Indian Institute of Technology Bombay S. Velmurugan Central Road Research Institute USA Abbas Mohaddes, Iteris Inc. Anuj Sharma | Elizabeth Jones University of Nebraska Lincoln Darcy Bullock, Purdue University Dick Reiser, Werner Enterprises, Inc John L. Craig Oregon Bridge Delivery Partners John Lower Traffic &Transportation Manager, Anaheim University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE E-mail: lrilett2@unl.edu I ndo-US workshop on Emerging trends in intelligent transportation systems was organized at Chennai for knowledge dissemination on current Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies and challenges, as well as to identify research areas that would be useful for collaboration. Intelligent Transportation Systems simply defined, is the integration of a broad range of wireless and wire line communications - based information and electronics technologies to the transportation system. A total of 35 Indian and 10 US transportation professionals from universities, public and private sectors participated. ITS are a popular and viable means of reducing and mitigating the effects of increased transportation demand on existing infrastructure – without resorting to building new roadways, widening existing roads, etc. These advanced communications technologies are applied both within the transportation infrastructure as well as in the vehicles that traverse the system. Consequently, these systems have the ability to gather, organize, analyze, and share information about the transportation network. It was evident that both US and India have considerable IT expertise to employ IT as a tool for ITS. The workshop had five primary sessions each devoted to a specific aspect of ITS that is relevant to both the US and India namely, data collection and archiving of ITS data, system architecture for ITS, modeling of ITS systems, field implementation, and capacity building for ITS. The end goal was to develop collaborative research programs that would result in better ITS benefits to both countries. Of special interest to both sides was the possibility of leveraging on existing infrastructure such as cell phones for innovative traffic data collection. l Joseph L. Peters, USDOT Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI Email: kmaredia@msu.edu T he availability of a variety of molecular markers facilitated the preparation of high-density maps, which proved useful in the identification of molecular markers linked with genes and/or quantitative trait loci for a variety of economic traits in cropping plants. Furthermore, genome and expressed sequence tag sequencing provides the sequence data to identify candidate genes for agronomic traits, either through in silico approaches, with the help of bioinformatics tools, or ‘wet’ laboratory experiments. Integration of genomic approaches, together with transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and tools of bioinformatics is essential for the effective use of genomics in crop improvement and holds great potential to provide solutions relevant to applications of agricultural biotechnology. A topical workshop on Plant genomics in crop improvement covering the above aspects was organized at the Haryana Agricultural University under IUSSTF support. The event was attended by twelve US and fourteen Indian resource persons and nearly 50 other attendees, including students. To facilitate information exchange in plant genomics, the participants recommended launching the India-U.S. Plant Genomics Resource Networkthat will serve as a platform for continued interactions and information sharing. Additionally, as an outcome of the workshop, seven US universities represented at the event namely Michigan State University, Washington State University, Tuskegee University, Texas Tech University, UC-Davis, Purdue University, Texas A&M University, and Ohio State University have agreed to form a consortium to facilitate faculty and students exchange between India and the US. As a follow-up to this workshop, it was also recommended to initiate student courses and develop IndoUS training programs in plant bioinformatics. l Key Participants India Anandkumar P, NRCPB, New Delhi Nishrita Bopana, IUSSTF, New Delhi Boora K.S | Dhillon S. | Jain R.K. Yadav Neelam | Yadav Ram C CCS Haryana Agricultural University Chakravarty P., Central Cotton Research Institute, Nagpur Grover Anil University of Delhi, South Campus Gupta Vidya National Chemical Laboratory Hash CT , ICRISAT Kirti PB, University of Hyderabad Mahapatra T., National Research Centre for Biotechnology Pareek Ashwani, JNU,New Delhi Sharma RA, RA, University Tuli Rakesh, NBRI, Lucknow Veluthambi K., Madurai Kamraj University USA Dandekar A.M. University of California, Davis, USA Dickman, M. Texas A & M University, USA Douches Dave | Maredia Karim Michigan State University, USA Gill K.S. Washington State University, USA Prakash C.S. Tuskegee University, USA Verma DPS, Ohio State University, USA Weil C., Purdue University, USA Laurence R. Rilett University of Nebraska Lincoln Mark Hickman, University of Arizona 80 Karim M. Maredia Ram C. Yadav CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana E-mail: rcyadav@hau.ernet.in 2010 Wilkins Thea A., Texas Tech University, USA Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 81 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Silicon in Agriculture Product Design – Impact from Research to Education to Practice University of Agricultural Sciences 25-27 February 2010 | Bangalore, India PSG Institute of Advanced Studies 17-19 March 2010 | Coimbatore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Lawrence E. Datnoff N. B. Prakash University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore E-mail: nagabovanalliprakash@rediffmail.com Key Participants India P. Balasubramaniam TNAU, Tamil Nadu C. Narayanaswamy IFFCO, Vijayawada D. B. Phonde Vasantdada Sugar Institute, Pune Kalyan Singh Banaras Hindu University,Varanasi S.R Voleti DRR,Hydrabad N.B.Prakash University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore USA Joseph R. Heckman Rutgers University,New Brunswick Jonathan M. Frantz Research Unit, USDA-ARS, Toledo Neil Mattson Cornell University, Ithaca Lawrence E. Datnoff LSUAgCenter, Baton Rouge, LA Scott Leisner The University of Toledo, Toledo Stephen M. Marek Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK Christopher. M. Ranger USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Wooster 82 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA E-mail: ldatnoff@agcenter.lsu.edu S P. Radhakrishnan PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore E-mail: director@ias.psgtech.ac.in T ilicon is the second most abundant element after oxygen in soil. As a consequence, all plants rooting in soil contain significant amounts of silicon in their tissues. Although not considered essential for plant growth and development, silicon can benefit plant growth through greater yields in rice and cucumber or sugar content in sugarcane. Silicon also can be very useful when plants are challenged by abiotic or biotic stresses. In addition, silicon has been shown to enhance soil fertility, improve soil physical properties, increase photosynthesis, regulate evapo-transpiration, increase tolerance to toxic elements such as iron and manganese, and reduce frost damage. he growth of new technologies, such as nanotechnology, biomedical technology, and increased computational abilities, has added both complexities and opportunities to the design of new products. As a result, there have been significant advances in the theories and tools used throughout engineering design which is dramatically changing its role from simply being a starting point of a business process to becoming a strategic business tool. Engineers who design products in today’s competitive markets must rapidly deliver high performance products which offer outstanding value. This has led to significant research in predicting product performance and success both in the US as well as India. To better understand this silicon physiology in plant growth, it is extremely important to review the role of silicon in plants and determine future research directions relating to when and how much of this element is needed for optimum plant function. In order to discuss these aspects of silicon with regard to its influence on agriculture, health, industry and environment, an Indo-US workshop on Silicon in agriculture was organized at Bangalore. There were eight sessions in the workshop with seven speakers from USA and six speakers from India. The main aims of the workshop were to identifying research gaps in the use of silicon in agriculture and developing teams to formulate programs to address them; sensitize the fertilizer industry to recognize the importance of silicon in agriculture and establishing a centre of excellence on silicon in agriculture at UAS, Bangalore. The Indo-US workshop on Product design – Impact from research to education to practice held at Coimbatore brought together 8 US research faculties in the area of mechanical design theory with 15 from India along with graduate research assistants, and interested industry collaborators. The goals of the workshop were to present state-of-art research in the techniques and theory of mechanical design, the manner in which this research can improve the innovation and design activities in industry, and, the academic preparation of mechanical engineers. The event initiated the interaction on the current relevant issues in product design like recycling; green concepts in design; opportunities and challenges in using new materials like nano composites; research issues in designing machines to produce components at meso and micro sizes; technologies for borderless design; and webbased design etc. The workshop helped to identify potential collaborators in India and USA, and contributed to the efforts for capacity building in India for these studies. The workshop was also able to identify the target areas and crops, as well as propose strategies for the management of biotic and abiotic stress through silicon fertilization. Several fertilizer companies benefited from attending the event. Letter of intent for R&D cooperation between UAS Bangalore and LSU AgCenter, Louisiana, was signed. A book on Silicon in Indian Agriculture was released during the workshop. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum As an outcome of the workshop, the Indian host P.I. has been invited to join as an international collaborator for the creation of a virtual organization known as VOICED (Virtual Organization for Innovation in Conceptual Engineering Design) involving four US Universities. An MoU was signed between the University of Texas, Austin and PSG Institute of Advanced Studies for research collaboration in emerging design areas. l Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2010 Matthew Campbell University of Texas at Austin, TX E-mail: mc1@mail.utexas.edu Key Participants India P. V. Mohanram | K. Prakasan PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore Amaresh Chakrabarti Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Pradeep Yammiyavar Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati Lalit. K. Das Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi G. Gnanamoorthy | N. Ramesh Babu R. Krishnakumar Indian Institute of Technology,Madras Kurien Isaac IIST,Thiruvananthapuram S. Balaram D.J. Academy of Design, Coimbatore V. K. Jagannathan Jags Design Research Centre, Coimbatore G. Ranganathan Rover Components, Coimbatore P.J. Mohanram Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers Association, Bangalore L. Ramanan GE JF Welch Technology Centre, Bangalore USA David Rosen Georgia Institute of Technology Georges Fadel, Clemson University Mark Cutkosky, Stanford University Michel McCarthy University of California,Irvine Kemper Lewis, University of Buffalo Robert Stone Oregon State University Linda Schmidt University of Maryland 83 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Early Detection and Early Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders Women in Science 8-10 April 2010 | New Delhi, India 26 August 2010 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Sally J. Rogers Shayama Chona Tamana, New Delhi E-mail: tamanassociation@gmail.com Key Participants India Vibha Krishnamurthy Ummeed Child Development Center, Mumbai P. Jeyachandran Vijay Human Services, Chennai. Nandini Mundkur Center for Child Development & Disabilities, Malleshwaram, Bangalore Prathibha Karanth Com DEALL Trust, Bangalore Anjali Joshi Ummeed Child Development Center, Mumbai Reena Bhattachraya Tamana, Delhi Supriya Mailk Tamana, Delhi USA Sally J. Rogers UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, University of California, USA Jessica Greenson UW Autism Center, Seattle, USA Jo A. Shear, UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, University of California, USA Aubyn C. Stahmer, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, USA The M.I.N.D. Institute, University of California Davis Medical Centre E-mail: sally.rogers@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu A utism is a complex and pervasive disorder with often devastating effects on social, cognitive and language development. While formerly considereda low incidence disorder, autism spectrum disorder is now known to affect at least one in 150 persons, and this figure is consistent across all recent epidemiological studies regardless of nationality. Both behavioural and psycho-pharmacological interventions are being sought that will ameliorate some of the disability associated with autism, and there is evidence that intensive treatment early in life can improve the development of useful speech and decrease the severity of mental retardation. In order to bring together American and Indian scientists to share information, identify common research interests, and provide the foundation for extended research collaborations, an Indo-US workshop on Early detection and early treatment of autism spectrum disorders was organized at New Delhi in April 2010. Seven American and eight Indian scientists participated in the event. Some of the talks presented at the workshop included directions in early detection-biological, behavioral and electrophysiological (Geraldine Dawson, Autism Speaks, New York); Early start Denver model (Sally Rogers, UC Davis and Geraldine Dawson); The Com Deall Program (Pratibha Karanth, Com DEALL Trust, Bangalore); Standards and guidelines for the assessment and diagnosis of young children with ASD (Vikram Dua); Alexa’s playful learning academy for young children (PLAYC) program (Aubyn Stahmer, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego); Early screening for autistic traits (Jessica Greenson, UW AutismCenter, Seattle); and Motor skills assessment scales (Jo Shear, University of California Davis). l 2010 Heather Broman Embassy of the United States of America New Delhi E-mail: Bromanhw@state.gov I naccessibility of early science education in rural areas, restrictions on education of the girl child, inflexibility of the system to allow women to re-enter the workforce after a break, and gender-based inequities at work places are challenges that must continue to be addressed. Infrastructure development is in part the solution for rural inaccessibility issues, but there is much to be done in transforming societal mindsets so that every human being, irrespective of gender, has an equal opportunity to study science and to build a successful scientific career. Gender based inequities are common at workplaces and women are often underrepresented at senior levels in both the government and private sectors. Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs) and T. Ramasami (Secretary, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India). The various sessions dealt with themes such as Nurturing a science career, Women in science professions and Empowering women in science. The workshop recommendations emphasized on the need to have more government-run programs, to support technical training through e-education in rural areas, training for women attempting re-entry into the science workforce after family-related gaps in employment, and flexible job timings. The participants also suggested affirmative fiscal policies to encourage women in science – providing The Indo-US workshop on Women in Science both incentives and recognition. Importance was an attempt to assess the challenges for of mentors in education and career and using women in science in India, and recommend stories of gender equality in text books were measures for addressing them. The workshop points well received during the workshop. The was inaugurated by Ambassador Timothy participants emphasized on the need to have Roemer. Speakers at the inaugural session series of lectures or guest speakers at science included Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (Chairman colleges and institutions, as well as women’s & Managing Director, Biocon), Kerri-Ann institutions, across the country. l Jones (Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Robin L. Hansen M.I.N.D. Institute/UC Davis, USA Judy Reaven University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, USA Amy L. Donaldson Portland State University, USA 84 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 85 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Oral Immunization Translating Molecular Cardiology The Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory Christian Medical College 16-18 August 2010 | Goa, India Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology 26 August 2010 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Gagandeep Kang Harry B. Greenberg The Wellcome Trust Research Laboratory Christian Medical College, Vellore E-mail: gkang@cmcvellore.ac.in Key Participants India Hamid Jafari,World Health Orgnisation Vineeta Bal | Sudhanshu Vrati Satyajit Rath, National Institute of Immunology A. Bavdekar, K.E.M. Hospital, Pune G. Balakrish Nair | Dipika Sur NICED, Kolkata Nita Bhandari, SAS, New Delhi. Shinjini Bhatnagar, IIMS,New Delhi Anurag Agrawal | Mitali Mukerji IGIB, New Delhi Jayaprakash Muliyil | Jacob John Anuradha Bose | G. Kang | T. Jacob John Christian Medical College, Vellore Uma Mouli Natchu, THSTI, New Delhi TS Rao | Jyoti Malik Logani Department of Biotechnology, New Delhi Lalit Kant, ICMR,New Delhi USA Harry Greenberg | David Relman Stanford University R. Glass, National Institutes of Health Shiv Pillai Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston Myron Max Levine, Univ. of Maryland Duncan Steele, PATH , Seattle, WA Abul Abbas, UCSF, CA Joseph D. Grant Professor of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology, Stanford University Email: harry.greenberg@stanford.edu O ver the past five decades since oral vaccines were first introduced, it has been observed hat in developing countries immune responses are lower and less consistent than in more industrialized countries. Several reasons have been proposed for this difference, however, efforts to address these issues in real-world settings have been limited. In recent years, tremendous advances have been made in genetics, immunology, pathophysiology and disease, creating new tools and exciting opportunities for research. From the laboratory this research evolves into new applications for understanding infection or vaccination and in this manner the research transitions from the laboratory into the community. In order to draw together basic and clinical scientists to create a platform for advancing translational research into oral vaccination, an IndoUS workshop on Oral immunization of children in low income countries and the role of the intestinal microbiota in regulating immune responsiveness was organized in Goa in August 2010. The interactions between investigators in a diverse range of research areas linked by an interest in human immunology, intestinal microbiome and enteric infectious diseases acted as a catalyst for inter-disciplinary collaborative research between US and Indian scientists. New data with mono-, bi- and trivalent oral polio virus vaccines in use in northern India were presented by Hamid Jafari (National Polio Surveillance Project-WHO) and discussed by T. Jacob John (Christian Medical College, Vellore). The data from oral rotavirus vaccine trials in Africa and Asia were presented by Duncan Steele (PATH, Seattle). Earlier data on oral killed Contd. on pg. 98 Linda Saif, Ohio State University Honorine Ward Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston O. Colin Stine, University of Maryland Rick Blumberg Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Thomas Brewer Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 86 Dr Rodger P. McEver Dr C. Chandrasekharan Kartha Disease Biology and Molecular Medicine, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, India Email – cckartha@rgcb.res.in Cardiovascular Biology Research Program Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, US E mail - rodger-mcever@omrf.org G lobally, cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death and are projected to remain so. According to the World Health Organization, about 80% of these deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. If current trends continue, by 2015 an estimated 20 million people will die from cardiovascular diseases and it is estimated that 60% of the world’s cardiac patients will be of Indian origin. Molecular cardiology is an area of cardiovascular medicine that aims to apply molecular biology techniques for the mechanistic investigation, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. The remarkable advances that have taken place in this field during the past decade have raised hopes for innovative and dramatic improvements in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Key Participants India S Ajit Mullasari | R Suresh Kumar Madras Medical Mission, Chennai Balram Bhargava | SK Maulik AIIMS, New Delhi S Harikrishnan | S Sivasankaran SCITMST, Trivandrum R Krishna Kumar Seven Hills Hospital, Mumbai Madhulika Dixit, IIT Madras, Chennai Madhu Dikshit, CDRI, Lucknow Ajay Bahl | Madhu Khullar PGIMER, Chandigarh Maneesha Inamdar, JNCSAR, Banglore In order to bring together an outstanding panel of experts in molecular and clinical cardiology to discuss how advances in molecular cardiology could be exploited for addressing the challenges in prevention and treating cardiovascular problems in India, an Indo-US workshop on Translating molecular cardiology into clinical practice was organized at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre For Biotechnology (RGCB), Thiruvananthapuram. Meenakshi Sharma, ICMR, New Delhi Presentations during the workshop represented several important themes in advancing frontiers of molecular cardiology that included: vascular inflammation; vascular development; pathogenic mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases; newer diagnostic modalities such as genotyping, proteomic analysis and molecular imaging; regression of atherosclerosis; therapeutic use of stem cells; and novel therapeutic molecules. Several new developments were presented at the event such as the potential use of compstatin in the treatment of sepsis-related multi-organ failure; evidence in mice that H2S ameliorates oxidative and proteolytic stresses G Vijayaraghavan Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, Contd. on pg. 98 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum 2010 Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries MRV Nampoothiri Ayurveda Medical Education, Govt. of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram D Prabhakaran Centre for Chronic Disease Control, New Delhi V Raman Kutty Health Action by People, Trivandrum Shridhar Narayanan Orchid Research Laboratories Ltd. USA Stephen M. Prescott | Courtney Griffin Charles Esmon | Florea Lupu | Hong Chen Jana Barlic | Kenneth Humphries Luke Szweda | Rodger McEver Rheal Towner | Tim Mather | William Rodgers | Michael Kinter | Lijun Xia Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Jacob Joseph, Boston University, SC Tyagi Univ. of Louisville, School of Medicine 87 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Innovation Ecosystem Workshop Issues in Computing Over Emerging Mobile Networks Lockheed Martin India 28-29 October 2010 | Bengaluru, India IBM India 31 October 2010 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Jyotsna Iyer Lockheed Martin India Private Limited, Bangalore E-mail: jyotsna.iyer@lmco.com T he Indo-US Science and Technology Forum organized a two-day Innovation Ecosystem Workshop on28-29 October 2010 in Bangalore, in association with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the DefenceResearch and Development Organization (DRDO). The participants of this workshop included scientists and technologists from various DRDOlabs and institutions. The resource persons were drawn from US industry (Lockheed Martin Corp.),academia, business associations, and government agencies.The objective of the workshop was to create, Smriti Trikha Indo-US S&T Forum, New Delhi E-mail: strikha@indousstf.org nurture and support techno-entrepreneurial ecosystems. The workshop helped participants from DRDO to gaininsights into the process of commercialization as technology moves from the lab to the marketplace. The workshop addressed elements of and models for successful innovation ecosystems through sessions on culture of innovation, diversity in perspective, encouragement of creativity and tolerance threshold for risk-taking. The practical implementation of these broad principles in industrial R&D scenarios forproblem-solving was highlighted through case studies. l Mukesh Mohania Sanjay K. Madria and Sriram Chellappan IBM India E-mail: mkmukesh@in.ibm.com Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla E-mail: madrias@mst.edu and chellaps@mst.edu M obility is rapidly turning out to be a critical component of many next generation networking systems. Prominent among these include mobile vehicular networks, mobile social networks, mobile sensor networks, next generation cellular networks, mobilecloudsetc. Whilecomputinginthepresenceofmobility has been a well studied topic, the emphasis has centered on only Mobile AdHoc Networks (MANETs). Unfortunately, many assumptions madein traditional MANETs like mobility models, purpose/ scope of mobility, social aspects, network scale etc. do not hold true in many emerging mobile networks. Consequently, existing theories, architectures and protocols in traditional MANETs for issues like data delivery, data management, reliability, security, privacy etc. are not enough and need a ground-up redesign. Furthermore, a vast number of problems related to computing over wireless communications are emerging in mobile networks such as vehicular Issues in Computing Over Emerging Mobile Networks 31 October 2010, New Delhi, Indiasafety, fairness in content sharing, mobility centric threats and countermeasures, and performance of mobile cloud computing that are yet to be explored in detail. To address these issues, an Indo-US workshop on Issues in computing over emerging mobile networks was organized in New Delhi. The event was held in conjunction with the 29th International symposium on Reliable distributedsystems. Researchers made presentations on topicsrangingfrom security in mobile networks to sensor applications for wildlife tracking. Also covered were networking layer protocols such as enhancement of TCP protocols, transmission capacity in wireless networks and end-to-end connection protocol in WSN. These presentations included not onlypractical and deployment issues, but also theoretical foundations. l 2010 Key Participants India Rajiv Mishra IIT Patna Sudip Misra IIT Kharagpur M. M. Gore Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Ankur Gupta Model Institute of Engineering and Technology Rahul Vaze TIFR, Bombay Anish Mathuria Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology,Gandhinagar R.K Ghosh IIT Kanpur Debashis Saha Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta Anjali Sadana IIT Roorkee Prabhat Ranjan Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and ommunication Technology,Gandhinagar USA Mark Linderman AFRL, US Sanjay Madria Missouri S & T, Rolla Jag Sarangapani Missouri S & T, Rolla Sreeram Chellappan Missouri S & T, Rolla 88 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 89 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Sedimentation, Erosion, Flooding, and Ecological Health of Rivers Applications of Molecular Imaging in Health, Disease and Drug Discovery Indian Statistical Institute 1-3 November 2010 | Kolkata, India Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology 8-10 November 2010 | Hyderabad, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Nani G. Bhowmik Bijoy S. Mazumder Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata E-mail: bijoy@isical.ac.in Key Participants India Arabinda Mitra, IUSSTF Supriya Sengupta, IIT - Khargpur Dulal Goswami, Guwahati University R. K. Sinha, Central University of Bihar Kothyari UC, IIT-Roorkee Rajiv Sinha, IIT-Kanpur I.B. Singh | Munendra Singh University of Lucknow Tandon S K, University of Delhi Vishwas S. Kale, University of Pune Bikas Chowdhuri Calcutta Port Trust Authority Girija Jayaraman, IIT-Delhi Koustuv Debnath Bengal Engineering & Science University Baren Purkait, Geology Survey of India Bijoy Mazumder, Indian Statistical Institute USA Misganaw Demissie ISWS/INRS/University of Illinois, UIUC Richard E. Sparks National great Rivers Research and Education Center University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois E-mail: nbhowmik@illinois.edu R ivers are the integratorsof allthenatural andhumanactivities that take place in its watershed. Over the last 100-150 years, the land use on almost all the river basins of the world have been altered significantly increasing watershed erosion, river sedimentation and flooding, both in magnitude and occurrence. All these factors have had an impact on the ecological health of rivers. This is quite true for river basins such as the Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri, and other rivers in the United States and the Ganges, Bhagirathi, Hooghly, Brahmaputra and other rivers in India. The Indo-US workshop on Sedimentation, erosion, flooding, and ecological health of rivers brought together scientists, engineers, and managers from India, and those working in the Upper Mississippi and Illinois River Basins in the United States.The technical sessions covered river floods; erosion sedimentation, and geomorphology; ecology and ecological health; river management and restoration; river flows; soil erosion; water quality and aquatic zone hydrodynamics. In addition there was also a very well-received poster session. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata also signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enable collaborations between the two institutions. l Kenneth S. Lubinski US geological Survey, UMESC K. Douglas Blodgett The Nature Conservancy, Illinois Nani G. Bhowmik ISWS/INRS/University of Illinois, UIUC olecular imaging is rapidly becoming the keystone for advanced biomedical research particularly in the preclinical field, where molecular imaging is being utilized for combined “theragnostics”, a portmanteau derived from therapeutics and diagnostics. Molecular imaging modalities combined with nano- and meso- scale imaging probes, and targeting agents, are rapidly being developed for non-invasive imaging of various diseases, its progression and response to therapy. The Indo-US workshop on Applications of molecular imaging in health, disease and drug discovery aimed to provide a platform where experts from the molecular imaging field and biomedicine interact, impart, and exchange ideas. Sixteen speakers from India and USA, who utilize optical, magnetic resonance, X-ray, or PET imaging presented their work as podium talks and plenary lectures. The technical presentations covered four imaging procedures for human and pre-clinical imaging systems and included optical, magnetic, nuclear and X-ray imaging systems. The latest advances in the development of new reagents that would enhance the contrast and resolution of molecular imaging at the cellular level and at the tissue level were described. Recommendations that emerged as a result of the workshop included the following - usage of functional molecular probes for more sensitive approaches in optical imaging of normal and disease tissues; utilization of molecular imaging methodologies for early detection of cancer as well as delivery of drugs to targeted tissues; inclusion of multimodal or hybrid imaging approaches in both clinical and pre-clinical theragnostics; and the development of a specific collaborative project based upon the imaging of fibrotic tissues in the liver as a joint program between CCMB, Carestream R&D and Kit Lam’s laboratory at the University of California, Davis. l Aloah pope University of Illinois, UIUC Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Carestream Health Inc, New Haven, Connecticut E-mail: rao.papineni1@carestreamhealth.com M Jeremy Brill The University of Iowa 90 Rao Papineni Gopal Pande Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad E-mail: gpande@ccmb.res.in Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2010 Key Participants India Gopal Kundu National Centre for Cell Science Asima Pradhan Indian Institute of Technology P.K. Gupta, CAT Anant Patel, CCMB, Pune R.N. Jagannadhan AIIMS New Delhi Samit Adhya Indian Institute of Chemical Biology Shanti Nair Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre Kakarla Subbarao NIMS, KREST Building, Hyderabad Arvind K. Chaturvedi Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Center S.E. Hasnain, University of Hyderabad B Ravindran, Institute of Life Sciences Arun K Gupta Sree Chitra Tirunal Inst. for Medical Sciences & Technology USA Rheal Towner Advanced Magnetic Resonance Center Mathew Thakur Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Mark Kester Penn State University Ali S. Arbab Cellular & Molecular Imaging Laboratory Kit Lam, UC Davis Cancer Centre Belinda Seto National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering 91 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 New Directions In Machine Learning, Game Theory, and Optimization Biology of Fetal Growth Restriction Indian Institute of Science 2-13 November 2010 | Bengaluru, India All India Institute of Medical Sciences 22-25 November 2010 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators David C. Parkes Shivani Agarwal Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore E-mail: shivani@csa.iisc.ernet.in Key Participants India Shivani Agarwal Indian Institute of Science Chiranjib Bhattacharyya Indian Institute of Science Indrajit Bhattacharya Indian Institute of Science Dinesh Garg Yahoo! Labs Bangalore Ravi Kannan Microsoft Research India Y. Narahari Indian Institute of Science Kameshwaran Sampath IBM Research India USA David C. Parkes Harvard University Avrim Blum Carnegie Mellon University Gert Lanckriet University of California, San Diego Devavrat Shah Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ambuj Tewari University of Texas, Austin 92 Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts E-mail: parkes@eecs.harvard.edu W ith the virtual explosion in the magnitudeof data being generated across the world – in fields as diverse as astronomy, biology, geology, and even defence – there is an urgent need for methods that can analyze such data and transform it into meaningful scientific conclusions. Machine learning, one of the fastest growing fields in computer science, holds the promise of providing such methods. These techniques are being used in computer vision to develop face recognition systems, in computational biology to discover new genes, and in drug discovery to prioritize chemical structures for screening. The Indo-US workshop on New directions in machine learning, game theory, and optimization aimed to bring together leading researchers from India and the United States to share their perspectives on recent advances in the fields of machine learning, game theory, and optimization; and the challenges that lie ahead. New Directions In Machine Learning, Game Theory, and Optimization 12-13 November 2010, Bengaluru, IndiaThe event included talks by eminent researchers from academia and industry, and a research poster session that included poster presentations by students and young researchers. There were two primary recommendations coming out of the event. The first was to evolve a Center for Machine Learning at the Indian Institute of Science, which would build on the growing strengths in machine learning and related areas at the Indian Institute of Science, and more broadly, would help to create visibility for machine learning research in India as well as serve as a focal point for machine learning related activities in the future. The second recommendation was to enable sustained interactions and collaborations between Indian and US partners in order to develop talent in both countries at the emerging interface between machine learning, game theory and optimization, for example via an Indo-US Joint Center alongthis theme.l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Ram K. Menon Vinod K. Paul All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi E-mail: vinodkpaul@hotmail.com University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor E-mail: rammenon@umich.edu I ntrauterine Growth Restric tion (IUGR) is a highly significant problem affecting 25-30% of all pregnancies in India. Infants born Small for Gestational Age (SGA) have an increased risk of mortality and various morbidities in the neonatal period such as sepsis, birth asphyxia, hypoglycemia and hypothermia. While chromosomal anomalies,maternal under-nutrition or placental insufficiency can explain the growth restriction in some cases, a vast majority remain unexplained. The role of placental angiogenic and antiangiogenic factors, hormones and growth factors and micronutrients such as folate, vitamin A, vitamin D and zinc in the pathophysiology of fetal growth restriction are areas of active research. An Indo-US brainstorming meeting on Biology of fetal growth restriction and catch-up growth in small for gestational age infants was organized to discuss pertinent issues related to important fields of intrauterine growth restriction and catchup growth in SGA infants and their long term health consequences. The aims of the meeting were to review the key issues in areas such as the epidemiology of fetal growth retardation, the biology of fetal growth in the context of IUGR,the clinical management of IUGR babies and the dynamics of catch-up growth in infants born small for gestational age. Through the deliberations it was observed that India presents a unique opportunity to study the problems of fetal and infant growth because it has a dual burden of under-nutrition as well as diabetes at the same time, and therefore the entire spectrum of fuel-mediated-teratogenesis can be studied in the Indian population. Similarly, India presents a unique setting where the trade-off or cost-tobenefit analysis of short term morbidity (infections, under-nutrition) and long term metabolic risks(higher fat mass, insulin and leptin resistance) between slow and rapid weight gain in infancy can be studied. It was also felt that there is a critical need to develop infrastructure of centers of excellence, core data resources and training and fostering of future scientists. l Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2010 Key Participants India Vinod Paul | Vandana Jain Sudhisha Dubey | Ramesh Agarwal All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi H P S Sachdev Sitaram Bhartiya Insitute, New Delhi CS Yajnik King Edward Memorial Hospital, Pune Manchala Raghunath National Institute of Nutrition, JamaI-Osmania, Hyderabad Satyajit Rath National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi Anura Kurpad St John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India USA Ram K. Menon University of Michigan Medical School, USA Roberto Romero Wayne State University,Bethesda Satish Kalhan Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Cleveland, Ohio Vinod K Bhutani Stanford University Palo Alto, CA. Christian L Roth University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA Anuraj Shankar Harvard School of Public Health, Boston,Massachusetts 93 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Science Communication Awareness Creation Emerging Issues in Energy and Environment Security: Challenges and Research Opportunities Indian Institute of Science 13-15 December 2010 | Bengaluru, India Indian Institute of Technology 13-15 December 2010 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Bruce V. Lewenstein N. S. Anuradha Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore E-mail: srina@mgmt.iisc.ernet.in Key Participants India Deepak Kumar JNU Yateendra Joshi World Institute of Sustainable Energy Richa Malhotra S. Ramaseshan Fellow, Current Science John Bosco Lourduswamy IIT Madras Suchitra Mathur IIT Kanpur Gauhar Raza Niscair, Delhi Hoysala N Chanakya I.I. Sc USA Andrew Pleasant Rutgers University Sarah Davidson Cornell University 94 Cornell University, Ithaca, New York E-mail: b.lewenstein@cornell.edu L eading scientists and scientific organizations have identified public communication as a key element for the continuing development of science and technology. In India and the United States, where issues of ethnic, religious, or regional culture (including different languages) further complicatethe process, and where different communities may have different understandings of what constitutes “reliable knowledge about the natural world”, there needs to be an interdisciplinary dialogue between experts to evolve a common understanding of what constitutes the public and therefore, why science is understood the way it is.In this context, an Indo-US workshop on Science communication awareness creation was organized to discuss the parameters that influence communication of science and the skills that are needed to be an effective communicator of science. The workshop aimed at strengthening ongoingcollaborations between academic institutions in India and the United States on issues of science communication – both training and research; developing science communication training workshops sensitive to cultural context for use in both countries; designing potential student exchange programs among institutions represented at the workshop; and creating substantial multi-disciplinary academic and practical contributions to the idea of “Science for all”. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum V. K. Mathur S. Basu and S. Roy Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi E-mail: sbasu@chemical.iitd.ac.in A n Indo-US workshop on Emerging issues in energy and environment security: Challenges and research opportunities was organized with the objective to continue efforts in mobilizing the academics of the two nations towards collaborative R&D for sustainable improvements in design and operation of processing systems especially energy and pollution abatement industries. The event was jointly funded by the National Science Foundation, USA. The workshop helped to identify the synergies in the research nitiatives by the academics of the two countries, and served as a launching pad for further collaborative research with mutually beneficial objectives. The main objective of this workshop was to have an exchange of scientific information and a dialogue between the American and Indian university faculty members on recent advances, mainly in the areas of conventional and alternative source of energy and their processes, which have a minimal pollution footprint on the globe and are sustainable in nature. Another goal was to inculcate a close long term collaboration between the faculty members of these two countries for sustained interaction and mutually beneficial engagement. The effort of exploring fundamental new concepts that might lead to long-term solutions to the global energy and environmental challenges was to continue even after the workshop was over. Essentially three sub-groups were formed - Energy conversion and storage, which covered work in the area of hydrogen energy and fuel cell, batteries, energy from biomass, photovoltaics; Cleaner coal technologies, which included novel and more efficient methods of exploiting the coal reserves in the two countries; and Environmental challenges and sustainability, which included clean air and water, CO2 capture, multiple pollutant treatment with the use of photocatalysis, sonochemical methods, biological methods. The group also discussed life cycle analysis and sustainability in the context of energy processing and environmental stipulation. Faculty members were identified from both countries to work jointly on the above topics. l Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2010 University of New Hampshire, Durham E-mail: vkm@unh.edu Key Participants India Sanjeev Gupta | Sudeep Punnathanam Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore Preeti Aghalayam | Raghuram Chetty IIT-Madras, Chennai Anil Verma | Rajesh Upadhyay IIT-Guwahati Amitava Bandyopadhyay University of Calcutta M. K. Mondal Banaras Hindu University K. Saktival, IIT Delhi, New Delhi Raj Ganesh S. Pala, IIT-Kanpur Sanjay Mahajani, IIT-Bombay T. Sivasankar, NIT, Tiruchirappalli USA Daniela Mainardi, Louisiana Tech University Rakesh Govind, Univ. of Cincinnati Vijay John, Tulane University Virendra Mathur, Univ. of New Hampshire Bhavik Bakshi, Ohio State University Krista Walton, Georgia Institute of Technology Joseph Helble Thayer School of Engineering Edward Maginn, Univ. of Notre Dame Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan Missouri University of Science & Technology A. Kannan, Arizona State University Kalliat Valsaraj, Louisiana State University Vijay Ramani Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago Susan Stagg-Williams, Univ. of Kansas Shashi Lalvani, Miami University Ravindra Datta Worcester Polytechnic Institute 95 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2010 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Nanotechnology in the Science of Concretes Physics and Applications of Quantum Phases in Condensed Matter CSIR-Central Building Research Institute 14-15 December 2010 | Roorkee, India National Physical Laboratory 20-23 December 2010 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Paramita Mondal L.P. Singh CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee E-mail: lpsingh@cbri.in Key Participants India S. K. Bhattacharyya C.B.R.I, Roorkee L. P. Singh C.B.R.I, Roorkee P. C. Thapliyal C.B.R.I, Roorkee B. Bhattacharjee IIT, New Delhi S. Mishra IIT, Kanpur R. Gettu IIT, Madras A. Ramaswamy IISc., Bangalore U. Sharma IIT, Roorkee A. Ahmad NCL, Pune R. Kumar CRRI, New Delhi S. Chowdhury UltraTech Cement, Mumbai C. Hazaree HCC Ltd., Mumbai University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign E-mail: pmondal@illinois.edu C onstruction is one of the most strategic industries providing building and infrastructure to all sectors of the economy. It is a settled, cost-driven and traditional sector. Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in construction and cement is its main ingredient. Production of cement is a highly energy-intensive process and it accounts for approximately 7-8% of total CO2 emissions. Recently nano-science has provided tremendous scope for technology development in the construction sector. Several applications have been developed to improve durability and enhance performance of construction components; to ensure energy efficiency and safety of buildings; to facilitate ease of maintenance and to provide increased living comfort. The use of nano-particles in developing new and innovative materials has gained widespread attention as it can lead to improvements in the nano-structure of building materials such as cement and concrete. In order to provide a forum for interaction among researchers from both countries to explore broader strategies in this field, an Indo-US workshop on Nanotechnology in the science of concrete was organized at the Central Building Research Institute in Roorkee. The workshop highlighted the importance of recent advancements in the field of nanotechnology in cement science. Contd. on pg. 98 USA S. P. Shah Northwestern University, USA P. Mondal University of Illinois, USA Z. C. Grasley Texas A&M University, USA R. P. Selvam University of Arkansas, USA Richard L. Greene R.C. Budhani National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi E-mail: rcb@nplindia.org C ondensed matter systems display a rich variety of quantum effects when subjected to low temperatures. The study of quantum phase transitions tuned by high magnetic fields, pressure and/or injected charge carriers is a field of contemporary interest. The discovery of new compounds; the ability to synthesize clean interfaces, heterostructures, tunnel junctions and field effect devices, which allow manipulation of carrier density in the material; clever ways of nanostructuring; and advanced imaging techniques have permitted visualization of quantum phenomena and simultaneously have opened up avenues for their technological usage. An Indo-US workshop on Physics and applications of quantum phases in condensed matter was organized to conduct a structured review of recent developments in quantum processes in low dimensional systems. The workshop was geared towards experimental low temperature physics research which is an area that needs to be strengthened. The technical agenda of the workshop consisted of reviewing the recent developments in theoretical and experimental aspects of quantum processes such as: electron-electron correlations and correlations driven phase transitions; superconductivity and magnetism in correlated electronic systems; integral and fractional quantum Hall effect in new class of materials such as graphene, oxide interfaces and other novel 2D systems; and topological insulators in two and three dimensional systems. New developments presented at the event included composite fermion theory of fractional quantum Hall effect in Graphene; time reversal symmetry breaking in unconventional superconductors; new G-L like phenomenological theory of high Tc superconductors; Raman scattering and ultrafast pump-probe study and Andreev reflection spectroscopy of pnictide superconductors; new collective modes in fractional quantum Hall effect in grapheme; and new generation modeling of highly resolved spectroscopies of solids. l 2010 University of Maryland, College Park E-mail: rgreene@uni.edu.usa Key Participants India T.V. Ramakrishnan, BHU, Varanasi G. Baskaran, IIMSc, Chennai A.K. Sood, IISc, Bangalore D.D. Sarma, IISc, Bangalore Pratap Raychaudhari, TIFR, Mumbai R. Prasad, IIT, Kanpur Kedar S. Damle, TIFR, Mumbai Arindam Ghosh, IISc, Bangalore Sudhanshu Mandal, IACS, Kolkata USA Richard L. Greene, Univ. of Maryland Aharon Kapitulnik, Stanford University Arun Bansil, North Eastern University N.P. Ong, Princeton University J.K. Jain, Pennsylvania State University Axel Hoffmann Argonne National Laboratory Ribhu Kaul, University of California Jeremy Levy, University of Pittsburgh David Pappas, NIST N. Neithalath Clarkson University, USA 96 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 97 Infectious Diseases: Novel Strategies for Design and Development of Vaccines and Drugs Contd. from pg. 76 Entamoeba, Mycobacterium, Filarial worms, viruses that cause Dengue, Influenza and Measles etc. were covered. As understanding the basics of biology of Host-Parasite interaction is a prerequisite for identification of novel candidate vaccines as well as drug targets, investigators working on the biology of pathogens were included in large numbers. Importance of vector control and approaches for the development of vaccines and chemotherapeutics for the eradication of these diseases were covered in the eight technical sessions. This conference served as a platform for evolving research collaborative networks between US and Indian labs. For instance, under an MoU between TIFR, Mumbai and Bindley Bioscience Center, Purdue University, collaborations in the field of infectious diseases is envisaged as an outcome of this workshop. l Oral Immunization Contd. from pg. 86 and live cholera vaccines, typhoid vaccines and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) vaccines were also discussed in light of what is now known about the immune response. New findings on the intestinal microbiome and on mixed infections were presented by David Relman (Stanford University, Palo Alto) and Colin Stine (University of Maryland Center for Vaccine Development, Baltimore). The workshop helped to set a research agenda for India and encouraged scientists to enter into productive, innovative research collaborations that will seek to improve the health of the needy populations worldwide. Also as an outcome of the event, a list of potential studies was identified that would be submitted to the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, for inclusion in the Vaccine Grand Challenges Program. l Translating Molecular Cardiology Contd. from pg. 87 and protects endothelial-myocyte function in hyperhomocysteinemia; role of podoplanin and endothelial O-glycans in the separation of blood and lymphatic vessels during embryonic and postnatal development; mechanisms of phosphatidylinositol 4,5 bisphosphate(PIP2) signalinginvascularhomeostasis and targeting PIP2 signaling for attenuation of Akt signaling and nitric oxide production; and novel stem cellderived models for analysis of cardiovascular development. The participants formulated new strategic approaches to translate the recent advances in molecular cardiology for clinical use and for the benefit of patients with cardiovascular diseases. An MoU was signed between RGCB and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) to set up a stateof-the-art research and knowledge center for cardiovascular diseases at RGCB. OMRF would render help to develop manpower for carrying out the research programs at RGCB through joint Ph.D. programs and faculty and fellow exchange programs. Also as an outcome of the event, ten new joint projects were identified among the various participants. l Nanotechnology in the Science of Concretes Contd. from pg. 96 Several key issues were discussed during the two-day workshop and new developments in self consolidating concrete, nano-indentation, nano synthesis, modeling, durability of concrete etc. were presented. In addition, key problem areas and challenges were also deliberated and discussed. The deliberations helped identify the following areas for collaborative research efforts: characterization and modification 98 of nanoparticles; understanding the basic molecular structure of Calcium-SilicateHydrate (C-S-H) gel; nanomaterialsforinfrastructure development; linking construction material from nanoscale to macroscale; detailed understanding of hydration process of cement/concrete based materials; and energy efficient and sustainable materials for buildings and infrastructure. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Bilateral Workshops 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Solid State Lighting and Water Purification Integrating Basic Sciences into Public Health Anna University 5-7 January 2009 | Chennai, India Christian Medical College 22-23 January 2009 | Vellore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Asif Khan J. Kumar Crystal Growth Centre, Anna University, Chennai E-mail: marsjk@annauniv.edu,marsjk@yahoo.com Key Participants India J. Kumar | K. Baskar R. Dhanasekaran Anna University, Chennai C. Dhanavantri Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, Pilani K. Murugan | J. Revathi Tata N. Rao | H . Neha ARCI, Hyderabad S.M.Shivaprasad, JNCASR, Bangalore R.M.Mehra University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi Deepak Gupta, IIT-Kanpur R. Muralidharan Solidstate Physics Laboratory, Delhi M.Kottaisamy Kalasalingam University, Krishnankoil D.. Basak Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata M. A. Shah National Institute of Technology Hazratbal-Srinagar USA Department of Electrical Engineering University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC E-mail: asif@engr.sc.edu D eep ultraviolet (UV) radiation is at the core of air, water and food purification, germicidal and biomedical instrumentation and polymer curing. Light emitting diode (LED) sources of ultraviolet light offer many benefits over mercury lamps that are presently the common source of deep UV light for these applications. They are “instant-on”, potentially much cheaper, easily portable, and have a higher theoretical efficiency. Water purification modules based on ultraviolet light emitting diode (UV LEDs) are a step closer after the first demonstration of bacterial destruction in flowing water using this technology. An Indo-US Workshop on Solid State Lighting and Water Purification was held at Chennai from 5-7 January 2009. The usefulness of nitrides in water purification and medical sterilization were among the areas that were addressed in the bilateral event. Technical sessions covered areas on III-nitride semiconductor materials for solid state lighting and ultraviolet source based water purification, devices and systems. The workshop enabled frontline researchers in the field to interact and exchange information and also to highlight the focal points that need to be addressed considering the major mergers that are taking place in the industrial arena. The impact of solid state lighting and deep ultraviolet technologies on market potential and future business opportunities in both United States and India was discussed by 8 US and 15 resource persons from India including a large number of students. l Jayaprakash Muliyil Department of Community Health, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu Email: chad@cmcvellore.ac.in Honorine Ward Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, MA E-mail: hward@tufts-nemc.org T remendous advances in biology are providing new knowledge about genetics, physiology, pathophysiology and disease thereby creating exciting opportunities for research. From the laboratory, this research evolves into new applications for diagnosis, therapy and prevention in humans. At the same time, important advances in behavioral science, clinical outcomes and healthcare delivery have provided much needed knowledge about prevention and treatment. This research transitions from the laboratory and the healthcare setting into the community. Key Participants India M.S. Seshadri | Dilip Mathai K.R. John | Dr Abraham Joseph Prabhakar D Moses | K S Jacob Prathap Tharyan | Gagandeep Kang G. Sridharan | Jayaprakash Muliyil Azara Singh | Christian Medical College, Vellore G. Diwakar, ISRO, Bangalore Bela Shah, ICMR, New Delhi GB Nair, NICED, Kolkatta In light of the above aspects, a multi-disciplinary symposium on Integrating Basic Sciences into Public Health was organized at Vellore from 22-23 January 2009. The idea was to bring together both basic and clinical scientists along with public health practitioners and policy makers to create a platform for translational research and for planning public health interventions in India. The interaction between M K Bhan Dept. of Biotechnology, New Delhi Contd. on pg. 123 James Levinson, Cornell University K A Dinshaw Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai Dr Namita Surolia JNCSAR, Bangalore USA Elena Naumova Tufts University School of Medicine Manohar R. Furtado Applied Biosystems Inc. Mary Estes University of North Carolina. Honorine Ward, Tufts University M.A. Khan | A.Vinod | Qhalid Fareed University of South Carolina Barry Bloom Harvard School of Public Health C. Wetzel, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Robert Gilman Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore. Jorge Osorio University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. S. Rajan, The Ohio State University Nadarajah Narendran Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute L. E. Rodak | D. Korakakis West Virginia University, Morgantown Hongxing Jiang College of Engineering, Texas Tech University Harris Berman Tufts University School of Medicine M. H. Kane Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta 100 2009 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 101 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Indo-US Symposium on Cancer Nanotechnology Pharmaceutical Cocrystals and Polymorphs University of Delhi 4-6 February 2009 | New Delhi, India University of Hyderabad 8-11 February 2009 | Mysore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Mansoor Amiji Amarnath Maitra Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi, Delhi E-mail: amarnathmaitra@yahoo.com Key Participants India Farhan Ahmed | M. Samim Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi Amit K Dinda, AIIMS, New Delhi Manju Ray Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata Jayesh Bellare, IIT-Bombay Bhudeb Das, University of Delhi Padma Devarajan Ganga Ram Hospital New Delhi Indraneel Mitra | J.N.Verma Lifecare Innovations Pvt. Ltd. N. Jayaraman Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Amarnath Maitra, University of Delhi P. Pramanik Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Sanjeeb K Sahoo Institute of Life Sciences, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar Shanti Nair Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts E-mail: m.amiji@neu.edu C ancer is a major public health problem in both India and the United States. Nanotechnology can play a big role in the treatment of cancer through early detection of cancer and non-invasive imaging. There needs to be crossdisciplinary efforts to achieve these goals. An Indo-US conclave on Cancer Nanotechnology was held at the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi from 4-6 February 2009 with a focus on use of nanotechnology as a potential tool in tackling cancer. The conclave was inaugurated by the former President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. 10 resource persons from USA, 15 from India and more than 50 students participated in the event. The most common cancer treatments are limited to chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. These imitations are a result of current challenges seen in cancer therapies which include lack of early disease detection, non-specific systemic distribution, inadequate drug concentrations reaching the tumor, and inability to monitor therapeutic responses. Poor drug delivery and residence at the target site leads to significant complications, such as multiContd. on pg. 123 M Swaminathan, SASTRA Univ. Thanjavur S. Sarin, GB Pant Hospital Ashwini Nangia University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad E-mail: ashwini.nangia@gmail.com C ocrystals are generating an increasing amount of interest in pharmaceutical research labs around the world. As academic and industrial research labs demonstrate how cocrystals can be utilized to improve properties such as dissolution rate, the pressure to identify cocrystals of new and existing drugs continues to escalate. The importance of pharmaceutical cocrystals lies in the ability to engineer properties such as solubility, dissolution, bioavailability and stability. An Indo-US workshop on Pharmaceutical Cocrystals and Polymorphs was organized at Mysore from 8-11 February 2009 which was attended by 35 Indian and 12 US participants. The highlights of the workshop included discussions on the design of cocrystals as new solid-state forms and their stability, bioavailability, dissolution profile, methods of characterization, and patenting issues. Several new developments were presented at the event such as dramatic dissolution increases of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) cocrystals, accelerated route to cocrystals patenting, ionic liquids as potential drug forms, cocrystal–salt continuum, rational approaches to making diverse cocrystals, and multiple methods of cocrystals characterization. Two news items highlighting the event appeared in the American Chemical Society journal ‘Crystal Growth & Design – An Editorial’ by Editor-in-Chief Robin Rogers (2009) and a perspective article by Prof. Ashwini Nangia and Prof. Naír Rodríguez-Hornedo (under consideration). l 2009 Naír Rodríguez-Hornedo University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI E-mail: nrh@umich.edu Key Participants India P. Dastidar, IACS, Kolkata Gautam Desiraju, Univ. Hyderabad T. N. Row, IISc Bangalore Ram Jetti, Matrix/Mylan, Hyderabad Anil Kumar, ILS Hyderabad J. Moorthy | Lalit Rajput Kumar Biradha, IIT Kanpur Ashwini Nangia | Tejender Singh Univ. Hyderabad Srinivasan Natarajan, IISc Bangalore P. Vishweshwar, Reddys, Hyd’bad USA Örn Almarsson, Alkermes Inc. Steve Byrn, Purdue University Scott Childs, Renovo Research Len MacGillivray, Univ. Iowa Eric Munson, Univ. Kansas Alan Myerson, Illinois Instt. Tech. Rodolfo Pinal, Purdue Univ Náir Hornedo, Univ. Michigan Robin Rogers, Univ. Alabama Peter Stephens, SUNY Stony Brook USA R. Suryanarayanan, Univ. Minnesota Vladimir Torchilin | Mansoor Amiji Northeastern University, Boston Mike Zaworotko, Univ. South Florida Piotr Grodzinski, NCI/ANC, Bethesda Sudhir Srivastava, NCI/NIH, Bethesda K. Katti ,Univ. of Missouri, Columbia Anirban Maitra Johns Hopkins Univ. Baltimore Scott McNeil, NCI/NIH, Frederick Shiladitya Sengupta | Omid Farokhzad MIT, Cambridge Indrajit Roy, Univ. of Buffalo, SUNY Buffalo 102 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 103 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Second Advisory Council Meeting of the Longitudinal Aging Study in India Advanced Magnetic Materials and their Applications International Institute for Population Sciences 9-10 February 2009 | New Delhi, India IIT Bombay 1-4 March 2009 | Mumbai, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators David E. Bloom Perianayagam Arokiasamy International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai E-mail: parokiasamy@yahoo.co.uk Key Participants India P. Arokiasamy | Sanjay Mohanty S. Parasuraman | T. V. Sekher International Institute for Population Sciences Rattan Chand | Jagdish Kaur V. K. Malhotra Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GOI P.M. Kulkarni, JNU Arvind Mathur, Jodhpur Medical College Arabinda Mitra Indo-US Science and Technology Forum S. Irudaya Rajan Centre for Development Studies K. Srinath Reddy Public Health Foundation of India Gita Sen IIM, Harvard School of Public Health V.K. Shukla Indian Council of Medical Research USA Lisa Berkman | David E. Bloom David Canning | S.V. Subramanian Harvard School of Public Health Amitabh Chandra | David Wise J. F. Kennedy School of Government S. Chatterji, World Health Organization Barney Cohen National Academy of Sciences Peifeng Hu, UCLA School of Medicine Arie Kapteyn | James Smith Albert Weerman | Jinkook Lee RAND Corporation Paul Kowal, World Health Organization Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA E-mail: dbloom@hsph.harvard.edu L ife expectancy in India has been increasing steadily over the past half-century and now stands at approximately 65 years,. The United Nations’ Population Division projects life expectancy to reach 70 years by 2020 and 75 years by 2045. This rapid rate of population aging presents policy makers with significant challenges. In addition, no sufficiently broad, nationally representative dataset exists to inform an investigation into how socioeconomic factors are linked to aging and population health in India. To address such data needs, the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) was developed as a multidisciplinary, internationally harmonized panel data set that represents the elderly population in India. The Second Advisory Council Meeting of the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) was organized by Dr. Perianayagam Arokiasamy (International Institute for Population Sciences) and Dr. David E. Bloom (Harvard School of Public Health) from 9-10 February 2009 in New Delhi. A total of 15 Indian and 19 American delegates participated in the event. The highlight of the meeting was the presentation of the LASI survey instrument. Prior to the meeting in February, contributors to the survey worked to create individual survey modules. Survey contributors included faculty from Harvard, IIPS, and RAND. The New Contd. on pg. 123 Department of Physics, IIT Bombay, Mumbai E-mail: suresh@phy.iitb.ac.in Northeastern University, Boston, MA E-mail: harris@ece.neu.edu A Key Participants The main highlights of the workshop were presentations about the new applications of magnetic materials, especially in the context of nano-materials in bio and medical fields. New methods of preparation of these applied materials were also presented. Recent advances in the field of magnetic recording were another highlight of the workshop. The advantages and the challenges associated with the recently proposed Bit Patterned Media technology for magnetic recording were emphasized. The presentation on the role of magnetic nano rings in magnetic recording technology was received with great interest by the audience. The emerging trends in the fields of magnetic cooling, shape memory materials, microwave materials and spintronic materials were presented by different researchers. The workshop also had a few presentations on magneto-resistive oxides and multi functional materials. l John Phillips | Richard Suzman National Institute on Aging, NIH India Shiva Prasad, IIT Bombay, Mumbai John Philip Indira Gandhi Center for atomic research, Kalpakkam S. M. Yusuf Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai A. Sundaresan Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for ASdvanced Scientific Research, Bangalore A. Perumal, IIT Guwahati M. Manivel Raja Defense Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad E. Sampathkumaran | A. K. Nigam Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai S. B. Roy | Alok Banerjee Raja Ramanna Centre of Advanced Technology, Indore P. S. Anil Kumar | S. Ramasesha Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore S. N. Kaul, University of Hyderabad J. V. Yakhmi Bahbha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai USA R. Shull National Institute of Standards and Technologies, Gaithesburg M. McHenry | S. Majetich Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh Bruce Terris, Hitachi C. Ross Massachusetts Institute of Technology C. Chinnasami | L. Lewis | Latha V. Harris, Northeastern University, Boston S. Hariharan Univ. of South Florida, Tampa David Weir, ISR, Univ. of Michigan Zhao Yaohui, Peking University 104 Vincent G. Harris K. G. Suresh n Indo-US workshop on Advanced magnetic materials and their applications jointly organized by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Northeastern University, Boston was held from March 1-4, 2009 at IIT Bombay. 10 US and 14 Indian speakers delivered lectures on various topics related to magnetic materials and their applications. The workshop also included two plenary talks by Prof. Shiva Prasad (IIT Bombay) and Dr. R. D. Shull (National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA). Following this, there were sessions entitled magnetic nanoparticles, bio/ nanomagnetism, magnetic recording technology, advances in rare earth permanent magnets/intermetallics, magnetocaloric materials, Spintronics, high frequency materials/shape memory materials, and molecular magnets/functional materials. There was also an engaging panel discussion titled Indian Industry-University Research Priorities. The outcome of this deliberation was the recognized need to strengthen the interaction between the industry and the research institutes. 2009 V. K. Pecharsky, AMES lab, Iowa Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 105 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 International Trends in Digital Preservation New Approaches to Infant and Young Child Feeding and Development Human-Centred Design & Computing 24-25 March 2009 | Pune, India National Institute of Nutrition 6-10 April 2009 | Hyderabad, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Joseph Jaja Dinesh Katre Human-Centred Design & Computing, C-DAC Pune, Maharashtra E-mail: dinesh@cdac.in Key Participants India A. Chakravarti Dept. of Information Technology, Govt. of India P. Narotra Working Group on National Digital Preservation Programme Dinesh Katre, Lead PI India A. Saha, University of Mysore A.R.D. Prasad Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore University of Maryland, College Park, USA E-mail: joseph@umiacs.umd.edu A n Indo-US Workshop on International Trends in Digital Preservation wasorganized by the Centre of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and University of Maryland, College Park and was held at Pune from 24-25 March 2009. The main objectives of the two day workshop were to get an exposure to international trends in digital preservation, understanding case studies and learning from the rich experience of experts involved in digital preservation, and, evolving a comprehensive strategy and recommendations for the effective implementation of the National Digital Preservation Program (NDPP) for India in close cooperation with US technical institutions. Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, IBM N. S. Mani, National Archives of India, Ramesh Gaur | Pratapanand Jha Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts Muralidharan Kesavan Sun Microsystems India Pvt Ltd Usha Munshi, IIPA, Hyderabad Jagdish Arora, INFLIBNET Centre H. K. Kaul, DELNET Mukul Sinha, Software Consultants Ltd The workshop which was co-convened by the Department of Information Technology, Government of India, was attended by 13 US resource persons and 15 invited participants from India. The broad technical themes under which various sub topics were covered included long term digital preservation, digital curation, metadata standards, interoperability and accessibility, IPR and legal issues, and viability and sustainability. l USA Joseph Ja, University of Washington Victoria Reich, LOCKSS Program Keith Johnson, Stanford Digital Repository David Giaretta Science & Technology Facilities Council National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad E-mail: s_vazir@hotmail.com Cal Poly State University, California E-mail: pengle@calpoly.edu U Key Participants The workshop was used as a base to analyze and draw conclusions from the efficacy trials under the Indo-US collaborative project. The academic highlights of the event included deliberations regarding the various models for interpreting data, use of more sophisticated statistical models for analysis e.g. multi-level modeling, appropriate indicators, etc. The workshop provided the opportunity to finalize the initial conclusions of the trial for dietary intake, growth, responsive feeding and child development. The recommendations of the workshop included highlighting the necessity for interpersonal communication methods that involve participatory discussions, behavioral experiences that could be used to improve children’s nutrient intake, and interventions with young children that would incorporate improvements in responsive feeding and play/communication. As an outcome, four abstracts were submitted to the International Congress of Nutrition (IUNS) that was held at Bangkok in October 2009. l Micah Altman, Harvard University G. Choudhury, Johns Hopkins University Adam Jansen, Management Consultant Steven Morris, North Carolina State University Reagon Moore, Univ. of North Carolina India B. Sesikeran National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad Anuradha Dept. of Women Development & Child Welfare, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh Deepika Shrivastava UNICEF India Veena S. Rao National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Shahnaz Vazir National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad Nita Bhandari Society for Applied Research N. Balakrishna National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad Sylvia Fernandez Rao National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad Shally Awasthi King George’s Medical University, Lucknow USA Margaret Bentley University of North Carolina Monal Shroff University of South Carolina Susan Johnson University of Colorado Patrice Engle Cal Poly University Sudarsan Rachuri Intl. Journal of Product Development Maureen Black University of Maryland William LeFurgy Natl. Digital Information Infrastructure Program 106 Patrice Engle Shahnaz Vazir nder-nutrition remains a major problem in India, as in many parts of the world, and interventions to reduce it are of a high priority. Malnutrition restricts the ability of children to develop their full cognitive and socio-emotional potential. Based on the results of the Indo-US collaborative study on ‘the efficacy of integrated feeding and care intervention among 3 to 15 months old rural children in Andhra Pradesh, India’, an investigative workshop followed by a conference on New approaches to infant and young child feeding and development was held at the National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. The event was attended by eightyfive participants including five resource persons from US and nine from India. 2009 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 107 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Metrology, Standards, and Conformity Assessment and their use in Support of Technical Regulations Permian-Triassic Boundary Event in Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh National Physical Laboratory 1- 4 June, Gaithersburg | Maryland, USA Panjab University 11-20 June 2009 | Chandigarh, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Claire M. Saundry Vikram Kumar National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi E-mail: vkmr@mail.nplindia.ernet.in Key Participants India V. Kumar | P. Banerjee | V.N. Ojha A. Bandyopadhyay | P.K. Gupta National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi M.O. Garg, IIP, Dehradun K. Sankar, TTTI Taramani, Chennai R Nageswara Rao, IICT, Hyderabad M.N Manjunath, CFTRI, Mysore G. Gyani, Quality Council of India. New Delhi Madhulika Prakash | Vishnu Gupta Bureau Indian Standards, New Delhi Anil Relia National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories, New Delhi R. Mathurbootham Legal Metrology, New Delhi Ramni R Iyer, CII, New Delhi USA G.V. Iyengar, Tufts University, Boston Ranjana Khanna, FICCI,Washington DC D. Dutta, Embassy of India, Washington DC C. Saundry | M. Uhle |P. Gallagher B. Collins| A.Eustis | C. Hockert| W.Ott Jim Olthoff | W. May | M. Fasolka S.S.Sunder | S. Rachuri | S. Bruce | H. Hertz NIST,Gaithersburg Michael Cheetham, IUSSTF, Washington Lorel Wisnewski Technology Innovation Program,Gaithersburg Elise Owens American National Standards Institute Daniel Geffin, FDA, Washington Dan Brims, US Department of Energy Ajit Jillavenkatesa Global Standards and Information Group, Gaithersburg National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg E-mail: claire.saundry@nist.gov M etrology, standards and conformity assessment procedures are used by societies to help develop technical regulations that address optimization of production, health, consumer protection, environment, security and quality, as well as to manage risk and intervene in cases of market failure. Sound development and effective implementation of these procedures and regulations enable sustainable development, build welfare and facilitate trade. An Indo-US workshop on Metrology, standards, and conformity assessment and their use in support of technical regulations was organized at NIST from 1- 4 June 2009. The aim of the meeting was to provide detailed overviews of the measurement and standards system in the two countries. It dealt with the standards, documentary and measurement, conformity assessment and metrology systems and their applications to support technical regulations in the United States and India. It examined the role that these system components play in enhancing global trade and spurring innovation; and to explore opportunities for future collaboration. Laboratory tours to specific NIST laboratories e.g., nano, chemical, bio, manufacturing, engineering etc. were also organized. The workshop was attended by 42 representatives including 20 from India from government, academic institutions, regulatory bodies, industries and other allied organizations from both countries. Delegates resolved to formulate a matrix where the major objective would be to create a network of scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs who can work together to promote joint research and enable development of projects on metrology that would help to foster mutually beneficial innovation in legal, physical, chemical, electronics and engineering, materials and building technologies. l Arun D. Ahluwalia Panjab University, Chandigarh E-mail: arundeep.ahluwalia@gmail.com 2009 Asish R. Basu University of Rochester, Rochester, New York E-mail: asish.basu@rochester.edu T he Permian-Triassic (P/T) bio-stratigraphic break is coincident with the greatest mass extinction event in the history of life that took place ~251 million years ago. This extinction event is believed to be accompanied by the demise of 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrates. Although the pattern of this mass extinction is still being debated, the proposed mechanisms for the extinction include wide-ranging catastrophic environmental change caused by for e.g., rapid flood basalt eruptions, bolide impacts, sudden release of methane gas hydrate from the seafloor, sea-level changes, marine anoxia, and changes in the oceanic circulation caused by climate change. In order to examine, investigate, and collect close-spaced geological samples from this P/T boundary section, an IndoUS bilateral workshop and field visit on the Permian-Triassic boundary event in Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh was jointly organized by the University of Rochester, New York, and Panjab Universty, Chandigarh. The workshop was held in Chandigarh followed by a field visit to collect samples from the Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh from 11-20 June 2009. The event attracted nine US and eleven Indian participants. The lectures covered the general nature of the world-wide P/T boundary event, and, the geology of the P/T rocks of the Himalayas, in particular, the Spiti Valley. Field work was organized around Atargoo near Lalung, Guling, and Muth to examine and collect core samples from the upper Permian into the lower Triassic including the boundary layer formations. The successful collection of a well-documented geological sampling in close spacing across the P/T boundary in Spiti, makes possible new geochemical, sedimentological and paleo-environmental collaborative research with potentially significant results. l Key Participants India A.D. Ahluwalia | O.N. Bhargava Panjab University, Chandigarh S.V.Srikantia Geological Society of India, Bangalore Jai Krishna | Uma Kant Shukla Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi Dhiraj Banerjee | Mihir Deb Delhi University, Delhi S.K.Ghosh | R.Islam Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun B.K.Mukherjee Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology Dehradun Nilotpal Ghosh Delhi University, Delhi USA Asish R. Basu University of Rochester Rochester Ellen M. Douglas University of Massachusetts, Boston Arundhuti Ghatak | Amanda Carey University of Rochester Jeremy Williams | Mythreyi Balaji University of Massachusetts, Boston Stephenie Yurchyk University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Prabir Sarkar Mfg. Sys. Integration Division, Gaithersburg 108 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 109 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Chemical Biology Designing Sustainable Products, Services and Manufacturing Systems Indian Institute of Science 2-7 July 2009 | Bangalore, India Indian Institute of Science 18-20 August 2009 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Shankar Subramaniam Biman Bagchi Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore E-mail: bbagchi@sscu.iisc.ernet.in Key Participants India Abani Bhuyan | Gautam Desiraju University of Hyderabad B. Gopal | B. Bagchi| D. N. Rao D. Chatterji | H. S. Savithri | P. K Maiti S. P. Sarma| S. Vishveshwara IISc, Bangalore B. Jayaram | C. Chakrabarty | G. Mugesh IIT, Delhi G. Basu | P. Chakrabarti| R. Biswas Bose Institute, Kolkata Hema Balaram | Srikanth Sastry JNCASR, Bangalore K. Bhattacharya, IACS, Kolkata M. Rao | M. Puranik | J. B. Udgaonkar NCBS, Bangalore P. Guptasarma, IMTECH, Chandigarh R. Sankaranarayanan, CCMB, Hyderabad Rajesh K. Murarka , IISER, Bhopal Rajesh S. Gokhale, NII, Delhi Ram Ramaswamy, JNU, New Delhi Sanjib Senapati, IITM, Chennai Satyavani Vemparala Institute of Mathematical Sciences,Chennai Shekhar Mande, CDFD, Hyderabad University of California, San Diego E-mail: shankar@sdsc.edu A s an inter-disciplinary area, Chemical biology has become a new frontline discipline in research which encompasses the application of diverse chemical concepts and tools to understand biological processes. Understanding protein structure-function dynamics using chemical tools has made enormous progress in the last few decades, due to the coordinated efforts of experimentalists and theoreticians. On the experimental side, novel new developments in the areas of single molecule spectroscopy and protein dynamics coupled with tremendous growth in the reach of structural biology have fuelled unprecedented understanding of macromolecular function. On the theoretical side, energy landscape paradigms have been developed to understand protein folding, proteinDNA interaction and protein association. Computer simulations are playing an important role in bridging the gap between theory and experiments. The remarkable efficiency of biological systems continues to fascinate the scientists and world wide efforts are being made to understand the physics and chemistry behind these structures with an aim of synthesizing artificial systems that mimic their Contd. on pg. 124 Siddhartha Roy, IICB, Kolkata National Institute of Standards and Technology, Maryland E-mail: sudarsan@cme.nist.gov T he primary objective of the bilateral workshop on Designing sustainable products, services and manufacturing systems was to bring together domain experts from India and the US to discuss the social, economic, environmental, and technological aspects of designing sustainable systems, especially manufacturing systems. Sustainable systems are essential for ensuring a good quality of life for future generations by taking into account the environmental, societal and economic impacts of the activities or products that the systems control. The essential goal of such systems is to significantly reduce the consumption of resources and minimize the effects on the environment to an enduringly affordable level, while enhancing economic output and social structure. The workshop consisted of technical sessions, breakout discussions, and industrial showcases that addressed important issues necessary for the production of such systems. The topics for the technical sessions included design of sustainable products, services, and manufacturing systems including integrating environmental aspects into product design and development; design for sustainability; product lifecycle management and lifecycle analysis; material science; advanced manufacturing technologies; nano-manufacturing; energy efficiency; conservation for production and use of products; reduction, reuse, and recycling; information infrastructure including advanced models and semantics for product and process. Contd. on pg. 124 Srabani Taraphder, IIT-Kharagpur Subrata Pal, IIT Gandhinagar, Key Participants India Ali Ansari, MJCET, Hyderabad A. Chakrabarti | S Ranganathan Indian Institute of Science, India Anil K Gupta, IIM, Ahmedabad, B K Sarangi, NEERI. Nagpur Bishakh Bhattacharya, IIT-Kanpur Debapratim Pandit, IIT, Kharagpur E. Subrahmanian | S Krishnan V Arunachalam CSTEP, Banglore L S Ganesh, IIT-Madras Lalit Kumar Das | M R Ravi Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Mukul Das, IITR, Pune N Viswanadham , ISB, Hyderabad R Shankar, IIT-Roorkee Ravi Punekar, IIT-Guwahati Shyam R Asolekar, IIT-Bombay Susy Varughese, IIT-Madras Vinod K Sharma, IGIDR, New Delhi C P Rangachar, Yuken India Ltd. Girish Thakar, SGSITS, Indore S. Sharma, TRUBA College of Engineering USA Cliff Davidson | Steven R Ray Carnegie Mellon University David E Ervin, Portland State University Sudipta Maity, TIFR, Mumbai Vinod Bhakuni, CDRI, Lucknow I S Jawahir, University of Kentucky USA Karthik Ramani, Purdue University G. Fleming | J. Kuriyan | J. Klinman UC, Berkeley Lizbeth Hedstrom, Brandies University Kathi Futornick, URS Corporation M. Lanz | P. Sarkar | S. Rachuri National Institute of Standards & Technology Peter Wolynes | S. Subramaniam UC, San Diego Subhas K Sikdar, US EPA Vijay Srinivasan, Columbia University Xiaoliang Xie, Harvard University 110 Sudarsan Rachuri Amaresh Chakrabarti Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore E-mail: ac123@cpdm.iisc.ernet.in 2009 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 111 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 System of Systems Engineering in Large Scale Systems Climate and Energy Futures Indian Institute of Technology 26-28 October 2009 | Kanpur, India Center for Study of Science 26-27 October 2009 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Laxmidhar Behera Mo Jamshidi Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur E-mail: lbehera@iitk.ac.in Key Participants India Debasish Ghose | KR Padiyar Shalabh Bhatnagar | Radhakant Padhi IISc Bangalore Prof Bijnan Bandyopadhyay IIT Mumbai BM Mohan, IIT-Kharagpur G. Ramamurthy, IIIT-Hyderabad Indra Narayana Kar, IIT-Delhi Subhi Puruwar, MNIT Allahabad Vishal Sahni, DEI, Agra K.V. Kasiviswanathan IGCAR Kalpakkam PK Kalra, IIT-Rajashthan Ashish Dutta | Priya Ranjan Laxmidhar Behera IIT Kanpur Indrani Kar, IIT Guwahati USA Mo Jamshidi University of Texas, San Antonio George Bekey University of Southern California Bernard Ziegler University of Arizona Vijay K. Varadan University of Arkansas Ravi V Gomatam ISIST, Berkeley James Tien University of Miami, Florida Fred Y. Hadaegh JPL, NASA George F. Wilber Boeing Company 112 University of Texas, San Antonio E-mail: moj@wacong.org W ith the advancement of technology, we are confronted with very large scale systems involving multiple disciplines such as sensor networks, collaborative robotics, power-grid, city traffic and airport operation. The field of System of Systems (SoS) is an interdisciplinary area that brings together these various themes. An Indo-US workshop on System of systems engineering in large scale systems held at IIT Kanpur provided a unique opportunity for experts from both countries to share and decipher research expertise to broaden the scope of system of systems studies. The event was attended by thirty participants drawn from academia, research laboratories and industry. Twenty-four technical presentations including 8 from USA and 16 from India were presented. Topics covered included system of systems engineering in land, air and sea rovers; robotics; fuzzy systems; modeling and simulation; space applications; Boeing’s approach to e-enabling commercial airlines; sensor networks; computational intelligence in control and optimization; reactor control; static and dynamic optimization; and aerospace systems. New developments were presented in the areas of networked control system with variable delay using Smith Predictor; macroscopic quantum mechanical approach to engineering design of system of systems; intelligent adaptive control of cooperative systems; Innovative control of muli-agent systems and Neural Network approach to system of systems design. Theoretical deliberations were done in terms of adaptive control and nonlinear control of multi-agent systems, variable structure control, networked control with variable delays, stability analysis of communication networks with variable delays and macroscopic quantum mechanics based SoSE design. Besides, some of the participants presented their research work in the form of posters. As an outcome, a book edited by the two co-PI’s titled ‘Systems of systems engineering - towards bridging the gap between SoS and SoS’ is under publication. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum M. Granger Morgan Anshu Bharadwaj Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, Bangalore E-mail: anshu@cstep.in 2009 The H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, Pittsburgh, PA E-mail: gm5d@andrew.cmu.edu I ndia and the US are already strategic partners in various areas of science and technology including energy and climate. Both countries are also part of the seven-nation Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate which is based on the principle that technology should play a key role in finding solutions for low-carbon growth. As part of this, several low-carbon energy projects have been initiated in various regions of India. More recently, India and the US signed a historic agreement for cooperation in civilian nuclear power, which is expected to give a boost to nuclear power production in India. It is now relevant for the two nations to further develop new collaborations in finding solutions to the energy-climate problem and also for framing of appropriate policies. An Indo-US workshop on Climate and energy futures was organized in the backdrop of the Copenhagen summit on climate. This 2-day workshop comprised presentations in various topics such as coal, carbon capture, nuclear power prospects, transportation fuel options and solar energy. The workshop began with a keynote address on the “Power of the Sun” by Nobel Laureate Walter Kohn from the University of California, Santa Barbara. The workshop provided the initial interface necessary for core participants from these two countries towards establishing critical mass and interest for longer-term interaction to encourage basic research in developing new low-carbon technologies, and to initiate collaborations in technology-policy studies in various aspects of energy-climate policy. The workshop was attended by seventy-five participants of whom fourteen were from the US. In addition, around twenty-five students also participated in the event. Joint projects between CSTEP and CMU on energy policy have been identified for implementation. l Key Participants India Arbinda Mitra, IUSSTF, New Delhi J Sreenivasan | AK Shukla Pradip Dutta | K. Chattopadhyay IISc, Bangalore J Gururaja Renewable Energy Advocacy Forum S Rajgopal | LV Krishnan A. Bharadwaj | E. Subrahmanian CSTEP, Bangalore P Challapandi, IGCAR Rangan Banerjee, IIT-Mumbai Gopichand Katragadda, GE RR Sonde, Thermax India Balu Sarma, Praj Industries IDSA Sameer Kulkarni, TCE Ajay Mathur, BEE PS Narayan | Sudarshan Ananth Wipro Dilip R Ahuja, NIAS, Bangalore T Sankarlingam, BGR Energy Systems P. Douglas, British High Commission, Delhi Aalok Deshmukh, RMI Henry Willis, RAND Corp. USA Granger Morgan, EPP, CMU Walter Kohn, UCSB Carl J Dahlman, Georgetown University Kurt Waltzer, Clean Air Task Force Varun Rai, Stanford University Meena Mutyala, Westinghouse Electric David Ginley, NREL Jay Apt, CMU Rakesh Agrawal, Purdue University E. Fleischer, Materials Research Society Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 113 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Recent Scientific Developments on Vitamin D & Health School in Neurosciences Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences 12-13 November 2009 | Manesar, India Indian Institute of Science Education and Research 7-21 December 2009 | Pune, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Raman Marawaha Patsy M. Brannon Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, New Delhi E-mail: Raman_Marwaha@hotmail.com Key Participants India Manoj Chadha P. D Hinduja National Hospital& Medical Research Centre Ashraf Gani Shre-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science, Srinagar M K Garg, R R Army Hospital Sushil Gupta Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences N. Kochupillai , SRM Medical College Raman K Marwaha Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) Ambrish Mithal Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals Ajit Mukherjee Indian Council of Medical Research D. H. Panandiker, ILSI-India USA Patsy M. Brannon, Cornell University Margherita T. Cantorna Pennsylvania State University Cindy D. Davis, National Cancer Institute Bess Dawson-Hughes, Tufts University Joanne Holden Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center Cornell University, Ithaca, NY E-mail: pmb22@cornell.edu R ecent research indicates that vitamin D deficiency is a potential risk factor for a variety of chronic diseases including diabetes, various cancers and cardiovascular events. Maternal vitamin D deficiency may be an important cause for the development of rickets in children. Early life vitamin D deficiency may be a risk factor for bone disease and autoimmune diseases later in life. In developing countries such as India, data on clinical and subclinical vitamin D deficiency status are scarce. There have been scattered epidemiologic studies, but few studies provide detailed clinical and biochemical information on the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in the population. Vitamin D deficiency is common among both urban and rural Indians and its public health consequences are enormous. Considering the new knowledge on vitamin D and its health implications, it was considered to be the ideal time to connect scientists from the United States and India, to discuss the recent scientific developments from both regions, identify research gaps and explore recommendations for public policy. A bilateral conference on Recent scientific developments on vitamin D and health was organized to reinforce the importance of vitamin D across various stages of the life cycle; to evaluate the need for maternal vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy and early life; to explore challenges in adding this nutrient to Indian foods and products; and, to encourage further research to clarify beneficial and adverse effects of Contd. on pg. 124 Glenville Jones, Queen’s University Bramaramba J. Kowtha ILSI Research Foundation Christopher Kovacs Memorial University of Newfoundland Subhash Kukreja University of Illinois College of Medicine 114 Aurnab Ghose Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune E-mail: aurnab@iiserpune.ac.in N euroimaging methods have made tremendous progress in the recent past and have led to new opportunities for investigating the nervous system – from single neuron to the entire organism. Imaging has become an indispensable tool for the study ofneuronal development, function, clinical diagnosisand understanding higher brain functions. TheScience and Engineering Research Council (SERC)School in Neurosciences supported by DST wasconducted from 7-21 December 2009 to provideintensive training to young investigators andstudents who have chosen neurosciences as theirfield of enquiry. The teaching program at the School was dividedinto two stages. During the first stage, the focuswas on the basics such as the organization of the vertebrate and invertebrate nervous systems, electrophysiology of the neuron, resting andaction potentials, neuromuscular junction andsynapses both electrical & chemical and brain asa processor of information. In the second stage, the focus was on understanding, the principles of imaging of the nervous system. Neural imagingapproaches ranged from activity imaging usingcalcium and voltage sensors, optical imagingof neurons in culture and in vivo, multiphotonconfocal microscopy, Electroencephalography (EEG), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and function mapping. Twenty five students attended the course whichwas delivered by 5 US (supported by IUSSTF) and13 Indian faculties. Hands on experience in highendmicroscopy and data analysis were conductedto initiate the students in not only the applicationsbut also in the logistics of developing an imaging platform. Demonstrations were organized for MRI, EEG and CT at a local hospital along with training inimage analysis and segmentation. l 2009 Nishikant Subhedar Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune E-mail: subhedar@iiserpune.ac.in Key Participants India M.K. Mathew National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore Krishanu Ray Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai Aditya Murthy Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Vidita Vaidya | Sudipta Maiti Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai N. R. Jagannathan All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Vinod Kumar University of Delhi, Delhi Rahul Kulkarni Deenanath Joshita Singh Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital and Research Center, Pune Satyajit Mayor | K.S. Krishnan Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore Aurnab Ghose | N. K. Subhedar Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research, Pune USA Lawrence Cohen School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. Brian Salzberg Pennsylvania School of Medicine Yevgeniy Sirotin Columbia University, Riverside Aniruddha Das Columbia University, New York Mriganka Sur, MIT, Cambridge Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 115 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Biology of Yeasts and Filamentous Fungi High Performance Computing in India: Indigenous Hardware, Software, & Infrastructure Research Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology 12-14 December 2009 | Hyderabad, India Indian Institute of Science 15 November 2009 | Portland, USA Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Durgadas P. Kasbekar Hans Van Etten Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad E-mail: kas@ccmb.res.in Key Participants India Purnima Bhargava | Rashna Bhandhari CCMB, Hyderabad Kaustuv Sanyal Jawharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research Jakkur, Bangalore Pratima Sinha Bose Institute, Kolkata K. Muniyappa Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Himanshu Sinha, TIFR, Mumbai Rajesh Gokhale, IGIB, New Delhi Santanu Ghosh, IIT – Mumbai Partha Sarkar Shantha Biotechnics Limited, Hyderabad C. Raghukumar, NIO, Goa Anand Bachhawat, IMTECH, Chandigarh Shweta Saran, JNU, New Delhi V. Nanjundiah, IISc,Bangalore USA Shiv Grewal, NIH Eric Selker, Univ. of Oregon Jay Dunlap | Jennifer Loros Dartmouth Medical School Amar Klar, NCI, NIH Marc Orbach Univ. of Arizona, Tucson Jeffrey Coleman Harvard Medical School University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ E-mail: vanetten@Ag.arizona.edu A mongst the model organisms, yeasts and filamentous fungi are in the forefront in contributing towards our current understanding of cell cycle regulation, chromatin remodeling, RNA metabolism and in many other very important areas in basic biology. The implications of discoveries made with these systems have directly contributed to our understanding of life in general and human diseases in particular. Additionally, research on pathogenic and commensal yeasts and fungi has also had fundamental impact on agriculture and medicine. In this context, a 3-day Indo-US workshop on Biology of yeasts and filamentous fungi was organized at Hyderabad to discuss the biology of yeasts and fungi as well as allied organisms such as Dictyostelium. The workshop presented the range of areas in classical and molecular genetics, cell biology and physiology, bioengineering, drug discovery, and genome studies and illustrated how they have been used to provide answers to new biological questions. The talks on yeast ranged from epigenomics, centromeres and spindle fibres, Holliday junctions, a new signaling network by pyrophosphorylations to quantitative trait analysis. Talks on filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa summarized work on mechanisms controlling DNA methylation and dissection of the Neurospora clock. A total of 23 presentations were made by 13 Indian and 10 US speakers. Participation was also offered to 30 doctoral and masters students from Indian universities. David K. Kahaner R. Govindarajan Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore E-mail: govind@serc.iisc.ernet.in Asian Technology Information Program, Albuquerque, NM E-mail: Kahaner@atip.org T he Asian Technology Information Program (ATIP) held its first workshop on High performance computing in India: Indigenous hardware, software, & infrastructure research in conjunction with the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.) conference “Supercomputing” (SC 2009) held in Portland, Oregon. The workshop included presentations, posters, and panels from an Indian delegation drawn from academia, research laboratories, industry, and graduate students, addressing topics that included government plans, university research, infrastructure, and industrial applications. The workshop enabled 32 Indian and 64 US participants to get their perspectives on the status of computing research in India. As the workshop was organized to explore collaboration possibilities among HPC researchers from India and US, most of the work/papers presented were inclined towards presenting the spectrum of HPC research work happening within individual research groups. The workshop was structured around the following topics: Indian government plans and programs; Indian HPC centers and related infrastructure; Indian university and Institute research on grid software, storage, checkpoint-restart, etc; science and engineering applications in India in automobile, weather, genomics, computational chemistry, nano, etc; and Contd. on pg. 124 As an outcome of the interactions held during the workshop, a perspectives article has been published in the Journal of Biosciences. l 2009 Key Participants India Govindarajan Ramaswamy Ravi Nanjundiah | S.Vishveshwara Balakrishnan Narayanaswamy Sathish Vadhiyar IISc Bangalore S. Mittal | A.Chandra IIT Kanpur Balasubramanian Sundaram JNCASR, Bangalore Jemmis Eluvathingal IISER, Trivandrum Subrata Chattopadhyay CDAC, Bangalore Srinivas Aluru, IIT Bombay Vinodh Markapuram, CDAC, Pune Samir Brahmachari, CSIR, New Delhi N. Pradhan, NIMHANS, Bangalore Subram Natarajan, IBM, Bangalore Ashwini Nanda, HPC Links, New Delhi Arun Bhardwaj, Dell, Bangalore Shrirang Karandikar, CRL, Pune Sandeep Lodha, Netweb, Bangalore USA David Kahaner ATIP, USA Peter Ungaro Cray, USA Arnaldo Videria University of Porto Kevin McCluskey, FGSC Eugene R. Katz Stony Brook University 116 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 117 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Indo – US Neurosurgery Collaboration Meet Innovative Materials and Structural Systems for Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructure P. D. Hinduja National Hospital & Medical Research Centre 24-28 October 2009 | New Orleans, USA Indian Institute of Technology 13-15 December 2009 | Mumbai, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators P. David Adelson Basant K. Misra P. D. Hinduja National Hospital & Medical Research Centre, Mumbai E-mail: basantkmisra@gmail.com Key Participants India Suresh Niar SCTIMST, Trivandrum Sanjay Beheri SGPIMS, Lucknow Ravi Mohan Rao SCTIMST, Trivandrum Sunil Gupta PGIMER, Chandigarh Manas Panigrahi NIMS, Hyderabad Ashish Suri | Bhawani Sharma AIIMS, Delhi Harshad Purandare PD Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai Phoenix Children’s Neuroscience Institute, Phoenix, AZ E-mail: dadelson@phoenixchildrens.com N euroscience is one of the fastest growing disciplines today and significant laboratory, basic science and clinical research is taking place in both India and the United States. To further the existing research, exchange of data and material would greatly help both the nations. In order to further enhance the information exchange process, including ideas and expertise between the two countries, an Indo-US Neurosurgery collaboration meet was held at New Orleans. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India, delivered the 2009 International Leadership lecture at the meeting. The event consisted of multiple presentations in the form of didactic lectures, hands-on-workshops and symposia. Subjects covered included 3-D anatomy; surgical indications, techniques and alternatives for cranial vascular malformations; practical neurosurgical ICU management; cervical spine degenerative disease; applied spinal biomechanics; cerebral revascularization; inpatient and outpatient management dilemmas; neurosurgical practice development; nuances of minimally invasive spinal surgery; radiosurgery; and functional neurosurgery to name a few. New developments presented included updates on the management of CNS infection and CNS Trauma, and, how to achieve excellence in neuro healthcare. Significant emphasis was placed on continuing ethical practice and providing excellent services. The workshop has lead to a real interest on both sides in further exploring the possibility of bilateral collaborations in neurosurgery like online didactic course work with contributions from India and US, webinars, self assessment, resident courses, neurosurgeon visiting fellowships, etc.l Pradipta Banerji Venkatesh K.R. Kodur Indian Institute of Technology- Bombay, Mumbai E-mail: pbanerji@civil.iitb.ac.in Michigan State University, MI E-mail: kodur@egr.msu.edu P roper design and maintenance of civil infrastructure systems in support of economic productivity and better living standards is a challenge faced by all nations. Natural disasters and terrorist threats have altered the performance demands placed on built infrastructure. Also, decades of neglect and poor maintenance has resulted in the need for repairing and strengthening older infrastructure that are rapidly losing their functionality. Furthermore, the recent focus on environmental concerns and depleting resources has resulted in an urgent need for developing innovative methodologies, technologies and processes for realizing sustainable infrastructure. With this background the workshop on Innovative materials and structural systems for resilient and sustainable infrastructure was organized at IIT Bombay to discuss various aspects of built infrastructure. The primary objective of the workshop was to review the state-of-the-art and to identify collaborative opportunities aimed at research and development efforts for achieving resilient and sustainable built infrastructure. The workshop focused on four major themes: innovative materials, resilient structural systems, structural health monitoring, and sustainability issues for structural systems. The event was attended by fifteen US and twenty-one Indian participants, besides a large number of students. The event was also partially supported by NSF. The two-day workshop was composed of several expert lectures besides a focus group meeting on research needs assessment. The Joint Working Group has been tasked to prepare a white paper by the end of this year, recommending initial high priority research areas and specific topics in the four theme areas of the workshop. l 2009 Key Participants India Arvind Shrivastava | P. GundlapallI NPCIL,Mumbai Pradipta Banerji | Siddhartha Ghosh | Sauvik Banerjee R. S. Jangid | Y. M. Desai Naresh Chandiramani IIT-Bombay T. K. Datta, IIT-Delhi V. Kalyanaraman, IIT-Madras S. K. Bhattacharya, CBRI, Roorkee B. K. Raghuprasad, IISc Bangalore Meher Prasad, IIT-Madras Sudhir Mishra, IIT-Kanpur Sajal K. Deb, IIT-Guwahati Bhattacharya, IIT-Kharagpur G. R. Reddy, Indian ASTR, Mumbai N. Bopana, IUSSTF New Delhi USA Mahendra P. Singh, CMMI, NSF Venkatesh Kodur, Michigan State Univ Surendra Shah, Northwestern University Bill Spencer Jr, University of Illinois Michael Engelhardt Univ. of Texas,Austin Chung Bang Yun | Jung Hyung-Jo KAIST Satish Nagarajaiah, Rice University P. Balaguru, Rutgers University Yunfeng Zhang, University of Maryland Jennifer Rice, Texas Tech Univ. Anil Kumar Agarwal, CCNY Maria Garlock, Princeton University G. Thiagarajan, Univ. of Missouri, KC 118 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 119 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2009 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Geospatial Information for Developing Countries: Science and Technology Epigenetic Regulation and Genome Control IIT- Bombay, Mumbai 16-18 December 2009 | Mumbai, India Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad 16-19 December 2009 | Hyderabad, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators N. L. Sarda S. Shekhar IIT- Bombay, Mumbai E-mail: nls@cse.iitb.ac.in Key Participants India P.S. Acharya, DST P.S. Roy | H. Karnatak | V Bhanumurthy ISRO Pattabhi Rama Rao, INCOIS A.K. Gosain, IIT Delhi T. Eldho | N. Sarda | Umesh Bellur IIT Bombay Arun Pande Tata Consultancy Services H. Hemanth Kumar, KSCST Ravi K. Yelluripati, INCOIS Ashish Verma, IISC Anil Gupta | Sreeja Nair, NIDM B Lohani, IIT Kanpur USA Shashi Shekhar University of Minnesota Silvia Nittel, NCGIA Budhendra Bhaduri, ORNL Sharad Mehrotra, UCI Joshua Lieberman, Traverse Tech Mike Goodchild, UCSB Vipin Kumar, UMN University of Minnesota, Minneapolis E-mail: shekhar@cs.umn.edu S cientific efforts in the growing areas of earth observation and geospatial technologies have increased many-fold in recent years. To address global challenges of climate change and other natural hazards, the use of geospatial technologies to mitigate their effects is becoming increasingly important. However, while attempting to do so, data-rich and information-poor environments are fast becoming common. Computer science and geo-informatics need to collaborate in order to address these scientific and computational challenges and provide innovative and effective solutions. The Indo-US workshop on Geospatial information for developing countries: science and technology held at IIT Bombay was an effort to bring together computer scientists, geo-informatics professionals and industry experts together with government agencies to understand the requirements of computational sciences in the domain of geo-informatics, especially in the current environment of “data-rich” systems. The talks and discussions were grouped into technology sessions and application sessions. Themes and topics covered included, modeling of geospatial data; interoperability; geosensor networks; uncertainty in G I; analytics of geospatial data; emergency related technologies; and standardization & open architectures. A variety of domains were covered in the workshop, including natural resource management, disaster management, climate change, agriculture, ocean observation and data infrastructures. A total of about seventy participants including seven invited speakers from US and fifteen from India participated in the workshop which had break-out sessions followed by a panel discussion. Plenary talks covered data modeling for spatio-temporal databases; Indian ocean observation services; uncertainty models in geospatial data; moving object databases to moving observation databases; geosensors and ubiquitous computing; value of geospatial information; and, spatio-temporal data mining. l Anindya Bagchi Utpal Bhadra Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad E-mail: utpal@ccmb.res.in E pigenetic regulation of gene expression has occupied center stage in modern biomedical research. The applications of this field of research spans from devising more targeted therapeutics against dreaded diseases like cancer, to regeneration biology involving reprogramming stem cells. The epigenetics field is considered to be the new revolution in biology, which is going to shape the future of medical sciences. The workshop on Epigenetic regulation and genome control organized at Hyderabad was intended to bring together leaders in the field of epigenetic research from the two countries in order to discuss their current work and create a platform to foster collaborative epigenome-related research. There were 32 participants from USA and 40 resource persons from India, in addition to a sizeable presence of student attendees. The workshop helped both sides unravel the new factors responsible for epigenetics exploitation of different ethnic cultures and to determine the differences between racial populations. The conference elucidated the mechanisms involved for maintenance regions of silenced chromatin, the similarities and differences in the silencing phenomena among a variety of organisms. It also helped identify the different transcriptomes responsible for regulation of genes in different groups, which underlies the racial diversity of two geographically well-defined countries. The event explored the recent developments in epigenetics regulation and also analyzed the mechanical involvement of different regulatory RNAs on epigenetics regulation and genome-wide transcriptome analysis. l 2009 Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis E-mail: bagch005@umn.edu Key Participants India Samir K Brahmachari Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, Govt. of India Dipankar Chatterjee, IIMS, Bangalore Manika Pal Bhadra, ICT, Hyderabad Nasreen Ehtesham, NIN, Hyderabad Pawan Malhotra, Malaria Group Ranjan Sen | Sanjeev Khosla CDFD, Hyderabad Ashis K. Das, BITS, Pilani Sanjeev Galande , NCCS, Pune Sorab N Dalal, ACTRAC, Mumbai S.N. Bhattacharya, IICB, Kolkata Utpal Bhadra | Veena K Parnaik CCMB, Hyderabad USA Alan Rein | Amar Klar National Cancer Institute,Frederick A. Bagchi, University of Minnesota Bruce M. Paterson | Sankar Adhya Shiv Grewal | Yikang Rong National Institutes of Health Eric Selker, University of Oregon Geeta Narlikar, University of California, SF Jerry L. Workman Stowers Institute for Medical Research J. Widom, Northwestern University Kum Kum Khanna, QIMS, Brisbane Laura Carrel Pennsylvania State College of Medicine Max Gottesman, Columbia University Saraswati Sukumar, SKCC-Johns Hopkins Sriharsa Pradhan, New England Biolabs Sundeep Kalantry, University of Michigan Tej K Pandita, Washington University William Kelly, Emory University, Atlanta 120 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 121 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Redox Signalling In Degenerative Diseases 2009 Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 18-21 December 2009 | New Delhi, India Principal Investigators Shyamal Goswami Dipak K. Das Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi E-mail: skgoswami@mail.jnu.ac.in Key Participants India Shyamal K Goswami, Jawaharlal Nehru University Suvro Chatterjee Anna University, Chennai Shivakumar K, SCTIMST, Thiruvananthapuram Saroj Ghaskadbi University of Pune Chinmay K. Mukhopadhyay Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Pawan Sharma | Subrata Adak Kasturi Datta | T.P.A. Devasagayam Subir Maulik | Hannah Vasanthi Prakash Babu | Jayant K Pal Amit Dinda | Ilora Ghosh | Shyam Sharma USA Dipak K. Das University of Connecticut Junichi Sadoshima Univ. of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey Mark Sussman, Univ. of San Diego Nilanjana Maulik, Univ. of Connecticut Eduardo Mascareno SUNY Health Science Centre at Brooklyn Georg Wondrak | Enrique Cadenas | Chandan Sen | Saikh Jaharul Haque | Cesar Fraga Valerian Kagan | John Baker 122 University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT E-mail: ddas@neuron.uchc.edu R edox signaling is implicated in various physiological and pathological processes including angiogenesis, embryonic development, cell death, differentiation and survival. Accumulating evidence suggests that redox-signaling plays a key role in the pathogenesis and progression of cancer, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases. Intracellular reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) are the key constituents of redox signaling and disturbances in redox homeostasis leads to aberrant cellular responses causing cell death and disease development. India and the US possess significant intellectual and technical resources that can mutually benefit basic science research and ultimately translational policy and human welfare objectives of the respective countries. However, achieving that objective required interaction between scientific and technical representatives and dissemination of ideas in the areas of mutual interest. Accordingly, a bilateral workshop on Redox signaling in degenerative diseases was organized at New Delhi which had a participation of 12 US and 16 Indian speakers and nearly 20 students. The workshop focused on the redox responsive transcription factors, signal-transducers and cell-death regulators. The specific objective was to understand how disturbances in cellular redox may affect cell death and contribute to the development of diseases such as cancer and degenerative disorders. With the progress of the sessions, certain level of consensus evolved about the complex roles of transiently generated intracellular reactive oxygen/nitrogen species, antioxidant defense and target macromolecules in cellular patho-physiology. The bilateral workshop has helped in preparing a draft proposal for a joint Indo-US specialized center on redox signaling and its role in translational medicine.l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Indo-US Symposium on Cancer Nanotechnology Contd. from pg. 102 drug resistance. Nanotechnology has the potential to offer solutions to these current obstacles in cancer therapies, due to its enhanced accumulation to desired cell types through endocytosis and targeting. The discussions during the symposium covered areas like general perspectives on cancer nanotechnology; cancer therapeutics; multidrug therapy; novel drug carriers; diagnostics and imaging; and herbal drugs formulations & applications in cancer therapy. The specific recommendation of this event was therefore, to accelerate the applications of nanotechnology in cancer research and clinical development through exchange of ideas and sustained collaboration within this area of research. l Integrating Basic Sciences into Public Health Contd. from pg. 101 researchers in a diverse range of research areas linked by an interest in public health was expected to act as a catalyst for interdisciplinary collaborative research between US and Indian scientists. The symposium has also sought to inspire basic science and medical students from India to enter into productive, innovative research that will seek to improve the health of the population in areas of need worldwide. A total of about 50 faculty and researchers participated in the event which included 8 US speakers, 15 Indian speakers, and about 30 postgraduate and doctoral students and faculty. the talks encompassed a wide range of subjects such as diabetes research, early detection and screening of cancer, environmental epidemiology, food and nutrition security for achieving the millennium development goals, novel methods for diagnosis of tuberculosis, advances in molecular detection technologies, cryptosporidosis in South India, mental health research, approaches to treatment of malaria, and, health insurance lessons for India from the United States. In terms of bilateral S&T cooperation, four joint projects have been identified as a result of the Winter Symposium. l Second Advisory Council Meeting of the Longitudinal Aging Study in India Contd. from pg. 104 Delhi meeting provided an opportunity to merge, share, and discuss the modules as they formed a single cohesive instrument. Other highlights of the meeting included insightful observations regarding similar aging studies throughout the world. These comments – which included discussions of the socioeconomic heterogeneity seen across India, suggestions of how to better approach health networks and employment, and conversations regarding extremely marginalized subpopulations that may merit over-sampling – provided LASI contributors with new information and guidance in reworking and strengthening their modules. Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries Several key recommendations surfaced from the meeting. Specifically, the principal investigators of similar aging surveys worldwide emphasized the need to better address the vast socioeconomic heterogeneity in India, particularly in its urban sector. Meeting attendees noted that vast differences may be found among the employment, health, savings, and schooling options made available to these groups. A reevaluation of the existing LASI survey with each of these groups in mind would ensure that the survey would be able to cull out appropriate and complete information. l 123 Chemical Biology Contd. from pg. 110 biological counterpart. The emphasis of this workshop on Chemical biology was on protein and enzymes including their function and kinetics. In order to achieve maximum impact and to maintain thematic focus, the workshop delved on few selective areas of protein structure, function and dynamics involving protein folding, single molecule spectroscopy, enzyme kinetics, Protein-DNA interaction and CARS microscopy of tissue cells. The selected talks covered the important aspect of biological chemistry that draws heavily from the fundamentals of pure chemistry and from many aspects of physics too. Seven US and thirty-five Indian delegates participated in the event. New developments and results at the inter-face of chemistry and biology were presented at the event on photosysthesis, enzyme kinetics and single molecule spectroscopy. l Designing Sustainable Products, Services and Manufacturing Systems Contd. from pg. 111 Another important aspect covered was preparing engineering designers and managers for the 21st century including designing of engineering curricula to include sustainability principles, national and international standards, multi-disciplinary approaches to engineering education; policies, standards and industry best practices for sustainable systems; and, showcases of sustainable technology through Indian and US case studies and business models. About 120 participants including 50 students & 20 industry representatives & 11 resource persons from US attended the event. Eighteen students took part in mixed-institutional teams at a post-workshop competition on redesigning products to make them more sustainable. l Recent Scientific Developments on Vitamin D & Health Contd. from pg. 114 vitamin D in the Indian population. The event in preventing chronic diseases including the was attended by a total of one hundred and six evaluation of the dose-response between vitamin D and clinical outcomes in these US, Canadian and Indian participants. chronic diseases. The conference summary The conference deliberations provided new will be published in Nutrition Reviews with insights on vitamin D requirements for various the funding support of the Office of Dietary ethnic groups and identified critical research Supplements, National Institutes of Health. l needed to understand the role of vitamin D High Performance Computing in India: Indigenous Hardware, Software, & Infrastructure Research Contd. from pg. 117 opportunities for Indo-US collaborations. An important component was a panel discussion wherein the panelists identified topics that were suitable for collaborative research and also discussed the mechanisms for developing those collaborations. It is expected that there will be multiple focused engagements between the Indian and the US researchers based on research interests of individual members in 124 areas spanning micro-architecture, compiling techniques, design methodologies, simulation engines/platforms, application synthesis and hardware reconfiguration As an outcome of the workshop, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore has begun collaboration with the TeraGrid project on weather modeling application. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Bilateral Workshops 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Workshop for Editors of Indian Biomedical Journals Advances in Mass Transit & Travel Behaviour Research The National Medical Journal of India New Delhi 8-10 February 2008 | New Delhi, India Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati India 12-15 February 2008 | IIT Guwahati, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Peush Sahni The National Medical Journal of India New Delhi E-mail: peush_sahni@hotmail.com A n Indo-US workshop for ‘Editors of Indian Biomedical Journals’ was organized by The National Medical Journal of India in partnership with the Journal of the Annals of Internal Medicine, USA and was held at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, from 8-10 February 2008. The aim of this workshop was to expose Indian editors to international standards in various aspects of editing and publishing journals, with the goal to help further improve standards of Indian biomedical journals. The bilateral workshop had participation of several reputed editors from both countries (US five and India 50), thus providing an excellent opportunity to discuss and debate various aspects of editing and publishing a medical journal. It covered the entire gamut of activities 126 Robert Fletcher Harvard Medical School Boston, Massachusetts,USA E-mail: robert_fletcher@hms.harvard.edu starting from the role and responsibilities of editors and editorial boards to peer review, use of information technology and Internet, ethics of publication, and some of the latest trends such as ‘clinical trial registration’ in the field. The role of international organizations like World Association of Medical Editors and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors were presented. It also discussed modalities for furthering cooperation between editors of biomedical journals in the two countries. One of the projects planned is the development of an online instructional mechanism for new and recently appointed editors of biomedical journal and mentorship of Indian editors in US journal publication houses, for which offers were extended. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Ashish Verma Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati India Email: ashishv@iitg.ernet.in I ndo-US workshop on Advances in Mass Transit & Travel Behaviour Research was organized by IIT, Guwahati, in partnership with the US P.I. from Arizona State University. The workshop had a one day tutorial lectures for the students to cover the theoretical aspects of mass transport followed by presentations from 18 Indian and 10 US speakers. A separate poster session for students and other participants to showcase their work and interact with other participants was also included. The technical agenda included various aspects of mass transportation such as transit demand estimation, routing and scheduling, crew scheduling, forecasting and behavioral estimation, terminal planning, simulation of transport systems, transportation network and public transportation systems, etc. There were four parallel session themes on last day of the symposium, which included (i) new methods and technology applications for transportation data collection and analysis; (ii) managing Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2008 Ram M. Pendyala Arizona State University, Arizona, USA Email: ram.pendyala@asu.edu rising travel demand and congestion in urban transportation networks; (iii) understanding activity - travel behavior in a multicultural context; and (iv) public transportation systems preserving competitive viability. Most of the global metropolitan cities have multimodal mass transit systems in place, which also necessitates operational, physical, and institutional integration of all mass transit modes for efficient and productive functioning of the system. It emerged that both US and India had undertaken research in various aspects of multimodal transportation and there is great potential to share the knowledge and experience gained for the purpose of better planning. At least two joint projects in urban transportation have been identified. About 60 papers presented in the workshop will be published as a book that can serve as a handy reference in this evolving field of urban mass transportation. l 127 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Science and Technology at the Nano-bio Interface Good Laboratory Practice: Emphasis on Medical Devices Institute of Physics 19-22 February 2008 | Bhubaneswar, India Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology 5-7 March 2008 | Thiruvananthapuram, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators S.N. Sahu Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar,India E-mail: sahu@jopb.res.in I ndo-US workshop on ‘Science and Technology at the Nano-Bio Interface’ was organized by Indian Institute of Physics (IOP), Bhubaneswar in partnership with the Virginia Commonwealth University. The event was held from 19-22 February and was attended by 82 participants from India, USA, Germany, Singapore, Switzerland, South Africa, Canada, and UK including 19 speakers from USA and 13 from India. US Navy ONR Global and US Army extended partial support to the event which also had Dr. Nina Fedoroff, Science Adviser to the US Secretary of State, attending as a plenary speaker. The objective of the workshop was to bring together a team of multidisciplinary scientists to focus on science and technology of nanomaterials that provide a bridge across various disciplines. The 10 scientific sessions covered themes like proteins as a scaffold for nanoscale self-assembly, and as templates for nanoscale materials synthesis; nanoparticle and biomolecule interaction; targeted drug delivery; nanoelectronics and energy harvesting; biosensors and biochips; and structure and function of nano-bio systems. Fourteen poster 128 Puru Jena Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia USA E-mail: pjena@vcu.edu presentations were given by some of the young research scholars and postdoctoral fellows. One important feature of this workshop was that scientists and engineers from industry, academia, and R&D laboratories working in the areas of pharmacology, interdisciplinary areas of physics/chemistry/biology and nanoelectronic devices participated. The topics included selfassembly of metal nanoparticles by proteins/ DNA, glucose sensors, drug delivery by iron nanoparticles, quantum dots for biomolecular recognition, nanomedicines for biomedical applications, nanobioengineering for health care, synthesis of nano-oxides from fungi, solar photocatalysis with nanoparticles, intelligent sensors, optical tweezers for biomolecule anipulation, fluorescence imaging, nanopores for DNA sequencing, nanoplasmonics for bioassays and DNA sequence, and specific structure formation. Apart from experimental presentations, there were four talks on the theoretical developments in the area of nanobio interface. The concluding session was devoted to discussion on collaborative project development efforts and networking. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum P.V. Mohanan Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, India Email: mohanpv@sctimst.ac.in I ndo-US symposium on Good Laboratory Practice: Emphasis on Medical Devices’ was held from 5-7 March 2008 at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology in partnership with NIH. Both in US and India it is a regulatory requirement to conduct studies to demonstrate the health or environmental safety of new chemical or biological substances, including medical devices in compliance with the principles of GLP. The bilateral workshop was planned to specifically discuss GLP compliance issues that are applicable to medical devices. In order to develop and commercialize the innovative (IP-based) and safe medical device technologies in the competitive global markets, a model based on precise scientific and safety testing data is necessary because it will be more acceptable to global regulatory agencies as they are more sensitive processes involving approvals and health-economic evaluations. Most experts recognized that India will be more competitive if it were to adopt such a global model. Developing globally acceptable standards and regulatory models would also be helpful to Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2008 Mahadev Murthy National Institutes of Health Bethesda Maryland, USA Email: mmurthy@mail.nih.gov develop the required infrastructure right from the start. The Indo-US GLP workshop served as a good beginning for experts from India and the US to share and discuss several key practical elements that govern the global GLP regulations. This focused symposium had an attendance of about 75 participants with multidisciplinary experts from USA, who have handson experience with the US FDA/OECD regulations on medical devices. An appraisal of the present situation in India on the safety evaluation of medical devices was provided by the Indian participants so as to appreciate the scope of OECD and FDA GLP principles and their suitability and adaptability in the Indian scenario. The symposium also provided a platform toward the preparation of a White Paper which could help formulate appropriate regulatory guidelines that are applicable for testing and evaluation of medical devices in India, including data standards on risk and safety assessments which complement the global ones like FDA and OECD. l 129 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Mirco-Aerial Vehicle (MAV) and Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) Technology Water Quality and Aquifer Remediation in Coastal Waters National Aerospace Laboratories 10-15 March 2008 | Agra, India The Energy and Resources Institute 17-21 March 2008 | Goa, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators A.R. Upadhyay National Aerospace Laboratories Bangalore, India Email: director@css.nal.res.in T he first US -Asian Demonstration and Assessment of Micro-Aerial Vehicle (MAV) and Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) Technology was held at Agra, from 10 -15 March 2008 sponsored by the US Department of Defense (US Army Research Office) in partnership with Indian, ADRDE (DRDO), NAL (CSIR) and the binational IUSSTF. This was the first of its kind event held in India with a participation of more than 300 delegates including 15 international competing teams from US and Asia and 25 speakers from US and India covering a multidisciplinary spectrum of cutting edge areas of aeronautical engineering. The purpose of the event was: to showcase nextgeneration, COTS enabled prototype systems of MAVs and UGVs that are almost ready for end use thus hasten their induction; identify areas for further development of critical technologies; and evolve ideas and strategies for countermeasures. The twin events consisting of airborne model display by the competing teams and a scientific conference were aimed to spur development of systems that meet certain minimum criteria using commercial off the shelf components 130 Sam G. Sampath US Army International Technology Center-Southeast Asia, Singapore Email: s.g.sampath@gmail.com and also to identify critical technology shortfalls that will need to be addressed for improvements in MAV capabilities. The prototype demonstration systems had embedded technologies which would have wide civilian and military applications in areas like disaster management, urban traffic management, information processing and rescue operations, etc. The event demonstrated that significant progress had been made in technologies of constituent systems of MAVs. Achieving a physical size of less than 300 mm was now possible. Issues of system integration, reliability and robustness, sensing and efficient communication between MAVs and MAVs and ground systems (including UGVs) were brought to focus. Some technology areas have been identified for possible cooperation between concerned agencies in India and the US. These include power sources for endurance and covert operations, collision avoidance, communications, onboard processing and autonomous decision-making capabilities and increasing the sensitivity of biosensors to detect explosive substances with low vapor pressure. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum B.S. Choudri The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Goa, India E-mail: bchoudri@teri.res.in 2008 Thomas Boving Woodward Hall University of Rode Island, USA E-mail: boving@uri.edu I Modeling for cost-effective Remediation & Sustainable Aquifer Management; Design and Implementation of Sustainable Water Treatment Solutions; Coastal Hazard Mapping and Vulnerability Assessment, Water Related Public Health Assessment, Water Quality and Estimation of Disease Burden; Environmental Data Management and GIS, etc. This was expected to be accomplished through interdisciplinary scientific research, consultation, training, education, and institutional networking at the national and international levels. A field trip was also organized to provide all partners a better understanding of the water quality issues – both social and scientific, in It was envisioned to establish a center Goa and Karnataka. The team visited Dandeli (International Partnership for Coastal Water in north-western Karnataka to understand Resources – IPCWR) as a consortium of the source of pollution in Kali River through public, academic, and nongovernmental agricultural and other practices. The 10 organizations dedicated to the improvement participating institutions which formed the of water quality in coastal areas. Integral to IPCWR launched a Web site and agreed to its mission would be the implementation publish the scientific papers as a special of proven, cost-effective techniques and issue. The organizing PI’s have since received water management solutions tailored to the the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) unique environmental conditions of coastal Fellowship which will enable their continued areas. The R&D areas to be addressed interactions through visitations. l include Hydrogeologic Characterization and ndo-US exploratory meeting on ‘Water Quality and Aquifer Remediation in Coastal Waters’ was organized by The Energy Research Institute, Goa, from 17-21March 2008 at Goa in partnership with US P.I. from the University of Rhode Island, with the aim to develop a mission statement and road map for establishing an International center on coastal water management. 12 scientists, including four from the United States attended the meeting which addressed various R&D aspects of water quality remediation in order to formulate an adequate response strategy for the sustainable development of the coastal areas. Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 131 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Regional Air Transportation in India Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, Karnataka 7-9 July, 2008, Bangalore, India National Aerospace Laboratories 8-10 July, 2008 | Bangalore India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Dilip Ahuja Richard P. Suttmeier School of Social Sciences National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, Karnataka Email: drahuja@gmail.com Key Participants India Kapil Sibal, Minister of Science and Technology, Government of India K. Kasturirangan, NIAS C.N.R. Rao, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute for Advanced Studies R. Chidambaram Government of India Samir K. Brahmachari, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Sonika Gupta, Indian Institute of Technology/Madras A. Mitra, Indo-US Science and Technology Forum Javed Iqbal, Institute for Life Sciences R.R. Sonde, Thermax Corp., Ltd. P. Balaji, International Institute for Information Technology USA Carl Dahlman, Georgetown University Bethany Lyles, Univ. of California, Berkeley Susan Su US Patent and Trademark Office Bhavya Lal, Science and Technology Policy Institute, Washington, DC University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon, USA Email: petesutt@uoregon.edu M uch has been written about India and China as ‘emerging’ or, better, ‘re-emerging’ powers on the world scene, and it is often stated that science and technology are essential keys to their re-emergence. The United States provides a model of a successful national innovation system which both countries have studied and selectively emulated. The ChinaIndia-US Workshop on Science, Technology and Innovation Policy was organized at the campus of the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, from 7-9 July 2008, as a first step towards structuring an inquiry and, hopefully, catalyzing subsequent in-depth workshops and bi- or trinational research partnerships. The event was supported by IUSSTF with additional support from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). 6 Chinese, 24 Indians, and 15 Americans participated in the workshop. The workshop consisted of three sessions, each devoted to a particular science and technology sector with the objective of illuminating the broad theme of the workshop by means of specific case studies on Power Generation by Coal, Information Technology, and Pharmaceuticals. During each of these sessions, a Chinese, an Indian, and a U.S. participant gave short, summary presentations on these topics. The presenters in the session on power generation from coal have begun a discussion on the possibility of a subsequent, indepth workshop in 2009-10 which would have the objective of initiating specific collaborative trilateral research projects on clean coal technologies. l Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA Email: rjhans@mit.edu I ndia has seen phenomenal growth in air transportation in the last 5 years. However, this growth has mostly been in urban areas, while 70% of India’s population resides in non -urban areas. Providing opportunities for access to markets and people to the non-urban population is an important component of distributed economic development. For air travel to be viable in non-urban India, the ability to operate from ill equipped airfields and reduction in costs of operation are very important considerations. With the objective of bringing together people with varying perspectives and experience to collaboratively develop the requirements, identify system issues, technologies and opportunities to create air link system catering to the non-urban population, an Indo-US workshopon Regional air transportation in India was held in Bangalore from 8-10 July 2008, organized jointly by NAL and MIT. The workshop brought together 15 US experts and 25 resource persons from India drawn from federal agencies, national laboratories, academia and aerospace industries. The goal of the workshop was to explore mechanisms that would Key Participants India G. R. Gopinath | Rajiv Kothiyal Deccan Aviation V. S. Arunachalam, CSTEP R. Narasimha University College of Engineering, Bangalore K. Harinarayana | G.M Kamath G. Gopalaratnam National Aerospace Laboratories J. Sarkar | M Ravibabu | N. Juneja RITES Jayaram Holla, IIM, Bangalore C. S. Tomar, Kingfisher Airlines K. N. Ramakrishna, Cades Digitech Surendra Pal, ISRO M Subba Rao | Ramesh Sundaram Arun Misra Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt. of India USA Steve Bradford, FAA Karen Wilcox | R. John Hansman H. Balakrishnan | Phillipe Bonnefoy Massachusetts Institute of Technology B.Sridhar | Karlin Toner NASA Daniel DeLaurentis, Purdue University E. Subramanyam, NIST, GAITHERBERG T. Wang, Univ. of California, San Diego Hady Sollum, Stevens Institute of Technology Peter Harsha, Computing Research Association, Washington, DC John-Paul Clarke Georgia Institute of Technology PR China / Japan Raj Reddy, Carnegie Mellon University Jayant Sabnis United Technologies Research Center B.V. Dasarathy, Univ. of Alabama G. Ramohalli, Honeywell International Mark Maughmer, Univ of Illinois and Princeton Grant Gordon Honeywell Technology Research Center Chen Jin, Zhejiang University Wen Ken | Duan Yibing Chinese Academy of Sciences Robert Kneller, University of Tokyo Xiao Guangling, Tsinghua University 132 R. John Hansman Kota Harinarayana National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Bangalore, Karnataka E-Mail: hnkota@yahoo.com 2008 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 133 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Cyber-security, Cyber-crime and Cyber-forensics Scalable Nanomaterials for Enhanced Energy Transport, Conversion and Efficiency Amrita University 19-21 August 2008 | Kochi, India Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, Karnataka 19-21 August 2008 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators H. R. Rao Krishnashree Achuthan Amrita University, Coimbatore E-mail: krishna@amrita.edu Key Participants India R. Krishnan, IIST - Trivandrum S. Sethumadhavan, Amrita University T. K. Vinod Kumar, IPS P. Kumaraguru, IIIT Delhi B. Menezes, IIT Bombay V. P. Gulati, TCS S. K. Ghosh, IIT Kharagpur K. Subramanian, IGNOU A. Vaish, IIIT Allahabad Neelima Gupta, U Delhi Asoke Talukdar, NIIT Suratkal R. K. Shyamsundar, TIFR, Bombay USA Shiu-Kai Chin Syracuse University Yuliang Zheng Univ of North Carolina, Charlotte Raghu Santanam Arizona State University Sudip Bhattcharjee Univ of Connecticut Manish Agrawal University of South Florida Raghav Rao SUNY Buffalo Kathryn Spellar Purdue Univ Shambhu Upadhyaya SUNY Buffalo 134 G.U. Kulkarni SUNY Buffalo, New York E-mail: mgmtrao@buffalo.edu Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore, Karnataka Email: kulkarni@jncasr.ac.in he IT and Business Process Outsourcing phenomena have resulted in strong relationships between business entities in the US and India in the recent past. The business relationships are in turn fostering increased collaboration between organizations across the two countries. Both nations are vulnerable to and face constant threats of cyber-crime that impede effective business continuity planning. Given the strong relationships in this area, it is imperative that academics, business professionals and governmental entities collaborate to effectively thwart increasing threats of global cyber-crime and initiate cyber security defenses. With this in mind, an Indo-US workshop on Cyber security, cyber-crime and cyber-forensics was organized at Amrita University. n Indo-US workshop on Scalable nanomaterials for enhanced energy transport, conversion and efficiency was held at Bangalore from 19-21 August 2008 organized jointly by JNCASR and Purdue University along with GE Global Research, Bangalore. The workshop brought together 25 US and approximately 100 participants from India, including 15 participants from 7 different companies. The goal of the workshop was to explore mechanisms that would create new pathways for individual researchers as well as institutions to collaborate globally to apply nanomaterials towards solving some of the critical technological challenges that face us today in areas such as energy, health, and T The workshop which was attended by 30 participants including 8 resource persons from US and 12 from India focused on identifying the current state of application of IT in law enforcement; comparing important internet fraud detection techniques; identifying opportunities to integrate research, practice and educational efforts in the two countries to combat cyber-crime; and sharing expertise and knowledge on implementing cyber forensics. Position papers were presented on each of these topics followed by breakout groups on cryptography, malaware detection, security in wired and wireless network, digital media piracy, cyber-crime and law enforcement. A 2008 Timothy S. Fisher Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, USA Email: tsfisher@purdue.edu security. Accordingly, there was strong industry participation with GE’s J. F. Welch Technology Centre hosting the last day of the workshop. The workshop brought together leaders from Indian and US institutions to highlight the most promising approaches in harnessing the power of nanotechnology in energy-related research. Real progress at the convergence of energy and nanotechnology requires solutions to several fundamental challenges, many of which are related to the scalability, integrability, and energy transport properties of nanomaterials. The primary purpose of the workshop was to identify the most promising applications and the associated remaining obstacles to practical Contd. on pg. 147 As an outcome of the event, three joint projects have been initiated on Unique Identification Number; Cyber security attacks in the e-health scenario; and Cloud Computing and Security. Additionally, two publications are being generated including an Edited Volume titled, Cyber Security, Cyber Crime and Cyber Forensics: Applications and Perspectives to be published by IGI Global, USA. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 135 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Enrichment of Science Communications in Museums Tesla Test Facility Collaboration National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), Kolkata October 2008 | Indore, India Inter- University Accelerator Centre 16-18 October 2008 | Indore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Bernard Finn G.S. Rautela National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), Kolkata E-mail: ncsmin@giascl01.vsnl.net.in Key Participants India I.K. Mukherjee NCSM J. Sthanapati NCSM Arijit Dutta Chowdhury NCSM Samarendra Kumar NCSM 136 Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC E-mail: finnb@si.edu The National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) has been conducting a Master of Science (MS ) Coursein Science Communication since 2005-06 and till date, two batches have successfully completed thecourse. The primary objective of the course has been to develop trained manpower for the growing numbers of science centers in India. With this aim, a partnership was established by NCSM with the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS )-Pilani, and the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, a leading museum and academic institution in the US with adequate experience and expertise in Human Resource Development in the museum management field.The overall purpose of collaboration is to reinforcethe training program on Enrichment of Science Communication in Museum with contributions from the Smithsonian in areas where the NCSM lacked specific expertise such as collections management, non-formal teaching, history of science/technology, social relations of science, exhibit design (an area where the NCSM has considerable expertise but where additional points of view can be of particular value). A companion goal is to promote interchanges between and among staff members on the two sides in expectation that long-term relationships would develop leading to joint projects. The omplementarypurpose is to expose the US personnel to the chain of science museums in India towards enrichment of their experience and perspectives in a novel cultural context. The program cycle of two years (2008 & 2009), with partial support from IUSST F includes reciprocal visits of museum professionals where they will contribute directly to the teaching program on the special techniques used in museum presentation and preservation and mechanisms for generating teaching and pedagogical materials for curators. During the year 2008-09, 3 US experts have visited India while 4 Indian officials have visited USA. TheCourse certificate is given by BITS , Pilani. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Amit Roy Inter- University Accelerator Centre Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, New Delhi Email: roy@iuac.res.in A meeting of Indian and US Institutions, namely, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Inter University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), Raja Rammana Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) and Fermilab was held at RRCAT, Indore from 16-18 Oct 2008. This was followed by their joint participation in the international Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) collaboration meeting held at IUAC, Delhi from 20-23 October 2008. The mission of theTesla Test Facility (TTF) Collaborationis to advance SRF technology R & D and related accelerator studies across the broad diversity of scientific applications, and to keep open and provide a bridge for communication and sharing of ideas, developments, and testing across associated projects. 2008 Chandra Shekhar Mishra Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia IL Email: Mishra@fnal.gov Fermilab and Indian Institutions have proposed to build new proton accelerators in their respective countries using SRF technology, while developing technical knowledge and infrastructure to participate in the construction of the proposed International Linear Collider.The establishment of Indian Institutions and Fermilab Collaboration (IIFC) was motivated by the fact that there is a world-wide collaborative effort on SRF accelerators, cryogenics, cryomodules, and SRF infrastructure development. The IIFC would undertake the joint development of the SRF accelerator. Also Indian Institutions would continue its participation in the next highest energy accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Switzerland, and its accelerator upgrade using SRF technology. Several US laboratories including Fermilab are also collaborating on LHC. With these Contd. on pg. 147 Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 137 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 HANDLE-A Systems Approach to Autism and Sensory Processing Challenges Mitochondrial Research and Medicine Tamana Special School, New Delhi 8-9 / 16-17 November 2008 | New Delhi / Hyderabad, India Planetarium Complex, Manipal University 12-14 November, 2008 | Manipal, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Judith Bluestone Ritu Juneja Tamana Special School, New Delhi E-mail: naidisha57@hotmail.com Key Participants USA Marianne Wagner The HANDLE Institute LLC April Choulat The HANDLE Institute LLC 138 The H ANDLE® Institute, Seattle, Washington E-mail: support@handle.org A utism is an extremely complex neurological disorder with several different combinations and degrees of irregularities. Information in this disease is processed in loops and by understanding these loops one can begin to see the broader effects that these irregularities have throughput in the system. In order to view the many challenges of autistic existence from a larger perspective, a training workshop on Holistic Approach to NeuroDevelopment and Learning Efficiency (HANDLE) was organized by Tamana at New Delhi from 8-9 November and in H yderabad from 16-17 November 2008. The training which provided an overview of a systems approach to autism and sensory processing challenges was imparted by two specialists from USA to nearly 75 participants, including parents, special educators, doctors, occupational therapists etc. The HANDLE Program focused on understanding the human body-brain-mind and spirit as plastic and interactive, requesting shifting attention fromthe parts to focus on patterns that connect. Through the program, participants were familiarized with root causes and interactive aspects of many behaviours commonly seen in Autism Spectrum Disorders. A lot of odd behaviours were logically explained based on neurodevelopment, environmental elements, gentle enhancement, and detoxification. At the end the training, the participants had a better understanding and appreciation of sensory processing in general and how it relates holistically to the autistic experience. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum K. Satyamoorthy Manipal Life Sciences Centre Planetarium Complex, Manipal University, Karnataka E-mail: dbt@manipal.edu T he term ‘mitochondrial disease’ encompasses a heterogeneous group of disorders wherein a primary mitochondrial dysfunction is suspected or proven by morphological, genetic or biochemical criteria. Mitochondrial diseases are severely debilitating, often fatal and characteristically complex in nature. Current estimates place the incidence of mitochondrial disease at about 1 in 2000 to 1 in 5000 live births. The unique genetic makeup, inheritance pattern, replication and expression, metabolic significance and their role in disease progression calls for increased research on the mitochondria as an entity that is a major player in the overall activities of the cell. To further the cause, a bilateral workshop on Mitochondrial Research and Medicine was held from 1214 November 2008 at Manipal and attracted more than 200 delegates, featuring about 30 oral presentations and about 10 posters. This workshop brought together scientists, clinicians and students to discuss a wide range of topics, from basic science of mitochondria through the pathology of mitochondrial diseases to the diagnosis and treatment of mitochondrial Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2008 Robert K. Naviaux University of California, San Diego, CA E-mail: Naviaux@ucsd.edu disorders dealing with physiology, toxicology, biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology of cardiomyopathies, neuromuscular diseases and other diseases associated with mitochondrial DNA. Highlights of the workshop included discussions on mitochondrial diseases, mitochondrial genetics and dynamics, neurodegenerative disease, stem cells and new approaches to mitochondrial disease diagnosis and therapy. This workshop also helped to catalyze new collaborative projects between India and the US in the field of mitochondrial medicine. As an outcome of the event, two Adjunct Professorship positions have been created at Manipal University, from among the invited speakers at the workshop (Dr. Ramesh Bamezai, Professor at JNU, New Delhi and Dr. Keshav Singh, Rosewell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo). Dr. Robert K. Naviaux has also awarded one Post-Doctoral fellowship to Dr. Satyajit Patra, a recent Ph.D. graduate from Manipal University to work in his laboratory at UCSD School of Medicine, San Diego. l 139 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Low-Cost Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologies Bioprocesses & Bioproducts - Technology Trends & Opportunities Nacharam, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh 18-20 November, 2008 | Hyderabad, India Department of Science & Technology 27-28 November 2008 | Hyderabad, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators J. Gowrishankar Center for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Nacharam, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh E-mail: director@cdfd.org.in T John Haller National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) Bethesda, MD E-mail: hallerj@mail.nih.gov monitoring; microfluidic microscope on a chip; urosensor to detect UTI; digital X-ray; mobile CT Scan; and, indigenously developed, low cost hemostats, surgifoam, gel foam and implants etc. Workshop participants recommended priority areas for medical technologies needed in low-resource settings. These included glucose monitoring; low-cost, platform technologies for diagnostic tests; imaging biomarker development; low-cost, digital x-ray imaging; e-health technologies; and low-cost, surgical Development of inexpensive and innovative technologies. devices, with particular emphasis on early detection and affordable treatment of The workshop ended with a prioritization disease and injury was the main focus of the of recommendations and a discussion of deliberation which was attended by about 50 the next steps. The first step identified was participants from US and India representing the development of a website describing the clinicians, scientists, engineers and industry. collaboration and joint program between the Trauma, cancer, CVD, diabetes, liver diseases, Indian Department of Biotechnology (DBT) imaging technologies, infectious diseases, and, and the U.S. National Institute of Biomedical manufacturing practices and regulatory issues Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). It is were covered in the various sessions. Several anticipated that this website will be hosted new technologies were presented and discussed in India (a URL will be provided at a later at the workshop. These included dipstick date). Since the completion of the workshop, and lateral flow strip tests for diagnosis of staff from NIH and DBT have been working infectious diseases; disposal enteric cards for together to identify grand challenges based diagnosis of enteric infectious diseases; lab-in- on the discussions at the workshop for a-backpack (for screening in rural areas with consideration by senior staff as potential joint portable technology); non-invasive screening targeted initiatives of the two agencies, DBT technologies like imaging and microfluidics; lab- and NIBIB. Staff from NIH and DBT will on-a-chip technology that brings diagnostics formulate a structure for a first joint research tests onto a single platform; telemedicine; program based on the priority areas identified closed loop systems for continuous glucose at the workshop.l he Indo-US Workshop on Low-Cost Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technologies was held at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad from 18-20 November 2008. Specifically, the workshop was aimed to facilitate collaboration on the development of low-cost diagnostic and therapeutic technologies to improve the healthcare of underserved populations in both the United States and India. 140 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Mani Subramanian Soumitra Biswas Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), Department of Science & Technology, Vishwakarma Bhawan, New Delhi Email: biotifac@gmail.com T Center for Bio-catalysis and Bioprocessing The University of Iowa, Coralville, Iowa Email: mani-subramanian@uiowa.edu owards apprising Indian industries about opportunities in emerging technologies related to conversion of biomass into liquid & gaseous fuels, chemicals, biomaterials etc. and to explore possibilities for development of collaborative projects by Indian industries, academia and R&D labs with their US counterparts; an Indo-US Conference on Bioprocesses & Bioproducts Technology Trends & Opportunities was organized during 27-28 November 2008 at Hyderabad jointly by TIFAC, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and IUSSTF. The Conference addressed specific actions for forging partnerships between industries and institutions (R&D and academia) of both the countries for collaborative projects, joint research activities and the possibilities for transfer of readily scalable technologies. Around 100 delegates from academia, R&D and industries participated in the conference. The technical papers presented and discussed covered major technology themes viz. bio-energy & bio-fuels (bio-ethanol, bio-diesel, bio-hydrogen etc.), bio-chemicals & biomaterials (bio-transformation, bio-polymers, biosensors etc.), industrial enzymes etc. Several new technology areas viz. recent trends in the synthesis of biodiesel, biotransformation, development and deployment of biorefineries etc. were also presented at the conference. Apart from expressions of interest from Indian agencies seeking expertise from their US counterparts, two US agencies (Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO & Sriya Innovations, Marietta, GA) showed interest for collaborations with Indian agencies. Eight joint proposals of intent for collaboration (with academia and industry) were submitted at the end of the event. Subsequently, TIFAC received 13 approach papers from the interested proponents for the networked projects from Indian/ US labs/ universities/industries for developing collaborative projects in the areas ofBioprocess & Bioproducts. TIFAC has also published the proceedings of the aforesaid conference in the form of a book. TIFAC had also requested the participants to prepare a brief approach paper as an expression of interest in a structured format for the proposed collaborative action among the Indian/ US researchers/companies/ institutes with their US/Indian counterparts from the interested proponents. l Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2008 Key Participants India R Swarup, DBT, New Delhi A. Mitra, IUSSTF, New Delhi S Biswas, TIFAC, Dept. of Science & Technology Anjan Das, CII, New Delhi Ashok Pandey NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram Rakesh Sarin Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. Faridabad Rintu Banerjee, IIT-Kharagpur T M Vatsala, Hydrolina Biotech, Chennai RP Gaikaiwari Hi-Tech Bio Sciences India Ltd., Pune K V Venkatesh, IIT-Bombay C S Bhaskar Naturol Bioenergy Ltd., Hyderabad Bharat Kris Rao United GeneSyst Associates India Pvt Ltd Lakshmi Narasu Mangamoori Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University, Hyderabad USA Mani Subramanian The University of Iowa, Iowa Ramaraj Boopathy Nicholls State University, LA Kiran Kadam Sriya Innovations Inc., Marietta, GA Mark T. Holtzapple Star Rotor Corporation, Texas James C. Linden Colorado State University, Colorado Donald L.Johnson Industrial Biobased Products Consulting, North Carolina 141 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Plio-Pleistocene Environments and Hominin Adaptations In India Quantum and Nano Computing Systems and Applications (QANSAS 2008) Panjab University (Chandigarh), Punjab 1-5 December 2008 | Bhopal, India Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra 11-14 December 2008 | Agra, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Parth R. Chauhan Rajeev Patnaik Department of Geology, Panjab University (Chandigarh), Punjab E-mail: rajeevpatnaik@gmail.com Key Participants India G.L. Badam, IGCA, New Delhi R.K. Ganjoo, Jammu University Giriraj Kumar, RASI Manjil Hazarika, Leiden University Neetu Agarwal, Deccan College S.B. Ota, ASI, New Delhi J.N. Pal, Allahabad University Poonam Verma, BISP, Lucknow M.R. Rao, BISP, Lucknow A.R. Sankhyan, ASI, Kolkota Vidhwan Soni, Patiala Sushma Deo, Deccan College Umesh Chattopadhyaya Allahabad University Vijay Sathe, Deccan College Arun Sonakia, ASI, Nagpur Rajeev Patnaik, Panjab University P. Ajithprasad, M.S. University Stone Age Institute (USA) & Research Fellow (Fulbright Foundation) – Deccan College (India) E-mail: parthrchauhan@gmail.com T o bring together scientists for inter-disciplinary discussions regarding Plio-Pleistocene environments and human evolution in India, a workshop on Plio-Pleistocene environments and hominin adaptations in India was held at Bhopal from 1-5 December 2008. The workshop was attended by a total of 24 participants. The presentations covered topics that included regional project results within the subcontinent, key conceptual and theoretical observations, and overviews of key findings and their associated interpretations. The event also included field visits to the fossil hominid site of Hathnora and the World Heritage Rock Art site of Bhimbetka. These visits allowed for an appreciation of Indian rock art in the global context. It also stimulated discussions about the significance of modern human behavior and current theories on modern human dispersals and adaptations within Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Several participants voiced their concerns regarding the absence of absolute dates for Indian paleoanthropological sites and one of the major recommendations of the workshop was that all future research agendas would incorporate a strong chronological component. l V.D. Misra Allahabad University USA Richa Jhaldiyal Ohio State University Parth Chauhan Stone Age Institute Q uantum Theory and Nanotechnology are natural partners with great potential applications in the context of computing systems. The Indo-US Advanced School on Quantum and Nano Computing Systemsand Applications (QANSAS 2008) was organized at the Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra from 11-14 December 2008 through a series of vision talks, tutorials and invited lectures by pioneers in the field of quantum and nano computing. The faculty (15 invited speakers from India and 3 from the US) drawn from industry and academia, covered areas from photonic and NM R quantum computing to nano electronics, string theory, systems nanotechnology, quantum walk, cloning, entanglement and de-coherence. Leading researchersin the field of quantum and nano computing cutting across computer science, information technology, physics and chemistry presented their latest cuttingedge research work to a cohort of 70 students and young faculty drawn from all over India who were exposed to the current status of the various quantum and nano computing techniques; evaluation and scope of these computing paradigms for deployment in real world systems; and identification of vistas for integration and convergence of these broad computing paradigms.The Advanced School was held over a period of three-and-a-half days with the schedule provided below. Vision Talks were be held by pioneers in the field of quantum and nano computing. Invited Talks were given by specialists who are actively researching these areas and are internationally recognized and Tutorial Sessions provided hands-on experience to the participants. The major recommendation of the event was to establish an Indo-US Joint Centre on Quantumand Nano Computing with different synergistic groups. It was found essential to promote a general awareness of some current research in theoretical physics, which is useful because interconnections between problems in different subjects often emerge. l 142 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Lov Grover Vishal Sahni Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra E-mail: deivishalsahni@rediffmail.com Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2008 Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, NJ E-mail: lkgrover@lucent.com Key Participants India Apoorva Patel IISc Bangalore Ashok Sengupta IIT Kanpur Debabrata Goswami IIT Kanpur V. Ravi Shankar IIT Kanpur Laxmidhar Behera | Prem Kalra IIT Kanpur M. Jagadesh Kumar IIT Delhi Ashok Ganguly IIT Delhi Prem Kalra IIT Delhi A. Venugopal TIFR Mumbai Arun Kr Pati IOP Bhubaneshwar Suash Deb CV Raman College, Bhubaneshwar Karmeshu JNU New Delhi Dayal Pyari Srivastava DEI, Soami Nagar Delhi Campus Vishal Sahni DEI Dayalbagh Campus Shiroman Prakash TIFR Mumbai USA Charles Bennett IBM Research Stuart Tessmer Michigan State University K. V. Chary Rowan University 143 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Mapping Humans and Wildlife together: Geospatial Technology, Wildlife Conservation and Community Emerging Concepts in Cancer Biology: Targeted Therapeutics, Cancer Stem Cells and Nanotechnology J.N.V. University 12-15 December 2008 | Jodhpur, India Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology 13-15 December 2008 | Trivandrum, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Anil Kumar Chhangani The School of Desert Sciences & Department of Zoology, J.N.V. University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan E-mail: chhanganiak@yahoo.com A n Indo-US workshop on Mapping Humans and Wildlife together: Geospatial Technology, Wildlife Conservation, and Community was held at Jodhpur from 12-15 December 2008. The aim of the workshop was to learn from diverse experiences in the area of geospatial technology, wildlife management, and community, to share new technologies and data sources, and, to test potential areas of collaboration in a living laboratory – an operating conservation reserve in India. The format involved a series of daily meetings geared towards frank comparisons of experience and method, followed by a two-day hands-on field experience at the Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary where concepts could be applied towards developing a collaborative proposal. Nine key themes emerged from the convergent research findings presented by the 52 participants who attended the workshop. These led to further deliberations and a set of specific researchable scientific and technological questions and challenges. These included trans-boundary problems and zones of interaction, improving habitat mapping, connecting and directing geographic information/data collection and use, measuring 144 Paul Robbins M. Radhakrishna Pillai University of Arizona, Department of Geography Harvill Building, 437A, Tucson, AZ E-mail: robbins@email.arizona.edu Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala E-mail: mrpillai@rgcb.res.in, mrpillai@gmail.com and understanding human/animal interactions, management across ecological mosaics, resettlement ecologies, defining and evaluating outcomes, problems of assessment over time, and measuring non-livelihood impacts on protected areas. The workshop delved at the methods for specifically integrating geospatial technology with wildlife management, and, theoretical tools and participatory methods that can bring this equipment to bear on local conservation problems through a participatory approach. As an outcome of the workshop, three teams were formed to establish bilateral collaborative research - Dr. Karanth (Duke University), Dr. DeFries (Columbia University), and Dr. Naughton (University of Wisconsin) have established an international collaborative effort for comparative conservation research; Dr. Chhangani (JNV University), Dr. Robbins (University of Arizona), Dr. Shethia and Dr. Joshua (Foundation for Ecological Security) are pursuing potential collaboration for conservation research; and, Dr. Chhangani (JNV), Dr. Turner and Dr. Naughton (University of Wisconsin) are pursuing joint analysis of conservation data sets. l workshop on Emerging Concepts in Cancer Biology: Targeted therapeutics, Cancer Stem Cells and Nanotechnology was organized as a part of the Indo-US Translational Health Science and Technology Initiative (THSTI) between DBT and Harvard-MIT. The meeting was held at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Biotechnology, Trivandrum from 13-15 December 2008. This workshop focused on three new paradigms in cancer biology - namely, targeted therapeutics; stem cells; and nanotechnology. There were 14 resource persons, 7 from each country and a total of 60 participants including 25 students. Indo-US Science & Technology Forum 2008 Shiladitya Sengupta MIT, Room 317, 65 Landsdowne Street, Cambridge, MA E-mail: shiladit@MIT.EDU A out key concepts in translating these into products from an industry perspective. The workshop included speakers who have successfully led drug development programs in leading pharmaceutical/biotech industries. The meeting helped to create awareness about the recent tools and techniques available in cancer biology, the advances in therapeutics, and the interdisciplinary forces that are necessary and are being brought together to address this disease. As a part of the THSTI activity, potential interdisciplinary synergistic collaborative opportunities between US and India were identified through the establishment of a Joint Center on cancer nano drug The talks addressed the recent advances in delivery.l each of the above areas, in order to bring Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 145 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Smart Machine Tools, Intelligent Machining Systems and Multi-scale Manufacturing 2008 PSG College of Technology 18-20 December 2008 | Coimbatore, India Principal Investigators P. V. Mohanram J. Mazumder Department of Mechanical Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu E-mail: pvmohanram@yahoo.co.uk A workshop on Smart Machine Tools, Intelligent Machining Systems and Multiscale Manufacturing was organized from 18-20 December 2008 at Coimbatore. The primary objective of the workshop was to facilitate an international level collaborative approach for individual and inter-institutional R&D in the area of design and development of smart machine tools/intelligent machining systems in order to meet the challenges of the manufacturing sector. A total of 45 delegates drawn from various backgrounds including industry, academia and research institutions participated in the workshop. Thirteen experts delivered lecturers of which five were from the US. The workshop covered the development of intelligent sensors and adaptive system, compensation for thermal and mechanical University of Michigan, Ann Arbor E-mail: mazumder@umich.edu deformations and on-line condition monitoring to detect and rectify off-optimal performance. Higher accuracies, high precision and consistent quality together with high throughput are the basic requirements of this kind of value added manufacturing. Accordingly, areas like smart machine tools for error-free machining with dynamic compensation for thermal and mechanical deformation of structures; reconfigurable manufacturing; intelligent manufacturing; multi-scale manufacturing; metrology for precision manufacturing; and additive manufacturing were covered during the deliberations. During the course of the panel discussions, seven projects that could be taken up for collaborative research work between industries and the Indian and American Universities were also identified. l Indo-US Symposium on Cancer Nanotechnology Contd. from pg. 133 enable viable air links to non-urban regions in India through a significant collaborative opportunity both for development of aerospace systems and in the development of operational and technical standards. The main technical sessions included socio-economic drivers for regional air transportation; regional air transportation system requirements; technology and operational concept and air transportation infrastructure considerations. Technical and commercial aspects of aerospace engineering and industry were discussed including new engine technologies, new materials, information technologies (including controls, advanced human interfaces, synthetic vision, satellite based navigation, new communication systems), distributed systems, advanced aerodynamic concepts such as enhanced/managed laminar flow, and, onboard health monitoring systems. As an outcome of the event, joint R & D work in the field of multidisciplinary optimization has been identified as an area of interest by IIT Bombay (Prof. Sudhakar), NAL (Dr. Kota Harinarayana/ Dr. Satish Chandra) and MIT (Prof. Karen Wilcox). Discussions have also been initiated between the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (Prof. Eswaran Subramanyam), NAL (Dr. Kota Harinarayana and Dr. Satish Chandra), IIT Bombay (Prof. Pant) and NASA (Dr. B. Sridhar and Dr. Karlin Toner) for work in the area of Air Traffic Management. l Scalable Nanomaterials for Enhanced Energy Transport, Conversion and Efficiency Contd. from pg. 135 realization of the various R&D initiatives. Application themes included nanoelectronics, thermal and electrical interfaces, biosensors, and composite materials. The five technical sessions covered energy transport in nanomaterials; nanomaterials for energy; functionalization and heterogeneous materials integration; materials & devices; and bilateral industry-university collaborations. As an outcome of the event, several joint projects have been identified and initiated, the most important of which is the formation of the IUSSTF-sponsored ‘IndiaUS Joint Networked Centre on Nanomaterials for Energy’ (JNCASR, Purdue, GE Global Research). Additionally, four publications have been generated and several follow-up exchange visits have been undertaken. l Tesla Test Facility Collaboration Contd. from pg. 137 objectives in mind, these two meetings were held in India. Nearly twenty US scientists and engineers drawn from US DOE laboratories and universities and twenty scientists and engineers from various Indian DAE laboratories and academic institutions attended the two meetings. The IIFC meeting at RRCAT was also to workout the details of a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed by the directors of the collaborating laboratories. The RRCAT, Indore meeting was also attended by a significant number 146 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries of representatives from Indian Industry. Indian DAE plans to get them involved in the construction of the SRF accelerator. The focus of the discussion included specific SRF accelerator components and infrastructure hardware to be supplied to Fermilab by Indian institutions. The Delhi meeting was also attended by a large number of students from Indian universities. At both the meetings series of talks were presented by the IIFC members outlining recent SRF progress and plans. l 147 Bilateral Workshops 2007 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Cardiovascular Devices: In Vitro Studies to Clinical Implantation Advances in Computational Optimization and Analysis of Systems Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences 1-3 February 2007 | Trivandrum, India Indian Institute of Technology 7-9 February 2007 | Kanpur, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators D. S. Nagesh Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum,India Email: nagesh@sctimst.ac.in T he Indo-US workshop on “Cardiovascular Prosthetic Devices: in vitro studies to clinical implantation” was jointly organised by Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Trivandrum and Department of Bioengineering, Pennsylvania State University from 1-3 February 2007 held at Trivandrum. During the last four decades, cardiovascular prosthesis research and development has shown considerable improvement in terms of Keefe B. Manning Department of Bioengineering Pennsylvania State University, USA Email: kbm10@psu.edu technology, materials and its overall acceptance. The focus of the workshop was to discuss the prosthetic device research, development, and manufacturing through the involvement of academicians, clinicians, engineers and industrialists. In particular, three specific devices namely ventricular assist devices, heart valves and coronary stents were covered in the deliberations. There were 22 presentations including 10 from US & 12 from India. A student poster session was also organized. l 2008 Panos M. Pardalos Kalyanmoy Deb Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India Email: deb@iitk.ac.in University of Florida Gainesville, USA Email: pardalos@ufl.edu A n Indo-US Workshop cum tutorial on ‘Advances in Computational Optimization and Analysis of Systems’ was jointly organized by IIT, Kanpur and University of Florida, Gainesville from 6-9 February 2007 at Kanpur. Optimization and analysis of systems through modeling are practices common for many engineering and scientific problem solving tasks. These techniques can be used to enhance productivity and understand and design systems better. The workshop was aimed to achieve a good understanding of current methodologies (classical and modern) of optimization and systems analysis techniques and seek ways of collaboration with Indian and US universities in developing faster and efficient computational methodologies and on the other hand with academia and industries in applying the developed methodologies to realworld problems. There were 135 participants including 11 US and 13 Indian invited speakers with representation from several industries. A subject text book by the Indian PI with coauthors from IIT, Kanpur was released as a part of the event. l Developmental Neuroscience and Imaging National Brain Research Centre 19-21 February 2007 | New Delhi Principal Investigators Nandini Chatterjee Singh Hari Eswaran National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, India Email: nandini@nbrc.ac.in University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Arkansas, USA Email: eswaranhari@uams.edu I ndo-US Workshop on ‘Developmental Neuroscience and Imaging’ was coorganised by National Brain Research Centre, Manesar and University of Arkansas from 19-21 February 2007 at New Delhi. A total number of 30 scientists participated including 8 speakers from the US and 11 from India. A total of 20 posters were also presented during the event. The goals of the workshop was to provide a platform for updating, discussing and establishing research collaborations to advance the application of brain imaging technology 150 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries and to understand the developmental brain processes in humans. The technical sessions held included topics like imaging technologies, auditory, cognitive and language development. The complementary research capabilities of the Indian and US researchers were evident in that the computational and neuroanatomical expertise was available from the Indian side whereas the US researchers had strong imaging capabilities. A number of collaborative activities have been proposed. l 151 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Advanced Materials and Technologies for Nano and Oxide Electronics Solid Freeform Fabrication for Tissue Engineering and Biomedical Applications Indian Institute of Technology 19-22 February 2007 | New Delhi, India Deccan Institute of Advanced Studies 22-24 February 2007 | Bangalore, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators D. K. Pandya Department of Physics Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India Email: dkpandya@physics.iitd.ac.in A bilateral workshop on ‘Advanced Materials and Technologies for Nano and Oxide Electronics’ was co-organized by IIT, Delhi and Watson Lab, IBM, NY from 19-22 Feb, 2007 at New Delhi. The main goal of the meeting which also had sizeable international participation was to examine the very complex scientific and engineering issues that pertain to the use of novel oxide and nanoscale semiconducting materials in a variety of exciting next generation technologies. It included both survey presentations on a range Vijay Narayanan IBM T. J. Watson Research Center New York, USA Email: vijayna@us.ibm.com of device applications as well as in-depth basic research that are relevant to this novel class of inorganic materials. The program of the four days workshop was grouped into nine different sessions focusing on different aspects of nano and oxide electronics. There were 37 invited talks and 2 evening lectures. Speakers reviewed recent progress in atomic scale experimental investigations of oxide nanoelectronics, new materials and innovative approaches for post-Si CMOS science, as well as technology agendas for oxides in spintronics, MEMS and sensors. l 2008 Wei Sun L. V. Muralikrishna Reddy Deccan Institute of Advanced Studies Bangalore, India Email: mlingireddy@yahoo.com I ndo-US Workshop on ‘Solid Freeform Fabrication for Tissue Engineering and Biomedical Applications’ was co-organized by the Deccan Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore and Drexel University, Philadelphia from 22-24 February 2007 at Bangalore. Recent advances in computer aided design, digital imaging, software engineering; material science and fabrication technologies have significantly impacted the design, simulation and manufacturing aspects of tissue engineering. The workshop highlighted the emerging trends Department of Mechanical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia,USA Email: sunwei@drexel.edu of this multi-disciplinary domain with major thrust on computer-aided tissue modeling and scaffold fabrication towards biomodeling, tissueinformatics, biomimetic design, biomaterials and biofabrication. The workshop covered the areas like stereolithography based scaffold construction; fused deposition modeling of bioceramics; characterization of scaffold structures and customized software solutions for tissue modeling. There were 65 participants including 10 US and 14 Indian speakers. l Shared Vision Workshop on Soft Quantum & Nano Computing (SQUAN-2007) Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra, India 22-25 February 2007 | Agra, India Principal Investigators Satish Kumar Department of Physics & Computer Science Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra Email: skumar_db@ieee.org T he Indo-US ‘Shared Vision Workshop on Soft, Quantum and Nano Computing (SQUAN 2007)’ was hosted at Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra in collaboration with University of Louisville from 22-25 February 2007 at Agra. The event covered a range of topics including Soft, Quantum and Nano Computing encompassing photonic and NMR based quantum computing, nano computing, fuzzy rule based systems, genetic languages, systems analysis and design, parallel soft computing and unifying paradigms. In the devised sessions, there was active participation 152 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries Jacek M. Zaruada Computational Intelligence Laboratory Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Louisville, USA Email: jacek.zurada@louisville.edu from 65 delegates with 23 invited presentations by resource persons from top academic and research institutes in India and United States including Bell Labs. There was a session in distance mode through webcast over the Internet from the University of California, Berkeley. The wrap up panel discussion helped to identify vistas for integration and convergence of these computing paradigms towards charting out a strategic plan for the future so that a clear vision and road map evolves in due course for the researchers to embark on. l 153 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Power and Energy Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Strategies Central Electrochemical Research Institute 12-15 March 2007 | New Delhi, India Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra, India 24-25 March 2007 | Delhi, India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators A.K. Shukla Central Electrochemical Research Institute Karaikudi, India Email: akshukla2006@gmail.com I Ashok Patil US Army Communications and Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, US Email: ashok.:patil@armypower.army.mil ndo-US Workshop on ‘Recent and Emerging Trends in Power and Energy’ was organized by the Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi, in partnership with the US Army International Technology Center-Pacific, Singapore during 12-15 March, 2007 at New Delhi. The technical sessions comprised 36 presentations on seminal areas of power and energy, namely batteries, fuel cells, hydrogen production and storage, biomass and wind power, solar energy, gas hydrates, generation sterling engine, individual cooling and energy management. IUSSTF extended partial 154 support to the event which was attended by about 75 delegates including 15 from U.S. drawn from laboratories and governmental agencies. The research and development offices of all the three U.S. forces were represented in the meeting. Solar Energy, Hydrates and Fuel Cells were identified as core areas for bilateral collaboration for which an overall coordinator was nominated in formulating the Indo-US programs. It was decided that CECRI, Karaikudi, will create a website featuring the Indo-US initiatives in power and energy sector. l Vineet Ahuja Department of Gastroenterology All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi Email: vins_ahuja@hotmail.com I ndo-US workshop on ‘Inflammatory Bowel Diseases- Quo Vadis’ was organized by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, N. Delhi in partnership with the University of Oklahoma and was held on 24-25 March, 2007 at New Delhi. The conference reviewed the current knowledge and status of basic science research and clinical advances in IBD with sessions devoted to basic translational research and clinical strategies. 8 faculties from U.S. and 20 from India made technical presentations in the workshop attended by about 60 participants. Each technical session had a critical and definitive synthesis of the knowledge base in the selected areas. The clinical sessions were Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2008 Shrikant Anant Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, USA Email: sanant@im.wustl.edu organized around a set of closely related clinical problems of broad concern to physicians and gastroenterologists and provided up to date discussions of clinical issues as well as the scientific background needed to intercept clinical data in the context of current concepts of pathophysiology. The didactic sessions provided penetrating analysis of the disease through participation of investigators as well as clinicians from India and USA and also from Japan. The conference served as an interface between scientists and clinicians from two continents that have helped to define the field of IBD and identify areas of mutual interest in expanding frontier of this specialty. l 155 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Monitoring and Assessment of Biodiversity Collaboration in Engineering Education Washington D.C., USA 1-16 May 2007 | Dehradun, India Dayalbagh Indian Institute Educational of Science Institute 3-5 3-5June, June,2007 2007,|Mysore, Mysore,India India Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Jennifer Sevin Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA E-mail: sevinj@si.edu W ith biodiversity being lost at such an alarming rate the Wildlife Institute of India and the Smithsonian Institution joined together to conduct a training course on ‘Toolsfor Conserving Biodiversity.’ This professional course was held in Dehradun from 1-16 May 2007, including a field visit, which targeted preselected 20 graduate students from US and India (out of 110 who had applied) and early career professionals as trainees to gain a broad perspective of available tools being used in global conservation efforts. Five US instructors joined 15 Indian instructors to deliver the lectures and hands-on field work experience with goals to provide graduate students and early career conservation professionals with training on the current tools used in conserving biodiversity and encourage the collaboration between US and India in wildlife conservation. The two-week program covered topics like conservation challenges, project planning, biometry, GIS, data analysis and management, human dimensions, conflict resolution, ecotourism, wildlife genetics and forensics, wildlife interpretation and education, habitat 156 V. B. Mathur Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, India E-mail: vbm@wii.gov.in assessment, protected area management, animal behavior, field techniques for population estimates and community engagement. Pressing conservation topics, such as socioeconomic concerns, invasive species, infectious diseases and human-wildlife interactions were incorporated throughout the course. Course participants also provided presentations on their conservation work. The second half of the course was spent in the field at the Rajaji National Park in the Chilla Range. While this course was rated successful, more in-depth courses on particular topics such as wildlife trafficking,genetics, community engagement and human dimensions were identified to be of particular interest. Specific taxa and ecosystem courses, such as herpetology or wetland ecology, were also mentioned. The MAB Program of SI is looking to develop regional training hubs where they can offer their curriculum of training courses in various regions of the world. India was identified as a prospective location for the South and South East Asia region. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum N. Balakrishnan Indian Institute of Science Bangalore Email: balki@serc.iisc.ernet.in I ndo US meeting on Collaboration in Engineering Education was held at Infosys campus in Mysore The meeting was organized by the American Society for Engineering Education and supported by IUSSTF along with Infosys and Deshpande Foundation. The goal of this two day meeting on 4-5 June 2007 was to develop an action plan for improving the quality and global relevance of engineering education in India and in the US. In addition to participants from academia and government agencies there was a sizeable representation from Corporations like Agilent Technologies, Autodesk, Dassault Systems, Hewlett Packard, Infosys, Intel, Microsoft Corporation, National Instruments, etc. Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2008 Krishna Vedula Krishna Vedula University of Massachusetts Lowell, MA, USA Email: krishna_vedula@uml.edu One of the aim of this action planning forum was the establishment of an Indo US Engineering Faculty Institute with four thrust areas: curriculum content and delivery; education quality and accreditation; research and development; and innovation and entrepreneurship. Cross-cutting themes for these thrust areas include industry needs and global relevance. This Institute would help improve the preparedness of the large number of faculty in engineering colleges in India and in the US to address the needs of the global economy. Another outcome could be the development of an Indo US Engineering Student Network for facilitating student internships and interactions as well as providing students access to high quality learning materials. l 157 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Vermitechnology 2008 Mathematical Aspects of Neuroscience Central Kongunadu Electrochemical Arts and Science Research College Institute 4-7 4-7June, June,2007 2007|Coimbatore, Coimbatore,Tamil TamilNadu Nadu Central Kongunadu Electrochemical Arts and Science Research College Institute 4-7 June, 9-142007 July,Coimbatore, 2007 | Bangalore Tamil Nadu Principal Investigators Principal Investigators R. Jeyaraaj P.G and Research Department of Zoology Kongunadu Arts and Science College Email: vermitech05@yahoo.co.in C.A. Edwards Soil Ecology Laboratory Department of Entomology Email: edward.9@osu.edu T he Indo-US workshop on Vermitechnology in Human Welfare was jointly organized by Kongunadu Arts and Science College, Coimbatore and Ohio State University, Columbus, from 5-7 June, 2007 at Coimbatore. 15 eminent scientists including 5 from USA, 8 from India, 1 each from China and Philippines served as the resource persons for the workshop which was attended by 55 participants. earthworm biodiversity; sustainable agriculture; solid waste management; vermiprotein; vermiceuticals and economic aspects. The practical use of earthworm in organic waste management (municipal, vegetable and dairy), landscape modification, and bio-manure to sustainable agriculture, horticulture, earthworms as protein source and pharmaceuticals were brought out during the discussions. The use of these technologies for the upliftment of socioA total of sixteen technical sessions were economic status and environmental protection conducted including demonstrations in various emerged as possible areas of mutual interest. l dimension of vermi-technology namely Govindan Rangarajan Deptt of Mathematics Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore Email: Rangaraj@math.iisc.ernet.in A n Indo-US workshop on Mathematical Aspects of Neuroscience was jointly organized by PI’s from the Department of Mathematics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida and was held at Bangalore from 9-14 July 2007. The workshop had 37 lectures and was attended by about 60 participants including six US speakers and six Indian speakers. The long term objective of the workshop was to build a critical mass of researchers in India on this inter-disciplinary subject through developing active collaboration and exchange programs with US groups. Neuroscience is often considered the final 158 Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2008 Mingzhou Ding Department of Biomedical Engineering University of Florida, USA Email : mding@bme.ufl.edu frontier of science. It has become a very interdisciplinary subject involving inputs from biology, mathematics and engineering. This workshop dealt with the mathematical aspects of neuroscience. In particular, it focused on applications of stochastic processes to neuroscience. The lectures largely were on the interface between stochastic processes and neuroscience - covering basics of neuroscience; basics of stochastic processes; neuron firing models; time series analysis in neuroscience; parametric and non-parametric spectral analysis in neuroscience; and causality analysis. Numerical techniques for analyzing real neuroscience data were also detailed. l 159 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 2008 Bilateral Workshops | 2007-2012 Ecological Forecasting Nanomedicine & its Applications National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 27-29 August, 2007 | Pune, India Central Kongunadu Electrochemical Arts and Science Research College Institute 18-19 October 4-7 June,2007 2007| Coimbatore, SASTRA University, Tamil Nadu Thanjavur Principal Investigators Principal Investigators Vishwas Chavan Information Divison National Chemical Laboratory, Pune Email: vs.chavan@ncl.res.in A n Indo-US workshop on Ecological forecasting was organized by investigators from the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune and Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence and was held at Pune from 27-29 August. Ecological forecasting is a relatively new concept which predicts the impacts of physical, chemical, biological and human-induced changes on ecosystem and their components. A central role for science in decision-making process is to provide forecasts of the magnitude, direction, and nature of those effects. The causes of ecosystem change that provide a framework for ecological forecasting includes, 160 A. Townsend Peterson Narional History Mueseum and Biodiversity Research Center, University of Kansas Email: town@ku.edu extreme natural changes, climate change, land and resource use, pollution, invasive species, and interactive effects. With these framework in mind, the meeting brought together the scientific and research communities of both countries working in the area of ecological sciences, nature conservation, computational sciences, biodiversity and ecosystem informatics together with the planners to exchange and share each other experiences, needs and requirements to evolve common collaborative agenda to further the advancement in the area of ecological forecasting. Emphasis was laid to evolve collaborative work program for developing tools, protocols, and applications in the area of ecological forecasting. l Indo-US Science & Technology Forum Cato T. Laurencin University of Virginia, USA Email: laurencin@virginia.edu A two day conference on ‘Nanomedicine & Its Applications’ was organized by SASTRA University at Thanjavur on 18-19 October. The bilateral conference focused on the developing synergy between nanotechnology and health care. This event brought together about 25 scientists and researchers including seven from USA, along with medical and industry professionals largely to demonstrate how the fusion of skills across disciplines of nanotechnology can help metamorphosis medical sciences, leading to direct impact on development of health care techniques.The main focus of Fostering S&T Networking | Beyond Boundaries 2008 Swaminathan Sethuraman School of Chemical and Biotechnology SASTRA University, Thanjavur Email: swami@sastra.edu the event was to showcase how the intrinsic ability of nanotechnology can drive new paradigm shifts in health care and also address the advantages of miniaturization for early diagnosis and patient care. The five technical sessions covered included current trends in regenerative medicine; recent advances in stem cell therapy; smart drug delivery systems; novel nanobiosensors; and nanostructured implants and bioceramics. A special session was also held for oral and poster presentations by students on nanobased therapy. It is expected that a bilateral project on implants will be initiated as a follow-up to this meeting. l 161 Indo-U.S. Science & Technology Forum Fulbright House, 12 Hailey Road, New Delhi-110 001 www.indousstf.org For further information please contact: jcerdc@indousstf.org January 2013 Designed and Produced by: Communication & Outreach Division, AFE Consultants Private Limited, Aravali House, 431/D-22, Chhatarpur Hills, New Delhi-110074, India

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