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From INFO-RUSS-request@smarty.ece.jhu.edu Thu Oct 1 21:43:40 1998 Message-Id: <9810012329.AA25272@smarty.ece.jhu.edu> Errors-To: INFO-RUSS-request@smarty.ece.jhu.edu Sender: INFO-RUSS-request@smarty.ece.jhu.edu Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 15:19:28 -0700 To: info-russ@smarty.ece.jhu.edu From: "Andrei G. Chakhovskoi" <chakhovs@ece.ucdavis.edu> Subject: INFO-RUSS: "Post-Soviet Science and Technology" class
--------------------------------------------------------------------- This is INFO-RUSS broadcast (1200+ subscribers). Home page, information, and archives: http://psi.ece.jhu.edu/~kaplan/IRUSS/inforuss.html To post, or to subscribe/unsubscribe, mail to info-russ@smarty.ece.jhu.edu INFO-RUSS assumes no responsibility for the information/views of its users. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear INFO-RUSS netters: I am teaching a class on "Post-Soviet Science and Technology" at the University of California at Davis. If you can share any information, personal experience, or if you can point to an information source relevant to the subject - please respond to the message below. This year, I begin teaching a class which talks about a recent history and up-to-date changes in science, technology and ecology in Russia and the republics of the former USSR. This class is more like an "experimental" effort to take a look at the current situation in scientific and technology field in former USSR. Being involved for many years in high-tech research in Russian Academy of Sciences as well as in several defense R&D institutions in Moscow and the vicinity, I am naturally interested to learn what is happening there now. Although I am working at UC Davis since 1992, I am still involved in a number of collaborative projects with my former Russian and Ukranian co-workers. I was sharing my thoughts about the situation in Soviet science and technology with my colleagues at UC Davis and Sandia NL, as well as with scientists at various forums and conferences; and I found that there is actually a big interest to this issue. Sometimes a spontaneous discussion has originated from these conversations, leading to an invitation to give a talk about the subject. People were interested to hear about current challenges and difficulties faced by Russian scientists as well as about intellectual and technological potential accumulated in Russia and former USSR countries. And always the audience was interested to hear more information and details than could be delivered in one single talk. After a few talks I decided to expand the effort and I approached the Teaching Resources Center at UC Davis with a proposal to originate an interdepartmental seminar on this subject. The idea was welcomed, and the seminar got approved for the Fall of 1998. Currently, this is one-quarter (8 weeks) seminar for a small group of students (15 people) from different specialities. Most of them are freshman who do not have chosen a major speciality yet. Depending the success of this seminar it may eventually grow into a bigger course. The exact title of this seminar is "The Effects of the Changing Economy on Technology and Ecology in Russia and New Independent Countries". The term "Changing Economy" here is not just economy but also implies "State and Political System". Although I will try to concentrate on science and technology more than on politics and economy, I afraid that it will be impossible to ignore political and economical issues, especially due to the recent crisis in Russia. Because of the nature of this seminar and the subject studied, there is no solid curriculum or a single book which can be used throughout the quarter. The students need to collect the most recent information from the Internet and periodicals and they are encouraged to study and compare different opinions obtained from various communication sources. I do have a growing collection of WEB-links and press documents relevant to the subject, but this collection is far from being complete. I will appreciate it if you can point to the WEB-links, to newsgroups which discuss relevant issues, or to documents which can be downloaded and used for this class. I will especially appreciate it if you have materials like photos, brief videos, documents, magazines, newspapers which you can loan or share for this seminar. If it involves copying expenses I can make copies of the materials and return the originals, or I can provide a reimbursement for copying/mailing expenses. All the materials will be used for educational purpose only, the source or the author of the material will be identified with a proper reference and acknowledgement. A very important part of this seminar is related to a personal experience shared by people who are working or used to work in this field. I will appreciate any documents of a personal matter - memories, stories which can be shared with the students. Also, I would like to invite interested parties to join a discussion as invited speakers. I would like to invite somebody who was involved in joint research/development projects between USA and Russia, who is working in the field related to technology transfer and international scientific collaboration, or who just has an experience working in high-tech field in Russia to share his/her experience and feelings. If anybody is living not very far from Davis, CA or traveling in Northern California in October/November - I would be extremely delighted if you find it possible to give a talk at this seminar. We meet each Tuesday between October 6 and November 24. Unfortunately, due to the size of the seminar the budget for this quarter is quite limited so I will not be able to offer you a generous honorarium, or fly you from New York or Boston, but at least I can reimburse you for the travel from San Francisco Bay area / Silicon Valley (about $ 50). Please e-mail me at chakhovs@ece.ucdavis.edu Thanks and best regards, Dr. Andrei G. Chakhovskoi Lecturer / Research Scientist University of California at Davis Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering