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INFO RUEHPD/AMCONSUL PONTA DELGADA 0411

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LISBON 000513 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES/STC, EUR/WE KEVIN OPSTRUP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TSPA TBIO SENV PREL PO
SUBJECT: PORTUGAL: S&T SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING HIGHLIGHTS 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1. In preparation for the February 21 Bilateral Commission, 
Embassy officials met with Portuguese counterparts on 
February 14 to review and discuss bilateral science and 
technology (S&T) cooperation. Discussions focused on climate 
change, renewable energies, and the Embassy Science Fellows 
(ESF) Program. The Portuguese delegation provided updates on 
various partnerships between the Portuguese institutions and 
American universities. END SUMMARY. 
 
COMMITTEE MEMBERS 
----------------- 
¶2. On February 14, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted the 
S&T Subcommittee meeting in preparation for the February 21 
Bilateral Commission. The Embassy delegation was led by the 
Pol/Econ Counselor and included the Deputy Pol/Econ Counselor 
and a Pol/Econ Officer. The Portuguese delegation was led by 
Manuel Grainha do Vale, Deputy Director of the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs (MFA) Americas Office, Henrique Azevedo, Desk 
Officer at the MFA's Americas Office, Ana Faisca, Director of 
the Department of European, Bilateral and Multilateral 
Relations at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher 
Education's Foundation of Science and Technology (MCTES/FCT), 
Sofia Seabra, Director of International Cooperation at 
MCTES/FCT, and Rui Manuel Pinheiro de Oliveira Gomes Vallera, 
Advisor at the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD). 
 
CLIMATE CHANGE & WIREC 2008 
--------------------------- 
¶3. The Pol/Econ Counselor discussed the important role that 
climate change has played since the May 2007 S&T Subcommittee 
meeting. He highlighted the September visits of White House 
Council on Environmental Quality James Connaughton and EU 
Special Envoy Boyden Gray to Lisbon to discuss the Major 
Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change, and 
the visits of Governors Jonathan Corzine (D-NJ) and Eliot 
Spitzer (D-NY) who attended the signing ceremony of the 
International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP) in October. 
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also participated 
via digital video conference. 
 
¶4. Pol/Econ Counselor also highlighted the Washington 
International Renewable Energies Conference (WIREC) 2008, 
which will be the third global ministerial-level conference 
on renewable energies. Economy Minister Manuel Pinho will 
lead the Portuguese WIREC delegation. 
 
THE EMBASSY SCIENCE FELLOWS (ESF) PROGRAM 
----------------------------------------- 
¶5. Pol/Econ Officer announced that the Embassy Science 
Fellows (ESFs) Program, which was placed on hold during 
Portugal's EU Presidency, will recommence with two ESFs from 
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a specialist 
on climate change and a marine ecologist. The Pol/Econ 
Officer also briefed on the recent activities of previous 
ESFs. Elizabeth Williams from NASA arranged for a Portuguese 
flag to be flown onboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis during 
its June 2007 mission to the International Space Station. 
This flag was presented to the University of Coimbra's Museum 
of Science during its first anniversary celebration in 
December. Kathleen Collins from the National Institutes of 
Health joined with FLAD to create a three-year conference 
series on tropical diseases. The first conference, which 
focused on tuberculosis, took place in October 2007 and the 
next two conferences on malaria and HIV/AIDS will take place 
in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Larry Suter from the National 
Science Foundation participated in a lecture on student 
achievement in mathematics at the Gulbenkian, while Ann Marie 
Thro from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is working with 
the University of Coimbra to arrange for an American 
professor to teach statistics there. 
 
NASA COOPERATION 
---------------- 
¶6. In November 2007, NASA hosted its fifth annual technical 
workshop in cooperation with the Portuguese Center for 
Pollution Prevention (Centro para Prevencao da Poluicao aka 
C3P). The workshop focused on environmental and energy issues 
that are common to Portuguese and American industries, and on 
current and future projects between the two organizations. Of 
particular emphasis, several technical sessions were devoted 
to the pollution cleanup and renewable energy initiatives 
planned for the Berlenga Grand Island. 
 
NUCLEAR REACTOR FUEL CONVERSION 
------------------------------- 
¶7. In summer 2007, the Portuguese Technological and Nuclear 
Institute (ITN) successfully converted highly enriched 
uranium in Portugal's only nuclear research reactor to low 
enriched uranium. Officials from both the U.S. Department of 
 
LISBON 00000513  002 OF 002 
 
 
Energy and its Argonne National Laboratory visited Lisbon in 
November to discuss the results of the project and while an 
exact date has not been set, the uranium will be returned to 
the U.S. in 2008. 
 
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS WITH AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶8. The MCTES/FCT representatives updated the S&T Subcommittee 
on the status of international partnerships between several 
Portuguese universities and the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology (MIT), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the 
University of Texas-Ausin (UTAustin), and pending agreements 
with Harvard University's School of Medicine, Thomas 
Jefferson University and Columbia University. In 2007, seven 
new PhD and advanced studies programs were created under the 
MIT-Portugal initiative in energy systems, leadership, 
technology management, bioengineering, and transportation 
systems; four master degree and five PhD programs under the 
CMU-Portugal initiative in software engineering and 
information and communications technologies; and a new 
technology transfer program in digital/multimedia, advanced 
computing and S&T commercialization under the UTAustin 
initiative. MCTES/FCT also funded 124 international 
fellowships, two of which were awarded to American students, 
to study in Portugal. Twelve Portuguese students were 
selected to participate in the Fulbright Program. 
 
¶9. The MFA delegation members discussed current and future 
research cooperation agreements on topics ranging from marine 
ecology to computer science between the Portuguese National 
Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) and the University of 
Oregon, Old Dominion University, the University of Delaware, 
the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and the 
National Science Foundation (NSF). 
 
¶10. The FLAD representative spoke about an educational 
program at Coimbra University's hospital where life-like and 
human-scale medical models from Harvard's Medical Center are 
being used to train doctors in simulated emergency rooms. 
 
Stephenson