Lab Deepens Commitment to Latin American Science Community Published March 3, 2010 By Maria Callier Office of Scientific Research ARLINGTON, Virginia -- The Southern Office of Aerospace Research and Development, an international detachment of Air Force Research Laboratory, recently kicked off its first basic research initiative to discover talented researchers--and create meaningful partnerships--in the Latin American science community. Demonstrating the lab's engagement in and commitment to such international research collaborations, this program will generate opportunities for working together and thus foster new ideas with profound impact on the Air Force and the world. SOARD coordinated the kickoff meeting with the Centro de Investigación en Materiales Avanzados, Mexico's Center for Research in Advanced Materials. The Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, the National Council of Science and Technology--Mexico's equivalent to the US National Science Foundation--also played a role, providing essential authorization and funding support. During the event, teams presented their basic research proposals to a Mexican-US panel, led by SOARD, CIMAV, and CONACyT representatives and comprising program managers from AFRL and the Office of Naval Research, all of whom provided valuable evaluations of each submission. The proposals selected during this process will benefit the AF in areas such as organic materials chemistry, reconfigurable materials for cellular electronic and photonic systems, and surface and interfacial science. For each selected proposal, the panel awarded a research grant of $500,000 a year for 3 years towards ongoing work in the respective basic research area. Additionally, SOARD will invite the sponsored researchers to attend ongoing AFRL program reviews and poster sessions in order to enhance one-on-one interactions, establish new contacts, and impart suggestions for future research efforts.