About
FAPESP WEEK NEBRASKA AND TEXAS
In 2017, from September 18 to 22, the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Texas Tech University will organize FAPESP WEEK NEBRASKA AND TEXAS. The symposium aims at strengthening the links between scientists from Brazil and United States with the objective of promoting research partnerships.
FAPESP is one of the major funding agencies for scientific research in Brazil. Funded by the public taxpayer, its mission is to foster scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil.
FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known by the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration.
As part of these efforts, FAPESP has organized symposiums and exhibitions in several countries, in cities as Washington, Morgantown, Cambridge, Charlotte, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Berkeley, Davis, Ann Arbour and Columbus (US), Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Toronto, Salamanca, Madrid, Tokyo, London, Beijing and Munich. Now, Lincoln and Lubboc are added to this list.
FAPESP
The State of São Paulo has a population of 44 million and generates 32% of Brazil’s GDP. Under the State Constitution 1% of all state taxes are appropriated to fund FAPESP, which was put in motion in 1962.
The stability of the funding and the autonomy of the foundation allow for an efficient management of the resources that has had a sizable impact: while São Paulo has 22% of the Brazilian population and over 30% of the scientists with a doctorate in the country, the state responds for 44% of the country’s scientific articles published in international journals.
The effectiveness of research carried out in São Paulo is the combined result of several factors that include the quality of the state’s universities and institutes, the extraordinary productivity of its researchers, high rates of participation by private, São Paulo-based companies that function within the state’s R&D outlays, São Paulo’s outstanding infrastructure, and the existence of FAPESP, a well-designed state research-sponsoring agency governed, maintained by its directors with excellence and with autonomy over the past half century.
Within this context, in 2016 FAPESP applied $ PPP 533.9 million in scholarships and grants.
In accordance with the Foundation’s funding objectives, 39% of expenditure was earmarked for advancing knowledge, 8% was dedicated to supporting research infrastructure and 53% was allocated to supporting application-driven research.
FAPESP works in close contact with the scientific community: all proposals are peer reviewed with the help of panels composed of active researchers from the specific area. Many times scientists in São Paulo submit proposals for programs to the foundation which are carefully analyzed and, if deemed strong in academic terms, are shaped by the foundation into research programs that will constitute a set of related research projects in a given area.
Since FAPESP’s mandate is to foster research and scientific and technological development in the state, ideas for programs that couple world class research with contributions that will impact social problems are welcome.
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA–LINCOLN
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln, chartered in 1869, is an educational institution of international stature. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference and the Big Ten Academic Alliance and is classified within the Carnegie “R1: Doctoral Universities – Highest Research Activity” category. Nebraska is also a land-grant university and a member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).
Always a place of high ambition, Nebraska was one of the first institutions west of the Mississippi River to award doctoral degrees—the first was granted in 1896. Now, over 25,000 students are enrolled in the university and more than 6,400 faculty and staff work to offer 183 undergraduate majors and 144 graduate degree programs across a wide range of disciplines.
Nebraska is a global leader in key areas such as food, fuel, water and rural development. The Institute of Agriculture & Natural Resources (IANR) is a key entity of the university, working through innovation in research, teaching, and extension education to ensure that Nebraska remains on the leading edge of food production and processing, human nutrition and health, environmental stewardship, entrepreneurship and economic vitality, and youth engagement.
TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
Texas Tech University is a public research university in Lubbock, in Northwestern section of Texas. The University was created by legislative action in 1923 and has the distinction of being the largest comprehensive higher education institution in the western two-thirds of the state of Texas.
Committed to teaching and the advancement of knowledge, Texas Tech University provides the highest standards of excellence in higher education, fosters intellectual and personal development, and stimulates meaningful research and service to humankind.
In fall 2016, a record 36,551 students were enrolled in the University. Of those, 29,963 were undergraduate, 6,058 graduate, and 530 law students. Twelve colleges and schools makeup the academic areas at Texas Tech University and offer more than 150 undergraduate degrees, 100 graduate degrees, and 50 doctoral degrees.
Under the umbrella of the Texas Tech University System, Texas Tech University is one of four component institutions. The others are Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Lubbock, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, and Angelo State University.
