Inside ISSNAF

Dear Friends,

In wishing all of you joyous holidays, I would like to highlight some of ISSNAF’s accomplishments in 2009, and to announce what’s in store for us in 2010.

What 2009 Brought Us

In the past year, ISSNAF has made tremendous progress.  We now have more than 400 members, and our ISSNAF census has already located more than 2300 ISSNAF-eligible scientists, scholars, and high-tech entrepreneurs among the roughly 10,000 estimated to be residing in the United States and Canada.  ISSNAF’s annual meeting, held in Los Angeles on May 16, brought many of our members together to discuss our current initiatives and future direction.

Throughout the year, ISSNAF participated – as co-organizer, or through members serving as keynoters – in  meetings and conferences,  both in the US (Houston, Chicago, New York, Boston, Washington, Los Angeles, Pasadena, San Diego, San Francisco), and in Italy (Milano, Roma, Pisa, Trento).  These events extended beyond Italian and American policy toward education and research to include initiatives with the EU’s Euraxess network.

Together with Gruppo 2003 -- an important Italian association of scientists and researchers -- ISSNAF organized the conference “United For Research: Italian Scientists in Italy and the United States for a New System of Research Governance,” held at Milan’s Bocconi University on September 21. The proposal that we drafted for the occasion, and the conference itself, further established ISSNAF as a strong advocate for the promotion of a reform agenda for Italian universities and research.  President Napolitano specifically praised ISSNAF, and the Ministry of Education recognized that we have much to contribute in the debate ahead.

The ISSNAF website, www.issnaf.org, has become the “go to” place for knowing what’s happening in education policy and innovation in Italy and in the US.  We have also launched a general Forum and established a members’ Google Group to continue our ongoing discussion of the Italian Research and University reform agenda.  Our goal is to provide, by the time the parliamentary discussion of Gemini’s reform bill (DdL) begins, constructive commentary on the system proposed in the Ddl – hopefully in the form of an ISSNAF white paper based on our experience with the U.S. university system. 

New ISSNAF fellowships in the field of environmental sciences have been launched in addition to the ones in the field of bio-fuels and aero-space research.  

In addition to earlier partnerships with Thales Alenia Space, ENI, and FBK, we developed new collaborations with the Ministero dell’Ambiente, the Agenzia per la Diffusione delle Tecnologie per l’Innovazione, and the Italian Trade Commission (ICE).  Contacts with other Ministeri (MIBAC, MAE, Ministero della Sanita’) have also been established, and we expect that further collaborations will develop.  We are currently finalizing agreements with a number of enti pubblici di ricerca, as well as with the Scuola Superiore S.Anna, regarding the organization of summer internship programs for Italian students at American research centers and universities.

ISSNAF’s efforts have been widely recognized.  The Sottosegretario  alla Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri (Gianni Letta), the Ministero degli Affari Esteri, and the Italian  Embassy in the US, among others, have  acknowledged the important role that ISSNAF plays in maintaining  a vital connection between the scientific, academic, and entrepreneurial communities in North America and Italy.

What’s In Store for 2010

In the coming year, we will begin to launch regional chapters of ISSNAF.  New York will be the first, in January, with a website and a rich monthly program.  San Diego and Canada will follow.

In his Christmas Address to the Italian community in the US, Giulio Terzi highlights ISSNAF as an important piece of Italy's positive image in the US: