Brasil@Rice Rice University Administrators’ Forum September 11, 2012 Adria L. Baker, Ed.D.

1. Brasil@Rice Rice University Administrators’ Forum September 11, 2012 Adria L. Baker, Ed.D. Associate Vice Provost for International Education abaker@rice.edu

2. Founding of Brasil@Rice What is Brasil@Rice? • A concept • An office • A specialized service • An outreach • A resource

3. Founding of Brasil@Rice Why is Brazil a Country of Interest for Rice? • Meets the V2C goals. Priority for Office of the President and Office of the Provost • Brazil’s workforce needs cannot be met by their existing infrastructure, so they are seeking education resources from abroad. • Universities in Brazil are excellent. Ex. University of Sao Paulo (USP) is rated #1 in all of Latin America (with great disparity to #2 university, which is in Chile).

4. Founding of Brasil@Rice Why is Brazil a Country of Interest for Rice? (cont.) • Houston is a close/convenient destination for Brazilians, and their needs with energy, engineering and science also match Houston’s needs. • Collaborative possibilities are rich. • Brazil has a great culture to interact with Rice’s great and diverse campus culture. • Rice’s strengths match Brazil’s needs. Brasil@Rice began in April, 2012.

5. Founding of Brasil@Rice Science Without Borders – Brazilian Federal Program • Seeks to send 100,000 students and researchers abroad on scholarships to top universities through 2014. USA is a key destination. Others include: UK, Italy, France and Germany. • Primarily in fields of science, technology, innovation and competitiveness, but includes others. • Joint program between Brazilian Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology, through their respective funding agencies: CAPES and CNPq.

6. Status of Brasil@Rice What are Some Challenges We Face? • Getting known and gaining visibility in Brazil via faculty collaborations. • Funding source: Rice graduate fellowships vs. CNPq funding. • Texas is not first on the minds of Brazilians wanting to study abroad.

7. Status of Brasil@Rice Who are the Rice Brazilians and What do they Bring to Our Campus? • New Visiting Undergraduates: Six Science Without Borders funded; all Engineering majors; fully funded for two semesters • Result? Excellent cultural addition to campus life. They are widely spreading the word about the great things of Rice. • History Department: First graduate student exchange and first dual degree graduate student (pending final approval for Rice dual degrees) with UNICAMP (2nd top university in Brazil) • Result? Ground-breaking steps for Rice’s graduate programs. Establishing great ties with UNICAMP.

8. Status of Brasil@Rice Who are the Rice Brazilians and What do they Bring to Our Campus?

9. Status of Brasil@Rice Who are the Rice Brazilians and What do they Bring to Our Campus?

10. Status of Brasil@Rice Who are the Rice Brazilians and What do they Bring to Our Campus (cont.)? • Several visiting research students. Funding from Brazilian state or federal agency goes directly to researcher. The work is “free” for Rice faculty. • Result? Work paid in scholarship monies, that allows our departments to do more. • “Regular” degree-seeking students. Graduate fellowships. • Result? Cultural, educational, research diversity. Expanding Latin American priorities.

11. Status of Brasil@Rice What are Some Relationships Being Developed Via Brasil@Rice? • Contacts in the Brazilian Embassy in Washington D.C • Contacts with the Brazilian Consulate in Houston. • Developing partnership with the Science Without Borders liaison in the Brazilian Consulate in Houston.

12. Status of Brasil@Rice What are Some Relationships Being Developed Via Brasil@Rice (cont.)? • Institute of International Education (IIE-NYC), who • administers the undergraduate program. • LASPAU, who will administer the funding for graduate • programs. • Partnering with IIE-Houston to develop Brazilian cultural • curriculum K-12 local school outreach.

13. Status of Brasil@Rice Some Rice Faculty Engaged in Academic Collaborations with Brazil • President David Leebron • Provost George McLendon • Dr. Vicki Colvin, Vice Provost; Chemistry • Dean Nick Shumway, Humanities • Dr. Jose Onuchic, Physics & Astronomy • Dr. Pedro Alvarez, Civil & Environmental Engineering • Dr. Alida Metcalf, History • Dr. Randy Hulet, Physics & Astronomy • Dr. Fares El-Dahdah, Humanities Research Ctr, Architecture • Dr. Eugenia Georges, Anthropology

14. Status of Brasil@Rice Brasil@Rice has: 1) Updated Brasil@Rice website. http://brazil.rice.edu/ 2) Created powerpoint presentation (for internal use) about Brazilian funding opportunities to: a) Go to Brazil b) Bring students, researchers, and faculty to Rice from Brazil 3) Held 4 Brazil Briefs. Will do another one during International Education Week in November.

15. Status of Brasil@Rice Brasil@Rice has: 1) Updated Brasil@Rice website. http://brazil.rice.edu/ 2) Created powerpoint presentation (for internal use) about Brazilian funding opportunities to: a) Go to Brazil b) Bring students, researchers, and faculty to Rice from Brazil 3) Held 4 Brazil Briefs. Will do another one during International Education Week in November.

16. Status of Brasil@Rice Upcoming Brazilian Connections • September 10-11, 2012 – Baker Institute welcomes • Fundacao Getulio Vargas • September TBD, 2012 – Dr. Vicki Colvin returns to Brazil • September 21, 2012 - Kevin Foyle invited panelist to address private Brazilian universities about fundraising at National Forum: Higher Education Private Brazilian in Sao Paulo. • December 7-8, 2012 – Rice-USP Blue Gene collaboration at the University of Sao Paulo. (First steering committee meeting was August 1, 2012). Topics: • Atomic Physics (R. Hulet, Rice Coordinator) • High Performance Scientific Computing (J. Onuchic, Rice Coordinator)

17. Questions & Discussion Muito Obrigada!