As of 9/30/2008

**Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)**

# U.S.-Brazil Higher Education Consortia Program (CFDA 84.116M)

# 

# *FY 2008 New Grant Awards by Award Number*

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# 

# Texas A&M University (Texas) - P116M080001

Title: **Ruminant Production in the 21^st^ Century**

**U.S. Lead**: Texas A&M University

**U.S. Partner:** University of California, Davis

**U.S. Partner:** California Polytechnic State University

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco

**Brazil Partner:** Universidade de São Paulo

The long-term goal is to develop on-going educational programs among the
partner institutions via electronically mediated courses, outreach
extensions short-courses, and transnational research programs. The
objectives include formalizing the institutional commitment for
cooperation and exchange among institutions, complement the ruminant
production curriculum among institutions to include
electronically-mediated courses and studies abroad, to encourage foreign
language skills, to develop innovative models for undergraduate and
graduate education, and encourage faculty exchange among the
institutions to develop new collaborative research projects.

FY 2008 Award: \$22,310

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$219,959

Contact Person: Dr. Luis Orlindo Tedeschi, 979-845-5065,
<luis.tedeschi@tamu.edu>

# University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Illinois) - P116M080003

Title: **Global Talent Development for Sustainable Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences**

**U.S. Lead:** University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

**U.S. Partner:** University of Minnesota Twin Cities

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade de São Paulo

**Brazil Partner:** Universidade de Brasília

This project will establish, implement, and evaluate a sustainable and
long-term educational partnership between four leading research
universities in the United States and Brazil with the goal of increasing
the level of competence in talent development among undergraduate and
graduate students in agricultural and environmental science through a
set of educational experiences in a student exchange setting. The
project will blend a mixture of human resources, business
administration, and agricultural and environmental sciences.

FY 2008 Award: \$30,000

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$219,966

Contact Person: Dr. Peter Kuchinke, 217-333-0807, <kuchine@uiuc.edu>

# Northern Michigan University (Michigan) - P116M080005

Title: Fostering Socially, Environmentally, and Economically Sustainable
Entrepreneurship

**U.S. Lead:** Northern Michigan University

**U.S. Partner:** Western Illinois University

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia

**Brazil Partner:** Universidade Federal de Lavras

This consortium will prepare United States and Brazilian students for
highly skilled 21^st^ century jobs that require expertise in
entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, and sustainable
economic development. The program consists of an exchange program,
language and cultural instruction in English and Portuguese, and a
service-learning project during the semester abroad.

FY 2008 Award: \$25,140

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$220,000

Contact Person: Ray Amtmann, 906-227-2547, <ramtmann@nmu.edu>

## University of Cincinnati (Ohio) - P116M080008

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# Title: Urban Sustainability and the Built Environment

**U.S. Lead:** University of Cincinnati

**U.S. Partner:** University of Florida

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

**Brazil Partner:** Universidade Federal do Paraná

This consortium will link curricula in urban sustainability and the
built environment and increase interaction among Brazilian and American
partners. The primary objective is to examine the pressing environmental
issues facing cities of the Americas and to create an environment for
continued exchange and collaborative teaching and research. The
collaboration will lead to a shared cluster of courses that address
common concerns, taking full advantage of each university's strengths
while satisfying degree requirements.

FY 2008 Award: \$29,808

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$219,806

Contact Person: Johanna Looye, 513-556-0216, <johanna.looye@uc.edu>

# Utah State University (Utah) - P116M080010

Title: **Multidisciplinary Specialists Designing Learning Objects with
Cultural Affordances**

**U.S. Lead:** Utah State University

**U.S. Partner:** University of Georgia

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade Federal do Ceará

**Brazil Partner:** Universidade Estadual de Campinas

This project will prepare specialists to design learning objects that
are localized and adapted culturally, and will evaluate their impact in
schools in the United States and Brazil. Learning objects are digitally
constructed elements or components of coordinated instructional
programs. Specialists prepared by this project will come from various
disciplines, including education, psychology, computer science,
mathematics, and instructional technology. These specialists will learn
to work together as members of a multidisciplinary/multicultural team to
create and refine learning objects and make them suitable for use in
various cultural contexts throughout the United States and Brazil.

FY 2008 Award: \$29,686

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$220,000

Contact Person: Dr. Richard West, 435-797-1994, <rich.west@usu.edu>

## Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia) - P116M080012

Title: **Water Resources and Watershed Management in the United States
and Brazil**

**U.S. Lead:** Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

**U.S. Partner:** University of Florida

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade Federal de Espirito Santo

**Brazil Partner:** Universidade Federal Santa Maria

This new, six-credit signature course, offered as an intensive
integrated six-week term in Brazil, will introduce water resource
engineering students to comparative technical, legal, and social
perspectives on water resource management. Complementary courses,
innovative and immersive student experiences, shared coursework, faculty
collaboration in teaching, and common case studies will provide new
perspectives on watershed management to help students identify issues
and critique assumptions, approaches, and solutions.

FY 2008 Award: \$29,808

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$220,000

Contact Person: Dr. Conrad Heatwole, 540-231-4858, <heatwole@vt.edu>

## University of Central Florida (Florida) - P116M080014

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# Title: Engineering Global Leaders

**U.S. Lead:** University of Central Florida

**U.S. Partner:** Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

**Brazil Partner:** Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do
Sul

This project is developing a curriculum that includes intensive language
training in Portuguese, a faculty exchange program, an international
minor in engineering, and undergraduate certificates in engineering and
computer sciences. Undergraduates will gain academic and work experience
abroad.

FY 2008 Award: \$29,998

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$219,862

Contact Person: Dr. Consuelo Stebbins, 407-882-0277,
<stebbins@mail.ucf.edu>

# Penn State University-University Park (Pennsylvania) - P116M080017

Title: **Project in Sustainable Crop Protection in Agriculture**

**U.S. Lead:** Penn State University-University Park

**U.S. Partner:** University of California, Davis

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade de São Paulo

**Brazil Partner:** Universidade Federal do Paraná

This project will address the issue of exploring the potential of
naturally occurring chemical pest-plant interactions for sustainable
crop protection methods. It will focus on a curriculum building and
student exchange, including study, research, and field trip
opportunities. The project takes maximum advantage of interactive
Web-based technology and builds new professional resources, including
the establishment of an alumni group for students and faculty of current
and previous programs as well as the creation of a Latin American
Association for Chemical Ecology.

FY 2008 Award: \$18,678

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$220,000

Contact Person: Deanna Behring, 814-863-0249, <dmb37@psu.edu>

**Texas Tech University (Texas) - P116M080018**

Title: **Weather and Climate Impacts on Agricultural and Water
Resources**

**U.S. Lead:** Texas Tech University

**U.S. Partner:** University of Florida

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

**Brazil Partner:** Universidade Federal do Pará

The scientific focus of this project is on climate change and its impact
on agricultural and water resources. Appropriate classes offered by
partner institutions will create a basic curriculum of interest, and a
new interdisciplinary course will be developed for delivery on the
Internet. The program will facilitate cultural experiences and the
learning of the Portuguese and English languages.

FY 2008 Award: \$29,997

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$219,988

Contact Person: Dr. Christine Namsen, 806-746-6101,
<cnansen@ag.tamu.edu>

**Ball State University (Indiana) -** **P116M080019**

Title: **U.S.-Brazil Universities of the Future Consortium**

**U.S. Lead:** Ball State University

**U.S. Partner:** Texas A&M University

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade de Brasília

**Brazil Partner:** Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do
Sul

This project supports student and faculty mobility, curriculum
development, collaborative research, and the development of a
sustainable institutional relationship in the bilateral United
States-Brazil Universities of the Future consortium. This consortium
will educate students as societal leaders to address the major global
environmental, social, and economic challenges of the 21^st^ century:
how to intervene in systems; how to live within nature's universal laws
and within local regional limits; and how to build environmentally
responsible; socially just; and economically viable local and regional
communities.

FY 2008 Award: \$30,000

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$220,000

Contact Person: Dr. John Motloch, 765-285-7561, <jmotloch@bsu.edu>

**Universidad Metropolitana (Puerto Rico) - P116M080020**

Title: **Internationalizing the Coastal Ecosystems Curriculum**

**U.S. Lead:** Universidad Metropolitana

**U.S. Partner:** Universidad del Este

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade Federal do Ceará

**Brazil Partner:** Universidade de Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy
Ribiero

This project includes broader opportunities for field research, the
development of online courses and materials in environmental sciences
focused on coastal ecosystems, enhanced language courses in Portuguese
and English for participants, and the establishment of a long-term
research agenda with a sustainability plan for all institutions.

FY 2008 Award: \$29,981

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$219,723

Contact Person: Dr. Carlos Padin, 787-766-1717, <cpadin@suagm.edu>

**University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Texas) -
P116M080023**

Title: **Biomedical Informatics**

**U.S. Lead:** University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

**U.S. Partner:** Duke University

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade de São Paulo

**Brazil Partner:** Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

This project will create a degree program in biomedical informatics that
is recognized in the United States and Brazil with a curriculum that
provides a rigorous education in the subject, provides practical
training, and produces a group of biomedical informaticians that are
culturally competent and professionally expert in both countries.

FY 2008 Award: \$29,609

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$199,504

Contact Person: M. Sriram Lyenger, 713-500-3976,
<m.sriram.lyengar@uth.tmc.edu>

**Howard University (District of Columbia) - P116M080024**

Title: **Race, Development, and Social Inequality: Access and Equity in
Higher Education in Brazil and the United States**

**U.S. Lead:** Howard University

**U.S. Partner:** Vanderbilt University

**Brazil Lead:** Universidade de São Paulo

**Brazil partner:** Universidade Federal da Bahia

This project builds on the continuing development of academic programs
that focus on issues in international affairs, especially from the
perspective of the African-Americans and Afro-Brazilians. It will
reorient the study of issues of race and inequality as they affect and
are affected by the equity in education at primary through tertiary
levels.

FY 2008 Award: \$29,889

Total Estimated Award (4 years): \$220,000

Contact Person: Dr. Orlando Taylor, 202-806-6800, <otaylor@howard.edu>