The Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) program funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) held its annual PI meeting this May.  The PIRE program is aimed at international research collaboration in various scientific fields.   The SPIRE program at Ohio University - one of fifty plus PIRE projects funded by the NSF - is a $2.5 million, five-year project aimed at exploring various aspects of nanospintronics and nanomagnetism. With the collaboration of top researchers from participating institutions in Germany and Argentina, students in SPIRE receive unparalleled training in nanoscience with a strong international perspective.  Besides SPIRE, all the PIRE projects including the most recently funded ones (3rd cohort), were represented at the PIRE PI meeting. 

The PIRE PI meeting was held for two days, May 11 and 12 in Arlington, Virginia.  It consisted of welcoming remarks by the NSF directors and coordinators as well as invited talks by PIRE PI’s.  All the talks were representing present programs involving participating institutions from around the world.  Topics included ‘Research Integrity’, ‘Leveraging Resources in your PIRE award’, ‘Project Evaluation’, ‘Key Lessons That All PIs Wished They Had Known at the Start’, ‘Management and Communication’, ‘Preparing for a Foreign Experience’, and ‘Outreach and Dissemination.’ The latter topic was the focus of a presentation made by the SPIRE group, including Dr. Art Smith and 2010-11 journalism interns Alyse Zimmer (SPIRE), and Emily Hubbel (NQPI) from Ohio University.

 

The Outreach and Dissemination forum was divided into three portions lastly focusing on the journalism portion of the SPIRE grant. Through the SPIRE grant, Scripps Journalism students are employed for the academic year to market, write, and publish articles on SPIRE accomplishments. The grant also assists in sending journalism students abroad.  Alyse Zimmer was SPIRE’s first Study Abroad journalism student.   

During the Outreach and Dissemination forum, the Ohio University delegation emphasized the history of the Scripps journalism nanoscience writing internships, nanoscience journalism goals, target audiences, and marketing strategies.  Highlights included Zimmer’s SPIRE Study Abroad trip, and Hubbell’s involvement with the Nanoscale & Quantum Phenomena (NQPI) as the NQPI journalism intern and the launching of NQPI’s newsletter.  Representative materials were passed around the room for the group to see including press releases, newsletters, brochures, and posters.

Following the formal part of the presentation, Zimmer and Hubbell were then asked questions about their internships, what they accomplished, and their exact responsibilities.  Attendees were very interested in the challenges of conducting journalism abroad and the value this adds to the international collaboration, how the international collaboration affects the journalism, communication barriers, and the personal evaluation of the overseas collaboration. 

Zimmer and Hubbell emphasized all that they had learned during their internships, described the once in a life time opportunities, illustrated the impact of the internships on their careers, and explained the challenges they overcame.  At the end, both were thanked for coming and applauded for their work. 

Other topics and activities of the PIRE PI 2-day event included a discussion of ‘Challenges Not Solved Yet’, a PI-only session, and disciplinary break-out sessions. 

By Alyse Zimmer