 UCSD
is looking south, with
initiatives designed to improve
co-operation and quality of life
on both sides of the border. The
initiatives were first announced last November in Tijuana during
a daylong visit by Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, which included meetings
with academic, business, political and cultural leaders. Subsequently,
the chancellor met with Mexican
national leaders in Mexico City in late March. Under the new program,
called UCSD Partnership with Mexico, the University has opened an
office in Mexico City with a full-time staff member charged with
deepening understanding and identifying new opportunities for cooperation.
The chancellor has also launched
three other initiatives. They include improving
the air quality with a special focus on the Baja-San Diego region;
building a technology corridor on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico
border; and starting an Economic Strategies project that will
study innovative
economic policies.
 In unveiling the new program Chancellor Fox said, “Our new
initiatives bring together leaders from education, business, government,
non-profit organizations and civil society to address issues that
deeply affect our health and welfare.”
The first partnership program will build on the success of an air-quality
research effort under way in Mexico City, headed by Mario Molina,
a UCSD professor of chemistry and biochemistry who received the 1995
Nobel Prize in chemistry. Molina’s research has led to new
insights into how major cities around the world can mitigate their
air pollution problems. UCSD Extension’s Crossborder Innovation and Competitiveness
Initiative is already
in place, dedicated to exploring how the Baja California-San Diego
region can become more globally competitive in key science and technology
sectors. UCSD Extension is
developing a proposal for a $20 million program combining hands-on
support for business activities with advanced research and non-degree
executive education. The aim is
to strengthen the biotech industry in San Diego by building complementary
assets such
as production facilities in Baja. The Economic Strategies project will begin with a high-profile
international conference examining Mexico’s financial infrastructure and
will take on such tasks as identifying
barriers to entrepreneurship and several other elements of our partner
nation’s economy. UCSD researchers will facilitate discussions
with Mexican leaders, who will then make
decisions on new policies. “Economic restructuring in Mexico can have a profoundly beneficial effect
on the American economy as well,” says Christopher Woodruff, an economist
and director of UCSD’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies.
For more information on the UCSD-Mexico
Partnership contact Judith Ecklund, jecklund@ucsd.edu.  — Barry Jagoda
|
