The collaboration program between BSAC and Institute for Microsystem Technology (IMST) at Vestfold University College, Norway, is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, governed by the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU). The project is one of 12 four-year programs which were awarded 1.7 million NOK (500K NOK/$100K per year) over three years. The successful application was made possible by Prof. Albert Pisano from BSAC. The motivation behind this partnership program is to greatly enhance the research and educational experience for MS and PhD students, as well as postdocs, at both campuses. Creating an environment supporting the mobility of faculty and students, curriculum development, educational short courses (such as seminars and workshops) and cross-campus PhD advising will result in a unique world-class opportunity for all faculty and students involved. Furthermore, this program will greatly enhance the opportunity for groups of faculty at both campuses to develop strong ties for sustainable future bilateral collaboration. One of the most exciting aspects of the collaboration is that students are granted access to each respective lab or research facility in which the associated costs can be partly covered by the program. As of today, six VUC researchers and one BSAC researcher have accessed the respective labs. Furthermore, graduate students have been able to "sit-in" during lectures at respective campuses with travel and living cost covered. In particular, the graduate Energy Harvesting course at VUC has been well attended by BSAC graduate students. Additionally, dual campus PhD advising has been made possible where one BSAC graduate student has a VUC professor as member on the PhD committee. Lastly, faculty from both campuses have been invited to give seminars at the collaborating institution and several well attended research seminars have been arranged, both at VUC and BSAC. Acknowledgement: The project is supported from the collaboration program between Vestfold University College - IMST (Norway) and UC Berkeley - BSAC, and is funded by The Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU), contract No. MNA-2008/10004.
Project end date: 02/06/12