TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

The Technology and Development Program's (TDP) primary mission is to provide a focus at MIT for research and education related to the role of science and technology in the socioeconomic growth of developing countries. Its specific objectives are to:

• Promote an awareness of the relationship between science, technology, and development on the part of faculty and students at MIT;

• Provide a focal point for the activities of faculty, students, and visiting scholars interested in the field of technology and development;

• Assist the faculty, students, and staff of collaborating institutions in other countries to develop research and academic interests consistent with their national needs;

• Serve as a contact for interested organizations outside MIT (government, academic, private sector) to access the Institute's resources and its knowledge of developing countries -- particularly of their socio-economic and technological problems.

TDP carries out these objectives through research, academic programs, and contacts with international and national organizations that have an interest in broad areas of technology and development. In order to fully utilize available resources, the TDP is structured to interact with other academic departments and research centers throughout MIT.

CURRENT RESEARCH PROGRAMS

The past year saw the continuation of the multi-year collaborative program established with the Government of Mendoza to provide research, education, and administrative assistance to the newly created Fundación Centro de Innovación Tecnológica (CIT) Mendoza.

Work on the three joint projects (Regional Planning for Intermodal Transportation in Mendoza; Internationalization and Competitiveness: the Case of the Mendoza Region of Argentina; and Multi-Attribudte Evaluation of Water and Energy Resources in Mendoza) continued. Mini projects include: Information Technology, Remediation of Organic Contaminants Using In-Situ Air Sparging; and Fiber Reinforced Metal Matrix and Ceramic Matrix Composites.

On June 20, 1996 Dr. Paul E. Gray signed two separate collaborative program agreements between TDP and the Foundation for Research, Education, and Enterprise (FREE). The first was for $6 million to support a Collaborative Program of Science and Technology between MIT and the National Science Technology and Development Agency of Thailand and the second was for $2,250,000.00 to support a Collaborative Program of Science and Technology between MIT and the King Mongkut Institute of Technology, Thonburi.

CURRENT EDUCATION INITIATIVES

The TDP-sponsored Middle East Program at MIT completed its tenth year. The program enables students with an interest in the Middle East to develop an expertise in the area in addition to their own academic fields of specialization; and it examines the processes of socio-economic change, technological development, political change, institutional development, capital flows, and business and investment patterns in the region. Two interdepartmental courses are offered by the program: Politics, Growth, and Development in the Middle East; Technology, Business and Public Policy in the Middle East. The Middle East Program is under the direction of Professor Nazli Choucri, TDP Associate Director, and involves faculty from the Department of Political Science, Department of Economics, the History Faculty, the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, the Sloan School of Management, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Science, Technology and Society Program, and the Aga Khan Program in Islamic Architecture.

ORGANIZATION

The TDP Director is Professor Fred Moavenzadeh, George Macomber Professor of Construction Management in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Professor Nazli Choucri of the Department of Political Science is the Program's Associate Director and Chairman of the Policy Committee.

Fred Moavenzadeh

MIT Reports to the President 1995-96