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This summer, Florida State University will welcome scholars from India\u2019s top research institutions to Tallahassee through a new initiative designed to spark international collaboration, accelerate\u00a0innovation\u00a0and expand FSU\u2019s global research partnerships.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The inaugural\u00a0Visiting Scholars Partnership Program\u00a0(VSPP)<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0designed to strengthen\u00a0high-impact, research-and innovation-centered partnerships with leading universities around the world.\u00a0The pilot program, which takes place July 5-31,\u00a0will bring\u00a0scholars from four highly\u00a0ranked international institutions\u00a0to FSU\u2019s Tallahassee campus for\u00a0exploratory research collaborations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n During their stay, each visiting scholar will be paired with FSU faculty aligned with their\u00a0expertise\u00a0and desire to build international partnerships. Visiting scholars will explore FSU\u2019s world-class facilities, meet administrators across multiple\u00a0departments\u00a0and engage in rich, one-on-one collaboration with their faculty peers several times each week.\u00a0<\/p>\n Housed in the\u00a0Office of the Provost<\/a>, the initiative receives strategic oversight from the Office for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation and is implemented by the\u00a0Learning Systems Institute (LSI)<\/a>, which conducts research and develops evidence-based interventions to improve individual and organizational performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFlorida State University believes some of the most meaningful breakthroughs happen when scholars from different backgrounds and perspectives come together to exchange ideas,\u201d said Jim Clark,\u00a0provost\u00a0and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. \u201cThe Visiting Scholars Partnership Program creates opportunities for\u00a0collaboration that strengthen research, expand global partnerships and enrich the academic experience for our entire university community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Visiting Scholars Partnership Program creates opportunities for\u00a0collaboration that strengthen research, expand global partnerships and enrich the academic experience for our entire university community.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2014 Jim Clark, FSU provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs\u00a0<\/p>\n The initiative was spearheaded by Farrukh Alvi, senior associate provost for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation and\u00a0the Don Fuqua Eminent Scholar and Professor of Mechanical\u00a0and\u00a0Aerospace\u00a0Engineering\u00a0at the\u00a0FAMU\u2013FSU College of Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe program is designed to create\u00a0opportunities for researchers to explore new ideas, identify complementary strengths and develop\u00a0partnerships around shared areas of interest,\u201d Alvi said. \u201cWe hope these collaborations will lead to\u00a0impactful,\u00a0lasting research relationships and new opportunities for innovation across disciplines.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The VSPP\u00a0will\u00a0provide a structured, immersive experience that supports collaborative research, innovation\u00a0exchange\u00a0and the development of long-term institutional partnerships.\u00a0Collaborations will span fields including aerospace\u00a0engineering, biomedical engineering, quantum optics, entrepreneurship and advanced materials research.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt Florida State University, we recognize that research and higher education are increasingly global in nature,\u201d said Steve McDowell, assistant provost for International Initiatives.\u00a0\u201cThe Visiting Scholars Partnership Program reflects FSU\u2019s continued investment in international engagement and global research partnerships\u00a0to serve the people of Florida.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Visiting Scholars Partnership Program reflects FSU\u2019s continued investment in international engagement and global research partnerships\u00a0to serve the people of Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Steve McDowell, FSU assistant provost for International Initiatives<\/p>\n Vilma Fuentes, director of\u00a0FSU\u2019s Ukraine Task Force<\/a>\u00a0and a visiting associate in research at LSI, will serve as\u00a0inaugural\u00a0program\u00a0director\u00a0of the VSPP.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis program provides an exciting opportunity to connect\u00a0scholars\u00a0from some of the best universities in the world\u00a0with faculty and departments across\u00a0our great\u00a0university,\u201d Fuentes said. \u201cWe anticipate these exchanges will lead to new research partnerships, expanded academic engagement and future opportunities that benefit both FSU and our international partners.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n India is home to some of the world\u2019s fastest-growing research and technology institutions, making the partnerships\u00a0especially\u00a0valuable for future global collaboration.\u00a0Participating partner\u00a0institutions include the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The partner institutions rank among the world\u2019s leading universities for engineering,\u00a0science\u00a0and technology research\u00a0in the QS World University Rankings. The QS World University Rankings is one of the most comprehensive assessments of its kind, offering an independent comparison of top universities worldwide based on academic excellence, employability, research\u00a0impact\u00a0and internationalization.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAt LSI, we believe innovation happens when people with different expertise and perspectives come together to solve complex challenges,\u201d said Rabieh Razzouk, director of LSI. \u201cThe Visiting Scholars Partnership Program creates an environment where those collaborations can grow, benefiting not only our institutions, but also the broader communities and systems our work is intended to serve.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Summer 2026 VSPP pairings include:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Wei Guo, Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, FAMU\u2013FSU College of Engineering, with\u00a0Bhaskar\u00a0Kanseri, Associate Professor, Quantum Optics Physics, IIT Delhi Cultural activities will\u00a0also\u00a0be arranged to give participants a deeper understanding of American culture,\u00a0society\u00a0and\u00a0the surrounding\u00a0environment.\u00a0In celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States, activities will include locations listed on the\u00a0America250FL Road Trip Map<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to advancing scientific understanding\u00a0and knowledge exchange,\u00a0these partnerships\u00a0are expected to\u00a0lead to joint research proposals, co-authored publications, shared data, complementary use of\u00a0resources\u00a0and new interdisciplinary initiatives.\u00a0Organizers hope the program will serve as a foundation for sustained international collaboration and future faculty and student exchange opportunities\u00a0at scale.\u00a0<\/p>\n Visit the\u00a0Visiting Scholars Partnership Program website<\/a>\u00a0to learn more about\u00a0VSPP.\u00a0For\u00a0more information about LSI, visit\u00a0lsi.fsu.edu<\/a>.\u00a0To learn more about FSU\u2019s global footprint, visit\u00a0global.fsu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This summer, Florida State University will welcome scholars from India\u2019s top research institutions to Tallahassee through a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[71202,65729,56749,62399,88739,117632,232,234,233],"class_list":["post-312666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-college-of-medicine","tag-famu-fsu-college-of-engineering","tag-fsu-global","tag-jim-moran-college-of-entrepreneurship","tag-learning-systems-institute","tag-office-of-the-provost","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBill Lickson, Professor,\u00a0Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0Pradeep Bhide,\u00a0Professor,\u00a0FSU College of Medicine<\/a>, with\u00a0Amit Mehndiratta, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, IIT Delhi\u00a0\u00a0
\nFarrukh Alvi, Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, FAMU\u2013FSU College of Engineering, with\u00a0Tufan Kumar Guha, Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur, and\u00a0Debopam\u00a0Das, Professor, Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur\u00a0\u00a0
\nUnnikrishnan\u00a0Nair, Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, FAMU\u2013FSU College of Engineering, with\u00a0Rajesh Ranjan, Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur\u00a0\u00a0
\nRajan Kumar, Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, FAMU\u2013FSU College of Engineering, with\u00a0Mohammed Ibrahim Sugarno, Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering, IIT Kanpur\u00a0\u00a0
\nWilliam Oates, Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, FAMU\u2013FSU College of Engineering, with\u00a0Nidish\u00a0Narayanaa\u00a0Balaji, Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras\u00a0\u00a0
\nTristan Driscoll, Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, FAMU\u2013FSU College of Engineering, with\u00a0Namrata Gundiah, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, IISc\u00a0\u00a0
\nZhiyong (Richard)\u00a0Liang, Professor, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, FAMU\u2013FSU College of Engineering;\u00a0Tarik Dickens, Professor and Interim Associate\u00a0Chair,\u00a0Materials Science and Engineering Department,\u00a0FAMU-FSU College of Engineering; and\u00a0Raghav Gnanasambandam,\u00a0Assistant Professor, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering,\u00a0with\u00a0Prosenjit Das, Assistant Professor, Materials Engineering, IISc<\/p>\n