Leo S. Rowe Pan American Fund Expands Opportunities for FUNDACYT Grantees

By Martha Cox

Thanks to the Leo S. Rowe Pan American Fund of the Organization of American States (OAS), Fundación para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (FUNDACYT) of Ecuador is able to expand its training program.

The government of Ecuador established FUNDACYT in 1995 to promote scientific and technological pursuits. In addition to funding research projects at Ecuadorian universities, private institutions, and research centers, FUNDACYT has enabled over a hundred grantees to pursue master’s and doctoral studies in science- and technology-related fields in the United States, Europe, and throughout Latin America. In the past, the Inter-American Development Bank has provided support for the academic training component of the project. LASPAU has assisted with the selection, academic placement, and monitoring of FUNDACYT grantees studying outside of Ecuador, who have comprised about 85% of the total group of beneficiaries.

The Leo S. Rowe Pan American Fund of the OAS was established through a legacy from Leo Stanton Rowe, who was director general of the Pan American Union from 1920 until his death in 1946. Throughout his long and distinguished career, Leo S. Rowe showed a special interest in the education of Latin American youth and established the fund in his will to assist those who wish to study in the United States. The fund provides loans for graduate studies in all fields for citizens of member states of the OAS who will be in a position to give their respective countries the benefit of their academic training. To date, the Rowe Fund has provided loans totaling $5,000,000 to over 5,000 beneficiaries.

In September 2000, LASPAU identified an opportunity for a collaboration between FUNDACYT and the Rowe Fund. LASPAU participated in the design of the program, and FUNDACYT and the Rowe Fund are now jointly enabling a new group of twenty scholars to study in the United States. Fields of study remain consistent with previous FUNDACYT programs and are concentrated in areas of science and technology that are deemed priorities for Ecuador. These include ecology, engineering, food and natural sciences, and information systems.

The Rowe Fund will provide loans totaling $300,000 to cover a large portion of the grantees’ living expenses while they are studying in the United States. FUNDACYT will provide additional funds for nonwaivable fees and other expenses at U.S. graduate schools. LASPAU, continuing the collaboration begun in 1996 with FUNDACYT, will seek financial aid from U.S. universities to cover the cost of tuition. Without the continuing support of FUNDACYT, the additional funds provided by the Rowe Fund, and the generous commitment of U.S. universities to extend tuition support and other forms of financial assistance, the program would not be possible.

The beneficiaries of the new collaboration share a commitment to contributing to the social and economic growth of Ecuador through graduate education, a value reflected in the missions of FUNDACYT, the Leo S. Rowe Pan American Fund, and LASPAU. Since the majority of the scholars participating in the program are affiliated with Ecuadorian universities or environmental groups, they will be well positioned to share their newly acquired expertise through collaborative research or teaching, thus strengthening science and technology sectors in Ecuador.