University of Costa Rica

The public University of Costa Rica (UCR) is the first true research institute that I've visited so far on this journey through Central America, and it's apparent that the academic infrastructure is quite comprehensive and well-developed. PhD professors, established masters programs, international publications, and a relatively large amount of resources, make UCR a potential hub for scientific development in the region. Getting the science departments and research centers at UCR to a truly first world standard should be an attainable goal as well.

My focus was again on the physics department, but before providing details of those interactions, mention of UCR's other high-level endeavors in the sciences and math are necessary.

Perhaps the crown jewel of research being done at UCR is the microbiology institute, which is self-funded independent of the broader university, has an international faculty and student body, and many researchers who devote 100% of their time to research. The institute is top-notch and at first-world standards.

The math department is also quite advanced and has strong links to foreign institutions. A masters program is offered at UCR, and a large portion of students who pursue PhDs at foreign institutions return to continue their research. I spoke with the director of the "Centro de Investigacion en Matematica Pura y Applicada" (CIMPA), a research platform set-up at UCR to connect mathematics professors within UCR with their international partners. The platform is basic, but it helps professors maintain contacts and initiate collaborations.

Now on to physics!

A PhD is required to be a full professor in the School of Physics at UCR. Since there is no PhD physics program at UCR, this means that each one of the 30+ members of the physics faculty has attained a substantial amount of instruction and training at foreign institutions. The familiarity with how first world research institutes operate, and the connections that are formed and often (though perhaps not often enough) kept, provide pipelines for future students and continued research collaboration.

This is a fine basis, and due to a common practice of students signing contracts guaranteeing a faculty position upon completion of their PhDs, many do return (though the numbers have been decreasing, likely due to this path lacking an attractive economic incentive return). Upon return, a 50/50 teaching/research position is almost always what is waiting, which in theory helps solidify the bachelor's and master's degree programs, and allows the new professors to continue their research.

I say in theory because while this process does work to some extent, it limits the amount of exposure the new professors have to research. They're expected to return immediately after completion of their PhD's, eliminating the potential to do more independent post-doctoral research.

The idea of a "distance post-doc" was proposed by Dr. Max Chaves, who provided a litany of other insights to the state of the program at UCR and the potential for improvement. Along with Dr. Chaves,  Dr. Francisco Frutos Alfaro, Dr. Lela Taliasvhili, and several other professors helped paint a clear picture for how theoretical research is done at UCR. Other than the solid-state and nuclear physics institutes, which do have substantial resources, essentially all other forms of physics research fall into the theoretical realm.

We also spoke at length of the limitations for connecting with outside researchers (the inability to visit conferences and have the necessary face-to-face exchange of ideas that could lead to collaboration was emphasized as a major limitation), some noticeable disconnects that exist between the professors and the upcoming classes of students, and the need for the majority of UCR's physics professors to have more familiarity with the research processes at foreign institutions (beyond a PhD thesis). In essence, limit isolation and open the door for instruction and collaboration at all levels.

The students are always the key though, and their perspectives were progressive and informative. While research is not emphasized in the bachelor's degree program, the students do have the option to get involved at any of the four research institutes (solid-state, nuclear, space-sciences, and geophysics), or join with a particular professor. For example, one student named Rafael does cosmology research with Dr. Chaves, an opportunity that has clearly had a strong motivational influence on Rafael's interest in physics research.

The majority of the bachelor's degree students, while aware that UCR's program is much stronger than those in neighboring countries, still almost universally have the objective to leave Costa Rica upon graduation (even to pursue their master's abroad too, though some are interested in the internal master's program), and most say they see very little reason to come back. Lack of job opportunities outside of universities, and low-salaries within the universities, help drive this mentality.

Through elective courses in the curriculum, bachelor's students do have the ability to be introduced  to certain higher level subjects, such as General Relativity and Quantum Field Theory and are granted the opportunity to take courses along with master's students if they demonstrate superior ability and motivation.

These more motivated students are also aware enough to know that they're unaware, meaning they feel there is a lack of opportunity to become familiar with many areas of modern research while at UCR. Research conferences are given almost weekly, and the students enjoy this, but only rarely do these conferences include researchers from foreign institutions, something for which the students have a strong desire.

I had a fine chat with Dr. Rodrigo Carboni Mendez, the director of the School of Physics and coordinator of the pre-grad program. I was introduced to a troubling phenomenon at UCR: filling quotas. It seems that because there is limited interest in certain fields, such as physics, many students with low entry scores that cannot get into more popular programs like microbiology or medicine, just enter UCR as physics majors (100 per year approximately). While almost all of these students transfer to other departments or drop-out (by 4th year, 10-12 students are left generally), this makes the first two years of basic physics classes unpleasant for professors and those students who are actually committed to receiving their physics degree due to the abundance of disinterested and incapable students.

Dr. Mendez is hoping to attract a larger number of more capable students by re-forming a Licenciatura program (in-between bachelor's and master's; currently at UCR, the structure is based primarily on the US university degree system), for students interested in physics that are more interested in finding a job that directly applies their physics skills but do not necessarily want to do pure research.

As for the master's program, I had an extensive discussion with the director of the program, Dr. Jorge Gutierrez (soon to be Dr. Rabbi Jaim Gutierrez, mazel tov!). A meteorological physicist, he oversees the four areas offered to physics masters students (General Physics, Astrophysics, Meteorological Physics, and Geophysics, all of which end in valid research and thesis publication). Using his many experiences in teaching, researching, and administration in meteorological physics as an analogy to other fields of physics, we discussed some of the difficulties (bureaucratic, economic, and philosophical) in forming international programs, platforms, and collaborations. It was an enlightening discussion from which I gained a lot of insight for future considerations and planning.

In all these meetings, the topic of what should happen next was discussed. Pre-grad students want greater access to foreign professors and their interests. Masters students want something similar, but through more in-depth instruction in upper-level courses and research. Professors themselves want to connect with more foreign researchers in an interactive environment, and they also want to increase the standard of research being done at UCR to facilitate a larger volume of publications. From past experience, universities in neighboring countries are just hoping to reach the standard that UCR has set.

How to address these needs is the core of this project.

Can Costa Rica take the lead in the region to help standardize science programs up to a level where all are capable of doing substantial research? Can UCR itself be better connected to first world research institutes to facilitate collaboration and high-level instruction? The minds are there. The technology is at the doorstep. Let's make it happen!

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua-Managua

The one and only University in Nicaragua with a physics department, UNAN-Managua is not exactly the ideal place to study for a talented and curious science student. There are some positives, foundations and motivated people, however.

The lack of opportunity, not just to research, but to even learn about, the broad spectrum of fields that physics encompasses, is striking. The incoming classes from the past two years have essentially one option; medical physics. There used to be geophysics and even a general physics bachelors program, but due to lack of interest (apparently no students at all entered for the general physics program three years ago so it was abandoned), the administration decided it would be a good idea to eliminate all other possibilities within physics and only offer the sexy title of "fisica de medicina."

This unfortunate decision worked if merely considering numbers (some 40 students have entered the medical physics program over the past year), but at least the vast majority are extremely uninformed as to what physics is, and the vast possibilities that reside within the field.

The fifth (final) year class is a different story. The seven students left in this class have varying interests (though predominantly geophysics, as a relic of the previous program), and have the common ambition of pursuing post-grads in foreign countries.

One of these fifth year students, Aitor, wants to study astrophysics, and spends his available time at the recently (2007) formed observatory, and studying on his own.

The observatory was built with the support of the Space Science School at UNAH-Tegucigalpa, and especially Marie Carias, the director of that program whom I'd lauded for her ongoing efforts in a previous post. One of her students, a Nicaraguan named Ligia Zavala, has been with the observatory since 2008, but at present there are only three professors working to further build the program, which has no official courses at present. They are attempting to educate high-schoolers to the possibility of studying astronomy, and hope that future entering classes at UNAN will help further solidify the program, which for now is part of the physics department.

A talk was set-up by the enthusiastic and well-intentioned director of the physics department, Karla Ubieta Huete. Between professors and students, 30-40 people were in attendance. A tough crowd, as it was difficult to get much of a discussion going, but nonetheless a productive exercise.

While the lack of interaction was likely mostly due to timidity, the limited specializations of medical physics and geophysics appears to have stifled the curiosity and awareness of most of the students as to what physics represents, and what scientific investigation is all about.

Also, what exactly is medical physics in the minds of these students, and why is it so popular in comparison to all other areas of physics? Two students mentioned forensics and their interest due to TV shows like CSI. Really, that's why you're studying physics? Needless to say, many first year medical physics students end up dropping out of the program after being introduced to general physics courses and calculus.

After the talk, Aitor led me to the newly-built Institute for Geology and Geophysics, well-isolated from the rest of campus. A modern facility devoted to research, and funded primarily through foreign investment, this place was a strange contrast to what I'd encountered exploring the main campus. There's a multi-national masters program in geology and all professors have post-grad degrees and the majority are Nicaraguan.

This institute is essentially the standard being aimed for in developing countries, and the positive is that its presence shows that high level research institutes can exist in places like Nicaragua. The negative is its isolation and unwillingness to include the pre-grad physics students at UNAN in research opportunities and higher-level instruction.

Politics between the physics department and the institute appear to be the primary problem, and Director Huete has hopes for mending the problems between certain people and establishing a sharing of resources. In addition to making this connection, her primary goals at the moment are to re-implement a general physics degree (2013 is the projected re-commencement), and establish a masters program. She's in contact with members of physics departments in several Latin countries to achieve this final end.