FAIRFAX, Va.---The Internet was just an intangible among Romania's academic elite before George Mason University's International Center for Applied Studies in Information Technology came on the scene in the early 1990s. The country's prestigious Academy of Sciences had produced a Nobel Prize winner, but its researchers had never accessed the information superhighway in any significant way.

Now, thanks to an Internet School developed by ICASIT director Stephen Ruth and his staff at George Mason, as part of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Internet is a critical tool for Romanian scientists in accessing software and research papers, networking with peers and improving the quality of academic research.

"This is a literal broadening of academic horizons," says Bryan Harter, a George Mason graduate student and co-manager of ICASIT, who traveled to Bucharest this summer to survey Internet School participants and conduct a lecture on business and the World Wide Web.

"ICASIT's Internet School is the first and only opportunity for most academy researchers to learn and use Internet technologies," says Harter. "We start with basic Internet concepts, then work with applications -- e-mail, gopher, World Wide Web, Harvest and Java."

Internet access providers, though available in Romania, are too expensive, especially in areas with a high rate of inflation, says Harter. ICASIT provides more than half of the computer terminals available to academy members. A donation from Sun Microsystems, a U.S. company that supplies workstations to scientists around the world, doubled Ruth's investment, adding five computers and making the center accessible to more scientists.

ICASIT's efforts have not gone unnoticed. The survey of Internet School participants revealed that the Internet is now the most important tool for progress within their respective disciplines -- mainly because of access to up-to-date information, the ability to collaborate and expand professional networks, and the timeliness and reliability of communications.

In comments e-mailed to Ruth, one participant emphasized "the enchantment of working on perfectly tuned equipment, offering the means to be directly connected to the whole world." Another wrote, "In spite of being overwhelmed by the immense quantity of information conveyed to us in only three days -- my main feeling is that it is wonderful to be connected to the world. Getting research papers through the Internet is a most valuable opportunity."

"We are establishing links -- expanding the horizons of people who for many years were cut off from the rest of the world," says Harry Barnes, director of conflict resolution programs at the Jimmy Carter Center in Atlanta and former U.S. ambassador to Romania, India and Chile, whohas been heavily involved with the Internet School project. "If I can judge by the enthusiasm of the students, this project has made a major contribution in Romania."

The Internet School is one of a dozen projects Ruth has developed in Romania as part of a $330,000 grant awarded by the Mellon Foundation in 1994.

"We have had the fullest cooperation from Romanian officials, especially Mihai Draganescu, president of the Romanian Academy of Science, and his staff," says Ruth. "Gheorghe Tecuci, a computer science professor at George Mason and a member of the Romanian Academy of Science, and I have received literally hundreds of thank-you notes from the students who have taken the course. They really feel it has changed their lives."

"By providing these Internet resources, ICASIT helps bridge the economic gap and helps the academy get the tools it needs," says Harter. "The West has a wealth of resources to offer, and we all benefit from sharing them. Not only is ICASIT heightening the quality of other countries' research by introducing them to Internet technologies, but it is forging global partnerships at the same time. It's spreading the wealth in the best sense of the term. This is exciting stuff."

Media Contact: Elena Barbre, (703) 993-8782; ebarbre@gmu.edu

site by

icasit