Scientists and engineers in economic development (SEED)

and LDC scientists in conducting development-related research. Final PES covers the period 11/77-2/83 and is based on document review, interviews with LDC participants, and questionnaires administered to U.S. scientists both in and out of the project. During the project"s life, 229 small travel and subsistence grants were awarded to U.S. scientists and engineers on sabbatical leave to conduct research and/or to teach in over 50 of the poorer LDC"s. The project thus demonstrated its novel hypothesis that U.S./LDC scientific collaboration could be promoted by the small grant approach, which also provided short- to medium-term collaboration at a quarter of the cost of contract or direct-hire employees. The project purpose was realized. Some 80% of project scientists believed they helped improve the curriculum in the 50 participating LDC institutions, while 60% believed they improved both the relevance of LDC scientific research to development goals and institutional research capabilities. Of the 194 participating U.S. scientists, 178 established contact with new colleagues and 170 maintained this contact after returning home. While advancement of personal research was not a project objective, 71% of U.S. scientists did produce written products. The project demonstrated the feasibility of cost-sharing by several institutions and individual scientists, the potential for cooperation between A.I.D. and NSF professional staffs, NSF"s ability to organize efficient peer review processes, and the willingness of U.S. scientists to help LDC colleagues solve development problems. On the other hand side, the project design required considerable A.I.D. management time (although frequent changes in project management at both A.I.D. and NSF did not hamper the project) and a need was noted to keep USAID"s continually informed during the implementation period. The project"s success should be kept in mind in light of the currently high LDC demand for donor support of modest, short-term adaptive research. Attached is a concept paper describing a possible A.I.D.-NSF project involving a competitive small grants research program.