U.S.-Egypt Science & Technology Joint Fund Quarterly Report

The fund aims to promote scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries. The quarterly report submitted by NAS on January 30, 2019, provides an update on the fund's activities during the first quarter of fiscal year 2019. During this quarter, the U.S.-Egypt S&T Joint Fund's second symposium was held in Cairo for collaborative grantees from Cycles 17 and 18. The symposium provided an opportunity for grantees to meet other program participants, discuss their research plans, and present the outcomes of past collaborative scientific research projects. Twelve Cycle 18 projects submitted their first round of semi-annual reports, which covered project activities from March 1 to August 31, 2018. These reports and NAS's comments on the reports were shared with USAID. NAS staff conducted a site visit to the U.S. institution of the project "Water Desalination Using Solar-Powered Capacitive Deionization Technology and Abundant Natural Resources" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Site visits were also planned for January 2019 to the U.S. institutions of three other projects: "Biorefinery Residue-Based Bionanocomposite Encapsulated Fertilizer for Controlled Release Nanofertilizer" at the University of Florida, "Food Quality in Egypt: Screening for Contamination with Pesticides Using Innovative VHH Antibody-Based Assays and Biosensors" at the University of California, Davis, and "Genome Editing in Sorghum for Improving Biofuel Production and Forage Quality" at the University of Florida. The Cycle 19 review process was initiated in December, with NAS emailing all eligible U.S. collaborative PI applicants to inform them that funding decisions had not yet been finalized. Updates will be provided by NAS as soon as possible. The Joint Fund Symposium, held on November 3rd to 5th in Cairo, highlighted the plans and accomplishments of current and former grantees of the Joint Fund. During this quarter, NAS initiated several activities related to alumni impact and outreach for the U.S.-Egypt S&T Joint Fund. These efforts included drafting close-out and annual follow-up surveys for sub-awards managed by NAS. NAS also organized calls with USAID, the Department of State, and the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to discuss program updates. The program's annual report was submitted to USAID on November 30th, and a quarterly accrual report was sent to USAID on December 10th. Looking ahead to the next quarter, the fifth round of semi-annual reports for the Cycle 17 projects will be due on January 31st, 2019. The first semi-annual reports for three Cycle 18 projects will also be due on the same day, while the first annual reports for the other twelve Cycle 18 projects will be due on March 5th. NAS will share these reports with USAID. The organization will also coordinate with USAID, the Department of State, and STDF to organize the next U.S.-Egypt Joint Board Meeting.