Building on trust and mutual respect established over a twenty-five year history of working in Asia, PISA prepares leaders for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century and mobilizes networks of scholars, policy makers, and advocates on both sides of the Pacific to address urgent national and transnational concerns.

Director's Note

On July 28th, the PISA Summer Institute on Global Climate Change (PSIGCC) wrapped up with a closing ceremony at which Dr. David B. Dewitt, Chair of the PISA Executive Committee and the Hon. Nguyen Tien Minh, Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, honored the participants with congratulatory remarks.

The day's excitement began as three teams of PSIGCC participants vied for one mini-grant award to implement a climate mitigation project in their home country, Vietnam. Proposals for Vietnam's urban, coastal, and mountainous areas were presented to a panel of judges comprised of Ms. Rebecca Ng, Program Officer for the Greater Mekong Project of the World Wildlife Fund; Professor Elizabeth Chacko of the GWU Geography Department, and Dr. Dewitt. Long, thoughtful deliberation declared the Mountain Group as the winner of the $7,500 mini-grant. The Mountain Group team members, Dr. Doan Duc Lan, Dr. Nguyen Kim Loi, Ms. Tran Thi Hong, and Ms. Nguyen Hong Anh will use the grant to improve the lives of residents in Son La Province by saving the forest ecosystem from further degradation through introducing solar ovens. PISA looks forward to reporting on the project's progress as it unfolds.

From my base at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, I anticipate establishing new partnerships in Europe and broadening PISA's network in the region. Governance on global climate change is a huge concern to European researchers and policy makers and the University of Helsinki's houses a Centre of Excellence in Global Governance Research for which climate change and global environmental protection is an ongoing concern. My presence here offers the opportunity to develop distinctive cross-regional programs to the benefit of our long-standing partners in Asia and North America.