From May 23 to June 27, 2001, I visited Gifu University, Gifu, Japan, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India and Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. The purposes of this visitation were threefold. 1. To solidify the ongoing joint research activities between Gifu and SDSU; 2. To discuss the use of the thermodynamic software under development at SDSU at Kharagpur; and 3. Present a technical paper in the Third Asian Pacific Conference on Combustion and make contacts with researchers from Seoul National and KAIST (Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology).

At Gifu, Professors Kazunori Wakai and Suhei Takahashi were my hosts. We reviewed the research result from the drop-tower tests acquired by the students working in our joint project, a project on flame spread in space environment, funded by NASA and Govt. of Japan. I also presented a seminar on American accreditation system in engineering education. We visited the International Center and had a conversation with the director regarding possible student exchanges. It was estimated that the expenses for a graduate student spending two semesters at Gifu, one of Japan's not-so-expensive cities, will not exceed $10,000. Special accommodation at the International Student Dormitory can be arranged for students from SDSU (Normally, there is a long line for this inexpensive accommodation).

Profs. Souvik Bhattacharyya and Sudeb Paul were my contacts at IIT, Kharagpur. They enthusiastically embraced the thermodynamic software we have developed. They will be recruiting students who can contribute to this project.

At Seoul, I chaired of one of the sessions and presented my paper on Microgravity Flame Spread in the combustion conference. Professor Suk-Ho Chung invited  me to spend a semester at Seoul. I also met with Profs. Baeg and Shin from KAIST, who were also attending the conference, and discussed ways to increase student exchange between Korean institutes and SDSU.

Currently I am supporting one student from Korea in my own research program. My goal is to increase this number and also convince some of my American graduate students to spend a year, or at least a semester, in Japan.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Office of International Program for funding my travels, and encourage my colleagues at SDSU to take advantage of this excellent opportunity provided by OIP.