Theoretical Physics (ICTP). As an undergraduate physics student at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, Cachazo knew he needed to leave his home country to go “where physics was being developed at the frontier.” He got that opportunity as a student in ICTP’s yearlong postgraduate diploma program graduate school and a career in advanced research. “It’s almost like winning a lottery,” says Venezuelan particle theorist Freddy Cachazo about the chance to study at the Abdus Salam International Centre for(ICTP). As an undergraduatestudent at Simón Bolívar University in Caracas, Cachazo knew he needed to leave his home country to go “wherewas being developed at the frontier.” He got that opportunity as a student in, which prepares students from the developing world forschool and a career in advanced research.

ICTP

Cachazo would go on to complete his PhD at Harvard University and become a resident scientist at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, in Canada. He is also a recipient of several international physics prizes. For “shaping my future,” Cachazo gives credit to his mentors at the ICTP. “They were the architects of the path I would follow,” he says.

Soon it may not be necessary for students and scientists from developing countries to venture so far from home to pursue frontier physics. That’s because the ICTP—whose core mission is to conduct first-class research and to advance science in the developing world—is setting up proxy centers in the regions it serves. Five years ago ICTP director and Guatemalan national Fernando Quevedo made establishing regional centers of excellence a top priority, and this month it will be a centerpiece in strategic plans being unveiled at the ICTP’s golden anniversary conference. Other new initiatives are aimed at increasing the participation of women in ICTP activities—current participation is around 23%—and sending early-career scientists as ICTP ambassadors for short-term teaching assignments in some of the least-developed countries.

Physics Today, Quevedo notes that the ICTP already has a presence in the developing world. He cites the workshops, affiliated centers, and scientific networks it sponsors. However, regional centers will be “more accessible to students and scientists who cannot make it to Italy,” he says. Such centers are already operating in Brazil and Mexico (see April 2012, page 29 ). Another one opened in Turkey this spring, and the newest ones are getting started in China and Rwanda.

The problem of isolation Section: Choose Top of page ABSTRACT The problem of isolation << Region-specific research Setting an example Each regional center is expected to raise funds from local and regional donors; the ICTP, which reports to UNESCO and the International Atomic Energy Agency, receives nearly 80% of its €30 million ($40 million) operational budget from the Italian government. So far, host governments of the regional centers have provided research space at local universities, and the ICTP has provided some initial startup funding. At the ICTP in Trieste, outreach and educational activities include the postgraduate diploma program, graduate degree programs offered in collaboration with Italian universities, and an associates program for practicing scientists. Associates spend one- to two-month stints for up to six years conducting research and building collaborations. Physics Today Online.) Since its founding in 1964, the campus in Trieste has hosted more than 130 000 visitors, including 2500 associates—407 of them active this year—from 188 countries and some 600 diploma students from more than 100 developing countries. (For more examples of ICTP success stories, see “Developing theorists from the developing world” in the Singularities department atOnline.) Physics Today article “The International Center for Theoretical Physics” ( theory, high-energy physics, and the theory of plasma and solid-state physics.” Trieste has been the hub of ICTP activities that aim to address what founding director Salam called “the problem of isolation” in his March 1965article “The International Center forPhysics” ( page 52 ). The Pakistani particle theorist and eventual Nobel laureate wrote that the new center would be available for scientists from the developing world to visit “fairly frequently … to renew their contacts and engage in active research in fields like nuclearhigh-energyand theofandphysics.” physics, condensed-matter physics, Earth-system physics, applied physics, and mathematics. (The ICTP’s theoretical research programs, not including the newest one, are discussed in “The constant yet ever-changing Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics” by Juan Roederer, Physics Today, This year quantitative life sciences will become the newest research section at the ICTP; others are high-energycondensed-matterEarth-systemappliedand mathematics. (The ICTP’sresearch programs, not including the newest one, are discussed in “The constant yet ever-changing Abdus Salam International Centre forPhysics” by Juan Roederer, September 2001, page 31 .) According to Mohamed Hassan, a retired Sudanese nuclear fusion theorist, the “ICTP has really been the place where a scientist from the developing world can escape from the hectic life of teaching to do research and publish papers.” Had he not discovered the center during his early days as a lecturer at the University of Khartoum, Hassan says he would have abandoned research. “I may have kept teaching, or done something else, like soap manufacturing,” like his father did. Hassan was founding director of the World Academy of Sciences, also initiated by Salam and based in Trieste.

Region-specific research Section: Choose Top of page ABSTRACT The problem of isolation Region-specific research << Setting an example Brazil was the first country to host a regional center. Founded in 2012, the ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research “has the luxury to focus on fundamental topics” thanks to a strong legacy in physics education and to a growing industrial sector, says Quevedo. Last year at host institution São Paulo State University, it held 15 regional and international workshops, meetings, and summer schools on such subjects as quantum theory, cosmology, and dynamical systems in biology. In addition to fundamental physics and mathematical topics, the Mesoamerican Centre for Theoretical Physics in Mexico is focusing on energy and environment-related research. It is also working with the ICTP to create a program for students at universities in Central America and the Caribbean to earn physics or mathematics PhD degrees, which currently are not offered in the region. Located on the campus of the Autonomous University of Chiapas, the center hosted four scientific meetings in 2013, thanks to $200 000 from CONACYT, Mexico’s science funding agency. Izmir Institute of Technology in Turkey theoretical subjects tied to technological applications. Energy, advanced materials, and bio-related topics are among the applications that acting director and condensed-matter physicist Tuğrul Senger lists as “compatible with the emergent needs of the developing countries in the region.” The ICTP–Eurasian Centre for Advanced Research, housed at the, will concentrate onsubjects tied to technological applications. Energy, advanced materials, and bio-related topics are among the applications that acting director and condensed-matterTuğrul Senger lists as “compatible with the emergent needs of the developing countries in the region.” ICTP-ECAR Former ICTP associate Yue-Liang Wu is helping to put plans in place for the Beijing-based ICTP–Asia Pacific. The center has secured space on the Yanqi Lake campus of the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Wu, who is currently director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China, says he expects that ICTP–Asia Pacific will train many of the 200 graduate students that the university admits annually from developing countries. Despite its United Nations designation as one of the world’s least developed countries, “Rwanda is one of the countries [on the African] continent most committed to using science for reducing poverty and increasing wealth,” says mathematical physicist Romain Murenzi, director of the World Academy of Sciences and a former Rwandan science minister. The country’s capital, Kigali, is hosting the ICTP East African Centre for Fundamental Research at the University of Rwanda. Initially, the center will focus on funneling students to the ICTP’s postgraduate diploma program in Trieste, and to master’s degree programs in medical physics and high-performance computing at the University of Rwanda.