CLS: Glenn Schweitzer

A future at risk: If Ukraine survives, then what?

During recent years, Ukraine has taken many steps to begin to establish a western-style research, development and commercialization infrastructure that would increase the scientific capabilities and performance of the country. Still the country lagged behind in comparison with many other countries in building and retaining a vibrant workforce, in capitalizing on achievements in the laboratories, and in contending with corruption.

Now, with many, if not most, of the cornerstone facilities in disarray, with the death toll of scientific workers increasing every day, and the uncertainty as to how many of the Ukrainian talented scientists will eventually return, a few examples of the dire laboratory facilities will be explored.

The future of facilities in the Chernobyl area and at the nuclear power sites that are an important backbone for electrical power throughout the country will be highlighted. As to western assistance, the widely heralded Marshall Plan for Ukraine will be discussed.

From 1963-1966, Glenn Schweitzer was the first Science Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, USSR. While focusing on developments in the Russian territory of the USSR, he occasionally met with Ukrainian scientists in Kiev, Odessa and Yalta to identify opportunities for scientific cooperation.

Then after 20 years focusing on environmental challenges in the U.S., he returned to the Ukraine in 1986 on behalf of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to help organize the international response to the environmental damage from the Chernobyl disaster. Since that time, he has been the NAS Director of the Program for Central Europe and Eurasia (1986-1992 and 1994-present), with his most recent attention focused on contributing to the extent possible in beginning to restore the lost scientific capabilities of Ukraine.