Promoting networking and cultural, scientific, academic, and technological cooperation between the US scientific community and public and private organizations in Italy. This is the goal of ISSNAF (Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation), a nonprofit organization that connects more than 3,000 scholars, researchers, and technologists in North America.
Under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, ISSNAF was founded in 2007 by 36 eminent Italian scientists and scholars in North America, including four Nobel laureates, under the auspices of the Italian Embassy in Washington DC. The organization has a central leadership and a network of nine chapters, which represent the organization locally. In recent years there has been a particular sensitivity within the organization to activities related to the Los Angeles area. “The Foundation has a tradition on the West Coast,” Emanuele Amendola, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Westwood, tells us. “The Los Angeles chapter is developing now and is still in a process of transformation. To facilitate its development, we have launched together with the consulate a program of three events -two already held, one scheduled for April- under the aegis of ‘Building a Sustainable Future’ and involving the best of Italian research representatives in Southern California.”
Thus, the goal is to launch a Los Angeles ISSNAF chapter at the next Research Day to be held on April 15, 2023. ISSNAF President and deputy chief scientist at the NASA JPL laboratory in Pasadena, Cinzia Zuffada, explains that: “The common denominator of these events is sustainability; within this more general theme, we found two sub-themes: the first is artificial intelligence and the second is space. The consulate wants to follow the directions given by the government, which decided to dedicate the 15th of December to celebrating Italian contributions to space. Indeed, we should remember that Italy was the third country, after the United States and Russia, to launch a satellite into space. The April event, on the other hand, will be dedicated to Italian research in the world, and celebrated on the day of Leonardo Da Vinci’s birth.”
“At ISSNAF, we believe that Italian intellectual talent is a powerful resource that benefits humanity. Professionals who have studied in Italy and moved to North America bring a unique intellectual and cultural background that is valuable not only to their professional fields but also to their colleagues in North America and Italy. We are committed to making the Italian intellectual diaspora in North America accessible, enriched, and recognized.” Zuffada continues. “ISSNAF chapters carry out the foundation’s mission at the local level with the support of active members and volunteers. The mission is to connect, empower and celebrate the Italian intellectual ‘diaspora’ in North America.”
Cinzia Zuffada, an electrical engineer, has lived in the US since 1985, where she has worked as a researcher in the field of earth sciences. As a senior manager at JPL Laboratory, she sets the guidelines, scientific directions, and projects in the internal research funds investment program. “Through my position as a manager at JPL, I can facilitate opportunities for joint research experiences with Italians and allow these collaborations to endure: an example of ISSNAF’s commitment to building bridges between the US and Italy,” Zuffada says. “We recently started working with two universities in Italy, the University of Pisa and the Polytechnic University of Turin. The goal is to give selected students access to training experiences in institutions in North America and to enhance disciplinary areas where collaborations between Italian universities and the research centers we represent do not yet exist. In Italy, these types of collaborations are still limited, and we help precisely to fill this deficit. Los Angeles has very important universities and a pool of work that is based on innovation produced by research: Silicon Beach, the aerospace industry, and so on are examples of industries that use a lot of research.”
“The ISSNAF network represents all disciplines: medicine, biology, the fields of biotechnology, physics, engineering,” Zuffada explains, “as well as artificial intelligence and robotics, but also the social sciences, humanities, and economics.”
It was founded 15 years ago thanks to Professor Giorgio Einaudi, then a scientific attaché at the Italian Embassy in Washington, who recognized how valuable Italian scientists and researchers on US soil could be an outstanding resource for Italy as well. “Einaudi had a special charisma and was a very energetic person. The organization took shape and its first president was Vito Campese, a professor at USC, who remained in office until the end of 2019.” Zuffada tells us that Einaudi, Campese, and other founding members were part of the first generation through which several collaborative projects were set up with entities in Italy, such as the Ministry of the Environment, the National Council of Engineers and the Marche Foundation, to facilitate the mobility of young people from Italy. “The Marche Foundation has funded, for several years, many scholarships to young Italian Ph.Ds for post-docs at American research laboratories, identified thanks to ISSNAF. We would like to keep and expand this type of educational experience that can enrich Italy, once these young people return home.”
In addition, each year the annual ISSNAF event celebrates the achievements of outstanding Italian researchers in North America by presenting several awards. The ISSNAF awards honor young early-career researchers, who have particularly distinguished themselves; the ISSNAF Career Achievement Award, on the other hand, celebrates people of Italian descent who have honored Italy and made significant contributions to research, leadership, and mentoring.
“We are an association of volunteers; we on the board contribute funds to the association as well as time, we have a kind of double duty. The contributions from our sponsors to the awards, we use to give to young people.” Each prize is $5,000: $3,000 goes to the winner and $2,000 is divided among three finalists to help them travel to the embassy in Washington, D.C., where the prize is presented. Most of our resources are spent for the benefit of young newcomers to the US, in whom we first-generation people “see ourselves,” as we have the immigration experience in common. I hope others will feel the same motivation, and that we will be able to involve all interested entities to financially support our mission.”
And how did research and the opportunity for Italian researchers to do research in the US change in the last few decades?
“Talking about my field, space, the fundamental change has been the presence of new participants like SpaceX and the “new space” ecosystem, that does many of the activities once historically connected to NASA. The change is that we have more agility, let’s say. The community itself has grown so much, but the opportunities have not grown proportionally. In some ways, it is a tad more difficult for young people because there is so much competition. From my point of view though, this also constitutes a very important opportunity.”
In addition to concretely facilitating the reception of Italians in US research centers represented by their members, local chapters are also rallying points for new ideas and bringing the organization into contact with the public. “In the long run, we would like the chapters to remain an important interlocutor for the Consulate and the Italian Cultural Institute,” Zuffada concludes, “and to be a resource to draw on when Consulates and Cultural Institutes devote themselves to specific issues related to research and innovation.”
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