The need to create a medium to coordinate the efforts of the worldwide
Tunisian scientific community for the purpose of scientific and
technological development has always existed. For this purpose,
Tunisian students and professionals in North America established
the Tunisian Scientific Society (TSS) in 1986 as an apolitical,
not-for-profit organization registered in the city of Champaign,
Illinois, USA. Ever since its creation, TSS has been experiencing
steady growth in terms of program variety, quality, and effectiveness.
Up to now, more than 2000 students and scientists have become
at one time or another members of TSS. Members of TSS can be found
everywhere in the world (US., Canada, Tunisia, Japan, Europe,
Australia,..). A considerable number of professionals are currently
joining TSS. This is in tune with the adaptation of the association
to the ever increasing number of students becoming professionals
in North America and abroad. Being a not-for-profit organization,
TSS sponsors its different activities and publications through
membership fees and donations from industrial and academic institutions.
In order to involve itself in larger scale projects of transfer
of technology to Tunisia, TSS is now seeking sizable funding from
different Foundations based in the US. and Canada. Several cooperation
proposals between TSS on one hand, and international development
agencies (ACID, UNSAID, TOKEN, UNDO) on the other hand are being
studied by the members of the TSS executive committee.
I. Objectives
TSS is a scientific organization whose main objectives are:
II. Means
In order to achieve these objectives, TSS is undertaking the following activities:
1. organizing local meetings and regional seminars throughout North America; these seminars address issues in all fields of science, technology, business and economics;
2. organizing an annual summer seminar in Tunisia;
3. publishing the Tunisian Scientific Magazine (TM) seem-annually;
4. establishing cooperative relations with Tunisian and North American companies by means of Toss's Industrial Consortium (TSS-IC);
5. collecting important books and public domain software as part of TSS's Book and Software Library (BSL);
6. providing published scientific information to the Tunisian scientific community through the Research Partnership Program (RPP); and
7. publishing a quarterly newsletter and other publications (scientific guide, technical reports resume book,..)
More descriptive material on these activities is found in the
next sections of this information packet.
TSS's respectable performance can be attributed to its simple,
yet efficient structure. The yearly congress, which is the supreme
legislative body of the association, defines its orientations
and elects an executive committee to implement its recommendations
and ensure the functioning of the association.
I. Annual Congress
II. Executive Body
TSS executives are elected for a one year mandate during the annual
congress held each month of December. The executive committee
consists of six members: president, general secretary, secretary
for administrative affairs, secretary for scientific affairs,
TSM editor, and secretary for publications and information. These
members work to ensure the well being of the organization and
the implementation of the congress recommendations.
III. Local Chapters
TSS has more than 40 local chapters throughout North America,
and in Europe, Australia, and Japan. By definition, a local chapter
is a group of TSS members from the same location. Each chapter
has its proper functioning dynamics and is represented by a local
committee which oversees the organization of local activities
and coordinates with the TSS executive committee. Coordinating
the joint activities of nearby chapters is assigned to a regional
delegate. The general secretariat which is composed of regional
delegates assists local committees in organizing major activities.
By joining TSS, members contribute to the noble cause of participating
in the scientific and technological progress of Tunisia. In addition,
membership in TSS entitles members to the following privileges:
I. Local Meetings
These are scientific and/or friendship meetings. Members of local
chapters hold regular meetings to debate current scientific concerns,
plan local or regional activities, and socialize.
II. Conferences and Regional Seminars
TSS members can also participate in a large number of conferences. Conferences may be centered around a main theme or
may be general. These conferences are held at the local, regional,
or international level.
III. Summer Seminar
TSS has made it a tradition to organize a yearly summer seminar
in Tunisia. This event usually includes high-caliber presentations
about a central theme and expositions by companies and organizations.
This seminar represents a valuable opportunity for interactions
between the industrial and academic communities in Tunisia.
IV. Forums & Expositions
TSS also organizes forums and expositions which provide its members
with opportunities to present their research work, their products,
and their services. Expositions are usually held during the summer
seminar or regional seminars in North America.
V. Accelerated Courses
Members of TSS can also profit from training sessions and accelerated
short courses in different fields. These sessions are usually
made available in Tunisia and are offered by experts in the corresponding
fields.
VI. Guided Visits
These tours are organized at the local or regional level to industrial
centers, research centers, and institutions involved in the different
fields of science and technology.
I. Industrial Consortium (TSS-IC)
1. Mission Statement
The Industrial Consortium (IC) project was initiated in 1989 as
a corner-stone activity of the Tunisian Scientific Society. Its
mission is to help in the technology transfer process which constitutes
a major goal of TSS. The IC accomplishes this goal by providing
scientific and technological services to its member companies.
Through the IC, interested students and researchers are made aware
of the state-of-the-art in all sectors of the Tunisian industry.
This awareness should prompt TSS, through its technical committees,
to suggest improvements and present new methods in the form of
technical reports. Besides the technical and scientific information,
the IC works to create opportunities for cooperation, jobs, and
joint ventures and seeks practical training and internship opportunities
for Tunisian students in Tunisia and in North America.
2. TSS-IC Structure
TSS-IC consists of three basic components that must interact according to some rules in order to produce an efficient and fruitful program: the IC committee, the member companies, and TSS technical committees.
i. IC Committee comprises the IC director and a group of TSS members who have expressed their readiness to help run the consortium.
ii. Member Companies are Tunisian private as well as governmental companies. Foreign companies interested in the Tunisian market and with whom interaction benefits the transfer of technology to Tunisia are also eligible for membership. Depending on the level of service rendered by the IC, a company can select to become a regular or an associate member of the consortium.
iii. Technical Committees are groups of professionals and researchers
with common scientific interests. These committees which are under
the direction of the TSS secretary for scientific affairs are
essential in providing the technical and scientific information
requested by IC member companies. The expertise of its members
are on constant demand in order to provide answers, suggestions,
and pertinent references to the problems raised by the IC membership.
3. Membership and Services
i. Regular Company Members: regular members of the IC receive all TSS publications which include the quarterly TSS Newsletter, the semi-annually Tunisian Scientific Magazine (TSM), and the annual Tunisian Scientific Guide (TSG) which contains information on all TSS members including their areas of specialty and dissertation abstracts. Regular members also receive Technical Committee Reports which are published on the basis of material availability and contain technical information in the different areas covered by the Technical Committees. Regular members are also invited to attend the yearly Summer seminar.
ii. Associate Company Members: in addition to the services offered
to Regular members, Associate members can request technical reports
to be prepared in areas of their choice. A maximum of two (2)
technical reports may be requested by one Associate member each
year. The report cannot address a problem which is specific to
the company as the consortium is not a consulting service. However,
the report can address areas which are closely related to the
company's field.
4. IC Job Bulletin
This bulletin will contain information about job opportunities
with TSS-IC member companies. The TSS-IC Job Bulletin will be
distributed, on a subscription basis, to Tunisian students and
professionals.
II. Book & Software Library
The main activity in the BSL is to collect valuable books, key
publications, and public domain, shareware, and free educational
software for shipment to educational and research institutions
or to a future TSS library in Tunisia. For the past couple of
years, different TSS chapters in North America have coordinated
the tasks related to the BSL project. Many books have collected
and shipped to Tunisia. Many more books are being collected while
many others are stored awaiting shipping. The major difficulties
faced by the BSL project are the prohibitive shipping costs and
the logistics of the program. While in operation, a more efficient
structure for the BSL project is being developed and efforts are
being made to raise funds or to arrange for shipping.
III. Research Partnership Program (RPP)
TSS has always been committed to developing multiple strategies
aimed at meeting its objective of effecting technology transfer.
One possible strategy which has been outlined over time is the
transfer of scientific knowledge from the technologically advanced
countries to Tunisia. Our most recent endeavor, the Research Partnership
Program (RPP) is an effort to make concrete the aforementioned
strategy, of transferring scientific knowledge.
1. Objectives
The objectives of RPP are:
i. Collective Work on Technology Transfer: organize the base of Tunisians and others interested in such a project towards collectively conceiving the process of technology transfer. This is aimed at developing a cohesive set of actions rather than relying on isolated efforts of few.
ii. Enhancing the Quality of the Research Environment in Tunisia: researchers, students and teachers in Tunisia should have prompt access to journals, databases, conference announcements, new software, etc. This is to be established through RPP correspondents located in the more technologically advanced countries.
iii. Critical Evaluations of Applicability: the RPP program also aims at developing a critical view of the acculturation process that we encounter in our lives abroad. It is very crucial for the success of RPP that we develop a strategy for self-examination. Some of our conceptions are hardly relevant to the requirements of a developing economy like Tunisia. The strategy of critical self-examination which RPP promotes is meant to guard against such inapplicable conceptualizations. This is seen as a valuable objective so as to understand the appropriate ways to enact technology transfer and further the cause of economic welfare in a system which holds a differing world view. The RPP by associating researchers in North America with their colleagues in Tunisia can bring these world views to a good balance.
iv. Keeping Tunisian Educational Institutions on the Cutting Edge
of New Developments: a corollary of all TSS activities and of
the RPP in particular is to ensure that scientific knowledge dispensed
in Tunisia is up-to-date.
2. Content and Scope
To meet the above objectives the RPP envisages the following activities:
i. Publications: periodic publication of research directories that cover up-to-date publications in the different areas of business and engineering.
ii. Specific Query Handling: making available a facility for Tunisian students and researchers to contact the RPP program directly so that we could facilitate their research endeavors. Purchasing or copying, and mailing of research material upon request of students or faculty in Tunisia is planned through such a facility.
iii. Institutional Contact: establishment of durable contacts
between research institutions in Tunisia and North America.
3. Structure
RPP is structured around a liaison member whose tasks are:
i. Coordination: organize and coordinate a network of members in North America.
ii. Facilitating RPP Use by Tunisians in Tunisia: establish durable contacts with correspondents in Tunisia from the student, faculty, and administrative bodies. Further, he/she will elaborate these contacts and acquaint them with the activities of RPP so that they could participate in RPP activities and make the maximum use of its scope.
iii. Facilitating One to One Contact: maintain the liaison between RPP members in North America and RPP participants in Tunisia.
iv. Redefining and Updating RPP: identify opportunities both in Tunisia and in North America to create and modify the RPP activities and to be constantly taking the initiative to update its structure, redefine its scope and tune it to changing and emerging needs.
IV. Committee on University Cooperation (CUC)
In response to a previous request made by Dr. Mongi Safra, Secretary
of State for Science and Technology (SERST) during TSS Congress
January, 1995, for a formal proposal regarding potential cooperation
between academic and research institutions in North America and
Tunisia, TSS has assembled an ad-hoc committee to develop a set
of recommendations for getting such a program off the ground.
The committee consisted of Professor Saifallah Ben Jaafar (University
of Minnesota, USA), Professor Fathi Ghorbel (Rice University,
USA), Professor Fakhreddine Karray (Lakehead University, Canada),
and Professor Lamine Mili (Virginia Polytechnic Institute, USA).
The key recommendations of the committee are summarized below.
The committee felt that, in the first stage of the cooperation
program, efforts should be focused on the following activities:
In order to initiate these activities, the committee suggested
that a formal structure must first be in place. For example, a
set of official guidelines to be followed by parties interested
in submitting a proposal for collaboration must be adopted. In
the United States and in Canada, such guidelines exist at most
funding agencies, such as NSF, AID, and NIH, ACDI, NSERC, as well
as at most universities. Tunisian institutions may seek to establish
formal cooperation agreements with some of these institutions.
A budget and a small staff must also be allocated to coordinate
and manage these activities. For example, a central office for
cooperation with North America could be set up at SERST and would
be responsible for evaluating individual proposals, assisting
in identifying potential partners either in the North America
or in Tunisia, and allocating and distributing funds to participants.
The committee sees the role of TSS in this process as being a
point of contact between Tunisian Scientists and Researchers and
their North American Counterparts. Through its extensive network
of Tunisian researchers and academics residing in the United States
and Canada, TSS can provide a large database of potential partners.
Through its offices in North America, TSS can also provide information
regarding funding opportunities, as well as solicit such funding,
from government and private North American institutions. Unfortunately,
TSS does not currently have the financial means and staff support
required to carry out these activities. Therefore, the committee
recommends that a grant from SERST, or another Tunisian federal
agency, be made to TSS to help defray the cost of such a program.
Recently, an agreement was made between TSS and SERST through
which a funding of around $100,000 is allocated for joint research
proposals submitted by Tunisian researchers residing either in
Tunisia or abroad.
V. Committee on Technology Parks (CTP)
The subject of Technology Parks and their implementation has been
discussed in length during TSS Congress 1995. This is indeed a
major task TSS has undertaken to startup and implement. Our main
goal will be the coordination of preliminary activities that will
hopefully lead to a comprehensive report describing the main steps
to be taken to land a technology park in Tunisia, similar in spirit
to those in the United States, Europe and South Korea. Some of
our officials in Tunisia have shown great interest in working
with TSS in this undertaking and a follow up on what has been
discussed during the 1996 congress will be carried out by a TSS
committee. A specific key result should include a practical list
of recommendations and dates on how to set up a Technology park
in Tunisia. The plan should specify that we will involve private
industry representatives from Tunisia and North America, in addition
to Tunisian government officials, Tunisian university professors
and TSS-TN. We should also enlist the help or advice of others
who have gone through this (i.e., representatives of RTP in North
Carolina). To reinforce this task, it was decided that TSS summer
seminar for the year 1996 will have its theme on the practical
aspects of implementing a technology park in Tunisia. As usual,
TSS Tunisia will be a major player in this ambitious undertaking.
I. Tunisian Scientific Magazine (TSM)
TSM is the major publication of TSS. It was instituted as a space
for dialogue among researchers of different disciplinary communities
whose chief concern is the adaptation of advanced knowledge to
the reality of Tunisia and the Maghreb. It is hence meant to be
an expression of the fundamental philosophy of TSS and a device
to carry out the society's aims at enhancing the research environment
in Tunisia.
1. TSM Structure
The magazine content is mainly articulated around the need to bring Tunisian scientists to use their specialized knowledge in framing and developing approaches to emerging problems in a developing economy like Tunisia. The involvement of established researchers in Tunisia in joint research ventures with their expatriated colleagues has been constantly sought as a privileged mode of establishing a true research partnership.
2. Current Status
Since 1987, TSS member teams of dedicated full time students,
have ensured a good quality scientific journal in spite of several
problems. Articles from renowned scientists and practitioners
have insured a quality standing for TSM. The scope of the magazine
has been expanded each time a regular flow of quality research
papers had been secured for an existing stream. Apart from the
Special Report section which strives to develop research frameworks
conducive to transfer of knowledge in particular fields, new sections
that have been added along the way include book and software reviews,
notes on the history of Arab-Islamic science with futuristic implications,
interviews, summaries of research by TSS members, description
of TSS activities, announcement of scientific events in Tunisia
and advertisements of job and business opportunities in Tunisia
to name just a few.
3. Upgrading the Magazine
As we move further away from the times when we were unsure about
securing material for subsequent issues of the magazine, we need
to highlight once again the commitments that drive us forward.
More than ever, our endeavor is at making TSM the natural bridge
between the scientific and research communities in Tunisia and
North America. In keeping with such an enterprise, the content
of TSM is being currently upgraded further towards producing appropriate
knowledge about the kind of structures which will make the project
of transfer of knowledge a viable one. This shall be our philosophy
for the future.
II. TSS Newsletter
The TSS Newsletter is a quarterly publication which is mailed
to all TSS members. It contains news about the association, progress
reports on the various projects, short scientific articles, and
any information which may be of value to TSS members. The Newsletter
has appeared regularly since TSS's creation.
III. Other TSS Publications
1. TSS Scientific Guide
The Scientific Guide is a compilation of thesis/dissertation's abstracts of past and current TSS members. It also lists the publications of TSS members and describes their research interests. It is made available for all TSS members and to member companies of the Industrial Consortium.
2. Resumé Book
The Resume Book is a compilation of resumes of TSS members. It
is made available to Tunisian companies and to TSS members. This
publication facilitates job placement of Tunisian graduates and
enhances communications among the Tunisian scientific community
thereby creating opportunities for joint ventures and cooperation.
Last Name:.....................................................First
Name:........................................................
Citizenship:................................................................................................................................
Address:....................................................................................................................................
Email Address:..........................................................................................................................
Institution:.................................................................................................................................
Permanent Address:.................................................................................................................
Local TSS Representative:......................................................................................................
Degrees Obtained or in Course:......B.Sc.(A), .....M.Sc.(A.,
Eng.),.......Ph.D., ......Others.
Areas of Interest:........................................................................................................................
Join TSS as : .......Regular Member,........Associate
Member.
Membership Dues:....................................................................................................................
Student: 12$US/ 15$Cd/ 100 FF/ 10DT.
Professional:50$US/ 60$Cd/ 250FF/35DT.
Additional Fees for receiving:
TSM(per volume): 4$US/5$Cd/35FF/4DT.
Donations(Tax exempted):........................................................................................................
Total amount Enclosed:............................................................................................................
Date: ................................................Signature:..........................................................................
Please fill up this form and send it with your payment to:
TSS(membership),
TSS, TSS Information Kit,
PO Box 72, Hillsboro, Oregon 97123, USA