Dr. Vytautas Bieliauskas

NATO Supports Environmental Research in Lithuania

Prof. Klaus Willeke

The Scientific and Environmental Affairs Division of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium, awarded a "Linkage Grant" to Dr. Klaus Willeke, Professor of Environmental Health at the University of Cincinnati. The grant was intended for collaboration between his Aerosol Research and Exposure Assessment Laboratory and the Fizikos Institutas (Physics Institute) and the Botanikos Institutas (Botanical Institute) in Vilnius. The cooperation partner in Lithuanian is Dr. Arvydas Juozaitis, head of the Aplinkos Fizikos ir Chemijos Laboratorija (Environmental Physics and Chemistry Laboratory) at the Fizikos Institutas.

The collaborating partners, in support of the project "Relationship between Air-and Waterborne Microorganisms in Baltic Waters", will spend the award of $24,000 on international travel. In addition, the funds enabled four Lithuanian scientists to travel to the University of Cincinnati and four scientists from Dr. Willeke’s group to travel to Lithuania to collaborate on this project.

The objective of the research project is to measure the concentration and viability of microorganisms in the water on both sides of the Kuronian split (Neringa), both of which are highly polluted, but by different sources. These measurements will be related to similar microbial measurements in the air above and near these waters, and a relationship will be sought between the sources, transport, and survival of these microorganisms. The findings will be useful for environmental pollution monitoring and control.

Dr. Arvydas Juozaitis, Dr. Saulius Trakumas, Dr. Albinas Lugauskas, and Ph.D. Student Laima Sveistyte have already visited Cincinnati. A Lithuanian Ph.D. student in Professor Willeke’s research group, Gediminas Mainelis, will travel to Vilnius this year; while, Dr. Willeke will visit Lithuania in July for further project coordination.

Dr. Willeke has been supporting and training Lithuanian scientists long before he received the NATO grant. He first visited Lithuania in 1969, and has returned there several times. His wife, Audrone Barunaite Willeke, professor of German at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, has taught him to speak some Lithuanian.

The first Lithuanian scientist to work in his laboratory at the University of Cincinnati (which also includes scientists from many other nations) was Dr. Juozaitis who was there from 1991 to 1993. Dr. Willeke brought him and his family to the U.S. before the collapse of the Soviet Union when such arrangements were still difficult to make. When Dr. Juozaitis returned to the Fizikos Institutas, he became one of the first scientists to receive a Ph.D. in independent Lithuania. Dr. Willeke served on his Ph.D. committee and was present at this dissertation defense in Vilnius. Dr. Juozaitis completed his dissertation in large part on work performed at the University of Cincinnati.

The next researcher who joined Dr. Willeke’s group was Dr. Vidmantas Ulevicius, also from the Fizikos Institutas, spending two and a half years in the U.S. The Lithuanian community of Cincinnati has warmly welcomed these scientists and their families. Their children adapted to the new environment quickly, and did exceptionally well in school. Building on their experience in the West, Drs. Juozaitis and Ulevicius have now several research projects with Western partners, and are models for their colleagues in Lithuania.

Through efforts such as those by Dr. Willeke, a number of Lithuanian scientists have become familiar and competitive with Western science. It is hoped that more Western scientists will dedicate their time toward this aim.