Education
Florida State University establishes new model to foster international research collaborations
One collaboration that illustrates the program’s impact brought together Namrata Gundiah, a professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, and Tristan Driscoll, assistant professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. While this was their first time meeting each other in-person, Gundiah and Driscoll had already collaborated on a paper published earlier this year examining how cells respond to mechanical forces.
“This was an occasion for us to actually meet in person and also learn a few new things and build on this initial paper that we had,” Gundiah said.
The VSPP helped Gundiah and Driscoll identify three potential areas for collaboration and future grant proposals, building on their shared interest in how mechanical forces influence cellular behavior and disease progression. By combining Driscoll’s expertise in cellular force measurement with Gundiah’s advanced platforms for applying controlled mechanical stress, the researchers aim to better understand disease processes and pursue new approaches for therapeutic discovery for conditions like Marfan syndrome and lymphedema.
“It’s important for us to step out of our comfort zone periodically,” Gundiah said. “I am at a point in my life where I’m willing to look outside and think more globally about not just my own research, but what I bring back to my community in India.”
Housed in the Office of the Provost, the VSPP receives strategic oversight from the Office for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation and is implemented by the Learning Systems Institute (LSI), which conducts research and develops evidence-based interventions to improve individual and organizational performance. The Center for Global Engagement also supported the program’s launch by helping coordinate operations and facilitating immigration and onboarding processes for the visiting scholars.
The initiative was originally conceptualized by Farrukh Alvi, senior associate provost for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation and the Don Fuqua Eminent Scholar and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the FAMU–FSU College of Engineering.
Alvi embarked on an eight-day visit to some of the top institutions in India in 2025, where discussions with university leaders evolved into a new framework for long-term institutional partnerships.
Deborah Gautier, director of FSU’s Strategic Initiatives and Innovation in the Office of the Provost, has worked alongside Alvi since the program’s inception, helping coordinate the initiative’s development, plan strategic engagements with partner institutions and support negotiations of memoranda of understanding with participating universities.
Home to some of the world’s fastest-growing research and technology institutions, India offers significant opportunities for long-term global research collaboration.
“It’s about building connections with experts in their domains across the world and bringing together complementary expertise to solve bigger problems and provide better training and education — not just in Florida or in Tallahassee or in the U.S., but across the world,” Alvi said.
“It’s about building connections with experts in their domains across the world and bringing together complementary expertise to solve bigger problems and provide better training and education — not just in Florida or in Tallahassee or in the U.S., but across the world”
– Farrukh Alvi, senior associate provost for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation
Participating partner institutions included the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). FSU has established or is finalizing MOUs with all four universities and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) to expand international research and academic partnerships.
Vilma Fuentes, director of FSU’s Ukraine Task Force and visiting associate in research at LSI, served as the inaugural program director of the VSPP.
An experienced leader of international exchange programs, Fuentes previously implemented 15 Community College Administrator Programs (CCAP), bringing higher education leaders from around the world to the United States to explore the community college system and gain insight into its administrative practices and academic opportunities. She has also hosted several cohorts of BridgeUSA Fellows from Ukraine at FSU.
“I had the privilege of seeing magic happen before my eyes,” Fuentes said. “These types of research partnerships require intentionality. We can say, ‘it was serendipity’ — two different researchers met at a conference and made a connection. But with intention and purpose, we can achieve so much more.”
“It’s about building connections with experts in their domains across the world and bringing together complementary expertise to solve bigger problems and provide better training and education — not just in Florida or in Tallahassee or in the U.S., but across the world”
– Vilma Fuentes, VSPP program director
Through the program’s immersive structure, this year’s scholars explored FSU’s world-class facilities, including the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab), the Challenger Learning Center, FSU Libraries, the Innovation Hub, IGNITE Tallahassee, Florida Institute for Pediatric Rare Diseases and the Florida Center for Advanced Aero-Propulsion (FCAAP), which Alvi helped establish at FSU in 2008.
