15 June 2006

M. Alain Kagan

Président

Les Amis du Centre France-Stanford

Dear Alain,

I am delighted to hear of the constitution of "Les Amis du Centre France-Stanford.” It is a great privilege to be assured of the support of an association whose energies will be devoted to making the Center better known in France and to gaining support for its activities.

As you know, Center was created in 2003 with the goal of bringing together researchers and students from France and from Stanford to exchange ideas and approaches across the disciplines, to explore fundamental problems for our two societies, and to engage in new research collaborations.  To date, we have been pursuing several ways of achieving this goal.  One way is to organize conferences addressing crucial issues of concern to our two societies from different disciplinary and national approaches.  By this means, we can advance comprehension of our common world, deepen the understanding of the nature and implications of divergent assumptions and research perspectives, and create new networks among French and Stanford researchers. A second way is to provide support for collaborative research projects jointly proposed by groups of French and Stanford researchers.  The aim in this regard is to provide seed money for projects that promise to open up possibilities for new collaborations and interdisciplinary investigations, especially those encouraging the participation of younger researchers, post-docs, and students.  A third way is to create a broad set of opportunities for visits, exchanges, and internships, especially for students and junior researchers.  We have made substantial progress in developing our programs and are eager to advance them still further.

Our forthcoming conference on “Nanotechnology and Ethics,” organized by Jean-Pierre Dupuy who teaches both at Ecole Polytechnique and at Stanford, will be held in Avignon in December 2006.  It will be the first of our conferences held in France, and we very much hope that you and some of your colleagues will be able to attend and help make it a probing intellectual exploration of a topic with so many crucial implications.

Allow me thank you and your colleagues most sincerely, both personally and on behalf of the entire Executive Committee of the France-Stanford Centre, for your commitment to the Center’s goals and your confidence in its future.  Your encouragement, and your help in securing support for continuing and extending its activities, will be of enormous importance to us as we move forward with this exciting and ambitious endeavor.

With sincere regards,

Keith Michael Baker

Jean-Paul Gimon Director of the France Stanford Center