America.gov - Engaging the world

The Science and Impacts of Climate Change

Discuss the science and impacts of climate change with John P. Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Dr. John P. Holdren is assistant to the president for science and technology, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). He holds advanced degrees in aerospace engineering and theoretical plasma physics from MIT and Stanford and is highly regarded for his work on energy technology and policy, global climate change, and nuclear arms control and nonproliferation.

If you would like to participate in this webchat, please go to https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/globalconversations/. No registration is needed. Simply choose "Enter as a Guest," type in your preferred screen name, and join the discussion. We accept questions and comments in advance of, and at any time during, the program.

Interfaith Dialogue — Online Discussion

This webchat will discuss the recently concluded Interfaith Dialogue held in Jakarta. The Interfaith Dialogue, part of a continuing global conversation, comes as part of President Obama’s call for a more open and face-to-face discussion of issues that affect people of all faiths. The speakers will also be discussing their own experiences.

Zeenat Rahman is the director of strategic partnerships at the Interfaith Youth Core. She oversees policy initiatives and international programs, as well as strategic media outreach, for the organization. She is a member of the Transatlantic Network 2020 — a program sponsored by the British Council — which seeks to create sustainable multilateral networks that engage future leaders from North America, the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe to collaboratively address global issues. She is a 2008–2009 fellow with the American Muslim Civic Leaders Institute at the University of Southern California's Center for Religion and Civic Culture. She completed her master's degree at the University of Chicago’s Center for Middle East Studies in June 2006.

Anggita (Gita) Paramesti is a student at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She has previously participated in the Youth Exchange Study Program as an exchange student in Vermont and was an international corresondent for the U.S. Department of State's radio program Greetings From America that broadcast in Indonesia.

If you would like to participate in this webchat, please go to https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/JakartaPAS. No registration is needed. Simply choose "Enter as a Guest," type in your preferred screen name, and join the discussion. We accept questions and comments in advance of, and at any time during, the program.

Freedom of Expression and Defamation of Religion

To recognize Religious Freedom Day (January 16), two experts conducted a global talk about "defamation of religion" and what it means in the international political context.

Salam Al-Marayati is the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). He speaks and writes extensively on Islam, human rights, democracy and Middle East politics. He also serves as an adviser to several political and civilian institutions seeking to understand the role of Islam and Muslims in America and throughout the world.

Dr. Philippa Strum is a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Previously, she served as director of U.S. studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center and was the Broeklundian professor of political science at the City University of New York. A prolific author, she is an expert on U.S. constitutional law and government, civil liberties, human rights and women’s issues.

The World Digital Library

This webchat discusses the history of the World Digital Library, its current projects, collaborations with libraries and archives overseas, and the future of the World Digital Library.

Michelle Rago is currently the technical project director of the World Digital Library at the Library of Congress.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation's 2010 Country Selection

The board of directors of the U.S. government's Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) held its quarterly meeting recently to discuss MCC country partnerships, selecting eligible countries for the agency's five-year grants to reduce poverty through economic growth. This webchat will discuss the countries that were selected for fiscal year 2010 and what their selection means for them.

Sherri G. Kraham is MCC's acting vice president for policy and international relations. She is part of MCC's executive management team, directing the department responsible for promoting policy reform in developing countries, managing the annual country selection process, and executing the Threshold Program. Her department also promotes aid effectiveness by developing policies and strategies for strengthening MCC's innovative approach to international development assistance.

Before joining MCC in 2004, Kraham worked at the U.S. Department of State for seven years, developing policies and approaches and overseeing the execution of a broad range of foreign assistance programs. She has a law degree and an international business and trade certificate from George Mason University School of Law and is a member of the Virginia Bar Association. She has a bachelor's degree in political science from Florida Atlantic University, where she focused on religious and ethnic conflict in the Middle East.

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The History of Islam in America

The Muslim-American population today is an extraordinary mosaic of ethnic, linguistic, ideological, social, economic and religious groups. This session will focus on the long history of Islam in America, Islam’s place in U.S. society, and the growth of the American Muslim community.

Ali E. Lejlic joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 2003. He is currently the deputy chief of the economic section at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, where his portfolio focuses on energy, trade and other related issues. Before joining the economic section in Amman, he was nonimmigrant visa coordinator in the consular section and also worked in the political section. He served for two years as the cultural affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City, where he focused on cultural and educational exchanges, as well as outreach to student audiences.

If you would like to participate in this webchat, please go to https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/amman2/. No registration is needed. Simply choose "Enter as a Guest," type in your preferred screen name, and join the discussion. We accept questions and comments in advance of, and at any time during, the program.

President Obama's Afghanistan Policy: Two Online Question-and-Answer Sessions

On December 1, President Obama will make an important announcement regarding future U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and the region. CO.NX offers two opportunities for you to ask questions about the president's speech on December 2 and 3. Our guest speakers are U.S. Embassy spokesman Phillip Frayne and U.S. Department of State official Gregg Sullivan, respectively.

Phillip Frayne is the Embassy Baghdad spokesman. Gregg Sullivan is director of public diplomacy in the State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

If you would like to participate in the December 2 webchat at 12:00 GMT (7 a.m. EST), please go to https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/baghdad/. If you would like to participate in the December 3 webchat at 14:00 GMT (9 a.m. EST), please go to https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/afghan/. No registration is needed. Simply choose "Enter as a Guest," type in your preferred screen name, and join the discussion. We accept questions and comments in advance of, and at any time during, the program.

Transparency and the Public's Right to Information

In response to participant feedback from our November 17 webchat, the director of the American Bar Association’s Governmental Affairs Office will again discuss transparency and the public's right to information, with an emphasis on how a legal right of access to government information helps enhance transparency and accountability in the United States.

Thomas Susman directs the office of the American Bar Association (ABA) that conducts the ABA’s advocacy efforts before the U.S. Congress and other governmental entities on issues of importance to the legal profession. Before joining the ABA in May 2008, he was a partner in the Washington office of Ropes & Gray LLP for more than 25 years, where his work included counseling, litigation and lobbying on a wide range of regulatory, antitrust, lobbying, ethics and information law issues.

Susman is the co-editor of The Lobbying Manual (4th edition, 2009), published by the American Bar Association; has taught lobbying and the legislative process as an adjunct professor at the American University’s Washington College of Law; and is chair of the Ethics Committee of the American League of Lobbyists. He has authored numerous articles on lobbying and is active in a variety of community and bar activities. Before joining Ropes & Gray, Susman was chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and before that he was in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice. He is a graduate of Yale University and the University of Texas Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review.

If you would like to participate in this webchat, please go to https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/transparency. No registration is needed. Simply choose "Enter as a Guest," type in your preferred screen name, and join the discussion. We accept questions and comments in advance of, and at any time during, the program.

Educational Opportunities and International Scientific Collaboration in the United States

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan is the Indian-American co-winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. This webchat will discuss his experiences as a naturalized U.S. citizen, as a student in the United States, and as a world-renowned chemist.

Ramakrishnan was born in Tamil Nadu, India, and earned a degree in physics from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in Gujarat in 1971. He moved to the United States and earned his Ph.D. in physics from Ohio University. He is currently working as a senior scientist with the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.

Academic Exchange Opportunities in America

This will be a lively discussion on exchange and study opportunities in the United States. The focus will be on all available academic and professional exchanges for international students, including programs for students in Asia and the Middle East. We will give special attention to popular exchange programs such as the Fulbright, Humphrey and Gilman scholarships, as well as programs for undergraduate and high school study in America. Questions regarding English language programs, academic advising and the visa process, as well as adjusting to America and culture shock, are also welcome. Our guest presenter is Evelyn Levinson.

Before assuming her current position as director of international admissions at American University in Washington, Evelyn Levinson spent more than 20 years in the field of educational advising, with a focus on the Middle East region. She has also worked as an academic adviser for EducationUSA at the State Department.

If you would like to participate in this webchat, please go to https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/exchanges/. No registration is needed. Simply choose "Enter as a Guest," type in your preferred screen name, and join the discussion. We accept questions and comments in advance of, and at any time during, the program.

For more information, see a list of more than 450 worldwide Department of State–affiliated EducationUSA overseas advising centers that assist students in country with the admissions and pre-departure process.

Also see the EducationUSA Web site for answers to frequently asked questions on undergraduate and graduate study in the United States, as well as for the booklet If You Want to Study in the United States in various languages (Booklet 1, undergraduate study; Booklet 2, graduate study; Booklet 3, English language, short-term and professional study).

You can also view Evelyn Levinson's presentation, "Preparing Your Students for U.S. University Admissions and Scholarship Opportunities" (PDF, 25 pages, 295KB).

Celebrating Native American Heritage

Join U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Officer Felix "Jabu" Salazar to discuss Native American Heritage Month in the United States. Jabu will take your questions on his experiences as a Native American representing the United States as a diplomat.

Jabu is the political and economic officer in the Durban Consulate General at the United States Mission to South Africa. Before joining the Foreign Service, he worked for Chemonics International, in the Africa region, in the Professional Development Department. Jabu also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in South Africa from 1998 to 2001. He is happily married to Zodwa (who is a Zulu from South Africa) and has a 3-year-old son named Anacleto (or Cleto for short) and a newborn son named Halalisa (or Lali for short). On Jabu’s mother’s side, his family is Mexican-American, and on his father’s side, Spanish and Navajo.

If you would like to participate in this event, please go to https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/special. No registration is needed. Simply choose "Enter as a Guest," type in your preferred screen name, and join the discussion. We accept questions and comments in advance of, and at any time during, the program.

The live event is scheduled to begin on November 20 at 1600 Durban, South Africa (9 a.m. EST, 14:00 GMT). See http://tinyurl.com/ycrmtzv for a countdown to the event.

The World Digital Library

The World Digital Library, proposed in 2005 by U.S. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, will make available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from cultures around the world. These materials include manuscripts, maps, rare books, musical scores, recordings, films, prints, photographs and architectural drawings. The library aims to promote international and intercultural understanding and awareness, provide resources to educators, expand non-English and non-Western content on the Internet, and contribute to scholarly research.

This webchat will discuss the history of the World Digital Library, its current projects, collaborations with libraries and archives overseas, and its future.

Michelle Rago is the technical project director of the World Digital Library at the Library of Congress.

If you would like to participate in this webchat, please go to https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/information. No registration is needed. Simply choose "Enter as a Guest," type in your preferred screen name, and join the discussion. We accept questions and comments in advance of, and at any time during, the program.

Beatrice Biira: How a Goat Changed One Woman's Life

Beatrice Biira, born in a remote Ugandan village, overcame hardships to achieve her dreams of gaining an education. Hear her story in this webchat.

When Biira was 9, a goat given by Heifer International provided her family enough money for her to start her education. She then earned scholarships that allowed her to attend an American college. She is currently finishing her master’s degree in public service, focusing on international development.

Introduction to the U.S. Constitution

Senior Fulbright Specialist Eleanor K. Roemer will present an introduction to the U.S. Constitution, focusing on the allocation (separation and division) of power and the protection of fundamental rights. Using several key U.S. Supreme Court cases, she will consider the limits of federal and state power, as well as individual rights and liberties.

Eleanor K. Roemer, Ph.D., J.D., is a senior Fulbright specialist who has recently delivered a series of lectures on the U.S. Constitution at the Law Faculty of the University of Bucharest in Romania. (Fulbright specialists, who are qualified U.S. faculty members and professionals in select disciplines, engage in collaborative two- to six-week projects at higher education institutions in more than 100 countries worldwide.) Roemer's professional career in law and public policy has included university teaching, serving as assistant city attorney in New Orleans and Chicago, and representing nonprofit environmental and open-space organizations to protect Lake Michigan and its adjacent shoreline.

If you would like to participate in this video webchat, please go to https://statedept.connectsolutions.com/information/. No registration is needed. Simply choose "Enter as a Guest," type in your preferred screen name, and join the discussion. We accept questions and comments in advance of, and at any time during, the program.