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<br />002062 <br /> <br />Foreword <br /> <br />BorderLink is a cooperative applied summer research program involving advanced <br />students from San Diego State University, the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, <br />and other universities. BorderLink 2000 was the fifth in the ongoing program that is <br />coordinated by the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias at SDSU. The five <br />BorderLink projects are: <br /> <br />. 1993, The Wine and Tourist Industries of Baja California <br />. 1994, Economic Profile of the San Diego- Tijuana Region <br />. 1996, Border Waste Wi$e: Analysis of the Management of Recyclable Solid Waste in <br />the San Diego- Tijuana Region <br />. 1997, The Tijuana River Basin: Basic Environmental and Socioeconomic Data <br />. 2000, The Alamar River Corridor: An Urban River Park Oasis in Tijuana, Baja <br />California, Mexico <br /> <br />The BorderLink projects are organized every one to three years, depending upon <br />availability of funding, requests from agencies in th~~ region, and availability of faculty <br />leaders. Each of the projects is applied in nature and addresses specific issues or <br />problems identified by organizations in the San Diego- Tijuana region. BorderLink 2000 <br />examined the Alamar River Corridor in urban Tijuana at the request of Carlos Graizbord, <br />Director of the Municipal Planning Institute (lMPlan) of the City of Tijuana. Faced with <br />proposals to channelize the Alamar River to make more land available for urban <br />development, planning authorities in the city wanted to examine the full range of options <br />and asked the BorderLink project to explore alternative uses for this urban river. Suzanne <br />Michel, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Institute for Regional Studies of the California and <br />an expert on urban watershed policy, was selected to lead the effort. She found willing <br />collaborators in colleagues from the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California: Jose <br />Delgadillo, director of the Herbarium at the Ensenada campus, and Hugo Rene Aguilar <br />and Jose Guillermo Rodriguez of the Chemistry Department at the Tijuana campus. <br /> <br />In addition to promoting cooperative research involving faculty from Mexico and the <br />United States, BorderLink also is designed to involve students from both countries and <br />from a variety of academic disciplines. The 2000 project included students from business, <br />economics, biology, chemistry, political science, landscape architecture, Latin American <br />studies, and public administration. Along with the SDSU and UABC students, an <br />exchange student from France and two graduate students from Arizona State University <br />also participated. Through the intense applied research project, the students faced many <br />challenges. Not only did they learn to work with peers from different academic <br />disciplines, but they also learned how to work effectively in a different cultural context. <br />BorderLink provides students with an opportunity to interact with policymakers from <br />both countries and to participate in researching real-world issues of concern to <br />stakeholders in the region. Students also gained important understanding of the <br />similarities and differences in the two systems across the border, including higher <br />education and public administration. BorderLink is truly a unique experience for <br />participating students. <br /> <br />v <br />