As we reported (https://khazar.org/en/news/5756), as the winner of the UASP (University Administration Support Program) program organized by IREX (International Research and Exchange Council), Rovshan Abbasov, Head of the Department of Geography and the Environment at Khazar University, spent a month - from February 1 to March 1 at Florida State University (USA) serving as a visiting professor and held a number of meetings there.

On February 10, Rovshan Abbasov met with Janet Kistner, Vice President for Academic Staff Development and Improvement, and Dr. Rick Burnette, Assistant Provost for Strategy and Analytics. The main issues discussed at these meetings were the creation of new programs, quality assurance, grant management, research fundraising, research organization and management. Rovshan Abbasov provided information on the structure and project management of Khazar University.

On February 15, Rovshan Abbasov met with James Hunt and Andrew Brady, Director of the FSU Institutional Research Center. The main directions of FSU development, statistics of students and research work were discussed at this meeting. On the same day, Rovshan Abbasov met with Brent Edington, Director of the Research Commercialization Center. Mr. Edington provided extensive information about the commercialization of FSU research results and the creation of start-ups.

The first meeting on 16 February took place with Kerry Peluso, Vice President of Research, and Pamela Ray, Leader of the Sponsored Research Group at FSU. Kerry Peluso gave information on the main grants received by FSU, awards and their sources, written project proposals and their management, and the role of project staff in the development of the received grants. Pamela Ray spoke about research sponsorship and successes in this area.

Then Rovshan Abbasov participated in a seminar on "How to find financial resources for research" organized by Carolyn Bradley, Director of the Research Development Center. In this webinar, Carolyn Bradley spoke about the “Pivot” system, which was created to inform university staff about key grant opportunities. In this system, each university employee creates his own profile and accesses an information network called "My financial sources". This information network provides each profile owner with relevant information.

On February 23, Rovshan Abbasov met with Dr. Donna O’Neal, Assistant Dean at Clinical Research Advancement Office, Joe Frascella, Chief Clinical Research Officer, and Philippe Gaillard, Senior Biostatistician. The development of research in all areas was discussed at the meeting. Rovshan Abbasov informed them about the experience of Khazar University.

On the same day, Rovshan Abbasov met with Howard Stone, Director of the Office for Human Subjects Protection and Chairman of the Institutional Review Board Committee. During the meeting, Howard Stone was interested in the Toxic Site Identification project coordinated by Rovshan Abbasov and got acquainted with the activities carried out in this direction. Stone informed Rovshan Abbasova about the work of the Council on Institutional Review Ethics in relation to human subjects during the study.

On February 28, Rovshan Abbasov made a brief summary of water resources management in Azerbaijan at an online meeting entitled “Collaborative FloRDA: Water”.

On March 1, Rovshan Abbasov arrived in Washington from Florida State University and spoke at the conference entitled "University Research Administration" on "Khazar University: Transferrable knowledge and experiences."

Rovshan Abbasov completed his activity as a visiting professor at Florida State University.