One on One is a weekly feature offering excerpts of interviews conducted by The Evening Sun with newsworthy business leaders. Roald Sagdeyev is director of the East-West Science and Technology Center at the University of Maryland at College Park. A former science adviser to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Sagdeyev moved to Maryland last year after marrying Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of Dwight Eisenhower.

Q. Can you give us a little history about how you started the East/West Science and Technology Center here at the University of Maryland?

A. By the time I had joined the faculty of the University of [Maryland], College Park, it was about a year ago, there was a lot of interest here in establishing direct academic ties with scientific institutions and universities in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union, and shortly after I came here, the president of the university, William Kirwan, told me that he's going to visit a few capitals in Eastern Europe and then go to Moscow, in accompanying Gov. [William Donald] Schaefer . . . So after they had returned, the University of Maryland then decided to explore the chance of opening a permanent office. So this is how East/West Center in Science and Technology was launched beginning from last fall.

Q. How can Maryland businesses benefit from the work being done at the East-West Science and Technology Center?

A. There are many businesses, many American companies which are looking for a Soviet market, and many of them are interested in technology transfer from Soviet Union and East European countries. Our center would provide a home for many visiting researchers from that area and they essentially are an intellectual resource, a bridge to technology development and we would introduce them to the American high-tech community.

Q. Is this program unique or do other universities have something similar?

A. I believe several universities already are thinking of implementing something similar, not precisely the same format, but there are very, very similar brainstorming seminars organized by Stanford; MIT [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] is interested, I think.

Q. It seems to me that the University of Maryland must have an advantage because of having you, with your prestige and maybe getting an early start on it. Would you think so?

A. I would try, of course, to help through my own university now, and I hope my colleagues back in Russia and in Eastern Europe still would not be afraid to contact me, they would not consider me as a deserter.

Q. You were formerly the head of Moscow's Institute of Space Research and advised President Mikhail Gorbachev. How difficult was it to move to the United States and establish this program?

A. I came here as a result of a change in my family situation and it had nothing to do with political or any other considerations.

Q. Do you have good relations with the Soviet Union?

A. I would say that I have good relations on the level of the scientific community . . . It is much more tricky to keep good relations with the government. First of all, nobody knows which government is going to be more important in the process of decentralization and the internal political struggle that's going on. So, we try to stay outside of politics.

Q. Did the Soviet government try to keep you from leaving?

A. I'm pretty sure that if there was no special kind of symbolism behind my marriage, I would not have been allowed to leave the country.

Q. The University of Maryland, like the rest of the state, is strapped for money. Are your efforts here being hampered by a lack of funding?

A. It's felt in every aspect of our university life, and of course,

everyone now is in a rather scarce financial situation.

Q. But this is considered a priority program, isn't it?

A. You know, the priority for the university is education. My main job here now is teaching and doing research, so the East/West Center is a kind of, you know, complementary activity. But at the same time, the university provided a certain amount of initial funding and I hope very much that we could have a fund-raising and contributions since the local businesses, American businesses, would find that they could benefit if they would use the Center.

Q. What is your budget at this time?

A. Our current budget is $100,000 for the first year.

Q. And that is all university or state money?

A. Yes.

Q. So at this time you don't have any private funding?

A. We already have made some contacts, and we were given some small, some modest but very important contributions from agencies, from companies, and I hope this component will grow.

Q. How successful was your exhibit you recently had on Soviet high technology?

A. It depends on the definition of success.

Q. What is your definition?

A. One barrier was the Soviet officials. So it took some negotiations, but fortunately, openness of Soviet society is not yet over despite of all the internal political fights. So, they were able to send about maybe 25 to 30 different types of hardware to the exhibit. Most of it came from my former Institute of Space Research in Moscow where I was director for more than 15 years, and then several influential companies have brought their civilian commercial products . . . The second obstacle we were afraid of was officials, the bureaucracy on this side of the ocean . . . But we had very strong support, almost from every agency we asked . . . and so everything finally came here and altogether I think several dozens of companies sent representatives . . . So I think to start with it was a rather good conference and exhibition.

Q. Did any business arise from this exhibit?

A. I don't think the contract's signed, but on the level of expressing the interest, I think several interesting partnerships are cooking.

Q. How would you characterize the quality of Soviet technology? I'm thinking of specifically what was exhibited, and in general as well.

A. I would say as a rule, Soviet instrumentation -- scientific instrumentation or technology which could be of interest for transfer -- as a rule, it is somewhat behind the average of the best American level.

Q. What would Americans have to gain then?

A. But there are quite a few areas . . . due to certain good luck. The bright Soviet scientists and engineers would come with ideas which could even compensate all the deficiency of the technology. In such cases, they can bring something for Americans.

Q. Can you give me examples of those areas?

A. One particular example is they have brought very smart and sophisticated microwave sensors. This science is original Russian technology, know-how, and they already used them several times in studying what is called now black-body radiation from universe.

Q. Any other examples you want to mention?

A. They had several instruments based on lasers. The Soviets have a

rather good reputation in lasers.

Q. Are efforts to trade technology made difficult by legal barriers between the U.S. and the Soviet Union?

A. I think there are a few legal barriers. You know, customs barriers for Russian groups and products. They are political barriers, some of them related to secrecy on both sides, so every individual case has to be treated specially, but I think the general political climate now is such that we should not be afraid of this. We should go to see what could be done in their individual cases.

Q. The news from the Soviet Union frequently is disconcerting with reports of strikes, political turmoil and rumors that the Soviets aren't repaying their loans. What does the Soviet Union have to offer that would entice an American businessman to take such risks?

A. I think the Soviet Union is experiencing an historic transition from totalitarian, then authoritarian state now to a state based on law, and they have to show that they are serious in undertaking this transition. This time they have to introduce a special framework for foreign businesses to be a kind of insurance against political or economic chaos in Soviet Union.

Q. Do you think American businessmen should wait then until such sureties are in place?

A. I think there are many formats for cooperations which can be implemented right now, but in general I think I would not try to tell American businesses that they have to rush to the Soviet Union. After all, there is a very important issue of ruble convertibility and I personally believe that the Soviet Union has to move much more boldly toward market economy.

Q. You had mentioned there are formats for cooperation. Would you name some of those areas where you see that a businessman can work right now?

A. There are some areas in which I think Soviet economy would be politically dependent on Westerners, like for example oil exploration and drilling. The Soviet Union is losing a lot of her currency now because oil output is falling, so I think that in this area I would expect that they would be ready to provide certain guarantees.

Q. What are some of the most common mistakes Americans make when trying to do business in the Soviet Union.

A. What you can find now is some of American entrepreneurs, they're coming to Russia, they will discover a huge market for everything, all kinds of consumer goods, hi-fi, anything, clothes, jeans . . . And then they are immediately in the state of euphoria. They are not looking in the beginning that Soviet Union has to produce something to pay back.