For the first time, the International Summer School on Direct Application of Geothermal Energy (ISS), “International Geothermal Days - Oregon 1999", was held outside of Europe. A total of 114 participants from 30 countries attended the conference on the Oregon Institute of Technology campus from October 9 to 16, 1999, including a large delegation of city mayors and provincial governors from Turkey. The conference, hosted by the Geo-Heat Center, was supported by funds from the U.S. Department of Energy and donations from Fuji Electric Corporation of America, Calpine Corporation, Ormat International, Inc. and the Shaw Historical Library Foundation