UChicago and African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Announce New Partnership to Educate and Train Talented African Students
With new partnership, AIMS students will collaborate with researchers and graduates from the University of Chicago.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 21, 2015-/African Media Agency (AMA)/-The University of Chicago and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) announced a new partnership to educate and train talented African students at AIMS centres across Africa.
Thierry Zomahoun, President and CEO of AIMS and Eric D. Isaacs, Provost of the University of Chicago and Professor in the Department of Physics made the announcement at the AIMS South Africa Centre. “Discoveries in science and scholarship that can change the world require scholars to work together across institutions and national borders, said Zomahoun. “Global programs that connect educational institutions and produce entrepreneurial, innovative graduates will create jobs and opportunities for investment and can propel Africa into the quantum age.”
The new agreement will bring UChicago faculty members and graduate students and scientists from Argonne National Laboratory to Africa to participate in the education and training of AIMS graduate students. UChicago faculty will join AIMS faculty in the development of new curriculum and experimental program content and scholars from both UChicago and AIMS will work together on joint research and future academic collaborations. The partnership will also help to identify talented and qualified AIMS students to apply to graduate programs at the University of Chicago and it will support UChicago faculty members who are interested in developing joint-research projects or advising on new research programs developed at AIMS centres.
AIMS recruits Africa’s most talented university graduates and provides them with the cutting-edge training in mathematics they need to enter technical professions or to pursue graduate studies in technical and scientific fields. Founded in 2003 with its first center in Cape Town, South Africa, AIMS has since established four additional centres in Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania, and Senegal with plans to establish a network of fifteen centres of excellence by 2023.
“AIMS and the Next Einstein Initiative seek to unlock and nurture scientific and technical talent across Africa,” said Thierry Zomahoun, President and CEO and AIMS. “The University of Chicago will join AIMS as an institutional collaborator across the whole network of AIMS centres and we are excited to work with the University and their affiliated laboratories: Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and the Marine Biological Laboratory.”
At the event, Provost Eric Isaacs announced that he will form a faculty-working group to discuss the possible ways the University of Chicago can work with AIMS to help strengthen teaching curriculum and to identify other avenues of engagement for UChicago faculty and students.
“The partnership between AIMS and the University of Chicago is designed to facilitate and develop a genuine and mutually beneficial collaboration for education, training, research and public engagement activities,” said Isaacs. “We feel it is critical to bring outstanding scholars from the University of Chicago and from across Africa together to address great teaching and research.”
The University of Chicago is engaged globally in order to facilitate faculty-led collaborations, create student opportunities, and enrich knowledge and education around the world. “Scholars from the University of Chicago have been working in Africa since the early 1900s and we hope that the AIMS partnership will increase and deepen collaborative relationships between UChicago and African scholars,” said Ian Solomon, vice president for global engagement.
Following the announcement, Isaacs and Zomahoun were joined by Paul Wiegmann, the University of Chicago Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor in the department of Physics, the James Franke Institute, and the Enrico Fermi Institute; Dr Thifhelimbilu Daphney Bucher, AIMS alumnus, and Professor Barry Green, Director of AIMS-South Africa and AIMS Chief Academic & Research Officer for a panel discussion entitled “Innovating Curricula for the Transformation of a Continent through Maths and Sciences: Gaps and Opportunities for Quality Post-Graduate Education for Africa’s Brightest Minds.” The panelists discussed the current math and science curricula offered to mathematical sciences students at post-graduate level at most African universities and explored innovative ways to transform educational training and research to better meet the expectations of industry, academia, and the public sector.
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of AIMS-NEI.
About the University of Chicago:
Founded in 1890, the University of Chicago is one of the world’s premier academic and research institutions. 89 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to University of Chicago faculty members, students, or researchers at some point in their careers, including an unmatched 28 Nobel Prizes in the Economic Sciences. Generating new knowledge for the benefit of present and future generations, UChicago research has had an impact around the globe, leading to such discoveries as the link between cancer and genetics, establishing revolutionary theories of economics, developing new technologies that reduce the use of fossil fuels, and creating new approaches to curbing gun violence. In March, the University announced the creation of a new network of five Urban Labs to address some of the world’s most daunting urban problems and help realize the promise of cities in an era of global urbanization. The Barack Obama Foundation recently announced that it will collaborate with the University to establish the new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.
About AIMS and the Next Einstein Initiative:
The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a pan-African network of centres of excellence for post graduate education, research and outreach in mathematical sciences. Its mission is to enable Africa’s brightest students to flourish as independent thinkers, problem solvers and innovators capable of propelling Africa’s future scientific, educational and economic self-sufficiency. AIMS was founded in 2003 and has produced over 900 graduates, one third of whom are women. The goal of the Next Einstein Initiative is to build 15 centres of excellence across Africa by 2023. Follow us on Twitter (@AIMS_Next) and Facebook.
Contact:
Mimi Kalinda
Director of Communications- AIMS
E: mkalinda@nexteinstein.org
T: +27726881250
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