Student news

Inside this issue:

Student news

1

New postdoctoral 2 fellows

Visitors

2

Journal Club

2

ARETÉ Chair attends workshop in Rio

2

Master’s student attends Machine Learning Summer School 2015

2

Network news

3

AIMSSEC supports 3 Teacher Training Program Public Lecture

3

Announcements

4

All students from the August intake have now arrived bringing the total number of students to 54, including 21 women, from 24 African countries. Together with the January intake this brings the total number of Master’s students to 67. They have now completed the following skills courses: Programming in Python (Matt Gidden, Wisconsin and Jeff Sanders, AIMS); Concepts and Problem Solving in Physics (David Aschman). They have also started on Experimental Mathematics with Sage (Karl-Dieter Crisman, Gordon College) and Statistics and Probability (Madeleine Cule, Google). The January intake are busy with their research projects.

All the Master’s students currently at AIMS South Africa

On 19 September 2015, students went on a hike up Muizenberg mountain. AIMS South Africa also celebrated Heritage Day by serving a typical braai lunch and students went on outings to the Castle of Good Hope and the Iziko South African Museum.

Matt Gidden

David Aschman

Heritage Day outing Student hike

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Research Centre updates New postdoctoral fellows Two new postdoctoral fellows have joined the Research Centre: Dr John Boscoh Hatson Njagarah started his postdoctoral fellowship at AIMS on 1 September 2015, under the supervision of Prof Cang Hui. Dr Njagarah will spend his time between AIMS and Stellenbosch University. His current project title is “Modelling the adaptive dynamics of the within-host progression and spread of HIV-1.” His research interests centre around:  Mathematical epidemiology with interest in water-borne infections, HBV and HCV  Modelling substance abuse dynamics and  Mathematical ecology with interest in adaptive and evolutionary dynamics of infectious disease aetiological agents. Dr Pierre-Yves Lablanche is the new postdoctoral fellow in the Cosmology Group. His research focus is Astrophysics. He graduated from the Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon (France) and the European Southern Observatory (Münich -Germany). He was a teaching assistant at AIMS Tanzania fro the 2014/2015 year and facilitated the outreach and public engagement programme there.

Visiting Researcher Mr Abdo Elnaser Degoot visited the Research Centre from 7 to 25 September 2015. He is affiliated to the University of Kwazulu-Natal where he is completing his PhD. His field is Applied Mathematics and the subject of his study is "Mathematical Modeling of Peptide-MHC Interactions". Dr Wilfred Ndifon is his co-supervisor.

ARETÉ Chair attends workshop in Rio Dr Antoine Tambue, the ARETÉ Junior Research Chair, attended a workshop titled “Simulation of Complex Processes in Porous Media” from 25 to 26 September 2015 in Rio. Dr Tambue gave a

talk titled “Rosenbrock-type methods for geothermal reservoir simulation''. His talk can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=FkYHuchn1HY

Journal Club On 1 September 2015, Prof. Steven Richardson, Howard University, Washington DC gave a talk titled: “How Does Quantum Mechanics Work?” At the start of his talk Prof. Richardson also gave some background information on how he got into research and Howard University. On 8 September 2015, Michael Kateregga, AIMS- NEI, gave a talk titled: “BismutElworthy-Li Formula for Subordinated Brownian Motion with Application to Hedging.” On 15 September 2015, Rhoss Likibi Pellat from Marien Ngouabi University in Brazzaville who is currently visiting the Research Centre gave a talk titled: “Convergence rate of weak Euler-exponential scheme for stochastic differential equations with multiplicative noise.” On 22 September 2015, Gina Rakotonirainy, a Research Master’s student under the supervision of Dr Ian Durbach gave a talk titled: “Decision support for the production and distribution of electricity under load shedding.”

Prof. Richardson

Michael Kateregga

Rhoss Likibi Pellat

Gina Rakotonirainy

On 29 September 2015, Yae Ulrich Gaba, AIMS and the Department of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, UCT, gave a talk titled: “Topological and Linear Conditions in the QPM Problem.” Yae Ulrich Gaba

Master’s student attends Machine Learning Summer School 2015 machine learning specialists, including lecturers from Stanford, MIT, NYU, Berkley and Google, with 420 attendees from over 60 countries. Gilad Amar, a Master’s student in the Research Centre attended this school in Kyoto, Japan from 23 August to 3 September 2015. There were world-reknowned

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“It turned out to be a great platform for sharing my work and gaining insight from experts in the field and an excellent networking hub for new and interesting contacts,” he said.

Visitors Dr Howard Alper, a member of the AIMSNEI Board, visited AIMS South Africa on 3 September 2015. He met with Prof. Green and Prof. Sanders and had an informal discussion with the Master’s students.

Prof. Sanders, Dr Alper and Prof. Green

Prof. Steven Richardson, Howard University, visited the centre

on 1 September 2015, he met with Prof. Green and gave a presentation to the students.

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Network news Network meetings for the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Programs at AIMS

Participants at the steering committee meeting in Yaoundé.

The first steering committee meeting for the Co-operative programme meeting took place in Dakar, Sénégal, on 26 August 2015. The meeting included local and international partners, international co-op community, local industry in IT and AIMS Management.

The first steering committee meeting and a Sub-curriculum meeting for the Mathematics Teacher Training Program took place in Cameroon on 21 September 2015. Prof. Barry Green and Dr Barrie Barnard and Ms Sinobia Kenny from AIMSSEC attended the meeting prepared by Dr Daniel Tjeudo, the Director of the Program.

AIMMSEC supports Teacher Training in Cameroon From 21 to 22 September 2015, Dr Barrie Barnard and Ms Sinobia Kenny represented AIMSSEC at the Steering Committee and Curriculum Sub-Committee meetings in Yaoundé as part of the Teacher Training Program (TTP) funded by the MasterCard Scholars Foundation Program. Prof Daniel Tieudjo, Director of the TTP at AIMS Cameroon and Ms Sinobia Kenny, Senior Programme Coordinator at AIMSSEC also delivered a presentation at the AIMS network meeting in Limbe about the educational contexts of

their respective countries and to emphasise the significance of teacher training as a pipeline in the STEM career fields. The vision of the Teacher Training Network (TTN) is that all learners in Africa will have access to high quality mathematics education. AIMSSEC will provide valuable input into TTP program by “Training the master trainers”, contribute towards sharing the success criteria of a high quality program and identify indicators to measure the impact of the program.

AIMS Corporate Video This is now available on the AIMS-NEI youtube channel: https://youtu.be/FpJ98_3sLug

Network workshop Lynne Teixeira, AIMS South Africa Administration and Research Manager, and Sinobia Kenny, Senior Programme Coordinator for AIMSSEC, attended the AIMS Program Manager and Student Development Officer Training meeting which was held in Limbe, Cameroon from 24 to 29 September 2015. Topics discussed at the meeting included grant compliance, gender mainstreaming in the network, preliminary recommendations of the midterm evaluation of AIMS, the Teacher Training Program and

implementation of the AIMS Industry Initiative. The meeting was attended by staff at centre, chapter and secretariat level and donor representatives.

Public Lecture

Ms Texeira, Ms Kenny and Prof. Tjeudo Prof. Bruton

Participants at the Network workshop

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On Tuesday 8 September 2015, the AIMS Public Lecture Series presented a talk titled: “When I was a fish. Tales of an Ichthyologist” by Prof. Mike Bruton, Sc, PhD, DSc, FRSSAfr. Exhibition Consultant and Imagineer. The talk recounted the extraordinary life of Prof. Bruton one of the leading fish biologists on Africa. He also

discussed his views on how society values science, whether science is in danger and the value of informal science education. A video of this talk can be viewed on our youtube channel https://youtu.be/Sqb7_8bi9Q4

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Announcements German Research Chair in "Mathematics with Specialization in Data Science" of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation - at AIMS South Africa The call addresses highly qualified academics from any country who conduct application-related research in the field of mathematics with specialisation in data science, have experience in training students and doctoral candidates and possess recognisable leadership potential. The application should be supported by at least one future collaborative partner in Germany. An application can be submitted even if contact with a partner at a German university/research institution has not yet been established by the application deadline. The sponsorship will initially be made available for four years and will total up to €628,000. There will only be one call for the research chair at AIMS South Africa. The deadline for application is15 January 2016. Applications received late can only be considered subject to prior agreement. For more information and to apply please visit https:// www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/research-chair-aims-southafrica.html Resident Researcher in Mathematical Finance AIMS South Africa Research Centre AIMS South Africa is seeking to appoint a Resident Researcher in Mathematical Finance, who will contribute to the growth and development of this exciting area. The successful candidate will have a doctorate in the mathematical or physical sciences, a solid, growing research record and a good international profile, as well as the ability to supervise and communicate with students and young researchers. Enquiries: AIMS Research Manager, Ms Lynne Teixeira [email protected] For more details and information on how to apply please visit https://www.aims.ac.za/en/opportunities/vacancies/resident-researcher-in -mathematical-finance

Fellowships for visiting researchers The AIMS South Africa Research Centre offers a variety of fellowships for visiting researchers. Interested researchers may apply to visit for short (2-week) or longer periods. Research fellows may conduct their own research at AIMS, participate in the teaching programmes and give talks in the journal club. Visits to local universities can be arranged. For more information see https://www.aims.ac.za/en/research-centre/fellowships

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Workshops Workshop on Quadratic Differentials, 4-8 January 2016 This workshop will be hosted at AIMS South Africa and is being done in partnership with the Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI). Holomorphic differentials on Riemann surfaces have long held a distinguished place in several areas of low dimensional geometry, dynamics and representation theory. More recently they have emerged in intriguing ways in the study of billiards in polygons, special (so-called Hitchin) components of representation varieties, stability conditions on Fukaya-type categories, spectral networks, and asymptotic properties of Higgs bundle moduli spaces. This workshop will bring together a small number of experts at the forefront of these diverse areas to explore common themes and in particular to investigate the use of techniques that could potentially cross disciplinary boundaries. For more information please visit https://www.aims.ac.za/en/ research-centre/workshops-conferences/currentfuture/quadraticdifferentials-workshop The 9th Summer School in Mathematical Finance will bring to South Africa several leading academic exponents of the fast-growing field of Mathematical Finance, and presents a unique opportunity to local practitioners, academics and students to interact with international leaders in research on topics and modelling techniques current in the South African and international financial markets. It will be hosted at AIMS South Africa from 18 to 20 February 2015. Confirmed Speakers: Prof. Erik Schlögl Dr. John Schoenmakers Registration fees: Practitioners - R2,750 Academics - R1,500 Students - R500 Fees will be waived, upon application, for bona-fide full-time students at South African universities. Registration fees include lunches and refreshments during the duration of the Summer School. Applications will be treated on a first come, first served basis, and numbers are limited. Registration is now open. Please click here to complete the form. Workshop Flyer Administration and logistics: Rene January [email protected] Mathematical queries: Ronnie Becker [email protected] Public Lectures AIMS South Africa in association with the Muizenberg Festival and the Zandvlei Trust is hosting two public talks. “Zandvlei – The Geography of Identity” by Dr Ian McCallum Date: Wednesday 7 October 2015 Time: 18:45 for 19:00 Cost: Free Venue: AIMS South Africa, 6 Melrose Rd, Muizenberg https://www.aims.ac.za/assets/files/Publiclectures/Wednesday-7October-2015-Dr-Ian-McCallum.pdf “Growing a taste for Veldkos - getting to know, grow and use Indigenous food plants” by Loubie Rusch Date: Thursday 8 October 2015 Time: 18:45 for 19:00 Cost: Free Venue: AIMS South Africa, 6 Melrose Rd, Muizenberg https://www.aims.ac.za/assets/files/Publiclectures/Thursday-8October-2015-Loubie-Rusch.pdf

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