Inside this issue:
New partnership announcement
1/3
CIMPA workshop
1
Mauritian Machine Learning JEDI
2
Computing the Quantified Self Workshop
2
Workshops attended
2
Visiting researcher 2
AIMSSEC delivers MT24 course
3
Network news
3
AIMSSEC attends workshop in Kenya
4
Africa Data Initiative at AIMS Tanzania
4
Vacancies
4
The University of Chicago and AIMS announce new partnership On Tuesday 21 July 2015, the University of Chicago and 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 AIMS South Africa. “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 the University of Chicago faculty mem-
Prof. Green, Mr Solomon, Dr Nyambi, Mr Zomahoun, Prof Isaacs and Prof. Wiegmann
bers and graduate students and scientists from Argonne National Laboratory to Africa to participate in the education and training of AIMS students. The University of Chicago faculty will join AIMS faculty in the development of new curriculum and experimental program content and scholars from both the university 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
CIMPA-AIMS South Africa Research School 2015
Participants at the school
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apply to graduate programs at the University of Chicago and it will support the university’s faculty members who are interested in developing joint-research projects or advising on new research programs developed at AIMS centres. “The University of Chicago will work with AIMS to help strengthen teaching curriculum and to identify other avenues of engagement.” Continued on page 3.
This research school with themes in Algebraic Representation Theory and Applications was hosted at AIMS South Africa from 19 to 31 July 2015. The school was attended by 58 participants from 18 countries. The workshop was organised by Director Claude Cibils, CIMPA, Dr Bernado Rodrigues (University of KwaZuluNatal), Prof Barry Green (AIMS South Africa) and Prof. Jamshid Moori (North West University). This is the fourth workshop hosted at AIMS South Africa which forms part of the MOU signed with CIMPA.
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Research Centre updates Mauritian Machine Learning JEDI
Computing the Quantified Self Workshop
Workshop participants
JEDI Workshop participants
The first Mauritian Machine Learning JEDI took place from 16 to 27 July. Attended by 22 undergraduate and graduate students, it was organised by Prof. Bruce Bassett, head of the Cosmology Group at AIMS South Africa and Dr Nadeem Oozeer (SKA, AIMS and NWU). The JEDI uses interactive group work on real problems to teach research skills. The workshop
was funded by the Royal Society Newton fund and the SKA and saw two problems tackled using machine learning algorithms: (1) identification of extended sources in radio images and (2) classification of diabetes using images of the eye (diabetic retinopathy). The research workshop was very successful with one of the students describing it as the most important educational experience of their life.
This workshop for senior undergraduates: honours students or 3rd year in Mathematical Sciences’ was held at AIMS South Africa from 6 to 10 July 2015. There were 25 participants, 13 AIMS January intake students and 12 from other national universities. The workshop was organised by AIMS South Africa researcher Dr Simukai Utete and Prof. Jeff Sanders, Academic Director.
Attendees were taught programming and related software for modelling, analysing and interpreting data. They attended lectures and had demonstrations from experts. They then worked on their own projects and presented these at the end of the workshop. Participants also visited the Biomedical Engineering Lab in Newlands and the MRI Lab in Observatory.
Student presentations
Workshops attended by members of the Research Centre From 28 June to 3 July 2015, the Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC), Cape Town, hosted the 7th High Performance Computing School for graduate students. The school took place at the University of Johannesburg. Zoe Gebremarium, a Research Master’s student, and Dr Frank Kalala Mutombo, a postdoctoral fellow in the AIMS South Africa Research Centre attended the school.
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On 21 July 2015, Prof. Ronnie Becker, a Resident Researcher, attended the The Planet Earth Institute #ScienceAfrica UnConference Africa’s scientific independence: no more business as usual, which took place in London. The interactive day for all those passionate about science, technology and innovation in Africa was chaired by the Rt Hon Lord Paul Boateng.
Visiting Researcher Mr Rhoss Beauneur Likibi Pellat, an AIMS Sénégal alumnus affiliated to the Polytechnic Nation School of Marien
Ngouabi University in Brazzaville Republic of Congo will be visiting the Research Centre from 11 July to 30 September 2015. His field of interest is the Novel Numerical scheme for stochastic differential equations.
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New partnership announcement cont... “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 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, Prof. Isaacs and Mr 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 Prof. 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 postgraduate 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.
Network News The AUC and AIMS Sign Agreement to Strengthen the Teaching and Learning of STEM in Africa The African Union Commission (AUC) and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at strengthening the teaching and learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) on the African continent. The signing took place at the headquarters of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 30 June 2015.For more information please visit:
www.aims.ac.za
http://www.nexteinstein.org/ the-auc-and-aims-signagreement-to-strengthen-theteaching-and-learning-ofscience-technologyengineering-and-mathematicsstem-in-africa
AIMSSEC delivers MT24 course to 134 teachers
The AIMSSEC team with teachers
AIMSSEC held a successful Mathematical Thinking residential course from 29 June to 8 July 2015 at Stellenbosch High School for teachers from as far as Limpopo, Eastern Cape and KZN provinces, all eager to learn! The teachers were excited to work alongside the local and international team as well as our alumni who served as outstanding role models and a true inspiration to all. Mpumi Kolisile and Sagree Pillay returned to the course as lecturers while Zikona Ntlontli, Andiswa Mpuhlu, Mondli Mkhwana, Stephen Basvi, Cecelia Perring and Hermie Kraak returned as teaching assistants. Participating in the course provides our alumni with professional development opportunities and at the same time growing the AIMSSEC teacher training network.
Teachers were shown how to deliver learner-centred practical activities in their mathematics lessons. Below is an example of a hands-on learning activity with the teachers. When teachers acquire skills to deliver learner - centred activities, they find it easy to teach their learners at school as shown in the pictures below.
Teachers learning how to engage with a hands-on activity
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AMUCWMA/AWMA Workshop
Africa Data Initiative at AIMS Tanzania AIMS Tanzania is participating in the African Data Initiative, a project to develop an easy to use open source statistics software package led by James Musyoka (Maseno) and David Stern (Reading). The package will be a front end to R, which is already widely used within AIMS and beyond. The project responds to a real need within Africa, so it is appropriate
Workshop participants
The AMUCWMA / AWMA 2015 workshop was held in Naivasha, Kenya from 16 to 18 July 2015 under the theme of Women in Mathematics for Social Change & Sustainable Livelihoods. The main purpose of the workshop was to bring together women in mathematical sciences from African countries, to provide a platform for research and trends, and to share initiatives that address social change and create sustainable livelihoods. It is in the light of mathematics and social change that Sinobia Kenny, on behalf of AIMSSEC, attended the workshop to share a presentation on Improving the quality of teaching and learning mathematics in disadvantaged schools in South Africa. Though all the workshops were incredibly interesting, AIMSSEC found the following talks of most use to its educational setting: AMU Programmes for Promoting Mathematics among African Girls and Women by Prof. Adewale Solarin, President of the African Mathematics Union (AMU) and Director of the National Mathematical Centre (NMC) who gave insight into the importance
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of better teaching at primary and secondary school levels and in particular, to raise the awareness of mathematics in secondary schools. Involvement of African Girls and Women in STEM for Social and Economic Development by Prof Nouzha El Yacoubi, Moh V University, Rabat, Morocco emphasised the importance of STEM as a national strategy. She stated that girls and women continue to be underrepresented in STEM because of gender stereotypes, cultural barriers, available resources, discrimination, family agreements, sustainability of the few programs on offer, lowquality education and women’s lack of access to the internet.
that Africa takes the lead in developing it. The role of AIMS Tanzania will be to host AIMS graduates developing the software. Funding for the Initiative is through a crowd-sourcing campaign please visit https:// chuffed.org/project/ africandatainitiative for more information.
Vacancies Resident Researcher in Mathematical Finance AIMS South Africa Research Centre The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is an innovative, pan-African centre of excellence for post-graduate education, research and outreach which has achieved global recognition since opening its first centre in South Africa in 2003. Since the inception of the AIMS South Africa Research Centre, located in Muizenberg in 2008, the academic programme has included a popular module on Mathematical Finance and there is a constant demand for research projects in the area. 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. Closing date: 15 September 2015 For more details and information on how to apply please visit https://www.aims.ac.za/en/opportunities/vacancies/residentresearcher-in-mathematical-finance
Of special interest to mathematicians were Current and Future Trends of Bio-mathematics by Prof Livingstone Luboobi (Uganda), Mathematical Modelling and Applications by Prof Schehrazad Selmane (Algeria), On Biharmonic Equations by Prof. Saima Khenissy to name a few. AIMSSEC would like to thank Dr Marie Francoise Ouedraogo, the Chair of AWMA for the invitation.
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