UM STEM-Africa Workshop Advancing US-Africa STEM Collaborations and Funding The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Friday, April 5 th, 2013 Michigan League, Koessler Room -PROGRAM-
UM STEM-Africa Workshop Advancing US-Africa STEM Collaborations and Funding The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Friday, April 5 th, 2013 Michigan League, Koessler Room - PROGRAM SCHEDULE- Thursday, April 4 6:30-8:30 PM Dinner meet & greet Michigan League- Kalamazoo Room (2 nd Flr) Note: Nkem will meet guests at the hotel front desk at 6:15 Friday, April 5 Guests should plan to walk over to the Michigan League and arrive by 9:00 AM. Breakfast refreshments will be available in advance of the program from 8-9 AM 9:00-9:30 A.M. Welcome and Opening Remarks 9:30-10:30 A.M. The Role of the African Diaspora and Friends in Developing the Pan-African University 10:30-10:45 A.M. Coffee Break Dr. Jean Pierrie Ezin, Commissioner for Human Resources, African Union 11:00-12:00 P.M. US-Africa STEM Collaborations 12:00-1:00 P.M. Lunch John Boright, Executive Director for Global Affairs, US National Academy of Science 1:00-2:30 P.M. Panel 1: US-Africa STEM Interface Panel Moderator: Jerome Nriagu Professor of Environmental Chemistry University of Michigan Panelists: John Boright, NAS Awono Onana, ECCAS DeAndra Beck, NSF George Philander, Princeton Beatrice Njenga, African Union
2:30-2:45 P.M. Coffee Break 3:00-4:30 P.M. Panel 2: US-Africa STEM Policy and Funding Panel Moderator: Ann Petersen Research Professor Center for Human Growth and Development University of Michigan Panelists: Jean-Pierre Ezin, African Union Joe Massaquoi, UNESCO East Africa Michael Cheetham, IUSTF Stan Straughter, CFA Marilyn Pifer, CRDF 5:00-6:00 P.M. Roundtable and Recommendations Close of Workshop 6:20 P.M. Transportation to Restaurant from Michigan League 6:30-8:30 P.M. Dinner- Blue Nile Restaurant 2
Workshop Panelists (in order of presentation) Jean-Pierre Ezin Since 1972,Dr. Jean Pierre Ezin has occupied several posts in International Scientific Research Centers such as the Abdus Aalam Centre for Theoretical Physics and the Laurent Schwartz Centre de Mathematiques. He was a senior lecturer in high schools. He has been Rector of Université Nationale du Benin, Dean of Science, Founder and Director of the Institut de Mathématiques et de Sciences physiques in Benin. He was Titular Professor at the Benin National University. He also served the university as mathematics lecturer. He was advisor in the Ministry in charge of Planning, Economic Restructuring and Employment. John Boright Dr. John P. Boright is Executive Director of International Affairs of the US National Academies of Sciences (NAS). International activities of the NAS include cooperation with national, regional, and global groups of counterparts. A central goal of these cooperative activities is to build the capacity of the science, engineering, and medical communities to successfully engage in meeting local, national and global needs, and to inform policy making. Boright has served in several governmental positions including: Deputy to the Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science and Technology Affairs, Department of State; Director of the Division of International Programs, National Science Foundation; and Counselor for Scientific and Technological Affairs, U.S. Embassy in Paris. He received a B.A. (high honors) and Ph.D. in physics from Cornell University. Dr. Awono (Charles) Onana is the director of the National Advanced School of Engineering at the university of Yaounde I, Cameroon. He has served before as the director of the school of technology at the University of Douala Cameroon. Professor AWONO Onana is deeply involved in many initiatives targeting the quality and relevance of higher education in Africa. He has been involved in several projects related to the development of higher education in Cameroon, in partnership with the World Bank, UNESCO and the African Development BANK. He is currently serving as the coordinator of the Central African Centre of Excellence Project, which aims at creating six specialised Centres of Excellence in this part of the world. He received a Master of Science degree in applied cybernetics in 1981 and a Ph.D. in 1984 the same field, both in the Faculty of Cybernetics of the Mendeleev Institute, Moscow.
Panelists George Philander Professor George Philander hails from Cape Town, South Africa and is currently a Professor of Geosciences at Princeton University. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member of the National Academy of Sciences, and Research Director at the African Centre for Climate and Earth System Science (ACCESS) in Cape Town. Professor Philander holds a SARCHI chair in Oceanography and was the father of the ACCESS idea. Dr. Philander is a world-renowned oceanatmosphere specialist and has made significant contributions to the understanding and modeling of large-scale climate variability, linking La Nina and other phenomena. He is passionate about education and the value of earth systems in inspiring young minds. His current research interests are focused on paleo-climate and on the ice ages in particular. Mr. Stan Straughter serves as Director of International Business Development in the financial management consulting practice of Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio & Associates, PC. With nearly 30 years experience in international development he has lived and worked in several countries on the continents of Africa, Central Asia, the Caribbean and Russia. As a finance specialist, Mr. Straughter has provided services to foreign governments in governance and transparency, worked with Finance Ministers and provided advice and counsel to governments on trade policy and foreign direct investment. Stan Straughter Joseph G.M. Massaquoi Prof. Joseph G.M. Massaquoi has worked as University professor, University administrator, international programme manager, and diplomat in many countries. He was for seven years (2005-2012) the Director of UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Technology in Africa (ROSTA). He was for 15 years the Coordinator of the African Network of scientific and technological institutions (ANSTI). He served as consultant and implemented projects for various international organizations including the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, the International Foundation for Science (IFS) of Sweden, the commonwealth Science council, African Development Foundation of the USA, and others. Prof. Massaquoi has published over six-dozen articles in several disciplines of engineering science and Science and Technology policy. Prof. Joseph G. M. Massaquoi obtained his Bachelors Degree (with honors) and Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wales in Great Britain. He also holds a doctorate degree in chemical engineering from West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA.
Panelists Marilyn Pifer Dr. Marilyn Pifer is Director of Capacity Building Programs, serving as the project lead for CRDF Global's higher education programs in Russia (Basic Research and Higher Education - BRHE) and Ukraine (Cooperation in Research and Education in Science and Technology - CREST). She also advises on the development of other university-based research programs, and served in 2006 as the education expert on a National Research Council committee studying the scientific status and potential of Kazakhstan. Prior to joining CRDF Global in 2001, Dr. Pifer served twice in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, with responsibility for science cooperation in Russia and in South Asia and the Middle East. She has also done research as a Fellow with the University of Manchester (UK)'s Programme on Policy Research in Engineering, Science and Technology, and through a National Academy of Sciences exchange in the Institute of Molecular Biology, Moscow. Dr. Pifer holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Biology from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Genetics from The Johns Hopkins University Medical School. Michael Cheetham has served as head of the US office of the Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) since its creation on President Clinton s visit to India in March 2000. In 2005 Mr. Cheetham founded the Indian Science and Technology Partnership (INSTP), a non- profit organization dedicated to increasing linkages between the scientific communities of India and the United States. He has twenty years of experience building and managing international partnerships in science and technology, with an exclusive focus for ten years on energy and environment, covering energy efficiency, renewable energy, R&D strategies, technology commercialization and transfer, advanced electric power generation, and global climate change. From 1997 to 2004 he was a program director in the Policy and Global Affairs division, National Research Council of The National Academies. Earlier he worked on international collaborative programs for the Institute for International Education, the World Energy Efficiency Association, and the Atlantic Council of the United States.
Panelists DeAndra Beck DeAndra Beck is a Program Director at the National Science Foundation s Office of International Science and Engineering, with responsibility for NSF s Developing Country initiatives and the sub-saharan Africa portfolio. She has been working closely with the U.S. Agency for International Development to bridge the interests of science and development, including the recent launch of the Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER-Science) initiative. These efforts are important to members of U.S. science and engineering community who wish to engage developing country partners and to developing country scientists who want to participate fully in research cooperation with NSF-funded scientists. Dr. Beck also co-manages the Science Across Virtual Institutes (SAVI) initiative and serves on NSF s INSPIRE working group to foster transformative, multidisciplinary research. Before NSF, Dr. Beck served as the acting Managing Director for Environment and Social Assessment at the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Dr. Beatrice Njenga is the Head of the Education Division of the African Union Commission.