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News from ICTP 95 - Features - EBASI
Council members of the Edward Bouchet/Abdus Salam Institute (EBASI) recently met at ICTP to discuss how their alliance of African and Afro-American scientists could be strengthened.
African-American Ties
Council Meeting of the Edward Bouchet/Abdus Salam Institute
Council members of the Edward
Bouchet/Abdus Salam Institute (EBASI) met at the Centre between
6 and 9 November 2000 to lay out a broad agenda for the organisation's
future.
The meeting took place as a follow-up to a series of events, including
EBASI's 3rd International Conference on Physics and High Technology
in Botswana in August 1998 and a forum on the state of mathematics
in Africa in October 1999 in Trieste, that examined potential
new avenues for collaboration among black scientists in sub-Saharan
Africa and the United States (see "Math
Across the Oceans," News from ICTP, Winter 2000,
p. 6-7).
Launched in 1988 by ICTP's founding director and Nobel Laureate
Abdus Salam, EBASI is named in honour of Edward Bouchet, a late
19th century graduate of Yale University, who was the first person
of African descent to receive a Ph.D. in physics in the United
States.
"During its brief history, the institute has pursued a number
of worthwhile activities--most notably, a series of meetings in
Africa that initiated and then sustained close relationships between
African and African-American scientists," says Gallieno Denardo,
ICTP representative to EBASI and former head of ICTP's Office
of External Activities, who has been closely involved with EBASI
since its inception. "These efforts have helped participants
to learn more about each other's institutions and laid the foundation
for researchers from Africa and the United States to collaborate
on a variety of research activities."
"Yet, until now," explains Denardo, "the institute
has acted largely as an informal association. Over the past few
years, many of those involved began to think that it may be time
to build a more formal institutional framework. That was our overarching
goal in calling for the council meeting."
"The most important outcome of the meeting," says Charles
S. Brown, the council's chairperson and chief science officer
at Luxcore in Decatur, Georgia, USA, "was the drafting of
statutes detailing the institute's structure and collaborative
goals. These included the designation of specific responsibilities
for its current 15 council members (seven African-Americans, seven
Africans, and two ICTP liaisons) and the opening of the institute
to general membership. The first member under this new arrangement
is Aakhut E. Bak, Department of Physics, Morehouse College, Atlanta,
USA."
Another outcome of the meeting was the drafting of plans to expand
the institute's reach of activities to generate a broader and
more lasting impact not just on physics in Africa, but mathematics
and high technology as well. These steps will give the institute
a broader foundation for action than it had in the past.
"The effort," notes Denardo, "is part of ICTP's
director Miguel Virasoro's long-range goal to more closely link
researchers from developed and developing nations, especially
researchers who have some affinity to one another--as is the case
with African and African-American physicists and mathematicians."
"Despite centuries of separation," adds council member
Ahmadou Wagué, "deep cultural ties exist between black
scientists in the United States and Africa that could help nurture
a spirit of closer collaboration. EBASI hopes to tap both the
personal and professional interests that researchers in each of
these scientific communities have for one another." Wagué
is the coordinator of the African Network on Laser, Atomic and
Molecular Physics (LAMP). The network's headquarters are located
at University Cheik Anta Diop--an ICTP Affiliated Centre--in Dakar,
Senegal.
One of the several activities that the institute plans to pursue
is a programme in theoretical and experimental hydrodynamics that
will enable young African scientists to pursue their studies at
ICTP in Trieste under the supervision of council member Joseph
A. Johnson, professor of physics at Florida A&M University
in Tallahassee, USA. While students will be able to avail themselves
of the Centre's facilities, funding for the effort will come in
part from sources in the United States.
"It's the kind of initiative that conforms to Salam's vision,"
Johnson notes. "The Centre will be at the hub of a multifaceted
effort to improve physics and mathematics training in Africa with
assistance from African-Americans in the United States."
Johnson will spend the next several months seeking funds from
agencies and foundations in America. He hopes to have two to three
students participating in the overall programme next year, including
African participants whose research activities are based in Florida.
Other potential EBASI projects include an initiative to secure
a project focussed on external support for ICTP Affiliated Centres
like LAMP. The project will be designed to strengthen LAMP's role
as a regional laser facility for the training of scientists and
technicians in West Africa.
To bolster such efforts, the council has asked ICTP to remain
closely associated with EBASI. Such ties, members maintain, are
necessary to enhance the institute's visibility and prestige,
especially among potential funders.
"Every institute needs to step back and seek new directions
as it matures, and EBASI is no exception," observes Denardo.
"The decisions made at the council meeting were intended
to provide new directions and stronger purpose to the organisation.
We will assess our progress as we move ahead, but we are optimistic
that the institute will now be able to nurture even closer links
between physicists and mathematicians in Africa and the United
States in ways that are beneficial to both communities."
For additional information about the Edward Bouchet/Abdus
Salam Institute (EBASI), please contact Eleonora Crotta, ICTP
Office of External Activities, Strada Costiera 11, 34014 Trieste,
Italy, phone 39 040 2240 323, fax 39 040 2240 443, oea@ictp.trieste.it,
or Charles Brown, Chief Science Officer, Luxcore, P.O. Box 370349,
Decatur, GA 30037-0349, USA, profcsb@bellsouth.net.
Edward Bouchet/Abdus Salam Institute
Executive Board
Chair
Charles S. Brown
Chief Science Officer
Luxcore
Decatur, GA, USA
Director of Africa Office
F.K.A. Allotey
Ghana Atomic Energy Commission
Legon-Accra, Ghana
Administrative Officer
Aakhut E. Bak
Department of Physics
Morehouse College
Atlanta, GA, USA
Abdus Salam ICTP Representatives
Gallieno Denardo
The Abdus Salam ICTP
Trieste, Italy
Faheem Hussain
The Abdus Salam ICTP
Trieste, Italy
African Council Members
Aba B. Andam
Department of Physics
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology
Kumasi, Ghana
James O.C. Ezeilo
Department of Mathematics
University of Swaziland
Kwaluseni, Swaziland
Jean-Pierre Ezin
Institut de Mathématiques et de Sciences Physiques
Porto-Novo, Benin
Mohamed H.A. Hassan
Third World Academy of Sciences
Trieste, Italy
Leonard Kanangwe Shayo
University of Dar-es-Salaam
Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
Ahmadou Wagué
Departement de Physiques
Université Cheikh Anta Diop
Dakar, Senegal
U.S. Council Members
Anthony M. Johnson
Department of Physics
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Newark, NJ, USA
Joseph A. Johnson
III
Center for Nonlinear and Nonequilibrium Aeroscience
Florida A&M University
Tallahassee, FL, USA
Ronald E. Mickens
Department of Physics
Clark Atlanta University
Atlanta, GA, USA
Sekazi K. Mtingwa
Department of Physics
North Carolina A&T State University
Greensboro, NC, USA
Kennedy Reed
Lawrence Livermore National Lab
Livermore, CA, USA
Milton D. Slaughter
Department of Physics
University of New Orleans
New Orleans, LA, USA