June 2013 - African Institute for Mathematical Sciences

HIGHlights
A F R I C AN IN S T I T U T E FO R M A T H E M AT IC A L S C IE N C E S
6 ME L R O SE RO AD | M U I Z E N B E RG | 7 9 4 5 | C AP E T O W N | SO U T H A F R IC A
June 2013
Graduation 2013
Inside this issue:
Graduation 2013
1
Cosmology group
updates
2
Famelab finalist
2
TED Global
2
Visiting
researchers
2
Student updates
3
Global Alumni
Reunion
4
MMED workshop
4
Farewells
4
AIMS celebrated a decade of
academic excellence at a special
graduation ceremony held on 26
June at the Muizenberg Pavilion
in Cape Town. For the first time
the 49 students from 21 African
countries were awarded a Master’s in Mathematical Sciences,
bringing the total number of
AIMS graduates since 2003, to
470 of which 30% are women.
The event was attended by the
organisation’s founder Professor
Neil Turok; guest speaker, Dr
Loyiso Nongxa, and a number of
donor or partner representatives.
The ceremony commenced with
an Academic Procession from
AIMS in Melrose Road.
The opening speech was given by
Prof Turok who advised the the
graduates: “The whole world is
watching you, you are the beginning of a wave. Just as a wave
gradually builds and gains mass
and momentum and then crashes
on the shore. This is what is happening at AIMS, a wave is coming,
a wave of young Africans. The
world needs you, it needs talent,
scientists, discoverers and problem-solvers.” He then reflected
www.aims.ac.za
back on the opening of AIMS,
“It seemed impossible in 2003,
we barely had the resources to
open AIMS and the first students that came had to help us
finish the building and set up
the library and now there is no
other centre like AIMS. As
soon as you walk in the door
you can instantly feel the vibe.
Determined to do impossible
things in 2008 we established
AIMS-NEI with the goal to
open 15 centres across Africa.”
He quoted former President
Nelson Mandela, "It always
seems impossible until it's
done.”
“Could the first African Field’s
Medallist be seated in this room
and could we perhaps in Khayelitsha, Guguletu or in the Cape
Flats find our very own African
Ramanujan? We surely hope so?”
AIMS Director, Professor Barry
Green also noted that this year
was the first time that the graduates were awarded Master’s degrees which made this ceremony
even more special and brings
AIMS-South Africa in line with
the other AIMS Centres.
The ceremony was officiated by
Dr Max Price, Vice-Chancellor,
University of Cape Town, Prof
The guest speaker was Dr
Michael-Davies Coleman, Dean
Loyiso Nongxa (former Viceof Natural Sciences, University
Chancellor, University of the
of the Western Cape and
Witwatersrand, who congratu- Prof Eugene Cloete, Vice-Rector
lated the students and AIMS on Research, Stellenbosch
the 10th anniversary. He noted University.
that “AIMS is just one stop in
a long way and we need to give The AIMS Schools Enrichment
thanks to family members and Centre also awarded certificates
all the people who made this
to Miss Thelma van Vught, Miss
possible, including the academ- Nompumelelo Maqholo, Mrs
ics who come from all over
Cecilia Perring, Mr Mhlangabezi
the world to contribute their
Gcali, Mr Clinton Mthi and
time.” He went on to describe Ms Sagree Pillay.
the problems facing mathematics and he posed the questions, Continued on page 3.
[email protected]
HIGHlights
Page 2
AIMS Research Centre updates
TED Global Conference
Cosmology Group updates
Michelle Knights, who is doing
her PhD with Prof Bassett, has
been awarded a UCT Faculty
Research Associateship for
her work. “There are typically
only about 5 across the entire
faculty of science at both MSc
and PhD levels so is a very
nice achievement. This in addition to her top-10 position in
the international FameLab
competition a couple of weeks
ago,” said Prof Bassett.
Eli Kasai, a student in the
Research Centre, received
his Master’s degree on 6 June
2013 from UCT. He was also
interviewed at AIMS by Bush
radio on the 21st of June 2013
about the public talk he gave
at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO)
the following day.
“The talk at the SAAO was
my first public talk and it was a
great experience educating the
public about the kind of work
we do as astronomers and
cosmologists. It was a very
interactive session with the
audience asking lots of questions,” he said.
Prof Bassett attended the TED
Global 2013 in Edinburgh in
June 2013 thanks to the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who fund a number of
TEDxChange fellows.
The TEDGlobal meeting is an
incredible melting pot of
people and ideas from across
the world. Highlights of this
year’s conference included the
first demonstration of leather
grown in a lab as well as a talk
from former Greek Prime
Minister, George Papandreou
about the European austerity
crisis.
Famelab finalist
happened 14
billion years
ago.
.
“I had a
fantastic
experience
at Famelab
and enjoyed
every minute
Michelle Knights was a finalist of it. Not only did I get to
in the Famelab competition
attend the Cheltenham
which was held in the UK.
Science Festival and meet
She came through the semi- great people such as Peter
finals with a talk about gravi- Higgs (who proposed the
tational waves and the possi- now discovered Higgs boson)
bility of detecting these fasci- and James Watson (one of
nating, theoretical phenome- the discoverers of DNA), but
na in the future by observing I also made friends with my
a network of pulsars with the fellow "Famelabbers", who
SKA. For the final on Friday are all passionate science
7 June, she competed against communicators and really
9 other finalists and talked
awe-inspiring people,” she
about inflation and how eve- added.
rything in the Universe, every
Michelle was also interviewed
star, planet, galaxy and peron SAFM about Famelab
son, came from miniscule
shortly before and after the
quantum fluctuations that
international final.
www.aims.ac.za
Visiting researchers
We welcomed Dr Aziz
Ouhinou on 11 June to AIMS.
Dr Ouhinou is affiliated to
the Faculty of Sciences and
Technology, University of
Sultane Moulay Slimane) in
Beni-Mellal city, Morocco and
his research focuses on Partial Functional Differential
Equations and Population
Dynamics. He will be based
at AIMS for 2 months.
Dr Rejoyce Gavhi affiliated to
the University of Alberta
started her 2 year AIMS
postdoctoral fellowship on
24 June 2013. She will work
with Professor Johan de
Villiers and the AIMSSEC
team.
Dr Mouhamed Moustapha
Fall who was recently
appointed to a Humboldt
Research Chair at AIMSSénégal visited AIMS for one
week in June. His area of
research is in PDE's and
Geometry.
Dr Etienne Wamba from
Cameroon arrived on 29
June 2013 and will stay at
AIMS for 2 months. He is
affiliated to the University of
Yaounde and his research
area is "Condensed Matter
Physics".
Dr Amadou Tall, Academic
Manager from AIMS - Sénégal is visiting AIMS for a
period of 1 month from 1
July 2013. During his visit his
research will focus on
“Exponentiation is very important in Cryptography".
[email protected]
HIGHlights
Page 3
Graduation continued
Ms Pillay also said a few words
about her experience with
AIMSSEC and ended
with,“Thank you AIMS and
AIMSSEC for lighting the flame
in us.”
This year a special choir composed of AIMS students and
conducted by Prof Johan de
Villiers of the AIMS Research
Centre gave a sterling performance as part of the festivities.
Above, the AIMSSEC team and award winners.
In the ceremony AIMS Endowed Scholarships
were awarded to a number of top achievers.
Pictured front from left: Ms Valisoa Razanajatovo
Misanantenaina, was the recipient of a Special
Achievement Award, Ms Myriam Mahaman who
received the Martin Rees Scholarship, Mr Adriniana Narindra Rasoanaivo, who received the
Stephan Hawking Scholarship and Ms Tanjona
Fiononana Ralaivasaona who received the Paul G
Allen Scholarship
Back from left: Prof Barry Green, Mr Mark
Musonda Shawa who received the Victor Rothschild Scholarship, Prof Fritz Hahne who handed
out the awards and Prof Jeff Sanders.
The AIMS Choir
Student updates
The last party for the 20122013 Structured Master’s intake was held on Friday 14th
June.
A further two review courses
were held for the January
www.aims.ac.za
intake MSc students: Mathematical Modelling in Medicine
and Public Health (Juliet Pulliam, Fogarty) and Mathematics
of Approximation (Johan de
Villiers, Stellenbosch/AIMS).
The procession from AIMS-South Africa
Ubuntu for Science
A course on how to install and
maintain Ubuntu with Science
Software was held at AIMS
from 18-21 June.
50 people attended.
Departing alumni were taught
how to install Ubuntu, and how
to add the aims-desktop science
software to that, enabling them
to maintain their own laptops
during their continued studies
after AIMS.
[email protected]
HIGHlights
Page 4
AIMS Global Alumni Reunion
This reunion took place at the
Muizenberg Pavillion from 27
to 29 June 2013 and brought
together African business,
educational and political leaders together with AIMS alumni
and leadership to discuss,
make progress and form linkages around African transformation.
The reunion was titled;
“Transforming Africa through
mathematical sciences and
knowledge-based enterprise”.
opment,” Executive Director
of AIMS-NEI, Thierry Zomahoun said. “Although nearly
one million students graduate
from African universities each
year, high-level training is generally unavailable, particularly
in scientific and technical
fields. There is a critical scarcity of mathematical and scientific expertise, which is adversely affecting all aspects of
development, including education, science, industry and
government.”
Highlights of the conference
included discussions around
the role of research in African
development, creating a
knowledge-based economy,
gender in relation to science,
entrepreneurship and an address by South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs, Naledi
“Investment in university level Pandor. For more information
education in Africa is the fast- please visit http://
globalalumnireunion.org/
est route to technological
catch-up and economic devel- garblog/
More than 240 participants
from 44 countries gathered in
Muizenberg from 27 to 29
June for the conference, which
brought together researchers,
African business and political
leaders and AIMS alumni and
leadership.
MMED Workshop
The South African Centre for
Epidemiological Modeling and
Analysis (SACEMA), in collaboration with the AIMS-South
Africa held the 4th annual Clinic on the Meaningful Modelling
of Epidemioligical Data
(MMED) from 3 to 14 June
2013.
The clinic emphasised the use
of data in understanding infectious disease dynamics. The
Clinic brought together graduate students and researchers
from North America and Africa and used real data to grapple with practical questions in
a meaningful way.
Farewells
On 6 June a small farewell was held for Paul Taylor (third from
left) who was based in the Research Centre.
South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs, Naledi Pandor on stage with
representatives from AIMS and some alumni.
The Happy Feet
dancers who
opened the
proceedings at
the start of the
reunion.
On 25 June a farewell tea was held for the tutors. Jeff Sanders,
Academic Director said a few words of thanks and reiterated the
important role that tutors play in the AIMS model of learning.
www.aims.ac.za
[email protected]