AqueouSolutions

If you educate a girl, Part IX

2011-08-08T16:42:00.039-04:00

When on sabbatical leave at the University of Ghana in 2008 I heard people say that the University of Cape Coast (UCC) had some of the best university science programs in Ghana. I was concerned, therefore, when I realized that among the Ghanaian students admitted to the African University of Science and Technology (AUST-Abuja), in 2008 and 2009, there were no UCC students.

In March 2010, on my way to a meeting at AUST, I decided to stop in Ghana and visit UCC. After contacting the Dean of Physical Sciences via e-mail, he kindly extended an invitation to me. I met with fifteen or so teaching assistants with first degrees in physics and chemistry, and shared with them the AUST vision, but never heard back from any of them. It was therefore a pleasant surprise when in the following July, three students (two females and a male) came up to me in AUST-Abuja, smiling, and introduced themselves as among the students who met with me at UCC.

In December 2011 these three UCC students will graduate with MSc degrees—two of them in Theoretical Physics and another in Materials Science and Engineering. Congratulations to them!

Continuing with my series on the education of females, I asked if the two women, Janet Sackey and Ivy Asuo, would be willing to share a bit about their experiences and what motivated them to pursue careers in science and technology:

If you educate a girl, Part VIII

2011-05-28T13:44:00.009-04:00

The African University of Science and Technology (AUST)-Abuja opened its doors to students in 2008. This post-graduate institution offers masters degrees in four fields: mathematics, computer science, materials science and engineering, and petroleum engineering. Among the second batch of students (2009/10) were several women. I posted an interview with one of them previously.

I also spoke with two of the computer science students, Adedoyin Adegoke and Dorothy Maduagwu. They shared some of the challenges they have faced as they seek to pursue their academic goals.

If you educate a girl, Part VII

2011-05-26T13:51:00.014-04:00

I was recently watching the Brazil segment of Professor Gates' recent PBS series Black in Latin America, Brazil: A Racial Paradise?.

The comments made in the video about the lack of AfroBrazilians in higher education institutions reminded me of a conversation I had on one of my trips to Brazil. I chatted with a determined and hardworking post-doctoral researcher at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Roberta Froes. I was curious to learn more about her educational experiences as an AfroBrazilian.

The following video shares excerpts from our conversation, which was conducted in English since my Portuguese is still pretty rudimentary. Her parents did not have the opportunity to receive higher education, but they vowed that “our child will be what we could not be.”

I learned that she was one of only 2 or 3 AfroBrazilians out of 40 in her technical high school, and that she was the only one of them to finish out the course.

While she passed the exams to attend the university, her parents could not afford to pay her incidental expenses (food, transportation, etc.). Roberta was told that she would not be able to complete the course in 4 years if she had to work, but she was determined to prove the experts wrong. By studying during the day and working nights teaching high school chemistry, she was able to finish her work in four years.

She took time off for a break, but a year later decided to go on for a master’s degree in analytical chemistry. Due to a frustrating year-long lack of equipment in the labs, Roberta was forced to complete her master’s degree in 6 months, and went on to enter the doctoral program a month later. She finished her doctorate, on contamination in beverages, in 3 years.

When I asked her for advice to give other black Brazilian young people about going into the sciences, she shared how much it means to her personally to now know scientists who are people like her: in Salvador in Bahia, in Belo Horizonte, and other places.

“I have relationships with people.” Before then, she only saw white people, or Asian people. She proudly announced “I’m not alone.” There are now some, though still only a few, people like her. She lamented that AfroBrazilians think they can’t continue their education and tend to say things like “No, I need to work.” “I need a car first, so I have to work . . .” She ends the interview by explaining that a lot of black people think they will end up with the worst jobs and there’s no need to study, they’ll never get ahead. She, however, affirms: “No, if I want to be in that place, I will be in that place!”

We celebrate Dr. Roberta Froes' successes and hope that as her career advances she will find ways to link up, too, with the worldwide community of African scientists and engineers.

If you educate a girl, Part VI

2010-08-15T18:18:00.013-04:00

Yesterday (August 14, 2010) Grace Ofori-Sarpong officially became Dr. Grace Ofori-Sarpong. It was a pleasure to escort my student during the procession for Penn State University's Graduate School Summer Commencement exercise. When I put the hood on her I passed on to her my blessings with a quiet prayer that she would return to the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT, Tarkwa, Ghana) and help transform it from a man's world to a school that truly belongs to both women and men. As the first woman lecturer of this new university with a PhD, Dr. Ofori-Sarpong will no doubt have many opportunities to serve as a role model.

Grace's research on fungi-mediated aqueous processing of refractory (hard-to-treat) gold ores was supervised by Prof. Ming Tien and myself. This work is opening up new doors for biohydrometallurgy research. Dr. Ofori-Sarpong's findings established for the first time that certain fungi release metabolic products that can transform the chemical and physical characteristics of the natural carbon in such gold ores in ways that dramatically inhibit the otherwise undesirable uptake of dissolved gold cyanide complexes.

The challenge now is to find a way to keep her research work active as she returns to Ghana. She must set up an engineering microbiology lab from scratch in an academic environment which does not yet have a serious tradition of externally funded research. Given her track record at Penn State, I have every confidence that if there are research funds available anywhere in the world, she'll find a way to submit successful research proposals. Grace: Ayekoo!

If you educate a girl, Part V

2010-04-03T18:11:00.003-04:00

I thought it would be interesting to hear from the women students at AUST a little bit about their backgrounds, their undergraduate education, what attracted them to their academic fields. . . Some of their answers were surprising. In this blog posting and coming ones, I'll feature short conversations I had with 4 of the women during my visit to AUST late last year.

The first video clip features Toyin Iyowu, a first year graduate student in petroleum engineering.

If you educate a girl, Part IV

2010-04-02T16:06:00.001-04:00

In December, 2009, AUST (the African University of Science and Technology) in Abuja, Nigeria, celebrated its first graduation. 42 students received graduate degrees (MS and PGD [post graduate diploma]) in the fields of computer science, materials sci-

ence and engineering, mathe-
matics, petroleum engineering and theoretical physics. They came from several sub-Saharan African countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda).

While we celebrate the fact that the first batch of students is out we cannot ignore the fact that only 2 of the 42 were women. It is noteworthy that one of these women, Azeb Demisi Habte, was recognized as the graduate with the Overall Best Student Research Project.

We can be optimistic about the future. The picture above shows that the number of women in the second batch of students has increased. Since AUST aspires to be a leading institution of science and technology, we expect these young women will be role models. We also acknowledge the fact that the Chair of the AUST Board of Trustees is a woman: Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (see picture), Managing Director, World Bank Group.

Minerals as Materials, Materials as Minerals, Part 2

2010-02-01T15:00:00.001-05:00

In November, 2009 I taught a course in materials processing (MS 603) at AUST, in Abuja, Nigeria. The following assignment was designed to encourage the students to appreciate the minerals-materials linkage, and to go beyond factual information to conceptual understanding and problem-solving:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Process Evaluation and Design Project

From Minerals to Materials: Adding Value to Our Solid Mineral Resources Through Aqueous Processing

Your country’s new Minister of Science and Technology just returned from an African Union Ministerial Forum on Science and Technology where she participated in a panel discussion on using Africa’s natural resource base as a springboard for technological advancement. She was disturbed to learn of the manner in which African governments (including her own) have historically failed to come up with science and technology policies that seriously seek to add value to their countries’ solid mineral resources. She also heard presentations that pushed the idea of “resource curse” as well as those that vehemently challenged this idea. (See, for example, J. D. Sachs and A. M. Warner, “Natural Resources and Economic Development. The Curse of Natural Resources,” European Econ. Rev., 45, 827-838 (2001), G. Wright and J. Czelusta, “Mineral Resources and Economic Development”, 2003.)

Upon her return from the forum, the Minister instructed the Director General (DG) of your country’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to provide her with a comprehensive report on the state of the minerals and materials industry in the country. In connection with this, your boss, the Director of the Center for Materials Research in Aqueous Systems (CMRAS) has asked you to contribute to an initial study to provide management with critical baseline data and assessment. Your work is to focus on aqueous-based chemical processing technologies.

Prepare a report for management in response to this request. Your report should:

(a) Identify two important (and different) solid mineral resources (deposits) in your country that are amenable to aqueous processing - either in the extraction or engineered materials synthesis and processing stages. Indicate the location and extent of these resources. What are the important ore minerals associated with the deposits and what are the valuable metals therein?
(b) What are these metals and minerals used for? What are some commercial products which are based on the metals and/or minerals?
(c) Select one of the deposits. Describe the current nature and level of industrial activity (e.g., is the deposit being mined? Is there any mineral processing? Is there any hydrometallurgical processing? Are there known serious mining/processing environmental problems?)
(d) What are the opportunities you see for adding further value to these resources? What specific contributions do you see for aqueous processing techniques (e.g., in connection with the metal extraction, engineered materials synthesis and processing stages, or environmental aspects).
(e) Select one of the “opportunities” identified in (d) above and describe, as quantitatively as possible, the relevant aqueous processing schemes.
(f) In view of your research findings pertaining to items (a) to (e) above, what is your reaction to the “resource curse” debate?

The technical content of your report should be based on the principles and tools discussed in MS 603. In particular, your report should demonstrate your familiarity with the following process design tools:

(a) Reaction quotients and equilibrium constants
(b) Aqueous stability diagrams
(c) Speciation diagrams
(d) Dissolution, precipitation, and selectivity windows
(e) Reaction paths
(f) Conceptual flow diagrams

The professional-quality report should not be more than 15 pages long (double-spaced) total. Format: Title, Author’s Name and Affiliation, Abstract, Introduction, Other Relevant Headings/Subheadings, Summary and Conclusions, Acknowledgments, References.

At least two-thirds of the report should focus on aqueous processing proper. You should take advantage of relevant information in textbooks, the patent literature, the Internet, technical journals, conference proceedings, company brochures, and personal contacts (e.g., phone calls, e-mails). Be sure to consult more than one type of information source. Your report should clearly indicate some serious thinking on your part.

At a mini-symposium at the end of the course each student will make a 20-minute presentation to report his/her findings. There will be peer review of the presentations. The relevant evaluation forms will be provided. Attire: Business casual.
* * * * * * * * * *
NOTE: Again, this assignment was designed to challenge the students to reflect on and think broadly about their work as scientists and engineers. I wanted them to be aware of and appreciate the wider context and the policy implications of their science and engineering activities. It was also to nudge them towards viewing themselves as active participants in tackling Africa's science and technology challenges.

Minerals as Natural Materials, Materials as Engineered Minerals

2009-12-03T15:59:00.031-05:00

NOTE: The 5th Africa MRS conference (plus the 8th Nigerian Materials Congress [NIMACON 2009]) takes place Dec. 14-18, 2009 in Abuja. The theme is "Nanotechnology, Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technology for Africa." I’ve previously blogged on earlier A-MRS conferences. I'll be presenting several papers. I hope to see some of you there.

One question I keep asking myself and others is "What should the meaning of 'the field of materials science and engineering in Africa' be today?" Should we mimic the practice in the advanced countries where minerals are separated from other materials?

Very often at conferences in or about Africa, one sees people repeatedly mention the same problems: water, health, energy, environment, food and agriculture. Never do they mention minerals (e.g., see J. D. Sachs' comments "How Science And Medical Communities Can Help Governments Achieve The Millennium Development Goals" on page 17, the 2005 ASADI (African Science Academy Development Initiative) final conference report.

Yet the news is filled with stories about how African minerals (gold, diamonds, tin, coltan, etc.) are driving violence and many of the civil wars on the continent. I feel very strongly that Africa cannot afford to follow the advanced countries and sever this link between materials and minerals.

In December 2004, I presented at the 3rd US/Africa Implementation Meeting and US/Africa Materials Workshop, in Cairo, Egypt, an NSF-sponsored workshop focusing on sustainable materials processing research. In a talk titled "Minerals as Materials, Materials as Minerals," I presented this idea of the integral connection between the two, one I continue to champion.

If you educate a girl, Part III

2009-08-14T18:15:00.001-04:00

Another role model for African women scientists and engineers is Dr. Elsie Effah Kaufmann, the Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences at the University of Ghana. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania, she works tirelessly both in her field professionally and to engage students in- and out-side the classroom.

While Ghana's government has stated its commitment to achieving equal education of boys and girls by the year 2015, all too often these types of lofty goals remain unfulfilled. Dr. Kaufmann is not only a role model, she is also an outspoken advocate for the education of girls. This is evident in an address she gave at the speech and prize-giving day at Akuse Methodist Senior High Technical School in March 2008.

After noting that "girl-children" (the UN defines a girl-child as a female child between 0 and 18) are almost invisible, she estimates that they form approximately 75% of the female population and approximately 38% of Ghana's total population, meaning there are almost 9 million girl children in the country. She further notes that the unequal treatment of females commences at birth when one inquires about the gender of the child "'What did she have, boy or girl?' and the shocking response" if it is a boy, " 'owoo nipa,' meaning 'she had a human being,' the implication being that the alternative is a non-human."

Girls are expected to marry, and "Before the 'marriage destiny' is accomplished, the girl-child is expected to keep herself busy in the kitchen, supposedly learning the skills necessary to prepare her for her role as wife and mother, while in fact bearing a significantly higher share of the domestic work than her male siblings." (bolding mine). Dr. Kaufmann claims that "On average girls marry at around age 15, while boys marry from 18 years. In some communities it is not surprising to find girls married at age 13."

However, she remains optimistic about the future, quoting Nelson Mandela ("education is the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world") and concluding that the education of the girl-child becomes even more critical. "There is a great deal of evidence pointing to the fact that economies grow faster, that the poor move out of poverty more quickly and that the general well-being of all members of the community is enhanced when gender equity is promoted."

Dr. Kaufmann is quite clear that she is not trying to undermine the critically important roles of wife and mother. "The roles of mother and wife are probably the most important that a great majority of females will assume. An educated mother is unlikely to perpetuate the marginalization of the girl-child. High self-esteem in a mother makes it natural for her to see the potential in her female child and she becomes a role model for that child." In a moving anecdote, she tells how she remembers "clearly the day one of my daughters, a girl-child, approached me to ask if it was true that women could not be weather forecasters. She felt she could be a good weather woman in future, but she had never seen one and the house help had told her that weather forecasting was a man's job."

Her concluding advice to the graduating girls at Akuse was that they should have a purpose and dream and go after their dreams. "Sure you will have to make sacrifices, but do not sacrifice your basic rights away by always considering yourselves last. You deserve to succeed."

To others she advises ". . .we must teach girl-children to be self-confident. They need to be made to recognize and understand their responsibility as equal partners and contributors to the community's development agenda. We should encourage and empower them to enter professions and areas of study which can nurture and develop their leadership abilities and give them opportunities to participate in high-level decision-making. This will serve to enable them to contribute towards development and at the same time, give them the chance to be future role models for girl-children who need education and direction."

An organization based in the U.S., CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education) is very active in promoting Dr. Kaufmann's vision in sub-Saharan Africa. Africans need to initiate, support, and insist upon similar programs throughout the continent.

Conversations about Mineral Industry Education: Prof. Richard Amankwah of UMaT, Ghana

2009-07-13T15:48:00.003-04:00

African mineral scientists and engineers need to share their stories, their observations, and their thoughts on the field with their peers and young people. From time to time, I will feature some of these on this blog. Prof. Richard K. Amankwah, Associate Professor of Mineral Engineering, University of Mines and Technology (UMaT) in Tarkwa, Ghana, recently visited Penn State University. I took the opportunity to have a brief conversation with him about his background and training, and some of his thoughts on the general topic of minerals industry education and research in Africa. In the first part of the interview Prof. Amankwah shares about his childhood and early education through his bachelors and masters studies at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Next our conversation moves to the beginnings of his academic career at UMaT and the ensuing Ph. D. research at Queen's University in Canada. The conversation concludes with his post-doctoral academic career and thoughts about the future.

If you educate a girl, Part II

2009-06-28T15:13:00.000-04:00

While there are some role models for African women scientists and engineers, these pioneers need much more visibility and more public acknowledgment of their work. Women often face challenges that their male colleagues do not, given the gender division of labor in much of Africa. From time to time, this blog will highlight contemporary examples, and readers are invited to suggest others. Today's blog posting features:

Marian Ewurama Addy, a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts & Science since 1999, is a Ghanaian with a doctorate in biochemistry from the Pennsylvania State University (1971). She studied botany and chemistry at the University of Ghana. Dr. Addy has a passionate interest in "bridging the gap between scientific and indigenous knowledge" and "the popularization of science." In 2003 she presented the Academy's J. B. Danquah Memorial Lecture, 3 lectures on the topic "Training the Next Generation of Scientists," which were published as a monograph in 2004.

She has been very active in the international community [e.g., as a Regional Secretary for the Committee on Science and Technology in Developing Countries, COSTED, a committee of the International Council for Science (ICSU), and helping to establish Western African Network of Natural Products Research Scientists (WANNPRES)] and has won many awards. She was named the "Marketing Woman of the Year" in 1995 for her "marketing," not of the usual goods, but of "Science."

She began her first Danquah lecture with words of confession borrowed from religion: "We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done." Her monograph is highly recommended.

A couple more representative quotes from it include:

“….(Students) take courses in science subjects……The practical component of the program may be dismissed in one phrase: subject to availability of funds…..The fact that finance is the main problem with respect to capacity building in the sciences is acknowledged…Yet, there has been no special initiative to find solutions to the problem. When it comes to science, we in Ghana want to go to heaven but we do not want to die.” (p. 14)

“Education is a war against ignorance. Quality science education is not cheap. If we are serious about science education, we should declare war on ignorance and provide the necessary resources to fight it” (p. 32).

If you educate a girl. . . you educate a nation, Part I

2009-05-01T17:00:00.002-04:00

Last year while in Ghana I attended some of the Founders' Day activities of Achimota, the boarding school I attended for 7 years (1960-1967) as a secondary student. It is a time set aside every year to reflect on and appreciate the school's founders and alumni. I was moved by one speaker's message who remarked how the founders could not imagine that over 80 years after Achimota's beginning it would make so many impressive contributions to the nation's development. The school's motto is Latin for "that all may be one," and its crest is black and white piano keys, representing how all must work together to create something harmonious.

The implied message that day was that there is value in building for the future. I liked that. One important area of the school's leadership was the introduction of coed boarding schools. Taking the logo seriously, the school applied this truth to many areas of life, including race and ethnicity, rural and urban, but especially gender. Coed secondary schools were unknown in the 1920s, and the idea was quite controversial. One of the founders, Dr. Kwegyir Aggrey, is credited with going around the country allaying the fears of parents with this mantra: "If you educate a man you simply educate an individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family." These words eventually became the famous quote: "If you educate a boy, you educate an individual, but if you educate a girl, you educate a nation." Many important female leaders were trained at Achimota. A small sample includes Joyce Aryee (CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines), Dr. Esther Afua Ocloo (a pioneering woman industrialist), Dr. Susan Ofori-Atta (the first Ghanaian woman physician), and Judge Prof. Akua Kuenyehia (Judge, International Criminal Court, The Hague) and Dr. Letitia Obeng (Ghana's first woman scientist in zoology).

Originally girls made up 10% of the student body, but today the numbers of boys and girls are essentially equal. The current (Mrs. Beatrice T. Adom) and two previous (Mrs. Adelaide Kwami and Mrs. Charlotte Brew-Graves) principals of the school are all women. Also, the current President of the Old Achimotan Association (OAA) is a woman, "Akora" Sarah Nuno Mansaray to the left in the photo on the right, with another alumna who is a physician.

I must reflect sadly that despite this insightful vision of equality, the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, both of which had their roots in Achimota, have yet to produce a female Vice-Chancellor (President).

I am intensely aware of the urgent need to reassert the importance of women in science and engineering education and to seriously encourage women to enter these fields. My next blog will present a few of the women who are role models for the future.

Materials Science and Engineering or Nothing Else

2009-04-14T20:00:00.002-04:00

In 2008, while on a sabbatical leave at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Ghana, I was assigned to teach the course "Materials and the Future." One assignment I gave the students was to write a newspaper article on any aspect of materials science and engineering that interested them.

Here is the contribution from Kwadwo Konadu Ansah-Antwi, the pioneer student of the new Department of Materials Science and Engineering. I thank Kwadwo for permitting me to share this and hope it will inspire others to explore this field so vital to African development. I have been in contact with The Daily Graphic since September 2008, but I have found that it is completely nontrivial to get feedback from Ghana's leading newspaper as to if and when they plan to publish it.

Materials Science and Engineering or Nothing Else
by
Kwadwo Konadu Ansah-Antwi

Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Faculty of Engineering Sciences
University of Ghana

When asked the question, “What would you like to be in the future?” the words that always sprang from my lips were “an electrical engineer.” When I completed junior high school I was admitted into Mfantsipim School to read general science. My elective subjects were mathematics, physics, chemistry and technical drawing. Well, it was not a smooth ride through senior high school, but I can still remember my euphoria on the day I turned in my final SSSCE paper.

When it came to choose my course of study at university I did not have to think twice. Electrical engineering was my first choice on the form addressed to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Because there are only a few universities and polytechnics to absorb all the thousands of students that qualify for admissions, it is a wise decision to buy more than one university’s admission form. Still, I actually had never thought that I would ever have my university education at the University of Ghana. It was well known among many people that the University of Ghana is to humanities as KNUST is to science and technology.

I was pressed between the courses to choose on the University of Ghana forms since electrical engineering was not part of the engineering courses offered there. Computer, biomedical, food processing, agricultural, and materials science and engineering (ceramic option) were the programs listed at the engineering column. I finally settled for computer engineering as my first choice since I thought it was the most prestigious among the list. Little did I know that I would be admitted into University of Ghana to offer a programme of which I had no prior knowledge. The end of the first part of my story is that I was not admitted to study electrical engineering at KNUST and neither did I gain admission to study computer engineering there. I was offered a chance to study “materials science and engineering” at the University of Ghana.

On August 3, 2005 I reported for registration at the University of Ghana. By this time I had developed so much enthusiasm for materials science and engineering that I could not wait for the freshmen/women orientation to end so lectures could begin. My interest in materials science and engineering developed as a result of the persistent research I carried out on the job prospects and essentially what the programme entailed at the undergraduate level. As a child I had always dreamed of working with NASA. In one of my research sessions on the Internet I came across an advertisement from a materials science and engineering professor. In the ad the professor was in search of graduate students to conduct research designing highly thermal resistant ceramic tiles for the space shuttle being used by NASA. Immediately I knew I had found another door through which I could potentially join the NASA staff even though the electrical engineering window had been closed to me.

All the students that had been admitted into the various engineering programmes were to take common courses for two years. I made some good friends among my course mates. I was on the lookout for students who had been admitted for materials science and engineering but I couldn’t find any at that moment. However, as the semester progressed I got to know that there were about six other students who were in my department.

In the blink of an eye the first semester had ended. I was posted to GRATIS foundation as an intern together with seven other students from all the various engineering departments. GRATIS is an acronym for Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology Industrial Services. It is a collaborative initiative of the Government of Ghana, the European Union (EU) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Gratis Ghana Foundation exists to promote industrialization by developing and disseminating technology to industry, particularly small and medium-scale enterprises.

For every step I took in GRATIS my quest was to identify the relevance of materials science and engineering with the operations of the company. As an intern I was trained on how to use AUTOCAD software to design. I was also involved in a team that fabricated a groundnut dehusking machine.

The second semester of level 100 began and by now I was acclimatized to the rigorous university work. By this time almost all the other departments except materials science and engineering had at least two lecturers. The Dean of the faculty decided to give students the choice of switching from other departments into the computer engineering department since it seemed to be the department with the greatest number of lecturers. To my surprise, all the other students in my department left for other departments; I became the only student left. The engineering school in the University of Ghana is very new. The first group of graduates finished in June 2008. I am among the second batch of admitted students into the Faculty of Engineering Sciences.

You may ask how I survived as the only student. I admit that I first had to understand the programme by way of its job and future prospects and a little about the necessary prerequisite courses. Basically the job opportunities were enormous and the requisite courses were chemistry, physics and mathematics, while biology students would be advantaged slightly when it comes to biomaterials.

You may also wonder why I am talking about my experience in the university. It opened my eyes to a reality of which I was previously unaware. Many people, including academicians and professionals of other engineering disciplines, are completely oblivious to the field of materials science and engineering. The number of materials industries in Ghana as of now is relatively small. Historically, civilizations have been closely tied to the types of materials they have used. Our land is blessed with all that we need to develop a vibrant materials industry.

There can only be significant change when people are equipped with the knowledge and capacity to process new materials. How can this become a reality when people are shying away from the profession, for reasons best known only to them? “Ghana has a problem and it is a materials problem” are the words of Mr. Lucas Damoah, a member of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences.
“Materials science or nothing else” were the words I spoke to my Dean when he asked if I wished to switch to computer engineering.

I write this piece to sound a clarion call to all and sundry to consider personal, active participation in developing the materials-based industries in our country. After all, the mineral companies that are generating millions of cedis for the country are metallurgical industries.

Think of the numerous problems that bedevil our nation, such as plastic waste, energy insufficiency, and lack of industries. All these result from a lack of the basic starting materials needed for production. The earlier we give attention to the education of materials science and engineering professionals, the better it would for the nation’s development.

Materials Society of Nigeria

2009-04-05T16:21:00.001-04:00

When the surprise invitation to present at the November 2008 meeting of NIMACON, the Nigerian Materials Congress (a meeting of the Nigerian Materials Research Society) arrived, I already had plans to visit the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Abuja, Nigeria. It was therefore a fortunate coincidence and I happily incorporated NIMACON into my travel plans.

This was the 7th annual conference. I had not realized Nigeria's MRS had been in existence for 7 years: the founding of this professional society therefore preceded that of MRS-Africa by a couple of years.

The theme of the 2008 meeting was "Materials Development and the Vision 2020." However it was energized by another event: I arrived in Nigeria on Tuesday, November 4, the day of the U.S. presidential election. By November 5 the news of Obama's historic victory had spread around the world. That morning when I arrived at the Engineering Materials Development Institute where the meeting was held, it was clear that the optimism from Obama's successful campaign had permeated the place. It was as if the delegates' mood shifted Obama's campaign slogan "yes we can!" to replace the original theme. Repeatedly during the presentations a speaker might encounter a challenge (e.g., an uncooperative computer projector), and the audience would encourage him/her with a cheerful "yes, we can." Or, a speaker would point to the challenges confronting researchers, due to the lack of research infrastructure. . ."Yes we can!"

The 4 technical sessions at the 2008 congress included:

Developments in Modeling and Simulation
Developments in Nanomaterials, Biomaterials, Electronic Materials and Energy
Developments in Fibers, Textiles, Ceramics and Composite Materials
Developments in Minerals and Materials Processing

NIMACON 2008 was a collaborative effort with sponsorship from the following groups:

National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Abuja

Engineering Materials Development Institute (EMDI), Akure

Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Abuja

Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHESTCO), Abuja

National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), Abuja

Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute (NBRRI), Abuja

The next AFRICA-MRS meeting will be held in Abuja later this year (2009). Start making plans now to attend!

African proverbs--teaching and learning materials science and engineering

2009-04-03T14:44:00.002-04:00

In September 2008 I posted a blog about my experiment using African proverbs to teach students materials science and engineering at the University of Ghana, and in December 2008 I followed that up with a blog sharing similar experiences while teaching at AUST in Abuja, Nigeria. It was a wonderful surprise to learn that the students I taught at AUST in November 2008 are still reflecting on the assignment I gave them.

Here is a recent contribution shared by Clement Domefafa Atiso:

The following two proverbs are from the Volta Region of Ghana (in West Africa) and are shown in Ewe, followed by their literal English translation and an attempt to relate them to the science of materials.

“Heti be mekaye o, gake ne na ne dzo de dzi la, aba gbo wa koe ayie”.
“Straw says that he does not care, but if he finds himself in trouble, he goes to mat for help.”

Relevance to materials science and engineering: A mat is a carpet-like material obtained by weaving straws together. When spread on the floor it is used for sleeping or sitting. It is also used outside for activities requiring people to sit on the ground. To understand how materials function we must first know how they behave at their microscopic level. For instance, the human body is made of several organs but the basic building blocks are cells. An accurate and down-to-core understanding of how cells function and interact with each other will help to predict an organ’s behavior at the macroscopic level. In other words, macroscopic properties are often the manifestation of microscopic properties, thus both are inseparable. So is straw to mat, since mat is stronger, but it is made of many straws woven together.

“Nuyi atso vo na etsoa la, le ye to fe adome."
“What will circumcise the horse is found within itself" (or, The horse has within itself what it needs to become a circumsized animal).

Relevance to materials science and engineering: this proverb basically means that solutions to problems are frequently found within the problems themselves. A typical example is found in fracture mechanics. Fracture mechanics is a branch of materials science and engineering involving the study of how materials break. If we have a thorough idea about how materials fracture, we can design them to minimize their failure rates. Airplanes were formerly designed with rectangular windows, but right angles in shapes constitute high areas of stress concentration which easily initiate cracks leading to fractures. That is why planes' windows are now designed as ovals: rounded corners have less stress on them than square ones. Most materials science and engineering problems have their solutions embedded in themselves. Materials scientists and engineers need only to learn how to uncover and utilize them.

Thanks to Mr. Atiso (Fafa) for keeping this conversation going. Does anyone else have anything to add?

Ghana Materials Industry, Part 4

2009-03-07T13:23:00.005-05:00

I first heard about the Metalex group in March 2008 during my sabbatical leave at the University of Ghana. Several things intrigued me about the company: I learned during our first telephone conversation that the CEO and I attended the same middle school, Abetifi Presbyterian Boys Middle School (though separated by many moons), located in the beautiful Kwahu mountains in Eastern Ghana; also, his company dealt in a wide range of materials, including clay, plastic, and metal products. Unfortunately, when I called to arrange a plant visit he was on his way to Togo on business and would not be able to meet personally with us. I was interested to discover that he had customers in a neighboring country.

It turned out that on the appointed day for our plant tour, the terrific Accra traffic prevented us from completing both of our planned plant trips in a day so we were unable to visit Metalex, after all.

When I found out I would be in West Africa at the end of October, I seized the opportunity to travel to Metalex. Colleague Lucas Damoah from the Materials Science and Engineering department at the University of Ghana was available and made the necessary arrangements for us to visit the Metalex clay products factory in Accra as part of our on-going project on the documentation of the materials industry in Ghana [previous plant trips are featured in earlier blogs: (to ICM ventures in Tema) Ghana Materials Industry, Part 1, (to Ceramica Tamakloe in Dodowa near Accra) Ghana Materials Industry, Part 2, (to Ekem Ceramics and Mbroh Ceramics, Ltd., both in Winneba) Ghana Materials Industry, Part 3].

We quickly saw that the dynamic Mr. K. Adjare Danquah, the CEO of Metalex, (metalex@myzipnet.com) is an entrepreneur burning with an evangelist's fire.

On education:

"The English language has been used to destroy people." He cites the case of the plant which when it was given the English name "Jantropha" made Ghanaians feel like it was something new and different, even though they had long known it by its indigenous names--for example, "Nkaneadua" in Akan.
He has plans for a vocational/technical school, where English will only be offered as a subject, and all the technical courses will be taught in a local language.

On success:

"To be successful one must be able to change one's disadvantage into advantage. . . You are told you need capital to start a business but you can find a way to circumvent that. . ."
"In life one has to be willing to start from point 1. But so many people want to just arrive at point 20 without putting in the necessary effort."
In Africa we don't just (need to) talk about quality, we (need to) talk about quantity. If you just focus on quality you will fail. Those who want to wait till they have the perfect plan/product, will never start anything."

On the attitude of the youth:

"After university they don't want to dirty their hands."

On accounting and mathematics:

"A subject like Accounting should be compulsory. "Obi nim akontaa a n'ani mmere sika" (Those with quantitative skills are not envious of other people's money.)

On culture:

"If you want to succeed take culture into consideration. Where are you going to site your plant? You may have to deal with pronouncements like: 'During this festival week you cannot collect clay for your factory.'

On learning from nature:

"Everything you want to do, ask yourself: How did God make it?"
"Every person is like a seed: if you place it on the shelf it can stay forever. But if you put it in the soil it decays and then sprouts. Nothing sprouts right away; it decays first."

Fledgling companies and young entrepreneurs would do well to gain from Mr. Danquah's rich experience and heed his wise advice.

Douglas Fuerstenau, continued, Parts 2, 3, and 4

2008-12-22T13:26:00.018-05:00

As mentioned in my last blog posting, Douglas W. Fuerstenau was recently honored on his 80th birthday. On the right he is shown in a photo taken several years ago with 3 of his former students, all professors at Penn State (me on the left, Prof. Fuerstenau, Prof. Richard Hogg, and the late Prof. Subhash Chander.)

My written tribute to DWF recalled how in graduate school I knew that he was very, very busy, but whenever I went to his office I always felt he was 100% there for me. Later, as I got older and went to conferences I was always struck by how attentive he was in listening to people’s presentations. . . Prof. Fuerstenau was a mentor long before the word became a cliché. It has been my good fortune to learn firsthand from him how a research group can become a genuine academic family.

In Part 1, DWF talked about the mentors in his professional life.
Below are the remaining video clips taken from his remarks at the symposium held in California in December, 2008.

Part 2: Approach to Research

Part 3: Evolution of Research Topics

Part 4: The Future of Minerals/Materials Processing

Douglas Fuerstenau: Giant of Minerals/Materials Processing

2008-12-15T14:00:00.014-05:00

In December, 2008, about 70 of his former PhD students, friends, and family gathered near the University of California, Berkeley, to celebrate Professor Douglas W. Fuerstenau's (DWF) 80th birthday.

I don't believe I knew of DWF's existence when I was an undergraduate at Berkeley in the late 1960s. He was on leave and his course "Particulate Materials Processing" was taught by Prof. Klaus Schonert of Germany. When considering graduate school I talked with my instructors about possible options. I wanted to specialize in an area relevant to Africa. High voltage electron microscopy, an area where Berkeley was then a world leader excited me, but I could not see how to pursue this research area once I was back in Africa. My professors suggested I consider the University of British Columbia (Prof. Peters' hydrometallurgy school), and the Henry Krumb School at Columbia University. Eventually one of the professors asked "Have you talked to Prof. Fuerstenau?" I replied "Who is he?"

I was extremely fortunate that I became his graduate student and it was an honor to be a part of this DWF@80 celebration. My wife Fran accompanied me and spontaneously captured the words of wisdom from this giant of the broad field of minerals and materials processing and engineering on her digital camera. With permission from DWF, I am honored and pleased to share his reflections. Below is the first of 4 parts that I will be posting.

More on Proverbs and Materials Science and Engineering

2008-12-09T13:33:00.032-05:00

In September I posted some of the results of my efforts to teach materials science and engineering at the University of Ghana using African proverbs as a starting point. In November (2008) in Abuja, Nigeria there was another opportunity, with students from the African University of Science and Technology (AUST). Here are some of the proverbs they shared, though there is not enough space to include the fascinating interpretations and applications to materials science and engineering:

Uwikoreye ibumba ntaterana amabuye "When you carry a clay pot don't fight by throwing stones" (Kinyarwanda, Rwanda)

Nwanya maramma ejihe akpa garri akwara ya akwa "We do not use a garri sack to sew cloth for a beautiful woman"(Igbo, Nigeria)

Ankwerɛ hunu na ɛyɛ dede "Empty barrels make the most noise" (Twi, Ghana)

Iti ogede ko to nkan a nlo ada ge "No sane person sharpens his/her machete to cut a banana tree" (Yoruba, Nigeria)

Igiti kigororwa kikiri gito "The tree is dressed when it is still young" (Kinyarwanda, Rwanda)

Zewuze torkornu wokpoe le “The bigger of two pots can only be determined at the riverside” (Ewe, Ghana)

Iya ni wura baba ni jigi,ojo iya ba ku ni jigi eni baje, ojo baba ba ku ni jigi eni womi "Mother is like gold and father is like a mirror/glass. The day your mother dies is the day you lose your gold and the day your father dies your mirror is broken." (Yoruba, Nigeria)

Wankin hula ya kai ka dare "If you wash a cap in the evening you don’t have sunlight to dry it" (Hausa, Nigeria)

Nkpume pee elu egwu atuwa ite "When the stone goes up the earthen pot becomes afraid" (Igbo, Nigeria)

Ahweneɛ papa ɛnkasa "Good/excellent beads do not speak." (Twi, Ghana)

Igube ebejiri Orji "The locust has broken the mighty Iroko tree." (Igbo, Nigeria)

Ejihe ihe eji agba ba nti agba na anya "We do not use the same material to clean our ears as well as our eyes." (Igbo, Nigeria)

Vivivi hafi ebge zuna nyinoti "It is through a gradual process that the grass is transformed into cow's milk." (Ewe, Ghana)

Eha ti deka mete kplo anyigba O, ke bon ne wo so gbo hafi "A single broom straw can never be used to sweep. Many must be kept together before sweeping can be done." (Ewe, Ghana)

Nwaanyi muta ite ofe mmiri mmiri, di ya amuta ipi utara aka were suru ofe " If a woman decides to make the soup watery, the husband will learn to dent the foofoo before dipping it into the soup." (Igbo, Nigeria)

E lelia nwa ite, o gbonyua oku "If you neglect the pot, it boils over and extinguishes the fire. (Igbo, Nigeria)

I would like to express my appreciation to my students who contributed the proverbs: Emmanuel Amankwah, Clement Atiso Domefafa, Nelson Yaw Dzade, Emmanuel Femi Olu, Hakeem Bello, Josephine Udeigwe, Kingsley Obodo Onyebuchi, Anthony Ogbuu Okechukwu, and Bizimana Stany Nzabarinda.

Ghana's Materials Industry, Part 3

2008-11-25T12:05:00.023-05:00

Once we made the decision to learn about the materials industry in Ghana, more doors began to open.

Our next trip took us to coastal Winneba to visit two ceramics companies. Perhaps the availability of local clay supplies makes Winneba attractive to ceramics factories, or perhaps the nearness to the University of Education at Winneba, which includes an art major, plays a part. It was striking that once again, these companies were both founded by graduates of ceramic arts schools.

The first company was founded by Mr. Richard C. Ekem, whose original art studio has expanded to include production of technical ceramics such as crucibles for the mining industry. For more pictures from our trip to Ekem Ceramics, go to mensana flickr.

The second factory was founded and owned by Mr. Benjamin Mbroh. His company makes exterior wall tiles that can convert a mud house into an attractive "brick" building. It also makes roofing tiles.

Mbroh's work is impressive. In addition, he has a development-minded, sustainable approach to his business: he grows his own trees to fuel his kilns. For additional pictures of Mbroh Ceramics, go to mensanaflickr.

We were excited to learn about the work of these entrepreneurs in the Ghanaian ceramics industry. Our sense of Ghana's unfolding history was reinforced as we discovered a photo featuring a young President Kuffour as an aspiring manager in the brick and tile manufacturing industry. That afternoon as we returned from our trip and approached Accra, we happened to see one of Mr. Mbroh's trucks making deliveries. As pleased as we were to increase our understanding and awareness of Ghana's indigenous materials industries, we were left asking ourselves:

Where are the engineers? How can we educate engineers so they pick up the same spirit of entrepreneurship? How can we support and help strengthen these industries that are already beginning?
We expect we will see similar patterns with small-scale food processing companies in Ghana: How many of these are enterprises led by food scientists /engineers? There is much work to be done.

Ghana and South Korea: The Past does not predict the Future?

2008-10-17T14:24:00.004-04:00

Recently, one of my former graduate students received a prestigious award from the Korean government for his leadership in advancing nanotechnology research in Korea.

Also, a few weeks ago I read that South Korea has been taken off the list as a "developing country" and moved up to the category of "developed country."

Recalling these events brings to mind the oft-repeated comparison between South Korea and Ghana: how at the time of Ghana's independence in 1957, both countries were at the same income level. In 2008, Ghana is appealing to South Korea for development aid.

When I was on sabbatical in Ghana people were still debating whether or not the government made the right decision in signing up for the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) program.

So how does one explain the differences in technological development of Ghana and South Korea, given that both countries were on the starting line together?

Or perhaps the more important question is: What lessons can Ghana learn from South Korea?

My impression is that Ghana, like many Sub-Saharan African countries, has no serious national science and technology policy.
This year I frequently heard pronouncements from national leaders that they want Ghana to be a middle-income country by 2015. There was a lot of emphasis on infrastructural development and attracting investors and banks. A crucial missing link was a genuine substantive investment in human capacity development in science and technology. This area made a huge difference in the development trajectories of Ghana and South Korea (see, for example, Jones, "Engineering Capacity Building in Developing Countries").

Ghana Materials Industry, Part 2

2008-09-10T13:35:00.040-04:00

Ghana's Ceramics Industry: On Flower Pots, Roof Tiles, and Nano Technology

Any visitor to the University of Ghana, Legon campus, is immediately struck by the lovely terra cotta roof tiles. For many years the campus buildings were sadly neglected, so on my latest trip it was inspiring to see the numerous construction and renovation activities on campus. I was pleased to note the deliberate effort to preserve the original architecture, represented in part, by the red-tiled roofs.

Our second field trip took us to a company that supplies some of the tiles being used at the university, Ceramica Tamakloe , in Dodowa, near Accra. Peter Tamakloe, the proprietor and Managing Director, is a graduate of the College of Art of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He began by making flower pots for export and when that business
slowed down he experimented with local clays for the manufacture of unglazed tiles. Lately, he's also added another product: ceramic-based water purification systems. Incidentally, the antibacterial action of the filtration system relies on a coating of nanosize silver particles.

Mr. Tamakloe is passionate when he talks about the need for people to put their head knowledge into practice.

Here are some words of wisdom he shared with us that day:

"We've given education a certain wrong feeling in Africa" (i.e., we learn stuff but we don't DO it. It's as if learning is only for passing exams.)

"(There are) so many people with knowledge in their heads, and it dies with them."

"The clay is in my blood. I'll do it." (Even though he has faced severe financial challenges, he has no choice because he sees this work as his mission. He'll overcome all odds to do what needs to be done to pursue his dream.)

"Do it because you love it." (Everyone should find something that excites them and give it their best.)

"Don't be afraid to share knowledge. It will come back to you." This last quotation reflects his openness to collaborating with university researchers. He has been experimenting with local red and white clays and welcomes partners who bring a scientific approach such as will be forthcoming from the University of Ghana's Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

"Knowledge is useless unless it benefits somebody."

I left Ceramica Tamakloe inspired, but with this persistent question haunting me: why is a ceramic artist taking the lead in advancing technical ceramics? Where are the materials engineers?

Ghana Materials Industry, Part I

2008-09-09T13:47:00.032-04:00

If you had come to me in February and said "Okay, so you are a professor of materials science and engineering in the new Faculty of Engineering Sciences at the University of Ghana: tell me something about the materials industry in Ghana," I would have had to pretend that I was deaf and dumb. I knew nothing about the industry.

That's why I proposed to my young colleagues that we undertake a project to identify some of these companies in the Accra area, visit them, and educate ourselves about their activities. It would be great if in the near future when somebody walks into the headquarters of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Legon and asks the question above, the lecturers can hand him or her a directory detailing the various companies, such as when they were established, their founders' backgrounds, company sizes, products, production rates, etc.

It is a young department, only 3 years old; last academic year, there were no senior students and only one (enthusiastic) junior. The department is bound to grow, and sooner or later students are going to ask the professors, "tell us about job opportunities." If we have that document, we will be prepared to answer their questions intelligently.

For our first visit, I remembered that my mate from secondary school, Ako Odotei (wearing a hat in the picture above), returned home from the U.S. several years ago determined to start a materials-related company. I searched him out and he was very responsive to our request to visit. His company, ICM Ventures, makes solid surface materials like the tiles, counter tops and sinks in the picture.

It was most encouraging to see a Ghanaian engaged in serious manufacturing. It was a refreshing contrast to the usual selling of imported goods from abroad. How can Africa advance technologically if her engineers don’t produce anything?

Ghana Materials Research Society (MRS-GH) Inaugurated

2008-09-08T14:29:00.000-04:00

I left Ghana on July 15th in the evening. That morning I had the pleasure of making a keynote presentation at the inaugural meeting of the Ghana Materials Research Society. The meeting was held at the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) in Accra.
It was the final outcome of a lot of encouragement from the United States. MRS-Ghana is a chapter of the Africa Materials Research Society (MRS - Africa), which itself was inaugurated in Dakar, Senegal in December 2002 (see also www.mrs.org/publications/bulletin and search for the pdf file of the MRS bulletin from Feb, 2003, p. 143 " Africa Materials Research Society [MRS-Africa] Held Inaugural Meeting)."

The picture above shows the attendees at the Ghana inaugural meeting. They are from the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and the Industrial Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (IRI-CSIR).

Given the historical importance of the occasion, I invited my daughter Abena, a science historian at the University of California, Berkeley, to come witness the meeting. It pleased me that Kwadwo Konadu, the pioneer student of the University of Ghana's new Department of Materials Science and Engineering, was able to attend.

While this was a great beginning, I celebrated with mixed feelings. Only 2 universities were represented, though there are other institutions of higher learning with materials-related programs and professors (e.g., the University of Cape Coast, the University for Development Studies, and the several polytechnics). Also absent were representatives from industry, other branches of CSIR such as the Building and Road Research Institute, and the Forestry Research Institute, and institutes of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC). Apart from my observing daughter, there was only one woman, Dr. Elsie Effah Kaufmann, a biomaterials scientist and Head of the University of Ghana's Department of Biomedical Engineering.

MRS - Africa
Since 2002, several other country chapters have emerged (South Africa, Tanzania, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, . . .). Following the initial Dakar, Senegal (2002) meeting there have been Africa MRS meetings in Johannesburg, South Africa (2003), Marrakech, Morocco (2005), (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2007). The 2009 Africa MRS meeting will be held in Nigeria.

The photo below was taken of the Ghanaian delegation at the 4th International Conference of MRS-Africa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Congratulations to Professor Francis Momade (Provost, College of Engineering, KNUST) and his associates for working to make MRS-Ghana a reality. May it grow to become a dynamic and truly nationwide society.

Teaching and learning materials science and engineering with (African) proverbs

2008-09-03T15:01:00.000-04:00

". . . Proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten."
These words come from the opening chapter of Achebe's famous novel Things Fall Apart. I learned this year that proverbs can also lubricate the teaching and learning of materials science and engineering.

One of the first things I did at the University of Ghana, Legon campus in January was to visit the university book store. A book on display there immediately caught my attention -- Bu Me Bε: Proverbs of the Akans.
It's a compilation by mother and son Peggy and Kwame Anthony Appiah along with Ivor Agyeman-Duah of over 7,000 Ghanaian proverbs. It fascinated me, but I had not realized how it had entered my subconscious until I was planning the first assignment for my course on "materials science and the future." It was an assignment that left the students, expecting a lecture on "advanced" or "nano" materials, bewildered. They were to select 6 Ghanaian proverbs with a materials connection, translate them into English, and explain the meanings and those materials connections.

To practice, I asked them to come up with some proverbs in class, but they seemed stunned and nobody volunteered anything. I provided an example and we worked on it together: “Dade bi twa dade bi mu” (Twi; iron sharpens iron). The first interpretation was that of superiority: one material has a superior property to another. Then to my delight they moved beyond that to suggest that the proverb illustrates the need for collaboration/cooperation: if a knife wants to be sharper, it needs the help of another material.
Below are some of the other proverbs they eventually came to consider. The most most popular one was versions of:

"Enam dua so na ahoma hunu soro" - Twi. It is through the tree that the thread (rope or vine) goes up (sees the sky). Others are:

"Dze mekafua edokui o"- Ewe. Salt does not praise itself.

“Edon a eho apae no engyegye yie” - Twi. A cracked bell can never sound well.

“Gya ne atuduro nna faako”- Twi. Fire and gunpowder do not sleep together.

Ant Hills: Materials Science and Engineering

2008-08-12T18:40:00.000-04:00

While I was on sabbatical at the University of Ghana this year, I used to walk to and from work at the Faculty of Engineering Sciences (Torto Chemistry Building) on the Legon campus. One of the things that struck me was the several huge ant hills along the way. I realized that I had no idea how they were constructed. I started asking anyone I could find what they knew about the science and technology of ant hills.

At the same time, I was thinking about how to convey to my students some of the central concepts of materials science and engineering: processing/structure/properties/behavior. How do you teach the concept of microstructure in an environment without microscopes?

Eventually, I assigned my students a project.

They were to go out in teams of 2 into the field (dividing the campus into 4 quadrants, and sampling 2 ant hills from each quadrant, comparing and contrasting them). They were also to read four relevant articles I managed to locate: 1) J. Korb, “Experimental heating of Macrotermes bellicosus (Isoptera, Macrotermitinae) mounds: what role does microclimate play in influencing mound architecture?" Insectes sociaux, Vol. 45 (1998) pp. 335-342; 2) P. Jouquet, “The soil structural stability of termite nests: role of clays in Macrotermes bellicosus (Isoptera, Macrotermitinae) mound soils,” The European Journal of Soil Biology Vol. 40 (2004) pp. 23-29 (available online from Science Direct); 3) M. Luscher, “Air conditioned termite nests” The Scientific American, Vol. 205 (1961), pp. 138-145; and 4) P. R. Hesse, “A Chemical Physical Study of the Soils of Termite in East Africa,” The Journal of Ecology, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Jul., 1955), pp. 449-461, published by British Ecological Society.

The students had fun with this assignment. One of the lessons that profoundly affected some of them was recognizing that ants, without huge budgets, fancy equipment, or fanfare, are able to build such efficient and complex structures. It encouraged them to realize that, with creativity and hard work, it is possible to do something useful and long-lasting even if one has seemingly limited resources.

Advancing Science and Technology Education in Africa: The AUST Project

2008-08-08T13:05:00.000-04:00

It is said that a few years ago when James Wolfesohn, former President of the World Bank, asked Nelson Mandela what he thought was the greatest need for development in Africa, Mandela unhesitatingly replied that it was human capacity in science and technology. Mandela’s statement inspired the World Bank to initiate the Nelson Mandela Institute/African Institute of Science and Technology project in 2004. The original vision was to create a world-class Pan-African research-oriented institution composed of higher education campuses and smaller affiliated centers of excellence throughout sub-Saharan Africa. This institution would be capable of training the next generation of African scientists and engineers and profoundly impacting the continent’s development.

This July marked the commencement of the first academic year at the first of the four proposed campuses: AUST Abuja. The next campus is likely to be in Arusha, Tanzania. 55 students were admitted into post-graduate courses at Abuja. Instructors include outstanding science and engineering professors from the African diaspora committed to helping the project succeed.

As a member of the African Scientific Committee (ASC) of the Nelson Mandela Institute, one of the things I find most exciting about this experiment is the fact that several of Africa’s best science and engineering students will be gathered in one place—I expect an explosion of creativity!

At the end of June, my wife, Dr. Fran Osseo-Asare, and I hosted a reception at the Legon Guest Centre restaurant for the Ghanaian AUST students. Eight of them were able to attend, along with several guests. Registrar A. T. Konu and Prof. Awotwi, Vice Dean of the School of Research and Graduate Studies, were present to provide words of encouragement and advice.

Below is a brief video featuring the students at the reception sharing their interests and hopes and aspirations.

Students Interview Materials Researchers at University of Ghana, Legon

2008-08-07T19:19:00.004-04:00

2007-2008 has been a memorable year: a sabbatical leave from Penn State University enabled me to spend the academic year at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and the University of Ghana, Legon. At Legon I taught a course in the newly established Faculty of Engineering Sciences: MSEN 325--Materials and the Future. As part of that course, students identified faculty doing materials research, and armed with a simple digital camera, set out to interview 6 of them. The interviews are posted below:

Prof. Edmund Osae, Dept. of Physics

Dr. R. Kwadjo, Dept. of Physics

Prof. Adanu Dept. of Physics

Mr. Lucas Damoah, Materials Science & Engineering

Prof. D. K. Asiedu, Department of Geology

Dr. Elsie Effah Kaufmann, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering

2007-09-25T21:06:00.001-04:00