2021 Workshop for the US-Africa Initiative in Electronic Structure
Updated August 27, 2021 – The USAfrI Workshop was held June 14 -18, 2021, and hosted by the ICTP-EAIFR, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda.
This USAfrI June 2021 workshop was a virual event, and intended to enable participants from both continents to meet each other and identify common research interests. The workshop was held 3 hours daily in order to accommodate the large time difference between Rwanda and California. There was no registration fee for the USAfrI 2021 workshop.
The video, talks and posters will remain accessible on this USAfrI website.
If you were a participant, you will receive a tidy list of partcipants and contact information, when available.
- The most updated list of participants opens in another window
- The Schedule of Poster Presentations, sorted by day (101 posters) -- opens in Google Sheets
- The workshop talks were livestreamed and recorded on the USAfrI YouTube Channel -- opens on YouTube
The US-Africa Initiative is sponsored by the APS Innovation Fund.
Schedule top
Monday, June 14, 2021 -- Day's Theme: Energy and Geo Materials
| Pacific Time | Kigali Time | Session | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5:30am - 6am | 2:30pm -3pm | Zoom Meeting room open for testing | 30 minutes | |
| 6 - 6:15am | 3 -3:15pm | Welcome from US-Africa Initiative | 15 min | |
| 6:15 - 6:45am | 3:15 - 3:45pm | Keynote talk: Elif Ertekin, Gboyega Adebayo and Ibrahim Adetunji | 30 min | |
| 6:45 - 6:55am | 3:45- 3:55pm | Q&A with Elif Ertekin, Gboyega Adebayo and Ibrahim Adetunji | 10 min | |
| 6:55 - 7:05am | 3:55 - 4:05pm | Break | 10 min | |
| 7:05 - 7:35am | 4:05 - 4:35pm | 3 talks: Yang Sun; Caroline Rosemyya Kwawu; Victor Meng'wa | 30 mins (10 min per talk) | |
| 7:35 - 7:50am | 4:35 - 4:50pm | Panel-style Q&A: discussion on day's short talks | 15 minutes | |
| 7:50 - 8:05am | 4:50 - 5:05pm | 4 Breakout Rooms: Meet and Greet the day’s speakers | 20 minutes (Rooms 1 to 4) | |
| 8:05 - 8:15am | 5:05 - 5:15pm | Break | 10 min | |
| Poster Sessions: 15-30 Posters related to the daily theme(s) | ||||
| 8:15 - 8:30am | 5:15 -5:30pm | “Slam”-style videos: one-minute introduction to each poster | 12-15 min | |
| 8:30 - 9:20am | 5:30 - 6:20pm | Poster presentations in Breakout Rooms | 45-52 min | |
| 9:20 - 9:45am | 6:20 - 6:45pm | Zoom Meeting room open for social time | ||
Tuesday, June 15, 2021 -- Day's Theme: Functional Materials
| Pacific Time | Kigali Time | Session | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5:30am - 6am | 2:30pm -3pm | Zoom Meeting room open for testing | 30 minutes | |
| 6 - 6:30am | 3 - 3:30pm | Keynote talk: Sara Abass Structural and Electronic Properties of H2Ti3O7 and Na2Ti3O7 (pdf) | 30 min | |
| 6:30 - 6:40am | 3:30 - 3:40pm | Q&A with Sara Abass | 10 min | |
| 6:40 - 6:50am | 3:40 - 3:50pm | Break | 10 min | |
| 6:50 - 7:30am | 3:50 - 4:30pm | 4 talks: Yuan Ping "Ab-initio Ultrafast Spin Dynamics in Solids" Elizabeth Peterson " First-principles study of exchange-induced valley splitting in transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers " Amisi Safari " First-principles study of structural and vibrational properties of SrHfO3 Compared to SrZrO3" (mp4) Ridwan Agbaoye |
40 mins (10 min per talk) | |
| 7:30 - 7:50am | 4:30 - 4:50pm | Panel-style Q&A: discussion on day's short talks | 20 minutes | |
| 7:50 - 8:10am | 4:50 - 5:10pm | 5 Breakout Rooms: Meet and Greet the day’s speakers | 20 minutes | |
| 8:10 - 8:20am | 5:10 - 5:20pm | Break | 10 min | |
| Poster Sessions: 15-30 Posters related to the daily theme(s): | ||||
| 8:20 - 8:30am | 5:20 -5:30pm | “Slam”-style videos: one-minute introductions | 10-15 min approx | |
| 8:30 - 9:20am | 5:30 - 6:20pm | Poster presentations in Breakout Rooms | 45-52 min approx | |
| 9:20 - 9:45am | 6:20 - 6:45pm | Zoom Meeting room open for social time | ||
Wednesday, June 16, 2021 -- Day's Theme: Data/ML
| Pacific Time | Kigali Time | Session | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5:30am - 6am | 2:30pm -3pm | Zoom Meeting room open for testing Session Chair: Richard Hennig |
30 minutes | |
| 6 - 6:30am | 3 - 3:30pm | Keynote talk: Matt Horton "The Materials Project: Data, Tools and Community for Materials Design" ( Slides -- pdf) | 30 min | |
| 6:30 - 6:40am | 3:30 - 3:40pm | Q&A with Matt Horton | 10 min | |
| 6:40 - 6:50am | 3:40 - 3:50pm | Break | 10 min | |
| 6:50 - 7:30am | 3:50 - 4:30pm | 4 talks: Aditi Krishnapriyan, "Machine learning with persistent homology: Improving prediction accuracy and interpretability for materials" Alexandru Georgescu, "Machine Learning tools for Materials Discovery and Application to Metal-Insulator Transition Compounds" Preview Demo Richard Hennig, "Ultra-fast and interpretable machine-learning of the potential energy landscape of materials" (ppt) Omololu Akin-Ojo, " Machine Learning the Superconducting Critical Temperatures of Metals" |
40 mins (10 min per talk) | |
| 7:30 - 7:50am | 4:30 - 4:50pm | Panel-style Q&A: discussion on day's short talks | 20 minutes | |
| 7:50 - 8:10am | 4:50 - 5:10pm | 5 Breakout Rooms: Meet and Greet the day’s speakers | 20 minutes | |
| 8:10 - 8:20am | 5:10 - 5:20pm | Break | 10 min | |
| Poster Sessions: 15-30 Posters related to the daily theme(s): | ||||
| 8:20 - 8:30am | 5:20 -5:30pm | “Slam”-style videos: one-minute introductions | 10-15 min approx | |
| 8:30 - 9:20am | 5:30 - 6:20pm | Poster presentations in Breakout Rooms | 45-52 min approx | |
| 9:20 - 9:45am | 6:20 - 6:45pm | Zoom Meeting room open for social time | ||
Thursday, June 17, 2021 -- Surfaces and Molecules
| Pacific Time | Kigali Time | Session | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5:30am - 6am | 2:30pm -3pm | Zoom Meeting room open for testing | 30 minutes | |
| 6 - 6:30am | 3 - 3:30pm | Keynote talk: Brice Malonda "Structural, electronic,
magnetic and anisotropy properties for MnBi, O/MnBi, Ta/MnBi and O/Ta/MnBi systems:
DFT calculations" (pdf) Session chair: Omololu Akin-Ojo |
30 min | |
| 6:30 - 6:40am | 3:30 - 3:40pm | Q&A with Brice Malonda | 10 min | |
| 6:40 - 6:50am | 3:40 - 3:50pm | Break | 10 min | |
| 6:50 - 7:30am | 3:50 - 4:30pm | 4 talks: Steve Ndéngue
Wavepacket simulation of the infrared spectrum of (H2O)2 in
the OH-stretching region (pdf)
Mark Pedersen "Molecular Magnets: Discovery from and Challenges for Electronic Structure" (pptx) Mireille Kabuyi Bilonda A computational study of mbandakamine A - a dimeric naphtylisoqinoline alkaloid with antimalarial activity (abstract, pdf) Gamachis Gurmesa Fast 3D-lithium-ion diffusion and high electronic conductivity of Li2MnSiO4 surfaces for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries |
40 mins (10 min per talk) | |
| 7:30 - 7:50am | 4:30 - 4:50pm | Panel-style Q&A: discussion on day's short talks | 20 minutes | |
| 7:50 - 8:10am | 4:50 - 5:10pm | 5 Breakout Rooms: Meet and Greet the day’s speakers | 20 minutes | |
| 8:10 - 8:20am | 5:10 - 5:20pm | Break | 10 min | |
| Poster Sessions: 15-30 Posters related to the daily theme(s): | ||||
| 8:20 - 8:30am | 5:20 -5:30pm | Announcements; Note -- the next set of videos will be played on Friday, June 18 | 10-15 min approx | |
| 8:30 - 9:20am | 5:30 - 6:20pm | Poster presentations in Breakout Rooms | 45-52 min approx | |
| 9:20 - 9:45am | 6:20 - 6:45pm | Zoom Meeting room open for social time | ||
Friday, June 18, 2021-- Day's Theme: Excited States
| Pacific Time | Kigali Time | Session | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5:30am - 6am | 2:30pm -3pm | Zoom Meeting room open for testing | 30 minutes | |
| 6 - 6:30am | 3 - 3:30pm | Keynote talk: John Rehr
" Theory and calculations of excited state electronic structure & x-ray spectra "
Session chair: André Schleife |
30 min | |
| 6:30 - 6:40am | 3:30 - 3:40pm | Q&A with John Rehr | 10 min | |
| 6:40 - 6:50am | 3:40 - 3:50pm | Break | 10 min | |
| 6:50 - 7:30am | 3:50 - 4:30pm | 4 talks: Xavier Andrade "inq: a state-of-the-art implemention of desnsity functional theory"
Robert Di Stasio"Enabling Linear Scaling Exact Exchange for Heterogeneous Systems" (pdf) Mohamed Bayawa Georgies Alene Asres "Promising photocatalytic and photovoltaic performance and electronic properties of van der Waals Heterostructure of ZnO-MoWSSe" |
40 mins (10 min per talk) | |
| 7:30 - 7:50am | 4:30 - 4:50pm | Panel-style Q&A: discussion on day's short talks | 20 minutes | |
| 7:50 - 8:10am | 4:50 - 5:10pm | 4 Breakout Rooms: Meet and Greet the day’s speakers | 20 minutes | |
| 8:10 - 8:20am | 5:10 - 5:20pm | Break | 10 min | |
| Concluding remarks: USAfrI Steering Committee Poster Sessions: 15 Posters presented in the breakout rooms related to the daily theme(s): |
||||
| 8:20 - 8:30am | 5:20 -5:30pm | “Slam”-style videos: one-minute introductions | 10 min approx | |
| 8:30 - 9:20am | 5:30 - 6:20pm | Poster presentations in Breakout Rooms | 45-52 min approx | |
| 9:20 - 9:45am | 6:20 - 6:45pm | Zoom Meeting room open for social time | ||
How to Register top
- The workshop has ended but we are planning other events in leading up to another in-person workshop (hopefully) in New York in 2022. There are plenty of ways to get involved! Email usafricainitiative@gmail.com to be added to the email list or the Slack channel.
Preparing for the workshop top
We encourage all participants to record a short video introducing themselves and describing potential areas for collaboration they would like to work on. The Kickoff Workshop videos are viewable online, next to the participant's name.
- If you plan to submit a video, please upload it to http://tinyurl.com/qmcdmc (a Google login is required)
or email as an
attachment, your video file by Tuesday, June 8, 2021. The file should be a 30-second video recording of yourself, named
VIDEO_[LASTNAME]_[FIRSTNAME].mp4. We will list the videos here. Because of the time difference and uneven Internet connections, having videos available viewable outside of live session will give more people the opportunity to learn about you. - There are several ways you can make a simple 30-second video:
- With Zoom: A free "basic" Zoom account can be used to record. Simply start a meeting of one (you) and then you can record your screen and yourself speaking, if desired. The recorded meeting will be stored locally on your computer, in .mp4 format.
- With Powerpoint: Many versions of Powerpoint can record video and audio, and combine them with Powerpoint slides onscreen. There are several tutorial videos on YouTube on how to do this, for example: YouTube video "How to Make a Video in PowerPoint - ppt to video
- With your cell phone: Many cellphones can record short videos. If you would like to include a slide with a phone-captured video, email both to usafricainitiativeforms@gmail.com
Preparing your poster top
The poster session each day are very short! If you would like to present a poster:
- By Tuesday June 8, 2021, please upload it to http://tinyurl.com/qmcdmc (a Google login is required)
or
email as an attachment your poster file, named
POSTER_[LASTNAME]_[FIRSTNAME]_[GROUPNAME_IF_APPLICABLE].[extension]. - You are welcome to use any format for a poster that you wish; for example, a set of slides, or a single PDF of large dimensions. We have prepared a Powerpoint slide with some logos of the USAfrI sponsor and identifying information about the workshop, if you would like to include that. It is optional to include that information.
Preparing your talk top
- Please note that the talks have not been selected, as of June 7th.
- If you are giving a talk, please upload it to http://tinyurl.com/qmcdmc (a Google login is required)
or email
as an
attachment two days before your talk. Please name the file
SLIDES_[LASTNAME]_[FIRSTNAME].[ext]. We will link the talk slides here. Because of the time difference and uneven Internet connections, having slides available viewable outside in advance of the live session will give more people the opportunity to review your slides.