Second Workshop of the US-Africa Initiative in Electronic Structure
The USAfri workshop was held online Wednesday-Friday, May 25 - 27, 2022 and hosted by Columbia University, NY USA
The workshop was livestreamed and the recordings are available on YouTube
The USAfrI workshop was followed by:
- the June 1-3, 2022 Recent Developments in Electronic Structure Workshop, also held at Columbia University
- further visits within the United States to the research hosts listed below.
Scientific Program
The scientific program took place May 25-27, 2022. The program includes a talk from keynote speaker Sossina Haile, invited talks from Valentino Cooper, Gebremedhn Gebreyesus Hagoss, Steve Ndengué, and Maria Chan, and 10- and 20-minute research summaries from USAfrI participants and collaborators.
Other program elements include a discussion about the upcoming IOP special issue on Electronic Structure, and a communications workshop with APS Editor Matteo Ricci.
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Kigali Time | Eastern Time | Sessions for May 25 |
---|---|---|
14h30 - 15h | 8h30 | Zoom Meeting room opens |
15h - 15h15 | 9h | "Welcome to the Workshop of the US-Africa Initiative" Omololu Akin-Ojo and Renata Wentzcovitch |
15h15 - 16h15 | 9h15 - 10h15 | Keynote Speaker Sossina Haile "Understanding and Exploiting the Splendid Redox Chemistry of Ceria and Its Derivatives" (Includes Q&A) |
16h15-17h00 | 10h15 - 11h00 | Session 1: "Molecular and chemical systems for energy" (10- and 20-minute introductions to research and collaborations) Session Chair: Andrés Cisneros
|
17h | 11h00 | Questions for Session 1 Presenters |
17h10 | 11h10 | Zoom Group Photo and Break |
17h30 - 18h15 | 11h30 - 12h15 | Session 2 - Surface Functionalization and Low-Dimensional Systems (10- and 20-minute introductions to research and collaborations) Session Chair: Felana Andriambelaza
|
18h15 | 12h15 | Questions for Session 2 Presenters |
18h30 | 12h30 | End |
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Kigali Time | Eastern Time | Sessions for May 26 |
---|---|---|
14h30 | 8h30 | Zoom Meeting room opens |
14h50 | 8h50 | Announcements |
Session 3: Functional Oxides and Perovskites (10- and 30-minute introductions to research and collaborations) Session Chair: Alexandru Georgescu | ||
15h - 15h30 | 9h - 9h30 | Invited Talk 1: Valentino Cooper: "Predicting the phase stability of high entropy oxides" (includes Q&A) |
15h30 - 16h30 | 9h30 - 10h30 | Short talks:
|
16h30 | 10h30 | Questions for Session 3 Presenters |
16h40 | 10h40 | Break (10 minutes) |
Session 4: Quantum Materials (10- and 30-minute introductions to research and collaborations) Session Chair: Elizabeth Peterson | ||
16h50 - 17h20 | 10h50 - 11h20 | Invited Talk 2: Gebremedhn Gebreyesus Hagoss "Tri-continent collaboration on triple-layered ruthenate" (Includes Q&A) Slides in PDF |
17h20 - 18h35 | 11h20 - 12h35 | Short talks:
|
18h35 | 12h35 | Questions for Session 4 Presenters |
18h45 | 12h45 | End of Thursday |
Friday, May 27, 2022
Kigali Time | Eastern Time | Sessions for May 27 |
---|---|---|
14h30 | 8h30 | Zoom Meeting room opens |
14h50 | 8h50 | Announcements |
Session 5: Invited Talks (Session Chair: John Vinson) | ||
15h - 15h30 | 9h - 9h30 | Invited Talk 3: Steve Ndengué "Wavepacket studies of the water-dimer: New insights from 12D quantum dynamics" |
15h30 - 16h | 9h30 - 10h | Invited Talk 4: Maria Chan "DFT + Machine Learning for Defects in and Design of Optoelectronic Materials" |
16h - 16h10 | 10h - 10h10 | Break (10 minutes) |
16h10 - 17h10 | 10h10 - 11h10 | Opportunities and discussion for US-Africa collaboration: Panelists:
|
17h10 - 17h15 | 11h10 - 11h15 | Break (5min) |
17h15 - 18h15 | 11h15 - 12h15 | Science Communication Workshop Matteo Rini, Editor at the American Physical Society (See previous talk from Matteo on "Writing Better Scientific Papers" (2021) on YouTube) |
18h15 -18h30 | 12h15 - 12h30 | USAfrI Steering Committee Concluding Remarks |
18h30 | 12h30 | End of Friday |
Invited Presenters from African nations
- Dr. Sara Abass, University of Khartoum
- Dr. Bamidele Ibrahim Adetunji, Bells University of Technology
- Dr. Mesfin Asfaw Afrassa, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia
- Dr. Omololu Akin-Ojo, East African Institute for Fundamental Research
- Professor George Amolo, The Technical University of Kenya
- Dr. Georgies Alene Asres, Addis Ababa University
- Dr. Michael Atambo, The Technical University of Kenya
- Dr. Anne Justine Etindele, University of Yaounde I, Cameroon
- Dr. Gebremedhn Hagoss, University of Ghana
- Dr. Asnake Haile, Assosa University
- Dr. Denis Magero, Alupe University College
- Dr. Yedilfana Mekonnen, Addis Ababa University
- Dr. Victor Meng'wa, Alupe University College
- Dr. Winfred Mulwa, Egerton University - Kenya
- Dr. Steve Ndengué, East African Institute for Fundamental Research
- Ms. Gugulethu Nkala, University of the Witwatersrand
- Dr. Olugbenga Oshakuade, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
- Dr. Isaac Popoola, Federal University of Technology Akure Nigeria
- Professor Amisi Safari, Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de Bukavu
- Dr. James Sifuna, The Catholic University of Eastern Africa
- Dr. Catherine Tairo, Mwenge Catholic University
- Dr. Fatema Yahya Mohamed Saeed, University of Khartoum
Invited Presenters and Hosts in the United States
- Maria Chan, Argonne National Laboratory
- Andrés Cisneros, University of Texas at Dallas
- Valentino Cooper, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Cyrus Dreyer, Stony Brook University & Flatiron Institute
- Elif Ertekin, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
- Matt Horton, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
- Tim Kowalczyk, Western Washington University
- Deyu Lu, Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Neepa Maitra, Rutgers University
- Jeffrey Neaton, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
- Mark Pederson, The University of Texas at El Paso
- David Prendergast, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
- John Rehr, University of Washington
- André Schleife, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
- Sandeep Sharma, University of Colorado Boulder
- Roxanne M'liss Tutchton, Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Alex Urban, Columbia University
- Renata Wentzcovich, Columbia University
- Qin Wu, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Costs and fees
There is no fee to apply, and no registration fee to participate if selected.
How to Apply
The regular application deadline has passed. If you are interested in the workshop, please email usafricainitiative@gmail.com
Additional information about USAfrI can be found at the web site https://usafricainitiative.org. USAfrI is funded by the Innovation Fund of the American Physical Society.
Contact for additional information: usafri@eaifr.org