US-Africa Cooperative Research: Collaboration in Materials Research

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0221416SoboyejoThis award supports a one-year collaborative project among Professor Winston Soboyejo, at Princeton University; Professor Aboubaker Beye, at the Universite Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Senegal; Professor Yunus Ballim, at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; and Professor Christopher Chama, at the University of Zambia. The purpose of the grant is to promote research collaborations in materials science and engineering between the United States and Africa. Nine US universities and one national laboratory will be participating in this program. Sixteen scientists (15 from Africa and one from South America) will spend nine weeks conducting collaborative research projects at the participating US institutions. They will conduct research in the following major areas: 1) failure mechanisms in micro-electro-mechanical systems; 2) processing, characterization and deformation of nano-scale thin films; 3) holistic approaches to infrastructure materials; and 4) the microstructural design of thermal shock resistant refractory ceramics. The collaborations will continue with reciprocal visits by the US scientists to their African counterparts. Support is also being provided to assist with the establishment of Africa MRS chapters in North Africa (Egypt), and West Africa (Nigeria). In addition, US graduate students will gain valuable experience about the process of international collaborative research.This project will also provide assistance for the coordination and/or organization of the following symposia that were proposed at prior NSF-supported workshops: 1) micro-electro-mechanical systems and thin films; 2) infrastructure materials; 3) affordable materials; 4) low cost manufacturing; 5) biomaterials and biomedical systems; and 6) entrepreneurship in materials. The symposia will feature talks by US researchers, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, as well as their counterparts from Africa and South America. Symposia presentations will be published in special editions of peer-reviewed international journals. Overviews of the Africa MRS activities will also be presented at the US MRS meetings in Boston and San Francisco.The Office of International Science and Engineering, the Directorate for Engineering, and the Division of Materials Research are jointly providing support for this project.