Engineering postgraduates will be immersed in materials science — sometimes described at the ‘‘science of stuff’’ — at next month’s Pan-African School of Materials (PASMAT).
The school will be held in Nigeria for the first time. It will run for two weeks in September on the campus of the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), located in Abuja.
If postgraduate students at the Pan-African School of Materials (PASMAT) are asked what they're studying this month, they aren't being flippant if their answer is "stuff". That's because the field of materials science is often referred to as "the science of stuff".
For South African organic chemistry student Adushan Pillay, conducting research for his PhD is like building with Lego children's blocks. "That's what we do at a molecular level," he said. "You can't predict what will work - you build and build, and it's trial and error to figure out what works." Article here.
When Justin Omolo was growing up in Tanzania, he preferred Western medical clinics to African traditional healers. "I was the only one in my family who didn't believe in all the traditional cures," he said. "I guess I wanted proof."
Now this young African organic chemist is looking for that proof as he conducts research for his PhD on plants used by Tanzanian traditional healers to treat HIV.
In economic terms, Uganda is one of the success stories in sub-Saharan Africa. Its GDP has grown at an average rate of more than 7% between 2000 and 2010 and it weathered the recent economic crisis better than many of its neighbours. Likewise, the country's science sector has grown.
Under long-time president Yoweri Museveni, the country has been boosting its spending on R&D, from $73 million in 2005–06 to $155 million in 2008–09, which is close to 1% of the country's GDP.
.png_pagespeed_ic_F3J9Nok1Eh.png){kind=logo}
.png)
