AIMS South Africa Newsletter May 2023

[Linda Camara]

The 4th cohort of AIMS South Africa’s young researchers trained to deliver impactful Afrocentric Science Communication   From 8 to 10 May, AIMS South Africa, in partnership with African Gong, successfully trained the 4th cohort of AIMS South Africa master’s students in Afrocentric science communication skills during a 3-day Workshop.     The global landscape has recognised the fundamental role that science communication skills play in enhancing the scientific ecosystem, scientists’ and academics’ professional development and growth. The latter duo (professional development & growth) entail research impact, career progression, visibility, reaching broader audiences, and influencing decisions and/or policy-making. Yet, many African STEM graduate training programmes still do not offer such opportunities. To address this gap, AIMS South Africa through the House of Science in partnership with African Gong has delivered the three-phase Afrocentric science communication capacity-building programme – Africa Scientifique (AS) since 2020.  In addition to the core technical training, the programme has since empowered Master’s students and researchers with the necessary skills and knowledge to communicate mathematical sciences effectively in a way that resonates with African audiences across various platforms and tools.   Read more   Africa Day Celebrations: AIMS Inspires Muizenberg High School Students to Pursue STEM career pathways     On 25 May, AIMS celebrated Africa Day. It took the form of a Career Expo organised by Muizenberg Library. On the day, AIMS introduced Muizenberg High School learners to various career pathways in mathematics. More than 500 learners attended the event and had an opportunity to interact with representatives from various institutions and City of Cape Town departments. According to Ms Siphosethu Ndlela, a Librarian at Muizenberg Library “The career expo aims to assist learners in making informed decisions about the career path that they want to pursue. It was also an outreach initiative where we strive to engage with our community and assist where we can and make the library more visible.”   Read more   Research Centre Updates     Dr Emmanuel Durfourq attended the From Theory to Practice Workshop hosted by the Quantum Leap Africa (QLA) in Rwanda from 24 April to 28 April 2023.     Thembelihle Rose Dlamini, a Research Master’s student also attended the Theory to Practice Workshop held at the QLA in Kigali.   Dr Lorène Jeantet, a postdoctoral fellow and Milanto Ferdinand Rasolofohery, a PhD student, attended the ICLR 2023 Workshop on Machine Learning for Remote Sensing  in Kigali, Rwanda from 1-5 May 2023. Dr Jeantet gave a talk titled: ‘Enhancing acoustic classification using meta-data.'   Dr Dufourq and Dr Jeantet took the opportunity to have a research visit in Rwanda until 11 May, where they discussed potential research projects. Journal Club   On 23 May, Ashleigh Basel, AIMS South Africa, gave a talk titled: ‘The foundations of big data sharing’.      On 30 May, Musa Hussien, AIMS South Africa, gave a talk titled: ‘Insights from Condensed Matter Physics and Density Functional Theory’. Student Updates   On 25 May the August 2022 intake submitted their research projects. The January intake completed the following courses: Symmetry Analysis of Differential Equations (Masood Khalique, North West University); Risk Management and Insurance Economics (Juerg Weber,University of Western Australia). They are currently doing two inter-related courses, Analysis of Boolean Functions (Jan Hazla, AIMS Rwanda) and Probalistics (Naina Ralaivaosaona, Stellenbosch).     Students comments:    “Current courses are challenging. Boolean functions are difficult but with time and concentration you eventually understand. Probabilistic methods are very intriguing. I find Ramsey theory the most interesting.’’  - Maria Mankone Ramaoka, South Africa   “Probabilistic Methods provides us with a unique set of skills, that we’re building on. It’s applications particularly in graph theory broadens our scope and appreciation of the course. Furthermore, it’s interconnectedness to Boolean functions is very interesting.  It inspires new ways of thinking which are imperative to the 4th Industrial Revolution.” - Clinton Garayi, Zimbabwe AI Admissions Question   In our April newsletter we posed one of the many AI admission questions: "40 identical balls are rolling along a straight line. They all have speed equal to v, but some of them might move in opposite directions. When two of them collide they immediately switch their direction and keep the speed v. What is the maximal number of collisions that can happen?"    We've received a number of answers, and the good news for readers of our newsletter is that our AI admissions questions test applicants' ability to think!    Most of our readers said that the maximum is 20, but no-one found an arrangement which allows for 400 collisions to happen.   Solution: Let the 20 leftmost balls move to the right, and 20 rightmost balls move to the left. Every time there is a collision between two balls, the two balls effectively swapped their identity. In this process, each of the 20 leftmost balls have to swap places with each of the 20 rightmost balls. Four hundred (400) such collisions or swaps can take place before the balls are moving with no more balls ever obstructing them. Visitors   On 24 May 2023, Sabrina Ouellet, Program Specialist, Relations with Universities, Universities Canada and Pascale Bédard, Colleges and Institutes Canada & Universities Canada Consortium, Manager of Operations, Canadian International Development Scholarships 2030, had a meeting with     Dr Ulrich Paquet, Dr Simukai Utete, Dr Rejoyce Gavhi-Molefe and Mrs Lynne Texeira to discuss potential opportunities with AIMS South Africa.   Renovation Updates   Work on the outside of 14 Watson Street has been completed and internal renovations are on track. Alongside are photos of one of the bathrooms showing work in progress. Work has also commenced on 16 Watson Street. ANNOUNCEMENTS   We are hiring! Resident Researcher in Machine Learning   AIMS South Africa is looking to hire a resident researcher to join its vibrant research centre. As a Resident Researcher, you will develop innovative machine learning techniques and advance scientific research. You will have the chance to collaborate with peers within AIMS and foster your own national and international network. We’re looking for an enthusiastic and ambitious researcher with a passion to advance interdisciplinary machine learning research, be it theoretical or applied.   Apply Administrative Officer at AIMSSEC   The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Schools Enrichment Centre (AIMSSEC), in Muizenberg, Cape Town, invites applications from suitably qualified and experienced candidates for the position of Administrative Officer. This is a full-time, two-year contract, with a possibility of extension, depending on performance and availability of outside funding.   Apply AIMSSEC Academic Manager   The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Schools Enrichment Centre (AIMSSEC), in Muizenberg, Cape Town, invites applications from suitably qualified and experienced candidates for the position of an Academic Manager. This is a full-time, two-year contract, with a possibility of extension, depending on performance and availability of outside funding.   Apply Click here to unsubscribe from our mailing list.