EPSNA held its pilot summer school from June 25 till August 2, 2019 at Addis Ababa Science and Technology University. The program was very well received by students. We want to say thank you to our sponsors who supported the summer school financially: the National Science Foundation (NSF), Stanford University, Pepperdine University, American Physical Society (APS), University of Gonder (UoG), Addis Ababa Science and Technology University (AASTU). Checkout the video for a short update:
EPSNA Summer School
Short of fully moving back to Ethiopia, one concrete and tangible way that the large number of successful physics professionals in North America can play in improving the quality of physics education and research in Ethiopia is to go there and share expertise in short trips. Summer schools are the optimal way to do this, as many physicists in academia can often take a few weeks off in the summer to travel. If there is a sustainable and scalable summer school program in collaboration between physicists in North America and institutions in Ethiopia, we believe a significant change can be catalyzed.
For this reason, EPSNA is piloting a one week long summer school to be held at the University of Gondor in summer, 2019. The effort is spearheaded by the Public Relations Officer of EPSNA, Iwnetim Abate. We picked the University of Gonder to pilot the summer school due to the excellent support and rapport developed between Iwnetim and the president of the university. Participating students will be recruited from various universities across Ethiopia. If the pilot is a success, we hope to hold summer schools in various different institutions in Ethiopia.
Currently more than a dozen instructors and teaching assistants have volunteered and been confirmed to participate in the summer school, and discussions are ongoing with University of Gonder on logistics of the program. The instructors and TAs span a wide range of expertise from physics, material science, chemistry, and computer science. Currently funding sources are being sought to help cover some of the expense.