AUST STUDENTS VISIT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY (May 2012 - June 2012)

[AUSTAbuja]

 Between May 2012 and June 2012 a group of AUST-SHESTCO researchers visited Princeton University. The visit to Princeton University by the AUST-SHESTCO researchers was possible because of the AUST-SHESTCO-Princeton University collaboration sponsored by the World Bank-STEP B project in Nigeria. The objective of the project is to build capacity in Nigera and Africa for High level reasearch in materials science, with a focus on biomaterials and materials for energy and the environment. Nigeria and Africa have been unable to to keep pace with rapid advances in materials science, because only limited resources have been available to train Nigerian scientists in state-of-the-art methods in materials science and engineering. Consequently, there are a few trained African materials scientists to address and solve Nigerian and African problems. In recognition of this and in an attempt to address this identified challenge, research groups based in SHESTCO and AUST as well as Princeton University developed a research partnership framework which was tailored to be in tandem with the World Bank STEP-B Project Development Objective for Nigerian Institutions. The focus of the reseatrch competencies being developed is to engender the nucleation of a world class research team in Nigeria.

As part of the research collaboration, a group of research team headed by the Director General of SHESTCO, Professor. Sunday Thomas, visited Princeton University, NJ, USA, to train for research competencies in organic solar cells, light emitting device fabrication and application, capacity to tap energy from the environment, environmental remediation of plastic waste and enhanced oil recovery, human cell culture competencies and novel drug delivery methods.

During their stay at the United States, as ambassadors of AUST-SHESTCO , Nigeria and Africa at large, the group used the opportunity to potimally make use of the sophisticated laboratories and interact with renowned scientists at Princeton University. Other extra curricular activities during their stay at Princeton University included a soccer match between the visiting researchers and the graduate students in the host department (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) which ended 5-3 in favor of the AUST graduate students.



Via: African University of Science & Technology, Abuja (AUST)