Samuel Meehan—Finding the next Einstein in Africa: the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences

Brownbag lunch seminar brought to you by members of the E&I committee. Bring your lunch—light snacks will be provided.

The African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) was founded in 2008 by Neil Turok with a simple yet profoundly ambitious goal: to find the next Einstein in Africa. More broadly speaking, the AIMS organization works to improve the overall level of math and scientific education throughout the African continent while building a sustainable pan-African academic network that will enable future generations of scientists to succeed. In this talk, I will introduce you to this unique academic institution through the lens of my own experiences, having been involved with AIMS in a variety of roles in South Africa, Rwanda, and most recently Ghana, and how an investment of oneself in this endeavor has amazing potential for the broader scientific community throughout the 21st century.

Speaker bio: Samuel Meehan is a postdoc at the University of Washington in Seattle and lecturer at the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences.  He divides his time between particle physics research as a member of the ATLAS collaboration at the Large Hadron Collider and a variety of education and outreach activities.