The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a tertiary education and research institute in

Muizenberg Muizenberg ( , Dutch for "mice mountain") is a beach-side town in the Western Cape, South Africa. It is situated where the shore of the Cape Peninsula curves round to the east on the False Bay coast. It is considered to be the main surfing spo ...

, South Africa, established in September 2003, and an associated network of linked institutes in Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania and Rwanda.

History

Founder

The first African Institute for Mathematical Sciences was founded in Cape Town by

Neil Turok Neil Geoffrey Turok (born 16 November 1958) is a South African physicist. He holds the Higgs Chair of Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh since 2020, and has been director emeritus of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physi ...

in 2003, while he was Chair of Mathematical Physics at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

. Neil Turok is the son of

Ben Turok Ben Turok (26 June 1927 – 9 December 2019) was an anti-apartheid activist, Economics Professor, convicted criminal and a South African member of parliament as a member of the African National Congress. Biography Turok was born to poor working ...

, an

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

MP. In 2008 Turok became Executive Director of the

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI, Perimeter, PITP) is an independent research centre in foundational theoretical physics located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1999. The institute's founding and major benefactor i ...

. AIMS South Africa was formed as a partnership between the following universities:

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

University of Paris-Sud Paris-Sud University (French: ''Université Paris-Sud''), also known as University of Paris — XI (or as Université d'Orsay before 1971), was a French research university distributed among several campuses in the southern suburbs of Paris, in ...

, and

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only. Other un ...

AIMS Next Einstein Initiative

AIMS was the subject of a talk by

after he received the

TED Prize TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

in 2008. Neil Turok's TED wish was that, within his lifetime, an African Einstein would be celebrated. The AIMS Next Einstein Initiative is a plan to create 15 more AIMS centres across Africa. These centres intend to create institutions that are equipped with educational and scientific resources equivalent to the more developed continents, in order to fulfil Neil Turok's TED wish. The first three centres created after that in South Africa are in Senegal, Ghana and Cameroon. AIMS Senegal became operational in September, 2011 in Mbour, near Dakar, and AIMS Ghana opened its doors in 2012 in the small coastal city of Biriwa. An earlier centre based at the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Nigeria was known as AIMS Abuja for a while. AIMS Ghana was set up in 2012, AIMS Cameroon in 2013 and AIMS Tanzania in 2014. There is a sixth centre in Rwanda. The AIMS Next Einstein Initiative is a continuation of the work of the African Mathematical Institutes Network (AMI-Net). After AIMS South Africa won the TED Prize in 2008, Neil Turok and his partners developed the AIMS Next Einstein Initiative, the goal of which is to build 15 centres of excellence across Africa by 2023. The Government of Canada made a US$20 million investment in the Next Einstein Initiative in 2010, through its

International Development Research Centre The International Development Research Centre (IDRC; french: Centre de recherches pour le développement international, ''CRDI'') is a Canadian federal Crown corporation that funds research and innovation within and alongside developing regions ...

, and numerous governments in Africa and Europe have followed suit. In October 2015, a forum took place in Dakar under the auspices of UNESCO's International Basic Sciences Programme to take the project for a vast network of centres to the next stage.

Mission

Teaching and research

The AIMS institutes teach both basic and applied mathematics, covering a large range of mathematical applications in physics (including astrophysics and cosmology), quantitative biology, bioinformatics, scientific computing, finance, agriculture modelling and so on. That in Senegal proposes courses in both French and English. In addition to its academic programmes, AIMS South Africa has a research centre in interdisciplinary areas like cosmology, computing and finance (see below). In 2015, AIMS Cameroon was planning to launch its own research centre to host resident and visiting researchers from universities in Cameroon and beyond.

Community service

The AIMS institutes provide community services. AIMS Senegal has developed an innovative teaching module for secondary school maths teachers and has partnered with local businesses to raise funds for the creation of a national contest on computer applications and mathematical modelling, with a focus on finding development-oriented solutions. AIMS South Africa directs the AIMS Schools Enrichment Centre for primary and secondary school teachers, which also organizes public lectures, workshops and master classes and supports maths clubs in schools across the country (see below). Scholars and lecturers from AIMS Ghana have equipped teachers at Biriwa Junior High School with an innovative teaching module.

AIMS South Africa

Academic programme

Structured Masters programme

The flagship programme of AIMS South Africa is a 10-month Structured Masters programme in the Mathematical Sciences. The programme was upgraded in 2012 from a Postgraduate Diploma. The master's degree is conferred by the three South African universities in the partnership. Students from Africa can apply for full scholarships, including travel, board & lodging, tuition, and a stipend. AIMS is committed to greater participation by women in science and a geographically representative student body from the African continent. Visiting faculty have included David MacKay, Bernt Øksendal, David Aschman (

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

), Alan Beardon (

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

), Jordi Campos (

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

), Jesus Cerquides (

Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council ( es, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote res ...

), Patrick Dorey (

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

), Pedro Ferreira (

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

), Jan Govaerts (

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

), Barry Green (

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

), Gordon Johnson (

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

), Dirk Laurie (

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

), Sanjoy Mahajan (

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

Olin Olin may refer to: People Organizations * OLIN, American landscape architecture firm * Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis * Olin College, an undergraduate engineering college in Massachusetts * Olin Corporation, a chemica ...

Vincent Rivasseau Vincent Rivasseau (born 5 December 1955 in Talence) is a French mathematical physicist. Rivasseau studied from 1974 to 1978 at the École Normale Supérieure and then in 1978/79 at Princeton University with Arthur Wightman as advisor. In 1979 he ...

(

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), Bernd Schroers (

Heriot-Watt Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequ ...

), Robert de Mello Koch (

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand () (locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which ...

), Rob Beezer (

University of Puget Sound The University of Puget Sound (UPS or Puget Sound) is a private university in Tacoma, Washington. The university draws approximately 2,600 students from 44 states and 16 countries. It offers 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 traditional an ...

), Jeff Sanders (

United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology The United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology (UNU-IIST; ; Portuguese: ''Instituto Internacional para Tecnologia de Programação da Universidade das Nações Unidas'') was a United Nations University Research Tr ...

), and

Tadashi Tokieda Tadashi Tokieda (Japanese: 時枝正; born 1968) is a Japanese mathematician, working in mathematical physics. He is a professor of mathematics at Stanford University; previously he was a fellow and Director of Studies of MathematicsStanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

). Each visiting lecturer teaches an intensive three-week-long module. The goal of the programme is to produce students capable of doing a high quality research-based master's degree. Special emphasis is placed on intuitive understanding, problem solving skills, collaboration, scientific writing skills, and computer modelling using

Free Software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

such as

SageMath SageMath (previously Sage or SAGE, "System for Algebra and Geometry Experimentation") is a computer algebra system (CAS) with features covering many aspects of mathematics, including algebra, combinatorics, graph theory, numerical analysis, numbe ...

SciPy SciPy (pronounced "sigh pie") is a free and open-source Python library used for scientific computing and technical computing. SciPy contains modules for optimization, linear algebra, integration, interpolation, special functions, FFT, signal ...

, and R. AIMS offers bursaries for many alumni continuing studies in South Africa.

Honours Degree in Mathematical Biology

AIMS, in conjunction with

, offers an honours degree in Mathematical Biology for South African students.

Honours Degree in Mathematical Finance

An honours degree in

Mathematical Finance Mathematical finance, also known as quantitative finance and financial mathematics, is a field of applied mathematics, concerned with mathematical modeling of financial markets. In general, there exist two separate branches of finance that require ...

is being offered for South African students in conjunction with

and the

Master's and doctoral studies

In the AIMS Research Centre students, often AIMS alumni, study towards a MSc or PhD degree under supervision of a resident researcher in Mathematical Biology and

Research centre

AIMS South Africa hosts a research centre that opened in May 2008. Stephen Hawking visited the AIMS research centre and AIMS-Next Einstein Initiative launch. The centre specialises in Mathematical Biology,

Industrial Mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical ...

Astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

Cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...

, and Computer Algebra. Bursaries are offered for Master's and doctoral studies.

School Enrichment Centre

AIMS South Africa hosts a School Enrichment Centre which offers free learning resources and professional development courses for South African mathematics teachers.

Workshops and conferences

AIMS South Africa regularly hosts short conferences or workshops in Mathematics and its applications, especially in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

. Other topics include

Scientific Modelling Scientific modelling is a scientific activity, the aim of which is to make a particular part or feature of the world easier to understand, define, quantify, visualize, or simulate by referencing it to existing and usually commonly accepted ...

System Administration A system administrator, or sysadmin, or admin is a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multi-user computers, such as servers. The system administrator seeks to ensu ...

using

Debian GNU/Linux Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of Deb ...

as a platform.

Public lectures

Regular public lectures on a wide range of topics are offered by eminent scientists at the forefront of research in their field.

Funding

AIMS South Africa is sponsored by international corporations, international development organisations and the South African departments of

Education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

and Science and Technology. In February 2010

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

donated $1 million to AIMS. In July 2010, Canada committed CAN$20 million of federal funding to AIMS and the AIMS-Next Einstein Initiative. The funds are administered by the

and the

. In September 2010 the AIMS Next Einstein Initiative AIMS-NEI was awarded US$2 million from

's Project 10^100. Individuals donate to AIMS on GivenGain.

AIMS Ghana

AIMS Ghana is among the oldest AIMS centers. Located in West Africa, initially based within the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

in East-Legon, then based in the idyllic village of Biriwa in the Central Region, and then moved to

Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

. The center has been highly patronized by the figure of

Francis Allotey Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey (9 August 1932 – 2 November 2017) was a Ghanaian mathematical physicist. Together with Daniel Afedzi Akyeampong, he became the first Ghanaian to obtain a doctorate in mathematical sciences, earned in 1966. Early ...

. After his demise, the center has been organizing summer camps to outreach recently graduated students and motivate them about math, those summer camps are currently named as Allotey Math Summer Camp after him . A new program to support female students in

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

has also been launched.

Academic programme

The center has two main programs. The general course focused on mathematics and its applications, and AMMI (African Masterd of Machine Intelligence) the course focused on Machine learning patronized by

Google AI Google AI is a division of Google dedicated to artificial intelligence. It was announced at Google I/O 2017 by CEO Sundar Pichai. Projects * Serving cloud-based TPUs (tensor processing units) in order to develop machine learning software. * De ...

. Moustapha Cisse is the founder and director of AMMI since 2018. The goal of AMMI is to bring the best of AI education in Africa and contribute to building a healthy ecosystem of AI practitioners committed to making a positive impact on our societies. Visiting faculty have included, for the main AIMS Master program: Patrick Dorey (

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

), Barry Green (

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

), Bernd Schroers (

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

), Alessandro Crimi (

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

), Bianca Dittrich (

) and others. While AMMI visiting faculty included Olivier Bousquet (

), Hugo Larochelle (

Yann LeCun Yann André LeCun ( , ; originally spelled Le Cun; born 8 July 1960) is a French computer scientist working primarily in the fields of machine learning, computer vision, mobile robotics and computational neuroscience. He is the Silver Professor ...

(

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

), and others. In both programs each visiting lecturer teaches an intensive three-week-long module.

Conducted research

Since 2014, AIMS Ghana started conducting research on topics related to applied mathematics and epidemiology. Among the published works, there are the project of Dr. Olivier Menoukeu Pamen (Alexander Humboldt Chair in Ghana) about

Stochastic Stochastic (, ) refers to the property of being well described by a random probability distribution. Although stochasticity and randomness are distinct in that the former refers to a modeling approach and the latter refers to phenomena themselv ...

Mortality Modelling for Dependent Coupled Lives, Dr. Alessandro Crimi about epidemiological study on

prenatal care Prenatal care, also known as antenatal care, is a type of preventive healthcare. It is provided in the form of medical checkups, consisting of recommendations on managing a healthy lifestyle and the provision of medical information such as materna ...

, and during the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic Esther Opoku Gyasi and Prof. Francis Oduro about cost-effectiveness analysis of COVID-19 data from Ghana.

Notable staff

* Nana Klutse, Climate Science Fellow

References

External links

AIMS South Africa official website

AIMS Ghana official website

AIMS Cameroon official website

AIMS Rwanda official website
* *
Article on AIMS in Physicsworld

Article on AIMS in Chronicle of Higher Education

Article on AIMS in Die Zeit

Speech by Minister of Education, Kader Asmal, at the launch of AIMS (18/09/2003)
*

* ttps://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-pledges-20-million-for-science-education-in-africa/article1630506/ Ottawa pledges $20-million for science education in Africa
PM announces funds for science education – here and in Africa

Brain food II: Smart aid for Africa

PM announces creation of 70 new fellowships to attract scientists to Canada

AFRICA-CANADA: Boost for Next-Einstein centres
*
Making science work for Africa

Africa's Counting House

Science Aid Nature Editorial
{{DEFAULTSORT:African Institute For Mathematical Sciences Mathematical institutes Universities in the Western Cape Educational institutions established in 2003 Research institutes in South Africa 2003 establishments in South Africa