The Southern Africa Mathematical Sciences Association (SAMSA) is a regional professional society for

mathematicians A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History One ...

working in countries of

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. The society was founded in 1981. It has been involved in several capacity building programs, including the Masamu project of collaborative research with

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

in the US and the Kovalevskaia Research Grants for women mathematicians of the region. The SAMSA also includes some members from other parts of Africa, as well as from Europe and the US.

History

SAMSA was established in 1981, when it held its first conference in Botswana. Its annual meetings rotate among the member countries, and have been held every year since then without fail. SAMSA should not be confused with the

South African Mathematical Society The South African Mathematical Society (SAMS) is a professional mathematical society of South Africa. The Society was established in 1957. The SAMS publishes a research journal ''Quaestiones Mathematicae'', as well the ''Notices of the South Africa ...

(SAMS), which, despite the similar name, is a national society for South Africa rather than a regional one. During the apartheid era in South Africa the two organizations SAMSA and SAMS had virtually no relations. In 1997 a joint meeting of the two math societies was held at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

with support from the

London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh Mathematical S ...

, the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

, and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

. This conference "introduced a new era in cooperation in Mathematics in southern Africa."

Activities

Besides its annual meetings, SAMSA has been involved in projects designed to form a critical mass of trained mathematicians for the member countries. For example, in 1996–2007 at the

University of Zimbabwe The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University o ...

and again in 2008–2013 at the

University of Dar es Salaam The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in 1 ...

, SAMSA organized Masters programs in mathematical modeling that were supported by the Norwegian government.

Masamu

Masamu (a word meaning "mathematics" in the Bantu languages of South Africa) is the name of a program of collaboration between researchers and advanced students in the US and southern Africa. It is organized jointly by SAMSA and

and is supported by the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

. The Masamu program was founded in 2011 by the Malawian-American mathematician

Overtoun Jenda Overtoun Jenda, born in an urban area of the northern part of Malawi, is an American mathematician and recipient of a 2020 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. He is a Professor of Mathematics and As ...

, who is Assistant Provost for Special Projects and Initiatives at Auburn University and a member of SAMSA. Jenda has said that a primary objective of the program is "to strengthen mathematical sciences departments at universities in southern Africa."

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 ...

mathematics professor and SAMSA president Farai Nyabadza commented that, as a consequence of the Masamu project, US and European mathematicians have collaborated with talented young African mathematicians, resulting in numerous joint research papers.

Kovalevskaia Research Grants

According to Jenda, since 2011 there has been greater participation of women in SAMSA activities. Starting in 2014 SAMSA has given Kovalevskaia Research Grants at two-year intervals to two early-career women mathematicians from sub-Saharan Africa, one in pure math and one in applied math. Each award consists of US$2500 for research expenses; the grants are supported by the Kovalevskaia Fund. Past winners have included Beth Nyambura Kiratu (

University of Nairobi , mottoeng = In unity and work , image = Uon emblem.gif , image_size = 210px , caption = Coat of Arms of the University , type = Public , endowment ...

), Theresia Marijani (

), Winifred Mutuku (

Kenyatta University Kenyatta University (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Nairobi County, Kenya. It acquired the status of university in 1985, being the third university after University of Nairobi (1970) and Moi University (1984). As of O ...

), and Sameerah Jamal (

University of Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

References

External links

South African Mathematical Sciences Association websiteMasamu program websiteKovalevskaia Fund website
{{authority control Mathematical societies Scientific organisations based in South Africa Scientific organizations established in 1981