Participant Support Costs

As a result of three rounds of prior NSF support, JUAMI functions as a virtual standing entity that connects materials researchers in Africa to those in the developed world and vice versa. The primary activity of JUAMI has been to offer two-week schools on the theme of Materials for Sustainable Energy,a topic of critical global importance. With its unique format, which is essentially a hybrid between a conference, a brick-and-mortar institute, and a virtual gathering place, JUAMI pursues two overarching goals: (1) content delivery, so as to enhance learning of materials science and materials science research; and (2) support for the development of long-lasting collaborations between participants, ideally crossing national boundaries. Within the context of this proposal, we propose the following specific activities: (1) a two-week school, JUAMI 2020, to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in the period December 6-18, 2020, modelled after the very successful schools held in December 2018 in Kampala, Uganda, in June 2016 in Arusha, Tanzania, and in December 2012 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; (2) mechanisms for supporting research collaborations and exchanges outside of the two-week school; (3) a continued strong web presence to support virtual engagement in the periods between JUAMI schools along with increased attention to public outreach and dissemination; and (4) assessment of the outcomes against the goals of content delivery and development of substantive collaborations.