Posted on December 17, 2007

Carnegie Corporation Launches Initiative to Build Scientific Capacity in Africa

The Carnegie Corporation of New York has announced the establishment of a regional initiative to build scientific capacity in Africa.

The Carnegie-IAS Regional Initiative in Science and Education (RISE) is designed to increase the number of well-trained university faculty capable of teaching Africa's next generation of scientists and engineers. With an emphasis on upgrading current faculty and training new faculty, the initiative will prepare masters and doctorate-level scientists and engineers in sub-Saharan Africa through university-based research and training networks in selected disciplines.

Carnegie will support the initial three-year phase of RISE through a $3.3 million grant to the New Jersey-based Institute for Advanced Study, which will implement the project in conjunction with its African partners. Through the initiative, students will receive a comprehensive graduate education, obtaining their degrees from one university in the network but spending periods of time at other institutions that provide complementary instruction and research opportunities and access to scientific instrumentation. The network's support for training in African settings, its explicit focus on producing future professors, and the commitment to leveraging its proximity to uniquely African research problems will help produce graduates who are committed to pursuing their academic careers on the African continent.

"We are all acutely aware of Africa's urgent need to adapt and apply science and technology to alleviate poverty and catalyze economic development," said Carnegie Corporation president Vartan Gregorian. "By generating a critical mass of promising, world-class scientists and deploying them to cultivate the fertile minds of students, Africa will be harnessing two resources which it has in great abundance — innovation and determination."