Tag: African Scientists in America

Communities

Ugandans in USA Pool Funds to Support Impressive ‘Young Engineers’ Team at World Robotics Championship
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BY JAVIRA SSEBWAMI | PML DAILY STAFF WRITER

DALLAS — Ugandans living in the United States, particularly in Dallas, Texas, have come together and pooled resources to support the Ugandan team representing the country at the ongoing Vex World Robotics Championships in Dallas.

Mobilized by the President of UNAA – Dallas/Fort Worth chapter, Ms. Florence Bazanye, the Ugandans, numbering about 40, have pooled about $2,500 so far, groceries, and free guided tours around the city during their breaks from the competition.

Continue reading “Ugandans in USA Pool Funds to Support Impressive ‘Young Engineers’ Team at World Robotics Championship” →
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Rediet Abebe | The Ethiopian-born computer scientist who is using artificial intelligence for social good
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By Ebimo Amungo

Rediet Abebe is an Ethiopian-born Computer Scientist who specializes in Artificial Intelligence. She is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a Junior Fellow (2019-22) at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Abebe became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University in the United States in 2018. 

Continue reading “Rediet Abebe | The Ethiopian-born computer scientist who is using artificial intelligence for social good” →
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Bukola Ayodele | How this 25-year-old making $210,000 per year in New York City spends her money
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By Alicia Adamczyk | CNBC

Sitting in her immaculately organized bedroom, Bukola Ayodele recalls some of the challenges she’s faced as a black woman in tech. She doesn’t work with many people who look like her, she says, which can feel isolating. Occasionally, the security team in the office building where she’s worked for three years will stop her in the lobby, not believing she belongs there until she shows her badge.

Continue reading “Bukola Ayodele | How this 25-year-old making $210,000 per year in New York City spends her money” →
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Timnit Gebru | More than 1,200 Google workers condemn firing of Ethiopian-American AI scientist
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By Julia Carrie Wong | The Guardian

More than 1,200 Google employees and more than 1,500 academic researchers are speaking out in protest after a prominent Ethiopian- American scientist studying the ethics of artificial intelligence said she was fired by Google after the company attempted to suppress her research and she criticized its diversity efforts.

Continue reading “Timnit Gebru | More than 1,200 Google workers condemn firing of Ethiopian-American AI scientist” →
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Fadji Maina | Meet the first Nigerien scientist to work for Nasa
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by BBC

Fadji Maina has become the first scientist from Niger to work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).

Continue reading “Fadji Maina | Meet the first Nigerien scientist to work for Nasa” →
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Adji Bousso Dieng |This AI Expert From Senegal Is Helping Showcase Africans In STEM
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By Andrew Wight | Forbes

Not only has Adji Bousso Dieng, an AI researcher from Senegal, contributed to the field of generative modeling and about to become one of the first black female faculty in Computer Science in the Ivy League, she is also helping Africans in STEM tell their own success stories.

Continue reading “Adji Bousso Dieng |This AI Expert From Senegal Is Helping Showcase Africans In STEM” →
Opinion

Ibrahim Diallo : “My experience of getting a job as a software developer in America is filled with unfair treatment.”
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Guinean-born Ibrahim Diallo got his first computer when he was five, which triggered a lifelong passion for programming. He has worked as a software engineer in the US for 12 years and in 2018 wrote a much-read blog about how he was fired by a machine. 

Now, as race issues once again take centre stage in America and beyond, he has shared with the BBC his experience of being a black programmer.

By Ibrahim Diallo | BBC

Continue reading “Ibrahim Diallo : “My experience of getting a job as a software developer in America is filled with unfair treatment.”” →
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South African-born Elon Musk sends Americans to space with Falcon Dragon rocket
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Awards

America-based Ghanaian awarded MBL Emerging Entrepreneur Award
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Cornerlis Kweku Affre| myjoyonline

An Ghanaian has been awarded this year’s Emerging Entrepreneur Award by the Metropolitan Business League in Richmond, Virginia.

Bismark Agbemble was given the award for hard work in developing three signature products in the area of Education, Entertainment and E-Commerce to solve problems through innovation, efficiency, and ease of use through their WebRTC platform.

Continue reading “America-based Ghanaian awarded MBL Emerging Entrepreneur Award” →
Covid 19, People

Egyptian-American doctor helps to develop new COVID-19 test kit
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By Al-Masry Al-Youm

Johns Hopkins University announced earlier in March that it had made a breakthrough that would allow testing 1,000 people for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) per day, reducing pressure on laboratories and allowing governments to better isolate those infected with the respiratory illness and control its spread.

Two specialists in microbiology developed the new test, one of them is Karen Carroll and the other is Egyptian-American Dr. Heba Mostafa.

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Achievements

Ghanaian chemical scientist, Professor Kwasi Adomako Ohemeng, receives American Society’s highest honour
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Professor Kwasi Adomako Ohemeng, the Dean of the School of Pharmacy, Central University, has been honoured by the American Chemical Society for his contributions to the development of industrial chemistry and for discoveries of medicines that impact the welfare of society.

He is among a team of 16 scientists from Paratek Pharmaceuticals whose work for the development of the FDA-approved antibiotic drugs Nuzyra (omadacycline) and Seysara (sarecycline) was recognised and adorned with the Heroes of Chemistry award.

Continue reading “Ghanaian chemical scientist, Professor Kwasi Adomako Ohemeng, receives American Society’s highest honour” →
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Meet Ime Achibong, the Nigerian-American who is a Vice-President at Facebook and the right hand man of Mark Zuckerberg
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By Ebimo Amungo

Call him Mark Zuckerberg ‘s deputy and you would not be far from the truth, because they seem to be Siamese twins in fashioning new ideas that have transformed Facebook into something much more than a social media initiative. Ime Archibong is a Facebook insider who currently has 2 important jobs in the organisation.  He is the Vice President of Partnerships and Manager of Strategic Partnerships. 

Continue reading “Meet Ime Achibong, the Nigerian-American who is a Vice-President at Facebook and the right hand man of Mark Zuckerberg” →
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Meet Dr. Alexander Anim-Mensah, the Ghanaian who is a prolific inventor in US
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Dr. Alexander Anim-Mensah was recently recognized with a Distinguished Patent Fellow award for his innovative ideas just two years after he got inducted into the Illinois Tool Works (ITW) Patent Society as a Fellow. This latest award is for his involvement in inventions generating exceptional levels of commercial and technical successes in America.

Continue reading “Meet Dr. Alexander Anim-Mensah, the Ghanaian who is a prolific inventor in US” →
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South African-born, Elon Musk, unleashes graphic image of his massive red hot inflamed rocket
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By Jasper Hamill

South African born space entrepreneur,Elon Musk has treated the world to a graphic look at his large and undeniably impressive rocket glowing vivid red.

His firm SpaceX released a graphical representation of the Starship, which was once known as the ‘Big Falcon Rocket’ and is designed to take astronauts to Mars.

It was produced for the magazine April 2019 issue of Popular Mechanics and show Musk’s mighty vessel entering Earth’s atmosphere and becoming rather inflamed in the process.

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African and US ICT actors to meet in Washington for the future of fintech
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The future of the African fintech sector will be discussed during the Africa Fintech Summit to be held on April 11, 2019, at the US Institute of Peace in Washington.

The main subjects to be discussed during the summit will be the future of banks and venture capital in the digital era, regulations, blockchain, digital identity, fund transfers and financial inclusion.

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Science and Tech.

Many U.S. Cities Lack Sufficient Tech Talent. This Nigerian-Born Entrepreneur Wants to Change That
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Last year, Amazon took one long, highly publicized look across the U.S. and came to a simple but devastating conclusion: For the most part, American cities did not have an adequate number of talented tech workers to support its planned second headquarters.

One Nigerian-born, St. Louis-based entrepreneur wants to change that.

Five years ago, Ola Ayeni was struggling to find enough full-stack developers for Eateria, a digital marketing tool for the restaurant and hospitality industry. Faced with an almost insurmountable problem, Ayeni did what all natural-born entrepreneurs do: He tried to solve it himself.

In October 2014, Ayeni launched Claim Academy. Initially, its mission was to train developers for Ayeni’s startup.

Today, Claim Academy is one of the fastest growing, most accomplished coding schools in the country, placing graduates in startups and large multinational companies.

Continue reading “Many U.S. Cities Lack Sufficient Tech Talent. This Nigerian-Born Entrepreneur Wants to Change That” →

News

South Africa’s Elon Musk achieves milestone as SpaceX Dragon Capsule returns to earth
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South African-born Elon Musk achieved another milestone in commercial space travel as his SpaceX Dragon capsule re-entered earth after a 7 day sojour at the International Space Staion.

Already the most successful private space entrepreneur in the world, Elon Musk watched nervously as his new commercial astronaut capsule completed its demonstration flight with a successful splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.

The SpaceX Dragon vehicle left the International Space Station after being docked there for the past week, and re-entered Earth’s atmosphere.

It had a heat-shield to protect it from the high temperatures of re-entry.

Four parachutes brought it into “soft contact” with water about 450km from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Continue reading “South Africa’s Elon Musk achieves milestone as SpaceX Dragon Capsule returns to earth” →

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Obinna Ukwuani: The Nigerian MIT graduate who turned down 6-figure paycheck in US and returned to Africa.
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Obinna Ukwuani was the best graduating student in his class in Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the premier Ivy League universities in America. He was expected to get a good paying job and build a comfortable life for himself in the US. But he confounded everyone when he chose rather to return to Africa and promote the development of STEM, robotics and agribusiness.

By Nzekwe Henry | WEETRACKER

Continue reading “Obinna Ukwuani: The Nigerian MIT graduate who turned down 6-figure paycheck in US and returned to Africa.” →
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Nigerian-born Dr. Wendy Okolo is “The Most Promising Engineer in the US Government”
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Dr. Wendy Okolo’s career has taken flight at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. agency responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.

She received Black Engineer’s Most Promising Engineer in Government Award during the BEYA STEM Conference in Washington D. C. recently.

Okolo is an aerospace research engineer at the Ames Research Center, a major NASA research center in California’s Silicon Valley.

She was only 26 years old when she became the first black woman to obtain a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. She earned both undergraduate and doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering from UT Arlington.

Her previous research has been recognized and funded by the Department of Defense through the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship; Zonta International, through the Amelia Earhart Fellowship; and the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics through the John Leland Atwood Graduate Fellowship.

Currently, Okolo is a Special Emphasis Programs Manager in the Intelligent Systems Division of NASA’s Ames Research Center.

Continue reading “Nigerian-born Dr. Wendy Okolo is “The Most Promising Engineer in the US Government”” →

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Meet Dr Trebi-Ollenu, the Ghanaian-born team lead of NASA InSight space rover on Mars
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On Monday, November 26, 2018, InSight, a spacecraft belonging to America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) landed the on Mars. Since the landing Africans in America, especially those with affiliations with Ghana, have also been celebrating.

This is because at the heart of the historic landing on Mars is the remarkable work of Ghanaian-born engineer, Dr Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu, who is the team lead for InSight at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Dr. Trebi-Ollennu builds robotic components for planetary exploration, a dream that began as a young child in Ghana. He is in charge of the InSight mission’s robotic arm and hand.

Born in Ghana, Dr Trebi-Ollennu has been working at NASA since 1999 and has risen to become the Chief Engineer of Robotics at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Continue reading “Meet Dr Trebi-Ollenu, the Ghanaian-born team lead of NASA InSight space rover on Mars” →