African School on Electronic Structure Methods and Applications goes to Ethiopia

ASESMA, a biennial two-week intensive workshop in condensed matter theory, is cultivating the practice of advanced computational science in Africa. The program—co-founded by Illinois Physics Emeritus Professor Richard Martin and Illinois Physics alumnus, Professor Nithaya Chetty of the University of Pretoria—has strong Urbana roots.

Siv Schwink
for Illinois Physics

The 5th African School on Electronic Structure Methods and Applications (ASESMA), an intensive advanced-science workshop held October 22 through November 2, 2018, at the Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Ethiopia, gave 49 early-career scientists and doctoral students from 13 countries in Africa the opportunity to learn advanced computational research methods in condensed matter physics. 

ASESMA is a biennial school, first piloted in 2008 in South Africa. For the last decade, the ASESMA program has been an important part of a larger initiative to develop educational infrastructure, scientific training, and research collaborations in areas critical to the economic interests of mineral-rich African nations. ASESMA draws more applicants than can be accommodated, and prior enrollment has averaged ~40 participants per year.

During the two-week workshop, each day’s schedule included about 10 hours of instruction and worktime combined. The first week focused on lectures and hands-on open-source-software tutorials and the second week on projects that address research-level questions. Evening programs covered professional development topics such as writing scholarly papers, giving talks, research in Africa, and women in science, among others. Everyone stayed at the same hotel and took all meals together, which provided additional time and opportunities to develop a sense of community.

The workshops have been tremendously successful, according to University of Pretoria Professor of Physics Nithaya Chetty, an Illinois Physics alumnus and co-founder and co-director of ASESMA.

Chetty reports, “The school has helped nucleate research groups in electronic-structure computations at a number of institutions in Africa and has helped network students and young researchers with scientists elsewhere in Africa and with leading researchers abroad. This has enabled ASESMA graduates to continue with their work well after the two-week-long school. One of the biggest challenges facing [ASESMA] graduates returning to their home countries is the isolation. ASESMA has helped counter this by creating a family and a supportive environment for computational materials science to grow in Africa.”

By the time this year’s school was underway, past ASESMA graduates had contributed to 124 papers published in refereed journals. This is a reflection of the strength and persistence of the ongoing collaborations among program participants, lecturers, and mentors.

“This is the main idea behind ASESMA, that collaborations and cooperation continue well after the school is over,” Chetty adds. “There are many successful cases, for example, of researchers in Kenya collaborating with individuals in Japan and in France and publishing jointly as a direct result of ASESMA. Similarly, a group in Congo-Brazzaville has been working with us at the University of Pretoria, and this collaboration is proving to be productive. There are other examples too. In some instances, we have arranged for access to the Centre for High Performance Computing in Cape Town for researchers in need of computing resources.”

Chetty’s doctoral adviser, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Emeritus Professor of Physics Richard Martin, co-founded and co-directs ASESMA. Martin agrees, the schools have helped to cultivate an open intellectual culture among a growing community of promising African scientists. Martin attributes ASESMA’s success to its providing early-career interactions with world-leading experts and its establishing lasting collaborations across national lines—these two factors have made a profound difference in the trajectory of ASESMA graduates’ scientific careers.

“The ASESMA Schools Series is based on theory and computational methods for predicting and understanding properties of materials through calculations at the fundamental level of electronic structure,” comments Martin. “There is an important focus on real applications. This is a growing field in which scientists with limited resources can have a large impact. A personal workstation is sufficient for many problems and the internet is making possible productive use of large computational facilities. It is within reach to create a vibrant electronic structure community in Africa, working on forefront international research.”

Mentors play a key role in the accomplishments of ASESMA participants. Mentors are advanced students and postdoctoral fellows who advise on both science and computing subjects. During the program, they deliver portions of lectures or lead hands-on tutorials. After the program, they continue to work with ASESMA graduates through email and other electronic correspondence. According to Martin the mentorship program this year received additional financial support, making it stronger than ever.

A number of factors set this year’s school apart from prior schools.

“At this year’s school, the number of advanced participants went up significantly, which contributed to a higher level of interactions among all of the participants. These more advanced participants were tutors for the less experienced ones in the first week, and in the second week they did more advanced projects,” states Martin. 

In 2018, the school’s curriculum included more research topics in other fields of computational science.

“This year marked the start of a new direction,” Martin reports, “with lectures and a tutorial for all students on molecular dynamics and soft matter and an introductory lecture on biological applications. This expansion of the scope of ASESMA into other areas of computational materials and biological sciences goes along with the emphasis on electronic structure of solids—this is important for the goal of increased collaboration across disciplines that is needed for the research community in Africa.”

Martin stresses, research projects are designed not as one-week efforts, but as introductory efforts on take-home research subjects having the potential for publication in scholarly journals.

“In each case participants learn about finding previous work in the area, carrying out reliable calculations, and drawing conclusions,” Martin describes. “This year there were seven projects—three in different areas of density functional theory, one in calculations of optical properties, and two types of projects done for the first time this year, molecular dynamics of large polyelectrolytes with effective potentials and a pen-and-paper project of developing functionals.

“The challenge now is to keep up the momentum and to provide opportunities for the participants to have collaborations and interactions within Africa and on a global scale. There was very positive feedback from all the participants, who want to continue the projects started at the school and increase their interactions within Africa and beyond.”

Martin notes, “The spirit at ASESMA schools and the social interactions far exceed any schools I know of in the U.S. or Europe, and it is manifested at each school in different ways. This year there were spontaneous songs by participants and a mentor, especially on the last evening when there no technical talks.”

ASESMA is supported by sponsors around the globe. After a successful pilot school in South Africa in 2008, the primary funding for the five ASESMA schools starting in 2010 represented a decade-long commitment that has now expired. ASESMA organizers are currently assessing the program’s future and planning additional bids for funding, to carry ASESMA’s momentum and impact into the future.

Martin shares, “The scope of ASESMA and the number of active, experienced research groups has grown to the point where there can be new opportunities. It is time now for a new, broader vision, one that builds on the recognized success of ASESMA. The emphasis this year on molecular dynamics and biological applications was a step in the direction of that new vision. There are many possibilities and still much to discuss and to plan, but we already have our sights on a strong candidate for the location of ASESMA 2020, the new East African Institute for Fundamental Physics in Rwanda, which is supported by the ICTP.”

A 33-member International Advisory Panel provides input on ASESMA’s schools. Of special note, Illinois Physics Professor Anthony Leggett, winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics, is an active member of the panel.