Ghana’s ambassador to the U.S. will be the keynote speaker at WPI’s second virtual speaker series event to be held on Nov.6, highlighting The Global School and WPI’s partnerships and work in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Global School Virtual Event Series, which runs through the academic year, highlights and celebrates the emerging impact of The Global School at WPI. It includes talks by world-leading experts on the most pressing global issues of our time—among them, sustainability, the environment, the future of work, and the impact these have on diverse regions of the world.
Ambassador H.E. Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah will also join in a panel discussion on “Science and Technology for Innovation in Africa.” WPI has been involved in numerous projects on the continent, including opening a project center in Ghana this year and MS4SSA, an initiative to improve mathematics and science in sub-Saharan Africa. Working in collaboration with The Global School, The Institute of Science and Technology for Development seeks to advance the ways in which science and technology can be used to solve important local/global problems.
“We are delighted to welcome the Ambassador to The Global School Virtual Event Series,” says Provost Wole Soboyejo. “He has been a generous and enthusiastic partner to WPI through our Ghana Project Center. His involvement amplifies the work conducted there so it has impact far beyond the local villages and colleges that our students, faculty, and staff collaborate with. Having direct access to the highest levels of the Ghanaian government through the Ambassador allows our work to inform national policy.”
The panel discussion will be moderated by Rob Krueger, interim head of WPI’s Department of Social Science and Policy Studies. The discussion will focus on how partnerships lead to the co-production of scientific knowledge and technological innovation. It will also explore the opportunities for the co-creation of solutions by innovators in Africa and the U.S.
Panelists: H.E. Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah, Ghana's Ambassador to the US; William Goriwondo, National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe; Joelle Hanley, WPI Biomedical Engineering Student; Jermoh Kamara, WPI and HVK Children's Foundation; Fred McBagonluri, Academic City College, Ghana; Terence McGoldrick, Providence College and The Global Sustainable Aid Project; Solomon Mensah, WPI Post-Doc, BME; and Meron Tadesse, WPI MS student, Science and Technology for Innovation in Global Development
The inaugural event in the series was held Oct. 9. It focused on the evolution and vision of The Global School, how WPI trains other educators around the world, and how WPI is addressing the grand challenge problems across the globe.
The next event, focused on sustainability and the environment in the Latin America region, is scheduled for Dec. 2. The keynote speaker at this event will be Dr. Carlos Nobre, a co-author of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace. Nobre is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences. To register, click here.
Lauren Borsa-Curran
