Department of Mathematics and Statistics Newsletter 2015 Newsletter | Page 3

Overtoun Jenda made a promise that he would
increase the presence of American mathematical
research in Africa and capitalize on an opportunity
to create U.S.-Africa collaboration through Auburn
University and Southern Africa Mathematical
Sciences Association, or SAMSA.
When Jenda, associate provost for Diversity
and Multicultural Affairs and professor in the
Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
attended a conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,
in 2009 held by SAMSA, he was the only
representative from the United States.
When he returned to Auburn, Jenda, along with
Ash Abebe, A.J. Meir and Peter Johnson of the
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, together
with southern Africa mathematicians, began to
brainstorm and developed what would become
the Masamu Program, meaning mathematics in the
southern African region.
The group submitted a proposal for funding
to the National Science Foundation and received
a grant for a twoyear pilot program.
The first Masamu
Advanced Study
Institute, or MASI,
was held in 2011 in
Livingstone, Zambia.
The program
was so successful
that the department
approached the NSF
for more support and
was granted funding
for an additional five years. The NSF funding
covers the cost of U.S. participants, while African
mathematicians use their own sources of funding
and sponsorships.
“The main purpose of the program is to
promote U.S.-African collaboration on research,”
said Jenda. “There are very good mathematicians
in Africa, and the Masamu Program offers several
research areas for faculty and students to work
together.”
Each year, a MASI event is held in one of the
15 participating countries: Angola, Botswana,
Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South
Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, and Uganda.
The institutes allow students and faculty from
around the world to form teams and share research

in the areas of algebra and geometry, analysis
and topology, coding theory and information
theory, graph theory, epidemiological modeling,
numerical approximation of solutions of partial
differential equations, mathematics of finance, and
statistics.
Faculty including Abebe, Jenda, Johnson, Erkan
Nane and Kevin Phelps, from the Department of
Mathematics and Statistics, serve as research team
co-leaders alongside mathematicians from Africa.
“In some areas such as epidemiological
modeling, the Africans have different approaches,
so it’s very exciting to see how these researchers
work together on problems,” said Jenda.
At its start, the program consisted of 41 research
faculty, but has grown to 57 and includes Africans,
Canadians, Europeans, and Americans.
“Our 2014 MASI in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe,
was the biggest yet, and more than half of the
keynote speakers there were from Auburn,”
said Jenda. “A large group of Auburn students
attended, and there is
definitely an increase
in participation from
promising female
mathematicians,
too.”
Masamu Program
participants have
published research
findings, completed
dissertations and
theses, and received
appointments to
fellowship, postdoctoral, and faculty positions in
the United States and Africa, all while making new
academic connections across the world.
Jenda, director of the program along with
Abebe and Johnson, co-directors, organize and
plan all facets of the Masamu Program through
the business office of the Office Diversity and
Multicultural Affairs.
The 2015 MAS H