About JUAMI
What is JUAMI?
The Joint Undertaking for an African Materials Institute, JUAMI, is a virtual institute that offers intensive, two-weeklong live-in programs designed to immerse you in a community of materials researchers from around the world tackling the most pressing technical problems of our times. You will learn from leading materials researchers in classroom and seminar settings, engage in hands-on learning activities, and build collaborations that outlive the two-weeklong program.
What will I gain at JUAMI?
The JUAMI program has a lot to offer. There are lectures that cover and review key materials science and engineering concepts, hands-on learning activities, leading-edge research seminars, and collaborative proposal development for work beyond that of the two-week institute. You will be able to network with motivated students and accomplished researchers from across the globe. Beyond all of this, you will experience deep cross-cultural exchange by living and working alongside diverse colleagues from varying backgrounds in an East African location.
How do I apply to JUAMI?
Applications for JUAMI are now closed. Applications will be made available on the JUAMI website once they re-open.
How did JUAMI begin?
Born in 2012 as the Joint-US Africa Materials Institute, the aim of JUAMI is to build collaborations in materials research between Africa and the United States, as well as other countries. This global engagement is recognized in the revised name, Joint Undertaking for an African Materials Institute. The inaugural JUAMI 2012 to was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and brought together 20 US, 25 African students and one German student. JUAMI 2016, held in Arusha, Tanzania, had a class of 65 student participants again predominately from the US and Africa, but also from Israel. The third JUAMI school was held in December 2018 in Kampala, Uganda, co-hosted by Makerere University. Of the 62 student participants—coming again predominantly from the US and Africa—50% were women.
Where will JUAMI take me?
JUAMI leads to opportunities. You will spend two weeks living in Africa, but a key feature of JUAMI is the creation of connections that outlive the two-weeklong program. Some efforts, like SciBridge, have received external support from the MRS Foundation. Other collaborations are sustained organically because of mutual interest. In some cases, JUAMI alumni have spent time in the laboratories of JUAMI instructors as a part of their doctoral studies. Being a JUAMI alumni also means a wealth of virtual access to resources. Our research exchange portal hosts JUAMI lecture notes, and our online forum provides answers to questions on topics from how to run density functional theory (DFT) code, to where to collect X-ray scattering data, to how to apply for a graduate fellowship.
Who supports JUAMI?
Financial support for JUAMI has provided largely by the US National Science Foundation through the Division of Materials Research. Additional funding has been provided by the Global Initiatives Program of Northwestern University’s McCormick College of Engineering, and the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. Logistical support is provided by the Materials Research Society and the African Materials Research Society. Follow-on projects have been funded by the MRS Foundation in partnership with private donors.
Other questions? Please visit our online forum and post a question for anyone in the JUAMI community to answer.