Kofi Adu, professor of physics at Penn State Altoona and graduate faculty in materials science and engineering, has been awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program to travel to Ghana to work with the University of Development Studies.
ALTOONA, Pa. — Kofi Adu, professor of physics at Penn State Altoona and graduate faculty in materials science and engineering, has been awarded a fellowship by the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program to travel to Ghana to work with the University of Development Studies (UDS), specifically the lecturers in the department of physics on curricula development and collaborative research in nanoscience.
The curriculum development project involves creating and integrating virtual labs into the current existing in-person labs to bridge the resource gap and provide all students with equal opportunities to engage in experiments and effectively learn. Implementing virtual labs at the UDS will have both immediate and long-term benefits. These labs will significantly enhance the department’s commitment to teaching excellence and promote a holistic approach to pedagogy. Adu will work with the head of the department of physics to implement and integrate the virtual labs into the department's lab courses. This project could serve as a model for other institutions in the country and for resource-deprived institutions worldwide.
The UDS project is one of 43 new projects that pair African Diaspora scholars with higher education institutions and collaborators in Africa to work together on curriculum co-development, collaborative research, graduate training and mentoring activities in 2025.
The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program, now in its 11th year, is designed to strengthen capacity at host institutions and develop long-term, mutually beneficial collaborations between universities in Africa and the United States and Canada. It is funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education in collaboration the Association of African Universities. Nearly 750 African Diaspora Fellowships have now been awarded for scholars to travel to Africa since the program’s inception in 2013.
Questions related to the application process can be directed to [email protected].
