Clint Abrahams (Moody Scholar)
Clint Abrahams is an architect and a lecturer at the School of Architecture, Planning & Geomatics, University of Cape Town, South Africa, where he teaches design and technology in the undergraduate program. He worked as an architectural technologist at CS Studio Architects and was awarded the UCT Creative Works Award for his identity formation project "Who We Are Macassar," and in 2022, he was awarded the UCT Social Responsiveness Award for the Macassar Storytelling Project, a project that brings people together to document the history of Macassar and discuss untold histories. His current Ph.D. research, entitled "The Tectonics of Empathy," explores creative languages as a relevant academic praxis to describe post-apartheid cultural production.
U-M Faculty Host: Martin Murray and Anya Sirota, Taubman School of Architecture & Urban Planning
Mary Ajala
Mary Adejoke Ajala is a researcher and lecturer in chemical engineering. She holds a B.Tech., M.Tech., and Ph.D. in chemical engineering. She is a registered member of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), and a member of the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (NSChE). While in Michigan, her research will focus on treating wastewater laden with heavy metals using a silver/titanium oxide/clay nanocomposite in a column adsorption study.
U-M Faculty Host: Brian Ellis and Glen Daigger, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Norah Asongu
Norah Asongu is a senior research officer and a lecturer with over eight years of research and teaching experience. A highly skilled lecturer, and in developing project terms of reference, coordinating fieldwork, analysing the results, and publishing research findings. Norah Asongu also served as a consultant with several organisations as well as research projects, with over 15 published and co-published scientific articles. Norah Asongu’s UMAPS research will include a comprehensive literature review of the anthropology of (mal)nutrition, which will compare and contrast studies of (mal)nutrition in Cameroon (by Cameroonian and foreign scholars) with studies elsewhere in Africa and the world.
U-M Faculty Host: Elizabeth Durham, in the Anthropology Department, School of Literature, Science, & Arts.
Arlette Bessomo Mvogo
Arlette Bessomo Mvogo is a Cameroonian lecturer-researcher trained in the humanities, particularly in theater studies. She taught French language and literature in high schools for ten years. Now a university lecturer for several years, she teaches performing arts and culture at the University of Douala's Institute of Fine Arts in Cameroon. The author of numerous scientific works on the didactics and aesthetics of theater, particularly African ritual theater, she has taken part in numerous scientific events to make the voice of African ritual theater heard in scientific circles. While in the UMAPS program, Arlette Bessomo Mvogo’s UMAPS research will focus on the valorization and theorization of African ritual theater.
U-M Faculty Host: Peggy McCracken, Department of the Humanities
Dorcas Mwigereri
Dorcas is an accomplished researcher at Aga Khan University, in Nairobi, Kenya with a proven track record in formulating and managing academic programs, as demonstrated by the new programs developed; her publications in peer-reviewed journals; supervising and mentoring master's and undergraduate students; and serving as administration head. She has also been involved in several Research grants, both as Team Leader and as co-researcher with the latest major grant/ scholarship being the African Women in Tech and AI Program where women drawn from 38 countries in Africa competed and my project was selected as the winning project and the Microsoft PhD Scholarship where only three students in Africa and 16 students worldwide were selected, Dorcas being one of them.
U-M Faculty Host: Haus Eileen, Center for Global Health Equity.
Michael Dziwornu
Michael is a researcher and lecturer who holds interests in crime geography, geographic information systems, urban studies, migration studies, and postcolonial African geographies. Currently a research scientist with Ghana's CSIR-INSTI, he also lectures intermittently at KAAF University College. Michael received his PhD in Urban Studies from the University of Milan-Bicocca in 2021, having conducted visiting research at institutions in Switzerland and Germany during his doctoral studies. He holds an M.A. in Geography from Suleyman Demirel University as well as a B.A. in Geography and Resource Development from the University of Ghana, Legon. At the University of Michigan, Michael's research examines postcolonial and post-socialist infrastructure imaginaries in Ghana through a critique of modernist planning, neoliberal governance impacts, and reconsideration of Western narratives depicting failure in the Global South.
U-M Faculty Host: Lukasz Stanek, Taubman School of Architecture & Urban Planning.
Desta Mulu Gebeyehu
Desta Mulu is a lecturer and researcher at Injibara University, Ethiopia. She has been a research fellow with the Bionnovate Africa Fellowship for Women Scientists at Maseno University, focusing on solid waste management in Kenya, and a Mawazo fellow in 2022. Her research interests are bioenergy (bioethanol gel fuel and briquettes), biofertilizers, solid waste, and climate-smart agroforestry. Currently a PhD candidate, and her research title is ‟Optimization of bioethanol gel fuel, briquette fuel and biofertilizer production from selected agricultural wastes and water hyacinth in Ethiopia and Kenya.‟ The study provides innovative, research-based evidence for policymakers on using solid waste for clean energy (bioethanol gel fuel & briquette) and biofertilizer production to reduce environmental pollution and enhance the economic benefits of communities, especially for women.
U-M Faculty Host: Margaret Wooldridge, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Victor Muchineripi Gwande (Moody Scholar)
Victor Muchineripi Gwande is a senior lecturer in history at the University of the Free State in South Africa. He is also an alumnus of the African Humanities Program. He has research interests in the economic, business, and labor history of Southern Africa, spanning the 20th century to the present, as well as youth, governance, and democracy issues. A recipient of several grants and fellowships, he is also well published, with a single-authored book and numerous articles in international and regional journals.
U-M Faculty Host: Derek Peterson, Department of History
Jean Paul Nsabimana
Jean Paul Nsabimana is an assistant lecturer and PhD student in the Department of Mathematics at the College of Science and Technology, University of Rwanda. He holds an MSc. in mathematical science. His research interests are mathematical modelling and mathematical finance, with a focus on portfolio selection problems.
U-M Faculty Host: Howard Stein, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and Department of Epidemiology
Bukola O. Ochei
Bukola O. Ochei is a senior lecturer in the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She teaches criminal law, criminology, administrative law and local government, the application of computers to legal studies, sports law, and international law and the practice of human rights. She is interested in multidisciplinary research in criminal justice, emerging technologies and the law, sports law, and gender studies. She is a staff clinician in the Women’s Law Clinic, Faculty of Law, University of Ibadan, which provides pro bono services to indigent women and children in the University of Ibadan community and its environs. Ochei is the sub-dean (postgraduate) at the Faculty of Law. She holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Master of Laws, and a Ph.D. from the University of Ibadan. She is called to the Nigerian Bar as a barrister and solicitor and is actively engaged in the university in administrative and community service assignments.
U-M Faculty Host: Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes, Department of American Cultures
