The African Studies Center (ASC) welcomes five scholars to Ann Arbor as the Fall 2026 cohort of the University of Michigan African Presidential Scholars (UMAPS) Program. In residence through December, they are collaborating with U-M faculty and advancing research across health, language, history, economics, and education.
ASC also welcomes six researchers in the 2026 cohort of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science African Faculty Fellowship at the Michigan Institute for Data & AI in Society (MIDAS).
UMAPS Scholars
To date, ASC has hosted 260 scholars from universities across Africa, connecting them with U-M faculty collaborators and university resources. This fall’s cohort includes:
Bernadette Agbavor is a postdoctoral fellow at the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. Her research examines wound healing and the microbes associated with skin-related neglected tropical diseases, including Buruli ulcer and yaws, as well as snakebite wounds.
U-M Faculty Host: Douglas Wiebe, Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical School
Simangele Mashazi (Moody Scholar) is a lecturer and PhD candidate in general linguistics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Drawing on arts-based methods, she studies multilingual experiences and the ways humor on South African social media helps people express their identities.
U-M Faculty Host: Webb Keane, Department of Anthropology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Edwina D. Ashie-Nikoi is a senior lecturer in information studies at the University of Ghana and editorial coordinator of the Contemporary Journal of African Studies. Her work explores how African and diasporan histories are documented and remembered, with a focus on alternative and community archives and the decolonization of archival practice.
U-M Faculty Host: Carina Ray, Department of History, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Calumet Links (Moody Scholar) is a lecturer and researcher in economics and economic history at Stellenbosch University. His research examines historical labor coercion, racial classification, and their lasting socioeconomic effects.
U-M Faculty Host: Paul W. Rhode, Department of Economics, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Jean Baptiste Mushimiyimana is an assistant lecturer in the School of Educational Sciences at the University of Rwanda’s College of Education. His research interests include teacher education, the use of information and communication technology in teaching and learning, early childhood education, and teacher professional development.
U-M Faculty Host: Camille Wilson, Marsal School of Education
Learn more about the UMAPS Program, which is currently accepting applications for our upcoming cycle until October 15, 2026.
MIDAS African Faculty Fellows
The program supports researchers in using AI to address science and engineering questions. Managed with extensive support and guidance from ASC, the two-year program combines 12 months in residence at U-M with 12 months in Africa to continue research and training. The six fellows in the 2026 cohort are:
Ali Abubakar is a lecturer at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. A computational scientist, he develops AI tools that account for uncertainty in renewable energy systems, helping electricity-grid operators anticipate changes in supply and demand. His fellowship research combines forecasting and adaptive decision-making to support more reliable, sustainable power systems.
Natei Ermias Benti is an associate professor at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. His research combines AI and molecular simulations to discover materials for redox flow batteries, which store energy generated by intermittent sources such as solar and wind. He aims to identify affordable, high-performing materials that can improve energy storage and support reliable electricity access.
Mabwi Andalo Humphrey is a lecturer of biology at Umma University in Kenya and an adjunct microbiology researcher at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology. His work brings together machine learning, bioinformatics, and laboratory experiments to design beneficial microbial communities. These engineered communities could support sustainable agriculture, research on natural products, and environmental restoration.
Patrick Niyishaka is a lecturer and program lead at Kepler College in Kigali, Rwanda. His research uses AI to improve the reliability of road-accident analysis by detecting selective use of data and accounting for uncertainty in reported figures. He aims to provide policymakers with clearer, more trustworthy evidence and accessible explanations to inform road-safety decisions.
Wycliffe Onkeo Omwansu is a lecturer at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and a computational biophysicist. He combines AI, molecular simulations, and graph theory to investigate how proteins misfold and form harmful aggregates associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s. His work also emphasizes reproducible research tools and training to strengthen African capacity in biophysics and brain-health research.
Visit the MIDAS Schmidt Fellowships page to learn more.
