Fall 2021 Alumni

Stephen Ajwang (Guastalla UMAPS scholar) is a tutorial fellow in the Department of Informatics and Information Science at Rongo University, Kenya, where he also received his MSc in information technology. He is a Ph.D. student at Kibabii University, Kenya. Ajwang’s research project, entitled “Leveraging Big Data Analytics for Climate-Smart Agriculture,” will develop a database and an information system that integrates analytics and machine learning to provide appropriate climate-based information to help farmers cope with climate change. His U-M faculty host is HV (Jag) Jagadish (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering).

Mohammed Seid Ali is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. His areas of research interest include labor and human rights, development economics, and the African political economy. His U-M faculty collaborator is Laura Beny (Law School).

Fawzi Hassan Bakhiet received his Ph.D. from Université Charles de Gaulle, Lille III. He is an assistant professor and head of the Department of Archaeology in the Faculty of Arts at Neelain University, Sudan. Bakhiet previously served as senior inspector of the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) in Sudan. He will be working with Geoff Emberling (Kelsey Museum of Archaeology).

Oluwabunmi Bernard is a lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and African Languages at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. She received her Ph.D. in Yorùbá language and literature from that same university. Bernard will use her time as a UMAPS scholar to work on new research exploring morality and sexuality in Yorùbá “lampooning songs.” Her U-M collaborator is Omolade Adunbi (Afroamerican and African Studies).

Bantayehu Shiferaw Chanie is an assistant professor in political science and international relations in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia, where he is also a Ph.D. candidate. He received his M.A. and B.A. in political science and international relations in 2013 and 2010, respectively, from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. His research interests include conflict and state formation, ethnicity, federalism and state-building, democratization and human rights, and foreign policy and international relations. His faculty host is Susan Page (Gerald R Ford School of Public Policy and Law School).

Fedila Shehebo Hussen (Wandoff-Smith UMAPS Scholar) is a lecturer in law at the University of Gondar, Ethiopia. She received her LL.B. at the same university, and her LL.M. in business and corporate law from Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. She also serves as a free legal aid provider for vulnerable groups, particularly women, children, and people with disabilities. Adam Ashforth (Afroamerican and African Studies) serves as her U-M collaborator.

Million Alemayehu Mengesha is a lecturer of geology at the School of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He received his M.Sc. degree in petroleum geoscience from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia, and his B.Sc. in earth sciences from Addis Ababa University. At U-M, he will investigate the timing and nature of carbonate formation in the Plio-Pleistocene continental sediments of the Afar rift and analyze their impact on petroleum reservoir properties. To accomplish his objectives, he will use petrographic and geochemical approaches with his faculty host Naomi Levin (Earth and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Literature and the Arts).

Tolulope Olawole is a faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry at Covenant University, Nigeria. Having worked on the gene modulatory effects of nutrients in diabetic rodents during her Ph.D., her research focus is now on the influence of early-life nutrition, malnutrition, and environmental chemical exposure on the epigenome. She will be working with Jaclyn Goodrich (Environmental Health Sciences).