Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School in Nigeria and Ghana

The Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School in Nigeria and Ghana (COESSING) is an international collaboration aimed at building capacity in oceanographic and environmental sciences in Ghana and Nigeria. The summer schools include lectures, labs, field trips to the beach and port, a short trip on a vessel, tutorials on programming in Python, and research projects. 

African participants in COESSING include students, faculty, government officials, and private sector professionals from across Africa, especially Ghana and Nigeria.  The school has led to a University of Ghana PhD project in collaboration with the University of Michigan, NASA, and a Ghanaian PhD studentship at the University of Southern Mississippi.

US participants include faculty and undergraduate and graduate students from UM and several other US institutions. We have also brought European scientists to the school. Some of the US students have participated in multiple years.  The US students have participated in various ways, including giving lectures, teaching labs, mentoring research projects, taking photos, maintaining the school website, giving tutorials on computer programming, and developing sustainability case studies.  An Oregon State University student wrote a Master's thesis on quantifying the impact of the school on both US and African participants, which can be found here. 

Testimonials from some US and African participants on the impact of the school can be found here.

You can find more information on COESSING here.