Bamako, 7-9 August 2000

Preface

In October 1998, several young Mali scientists working in academic and industrial institutions from Europe and North America, decided to organize a symposium on applied sciences in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. After many months of intensive work, the symposium was held at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology (FAST), University of Mali on August 7-9, 2000.

The report's main body summarizes the overall framework and process used in the Symposium, describes the Symposium's major conclusions, and provides policy recommendations. It is intended to convey the essence of this symposium and serve as a springboard for discussion toward a follow-up meeting, the "Second Mali Symposium."

The concise summary format of this report aims to encourage its use; for we intend it to be a working document.

The appendices contain summaries and supplemental information on invited speakers, organizers, the program of the symposium, and the list of participants.

More importantly, we hope the report will be thought provoking, inspire comments, and prove useful as the basis for the subsequent meetings.

A. The Symposium in Short

On 7-9 August 2000 FAST, University of Mali, hosted the first Mali Symposium on Applied Sciences (MSAS).

The conference was jointly organized by MaliWatch, FAST and Malian Mathematical Society (MMS), and targeted two objectives : (1) To serve as a forum for engineers and scientists from around the world to present their research findings. (2) To exchange perspectives for promoting research activities between Malian researchers and others in Africa, Europe and North America within the fields of science and technology.

The program consisted of 7 invited speakers, 28 technical papers and posters, and 3 Workshops in the areas of mathematics, physics, chemistry, environmental sciences, medical sciences, etc.

Abstract booklets from this Symposium have been prepared and distributed to the participants. The proceedings will be published by the end of the year.

Officials, researchers, students in Mali and researchers from other countries in Africa, Europe, and North America attended the symposium.

The chief of cabinet of the ministry of education of Mali presided over the opening and (the) closing ceremonies.

An evaluation sheet was distributed to each participant in order to assess the quality of the organization, level of the articles, and other issues related to the symposium. The papers were collected at the end of the conference.

The following sections summarize the points addressed during the discussions.

B. Paper Presentations

Both the organizers and participants found the level of technical presentations quite high and well explained. All articles presented at the symposium are reported in the program below (Annex 2).

C. The Workshops

Objective of the workshops was to define how Mali researchers can collaborate with their colleagues in Europe and North America and identify fewer research projects for the forthcoming years.

A general workshop was held on Tuesday 8. The purpose was to allow each participant to describe the area of interest for research and collaboration with other researchers. From these discussions, three areas of interest were identified and discussed during the afternoon of the following day. Accordingly, three discussion groups were constituted :

1) Mathematics, statistics, and computer science
Coordinators : F. SEYDOU & Abdoul K. SYLLA
2) Physics, chemistry and engineer sciences
Coordinators : Abdoulaye DOUCOURÉ & Aliou O. HAIDARA
3) Biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacy and ecology
Coordinators : Sidi Elmoctar CISSÉ & Doulaye BEMBÉLÉ

The Steering Committee targeted two objectives :

- Give the opportunity to researchers having closely-related educational background to discuss more thoroughly about common research interest.
- Select concrete collaborative projects that will be subject to evaluation and enhancement in the forthcoming meetings

The first workshop addressed the following issues :
* Documentation on mathematics and computer science for students and researchers : software, books, journal and articles, etc.
* Development of a new program in applied mathematics at FAST
* Collaboration between FAST, American and European academics and professionals

The second workshop focused on the following two projects :
1) Research on Genetically Modified Organisms, with the team of Dr. Brétaudeau (IPR, Mali)
2) Research on the effect of radioactivity on the environment in Mali, with the team of Dr. Nagantie Koné (FAST, Mali).

Discussions of the third workshop were dedicated to :
1) Providing the departments with laboratory equipments and books.
2) Participating in mentoring students for advanced studies (e.g. Master and PhD).

In addition to the selected projects the following suggestions were made :
- Dr. Marie-Noelle Ndjondjop (ADRAO, Côte d'Ivoire) informed that she would be able to take one or two internship students in ADRAO.
- Dr. Mama Soumaré (Ghent, Belgium) would like to work with the researchers of University of Mali on the pollution of Niger River (Reference : Dr. Mama Pléa, FAST-Mali).
- Dr. Dogo Moussa Koné (ENI, Mali) looks for an organization that can supply computer equipment (new or used) to his team.
- Dr. Nagantie Koné (FAST-Mali) seeks research partners to develop more sophisticated alarm systems for the libraries and super-markets.

D. Conclusion et Remarques

The organizers of the symposium are satisfied with the way MSAS participants appreciated the conference.

The conference did not have any official sponsors. Most of the financial support was provided by mAliWatch, and more specifically by MSAS Steering Committee.

The organizers are determined to keep organizing such conferences and work on joint projects with researchers in Mali. A greater involvement of the government and the university in organizing the forthcoming meetings is highly desirable. They also recommend that industrial partners be present in these meetings as sponsors, and actively participate in the discussions.

Many researchers mentioned that a more active interest of the Public Relation Officer of the University of Mali is necessary for establishing and maintaining the contacts with the researchers in other countries.

In the forthcoming conferences, we shall make sure that we cover more specific subjects. This will help for a better guidance of the participants.

The steering committee has greatly appreciated that students were actively interested and involved in the symposium, despite the holidays. Since they are very interested to participate in the following meetings we will be strongly committed to choosing a more appropriate schedule.

The organizers would like to thank Dr. Alhousseïni Brétaudeau of IPR-ISFRA, Dr. Fafré Samaké of Rectorat, Prof. Abdoul K. Sanogo, Prof. Gaoussou Traoré, Dr. Diby Diarra, Dr. Mama Pléa, Dr. Karim Samaké, Dr. Aboubacrine Ag Assadeck, and Dr. Doumbia of FAST for their hospitality; Dr. Mohamed C. Diarra (USAID) who presented the paper of Prof. Diola Bagayoko. They thank particularly the TOKTEN project ( PNUD / UM) for having taken care of the accommodations for two invited speakers. Thanks also go to Prof. Daouda Sangaré who did a great job in helping to prepare the conference and to invite two guest speakers (Prof. Nouzha El Yacoubi from Morocco and Prof. Akry Koulibaly from Burkina).

The steering committee was especially honoured by the participation of the invited speakers. We thank them for their participation and advise. We also thank all the other participants of the symposium.

We are grateful to the Office de Radio et Télévision du Mali (ORTM) as well as the newspapers Le Continent and Le Soudanais for helping us advertise about the symposium. Especially, we would like to thank Baly Idrissa Sissoko (TV Director), Boubacar "Boby" Touré (Chaine 2 Director) and the journalists Issouf Touré (ORTM), Abdramane Touré (ORTM), Mang Dembelé (ORTM), Mahamane Garba Touré (Le Continent) and Oumar Traoré (Le Soudanais).

We are also grateful for the support and the contribution of other individuals on Malilink (the Malian Worldwide Network on the Internet) and all those who have purchased MSAS Tee-shirts.

Special thanks go to volunteers and students: Fatoumata Camara (FSJE, Droit), Fatoumata Cissé (FSJE, Droit), Mariame Ibrahim Touré (FSJE, Droit), Haoua Traoré (FSJE, Droit), Fatimata Yerlé (INA), Fatim Sack( Cheick Anta Diop), Seydou Houssouba (FSJE), Abdoul Karim Touré (Lycée Franco-Arabe) and Ousmane Touré (English teacher). The symposium would have never been possible without their help.

We would also like to thank the family of Mr. Oumar Sacko (Lafiabougou) for helping us with catering food to the attendants.

MSAS Steering Committee acknowledges that the organisation of this first symposium was far from perfect. All the suggestions and advise (that were) given by the participants will be taken into account for organizing future seminars. We shall do our best to enhance the preparation of the following symposiums which we think must become a tradition in the life of the University of Mali.

September 20 2000

The Steering Committee.

Annexe 1. Invited Speakers

Pr. Diola BAGAYOKO
Distinguished Professor of Physics and Chancelor's Fellow
Director, the Timbuktu Academy
Department of Physics
E-mail:bagayoko@aol.com

Dr. Alhousseini BRÉTAUDEAU
Chercheur, IPR-Katibougou
Bamako, Mali
E-mail : bretaudeau@datatech.toolnet.org

Dr. Moctar DOUCOURÉ
Centre for Interactive Graphical Computing of Earth Systems
Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town
E-mail : moctar@cigces.uct.ac.za

Pr. Nouzha EL YACOUBI
Présidente de la Commission des Olympiades-
Pan Africaines de Mathźmatiques de l'UMA,
INPT, Avenue Allal Al Fassi,
Rabat-Instituts, Maroc,
E-mail : elyac-sb@fsr.ac.ma

Pr. Akry KOULIBALY
Vice- Président de l'Union Mathématique Africaine,
Université de Ouagadougou,
FAST, Département de Mathématiques,
E-mail : akry@fast.univ-ouaga.bf

Dr. Marie-Noelle NDJIONDJOP
Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire
Association pour le Développement de la Riziculture en Afrique de l'Ouest (ADRAO)
West African Rice Development Association (WARDA)
01 Bouaké BP 2551 Côte d'Ivoire
Email: N.Marie-Noelle@CGIAR.ORG

Pr. Daouda SANGARÉ
Directeur de la Publication d'Afrika Matematika
Université d'Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
E-mail : dsangare@yahoo.com

Annexe 2 : The Steering Committee

Sidi Elmoctar CISSÉ, VD
Docteur Vétérinaire a Gossi, Tombouctou
E-mail: elmoctar1@hotmail.com

Doulaye DEMBÉLÉ, Ph.D.
IGBMC, CNRS-ULP Parc d'Innovation
BP 163 ; 1, rue Laurent Fries F-67404, ILLKIRCH CEDEX, France
E-mail: Doulaye.Dembele@titus.u-strasbg.fr
Tel : +33 (0)3 8865 3426 Fax : +33 (0)3 8865 3246

Abdoulaye DOUCOURÉ, Ph.D.
Pall Corporation, Staff Scientist (Materials Science & Engineering), New York USA
E-mail: Abdoulaye_Doucoure@pall.com

Aliou HAIDARA, MS
Project Manager, Mobile Computing Corporation
6877 Goreway Dr. Unit 3 Mississauga, Ontario ; Canada L4V 1L9
Tel. : 905 676 8900 ext.229 Fax : 905 676 9191
web: http://www.mobilecom.com ; E-mail : ahaidara@mobilecom.com

Adama HINFA
Juriste, Bamako
BP E4424, Bamako, Mali

Mohomodou HOUSSOUBA, Ph.D.
Writer, MaliWatch ; BP E4424, Bamako, Mali
Email: mhousso@datatech.toolnet.org

Dr. Mohamed S. MAIGA
FAST, Université du Mali, Bamako, Mali
Inspecteur Général de Biologie
mohmmaiga@hotmail.com

F. SEYDOU, Ph.D.
Senior Researcher, Department of Mathematical sciences
University of Oulu Oulu, Finland
web: http://cc.oulu.fi/~seydou ; Email: seydou@sun3.oulu.fi
Tel : +358 (0)50 349 78 28

Dr. Sidi Békaye SOKONA
Chef du D.E.R.-Math, ENSup, Bamako, Mali
sbsokona@yahoo.fr

Bakary SYLLA, MTech
Coordinateur MaliWatch
Software Engineer, Ericsson
Dallas, Texas (USA)
Bakary.Sylla@ericsson.com

Djénéba TRAORé, MS
System Engineer
Software Engineering Department
Global Securities Sevices/Trust Technology
One Mellon Bank Center
Pittsburgh, PA 15258-0001
Voice (412) 236-9546
Fax (412) 234-2074
traore.d@mellon.com

Annexe 3 : Program of the Symposium