UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Nelson Dzade, assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering and chair of the undergraduate energy engineering program at Penn State, recently co-chaired the critical minerals and materials session at the annual National Academies U.S.-Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Symposium, held this past February in Dakar, Senegal.
The aim of the symposium is to enhance scientific exchange, foster cross-disciplinary collaboration and promote innovative research partnerships between outstanding young scientists, engineers and medical professionals from the United States and the member countries of the African Union.
Dzade, who serves as the co-director of the Penn State Alliance for Education, Science, Engineering, and Design with Africa (AESEDA), said he strongly believes that the goals of the U.S.-Africa Frontiers initiative align with AESEDA’s core mission of fostering mutually beneficial collaborations to co-create knowledge, research and innovations for addressing societal challenges.
He considered his experience as a co-chair, from choosing which researchers to feature to leading a panel discussion on critical minerals, to be a career highlight.
“I'm so glad to have transitioned from a participant from last year’s Frontiers Symposium to a session co-chair this year,” Dzade said. “It’s very rewarding to do my part to strengthen scientific exchange and inspire partnerships. I am excited to see how these new relationships will extend beyond the symposium to the production of leading research and innovation.”
The symposium’s multidisciplinary approach to solving the pressing challenges our societies face mirrors the goals of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS), which sponsored the event.
“I’m pleased that Professor Dzade has assumed a leadership role in this symposium,” said Lee Kump, the John Leone Dean of EMS. In doing so, he advances our mission of enabling innovation, through collaboration with colleagues in Africa, in approaches to recovering critical minerals from ores and waste materials.”
While abroad, Dzade continues his to build relationships with universities and scientists across Africa. He delivered a research seminar at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, where he spoke on the computational‐experimental approach to uncovering new green energy solutions, and hosted a practical workshop on ways to accelerate the discovery of clean energy materials in Rabat, Morocco, at the Mohammed V University in Rabat, funded by the U.S.-Africa Frontiers Fellowship of NASEM.
Dzade said he was very pleased to build on the relationships established during last year’s NASEM event in Kigali, Rwanda, where he received two U.S.-Africa Frontiers Fellowships, which led to Dzade hosting a scientist from the University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon at University Park.
“It is an incredible honor to continue the relationship,” Dzade said. “One of the highlights of my time in Morocco this year was having the opportunity to speak and challenge the next generation of doctoral students and energy engineers to reincorporate critical thinking, philosophy, and scientific rigor into their doctoral studies — and most importantly, embrace the importance of collaboration.”
Dzade graduated with a bachelor’s degree in mathematical science from the University for Development Studies in Tamale, Ghana. He earned a postgraduate diploma in materials science from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research Bangalore, India. He earned his master’s materials science from the African University of Science and Technology in Abuja, Nigeria, and his doctoral degree in computational materials science from University College London in the United Kingdom.