We are Africans and Friends of Africa
Alliance of International educators, researchers, inventors and innovators to support African universities and research centers to improve standards in education, research, innovation, and development capabilities. The international team is organized as volunteers of experts willing to share and transfer their knowledge.
Vision
Create better opportunity for everyone by inspiring, share knowledge to achieve fullest potential, participate in and contribute to the betterment of the society.
Mision
Improving the wellbeing of society now and generations to come through education, research, and innovation.
Our Team
Dr. Tesfaye B. Mersha
Tesfaye Mersha, Ph.D., M.S. Dr. Mersha is currently an Associate Professor in Human Genetics at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, where he leads the Population Genetics, Ancestry, and Bioinformatics (pGAB) Laboratory (https://research.cchmc.org/mershalab/Home.php). Dr. Mersha’s research combines quantitative, ancestry and statistical genomics to unravel genetic and non-genetic contributions to complex diseases and racial disparities in human populations, particularly asthma and asthma-related allergic disorders. Much of his research is at the interface of genetic ancestry, statistics, bioinformatics, and functional genomics, and he is interested in cross-line disciplines to unravel the interplay between genome and envirome underlying asthma risk. He is a recognized expert in the field of genetic ancestry, race, association analysis, admixture mapping and mining functional genomic databases related to complex diseases. His research is continuously funded by federal and institutional grant including an independent National Institute of Health (NIH) R01 Award. His achievements and contributions have been recognized by numerous invitations to serve in grant reviewing panels, lead workshops, and gave invited lecture at both national and international academic institutions. These include his recent appointment to serve on the NIH Genetics of Health and Disease (GHD) Study Section (2018-2024), and moderating a panel on use of ancestry, race and ethnicity in biomedical research at the NIH conference, and at the Missouri State University Public Affairs Meeting. He received awards and honors including 1) 2017 Faculty Research Achievement Award from Cincinnati Children’s, 2) 2017 African Professionals Network (APNET) Business & Professional Achievement Award, and 2) 2016 Keystone Symposia Early Career Investigator Award. He has a strong passion for national and international collaborative research specifically in the area of global health including public health genomics.
Dr. Yonas Gizaw
Dr. Gizaw is currently the CEO of GreenChemSolution consulting firm. Leads R&D and formulation services for consumer goods, food, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, and ingredient companies. Specialized consulting services on green chemistry, biodegradable natural polymers, hydrocolloids, surfaces and interface science, surface modification, self-cleaning technologies to SMEs and major corporations. He is a co-founder of The Alliance for Research, Innovation, and Education for Africa, a nonprofit organization serving Africa and Adjunct Professor of Biopolymers at Purdue University.
Prior to founding GreenChemSolutions, Dr. Gizaw served as R&D Director/Principal Scientist in the Transformative Platform Technologies organization in Corporate Research & Development, The Procter and Gamble Company, and he led the development of advanced technologies for cleaning, beautifying, and hygiene under resource-constrained environments. Before this assignment, Dr. Gizaw held technical leadership positions in strategic innovation technologies for detergent and cleaning products, foods, and beverages. The innovative and patented technologies have generated hundreds of millions in revenue for the Company.
Dr. Gizaw has led multiple joint research programs with global suppliers (BASF, Dow, AkzoNobel, Ingredion, Evonik, etc.) and university partnerships for research (Purdue University, University of Cincinnati, University of Michigan, Durham University (UK), University of Birmingham (UK), University of Naples (Italy), University of California Santa Barbara, etc.)
In recognition of his innovative cutting-edge research and leadership, Dr. Gizaw has received numerous awards. Among them, the Distinguished Purdue Agriculture Alumni Award, Outstanding Food Science Award (Purdue), Innovation Award (P&G), Open Innovation Award (P&G), Mastery & Excellence Award (P&G), Excellence in Chemistry Award (Alabama A&M University), Lloyd Ferguson Young Scientist Award (NoBCChE), Community Service Award, (African Professional Network – USA), and had led the AACC–International: Chairman of Carbohydrate Division, Institute of Food Technologists: Chairman of Carbohydrate Division, and leader of Global Sustainability and biopolymers Special Interest Group in P&G.
He has served as a board member for the International Life Science Institute, the Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research at Purdue University, the University of Cincinnati Sub-Saharan Strategic Universities advisory group, and the African Professional Network (APNET).
PhD Synthesis Chemistry, Purdue University
Diploma, Disruptive Innovation, Harvard University.
Dr. Tilahun Abebe
Dr. Tilahun Abebe is a Professor in the Department of Biology, University of Northern Iowa. Dr. Abebe is involved in teaching and research in genetics, genomics, and plant biotechnology. Dr. Abebe’s research focuses on two broad areas: genetic modification of cereals for resistance against scab disease and tolerance of cereals to drought. Scab is a disease of cereal crops caused by a fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum. Scab causes huge economic losses in barley and wheat in the temperate and subtropical regions of the world. The disease primarily affects kernels. Infected kernels have poor quality and accumulate toxins, which makes them unsuitable for malting, human consumption, or animal feed. Dr. Abebe uses molecular genetics approaches to enhance resistance of barley against scab, including CRISPR/Cas and modification with disease resistance genes using Agrobacterium and gene gun transformation. Dr. Abebe’s research on drought focuses on the genetic and physiological adaptations of cereal crops to shortages of water at the reproductive stage using barley as a model. Dr. Abebe uses proteomics (2D-PAGE and LC-MS), metabolomics (GC-MS and LC-MS), and transcriptomics (next-generation sequencing) to unravel responses to drought later in the growing season. Dr. Abebe’s research is supported by the University of Northern Iowa, State of Iowa, U.S. Wheat and Barley Scab initiative, and U.S. Barley Genome Project. In addition, Dr. Abebe has a strong interest in the interplay of genetic ancestry, race/ethnicity, and environmental exposure risk factors in human complex diseases including asthma. Dr. Abebe collaborates with Dr. Tesfaye Mersha, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, in these areas.
Kasegn Tekletsadik, PhD
Dr. Kasegn Tekletsadik is an experienced inventor and technical leader with expertise in new technology and new product Development to solve complex technical challenges. In his career he has been using multi-disciplinary industrial and academic experiences with innovative engineering skills in Electrical Engineering. Dr. Kasegn worked for world renowned companies like Rolls-Royce, Xerox, General Electric, Philips, Applied Materials and Halliburton. His main technical expertise include high voltage, electromagnetic fields and transients, high current protection, power systems, power supplies, power electronics, applied superconductivity, fault current limiters, ion implanter, x-ray and neutron diagnostics systems.
Dr. Eyualem Abebe
Dr. Eyualem Abebe is currently chair and Professor at The Department of Natural Sciences, Pharmacy and Health Professions, Elizabeth City State University (ECSU). Eyualem has more than 30 years of experience of teaching, research and academic management in higher education at institutions spanning three continents – Africa, Europe and North America. As an administrator he has served in various capacities including research and publication officer, department chair and part of the ECSU’s provost’s team of leadership academy. He is a broadly trained organismal biologist with emphasis on nematode biology, fish biology, and aquatic ecology – in fundamental and applied context in tropical and temperate environments. More recently his research includes exploring microbiomes using marker gene sequence based methods and a focus on STEM education with emphasis on the challenges transitioning from high school to college poses on first year student experience. In line with this, he explores a diverse array of academic and non-academic interventions that help first year students overcome those challenges and enhance their success. For his research, he has received financial support from competitive national funding agencies such as the US National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and Department of Education. He has published more than 50 papers, 7 book chapters, and has edited one book – Freshwater Nematode Ecology and Taxonomy, and collaborates globally with researchers of similar interest. He is a passionate educator and has received multiple awards both for his teaching and research, including the 2014 University of North Carolina System Board of Governors Teacher of the Year Award for his excellence in teaching.
