This International Research Experience for Students (IRES) award will support a program of student research and educational collaboration between the Department of Physics at North Carolina A&T State University and the Departments of Physics at Addis Ababa University (AAU) and Baher Dar University in Ethiopia. The research undertaken by students will focus on earth, atmospheric and space sciences and takes advantage of unique features of Ethiopia. For example, Ethiopia's Afar region and its main rift are areas that provide access to unique and complicated continental rift deformation processes that are not available for study in the US. Ethiopia's closeness to the equator and Addis Ababa's altitude also provide a valuable opportunity to study the ionosphere and its equatorial anomalies. The project participants will team with scientists at the Geophysical Observatory of AAU, a facility established with US assistance forty years ago, that has a pulsation magnetometer and scanning photometer for monitoring the ionosphere and lightning activity, and for which cosmic ray detection facilities are planned. US students will work with their Ethiopian counterparts on summer research projects and will be mentored by faculty members from both countries. This project can have significant broader impacts, particularly in developing a diverse, globally-engaged US workforce. The present global economy necessitates that US students gain research experiences in other countries, learn about other cultures, and experience other working and research environments. Students who participate in this IRES program, many of whom are from groups under-represented in science, will gain field experience abroad, will acquire knowledge and research skills in geosciences and space science, and will be encouraged to pursue academic and/or industry careers in these areas.
