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Modern
Advanced Radar to be installed In Bahir Dar, Ethiopia!!
By; Tsehaye Debalkew, Embassy
of Ethiopia, Washington DC, March 5, 2012 |
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An international workshop charged with the
objective of identifying the scientific and societal motivations and
benefits for hosting a new international upper atmospheric research facility
namely an Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar/AMISR/ kicked off last
Thursday.
Special Envoy, Ambassador Extra-ordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the US and non-resident envoy to Mexico
made a key-note address to the colloquium as a guest of Honor.
The three-day international symposium dubbed 'AMISR' in Africa sponsored and
funded by the National Science Foundation of the US and hosted by Boston
College which drew leading space scientists from across the globe was
conducted @ Brighton, Massachusetts from March 1-3, 2012.
While addressing the multi-million- dollar AMISR project international
workshop, which will echo the dawn of a pioneering novice program making it
the first of its kind in Africa, Ambassador Girma in his opening remarks
underscored that 'it is a workshop with significant implication for Africa
that heralds a new era in scientific research of the continent".
Underpinning the project as pertains its huge impact on present day
Ethiopia, the Special Envoy said that the timely launching of the facility
in the very heart of Ethiopia will make an enormous contribution to the
development of research in the spheres of science and technology.
He underlined in this regard the primacy attached to and the focus given to
higher education by the Ethiopian government defining the sector as a key
priority in the over-all system of education.
Accordingly he brought to the fore by informing the audience that the number
of public universities in Ethiopia has jumped from a mere two to thirty two
in a span of the last twenty years excluding community, private religious
and chartered colleges and universities currently operating in Ethiopia.
As far as government support is concerned in supporting the huge initiative,
Ambassador Girma re-iterated the Ethiopian government's commitment and
resolve by assuring the scientists that "we will discharge our bounden
responsibility for the successful deployment, safety and effective operation
of this valuable research facility", he punctuated.
Dr. Endawoke Yizengaw who is the principal and chief investigator of AMISR
in Africa project and the leading organizer of the workshop, briefed the
congregation that placing AMISR in Africa has a direct impact on advancing
space science research in the continent by establishing and furthering
sustainable research and training infrastructure which will thereby spur the
sprouting of opportunities for more young scientists to be offered education
at home.
Dr. Endawoke further emphasized the importance of AMISR in enhancing the
role of Africa in the effort of global knowledge and the vital role it could
play in this realm by increasing its understanding of the dynamics and
structure of the ionized region of the atmosphere which he categorically
upheld as the prime candidate for the failure of man's navigation and
communication systems.
Dr. Baylie Damtie, the president of Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia,
expressed the full commitment and readiness of the University faculty,
administration and students and the regional government and the community at
large, for the Implementation and the subsequent launching of the project.
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