Michigan + Math + Africa
Exploring how math changes lives in Africa – a University of Michigan experience
How the conference is evolving
Dan Burns, a mathematics professor at the University of Michigan, stands by a door that doubles as a chalkboard for math students at the University of Buea in Cameroon.
Dan Burns has been involved with the Buea International Conference on the Mathematical Sciences from the beginning when the planning meetings began four years ago in Ann Arbor.
The mathematics professor at the University of Michigan has attended every conference and has been watching it grow.
As the third conference wrapped up, he reflected on how the event is evolving.
Burns noted that international participation is expanding, and students are coming from broader areas of study.
“The students are a great recruitment pool for an institution like the University of Michigan,” he said.
One of the most important developments is that more decision makers are showing up at the conference, Burns said.
“They’re using it as a marketplace or a forum so that everyone can get together and discuss how we’re going to spend our limited resources and have the biggest impact for African science.”
Michigan + Math + Africa 
Traveling with Dan and our STEM Africa colleagues to the conference at the Nkwame Krumah University of Science and Technology, or KNUST in Kumasi, Ghana last summer was one of the more eye opening experiences I have had in Africa in the last decade. So proud to be called “partner” by so many of the faculty and researchers I met there; so excited to see the way that young people and women on those campuses are standing up and making more happen for science in Africa, from traditional medicines to theorems… http://beta.knust.edu.gh/news/news-items/knust-hosts-stem-conference