The Africa Center of Excellence in Materials, Product Development and Nanotechnology (MAPRONANO ACE) is the first of its kind in Africa. The Center is supported by the World Bank and is situated in the College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering at Makerere University. MAPRONANO ACE is part of the Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence Project (ACE II) coordinated by the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA), which is a regional Facilitation Unit. MAPRONANO ACE will provide training to over 68 Master’s and 12 PhDs in three multi-disciplinary themes: (1) nanotechnology; (2) Materials and Product Development and (3) Nano-medicine.

The Overall objective of the ACE II project is to strengthen Eastern and Southern Africa higher Education institutions to deliver high quality post graduate Education and build collaborative research capacity in the regional priority areas. The center offers short course trainings in; Welding technology, safety engineering , camelid Nano body technology & recombinant protein techniques, bioinformatics and Next generation sequencing techniques , Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. These courses support national and regional students and students from Universities in Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi, Tanzania, Ethiopia have benefited.

MAPRONANO ACE is a multi-disciplinary center spanning between engineering and health sciences disciplines. Unique projects will be developed in partnership with the college of health sciences and engineering units. The center will promote cutting edge research in product development, materials transformation, value addition and extractives and nano-enabled technologies for resource limited settings and regional researchers and students will have access to top of the line, Bio-nanotechnology, Materials Characterization and product testing labs. The center also aims at establishing strong industrial linkages with national and regional industries such as crest foam U ltd, roofing’s (U) Ltd, Abacus, steel and tube industries, Cipla-biopharmaceutical industries. The center has also established partnerships with private sector companies such as Kevoton Motions Engineering, COEDK Engineering Ltd.

History

The Center was developed out of the need to strengthen research and training in the thematic areas of materials science and engineering, nanotechnology and nanomedicine in order to develop human resource capacity in applied science engineering disciplines for the development of the great lakes region. Nanomedicine Program will be implemented in partnership with College of Health Sciences (MakCHS).

Key Objectives:

1. To increase capacity of research and training in materials engineering and product development
2. To enhance teaching and training in Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine
3. To promote linkage among academics, industry practitioners and policy makers
4. To promote research spins offs for industrial development

Outcomes

• State of the art research Laboratory for Materials, Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region.
• Graduate professional scientists who can contribute to regional development through research and development.
• Accredited Master’s Programs (curricula) in Materials and Product Development and Nanotechnology
• Well-trained technicians and engineers in Materials Science, Product design and Nano-enabled technologies
• Strengthen research and publication
• Strengthen teaching quality through Pedagogical training.

Major Accomplishments to Date:

• 2 PhD students admitted nationally
• Annual steering committee meeting held between ACE and UIC
• Procurement of Office furniture and IT Equipment in final stages
• Drafted Short courses curricula developed, M.Sc./B.Sc. curriculum review in progress
• 5 students identified from University of Rwanda that will benefit from ACE research funding
• Laboratory Space identified.

Collaborators and Partners

MAPRONANO ACE has National, regional & International Partners and seeks new collaborators & Partners. The ACE is active in collaboration with the following institutions:

• College of Health Sciences, Makerere University (MakCHS)
• Uganda Cancer institute (UCI)
• Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI)
• Uganda Industrial Research Institute (UIRI)
• University of Nairobi (UON)
• University of Rwanda (UOR)
• University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), USA
• USA Prime Business, LLC, USA
• CSIIR –IITR, India
• Malsch Techno Valuation (MTV)
• Ben Gurion University of Negev, Shregal Segal Dept, Israel
• United States Military Research Institute on infectious Diseases (USAMRIID)