Ari Jacobovits, Managing Director of Africa Programs, MIT, visits KNUST

The Managing Director of Africa Programs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Ari Jacobovits, visited KNUST on 29th June 2023. He paid a courtesy call to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mrs. Rita Akosua Dickson, and the Provost of the College of Engineering, Prof. Kwabena Biritwum Nyarko.

There was a discussion of leveraging comparable interests and the prospect of having a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two institutions. The recognised activities were faculty and student exchange programs and joint research and teaching initiatives between MIT and KNUST.

Ari Jacobovits met with the KNUST Engineering Education Project (KEEP) and the Responsible AI Lab (RAIL) team. Prof. Jerry John Kponyo, Project Lead for KEEP, who doubles as the Principal Investigator for RAIL, gave a presentation on both projects. The PhD students and research associates of RAIL also presented their research works.

Ari Jacobovits provided an overview of the MIT International Science and Technology Initiative, stating that three types of programs exist.

He described the first category as student-focused programs, in which students have internship possibilities and international students can intern at MIT. He also mentioned that a private-sector internship option for research interns with firms and academic institutions had been formed.

He stated that the second category is the faculty-focused programmes where two-way mobility is organised for faculty members. 

“Exchange programmes are held for faculty members to learn from best practices in teaching and research,” he stated.

He mentioned conferences and events as the third category.  He stated that MIT's priority areas include health, AI, climate, and energy.

He said that research, education, and innovation are the main focus.

Both teams discussed potential areas of collaboration, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence.