COMPASS at AMRS 2024: Advancing Frugal Innovation, Sustainability, and Global Collaboration

COMPASS participated at the AMRS Conference in Kigali from December 16th to the 18th, 2024, both with COMPASS leadership, Prof. Nicholas Kotov, Prof. Martin Thuo and Dr. Elena della Valle and with students and researchers:

  • 3 from COMPASS Leadership
  • 1 COMPASS veteran fellow, Jebril Taxton
  • 2 COMPASS students (Daisy Kipto, Dhanush Jamadgni) and 2 Postdocs (Dr. Alana Pauls, Dr. Julia J. Chang)
  • 1 Research scientist, Dr. Nancy Muianja

This was an amazing opportunity to promote COMPASS research areas and its mission. During the plenary session held on December 17th attended by more than 200 people, Prof. Martin Thuo, COMPASS deputy Director, in his talk “The Art of Frugal Science and Innovations” discussed leveraging frugal innovation to tackle Africa’s unique challenges. He explored creating complex fibers via self-assembly for water harvesting and diagnostics and using affordable tools to develop metal particles with enhanced miscibility, surpassing traditional rules. Highlighting ingenuity from his African upbringing, he emphasized simple experiments like droplet analysis, offering insights into quantum tunneling and advocating for simplicity in scientific solutions. Following Prof. Thuo’s talk, Prof. Nicholas Kotov, COMPASS Director, gave a fascinating talk on the transformative potential of Aramid Nanofibers (ANFs), developed at the University of Michigan from recycled Kevlar. ANFs offer sustainable solutions in energy storage by enhancing battery life and safety through dendrite prevention and exceptional thermal stability. 

AMRS Main Plenary Session on December 17th, 2024. Prof. Kotov (upper left) and Prof. Thuo (upper right) presented.

The AMRS was also an amazing opportunity for COMPASS students and Research scientists to present their research through talks and poster presentation as captured by the images below: 

 Finally the AMRS represented the opportunity to engage with loca; potential partners for expansion of the CERA fellowship program to the entrepreneurship level and to discuss potential research collaborations. Among them, COMPASS leadership had the opportunity to meet with Christophe Nsengiyaremye, Director of Education at the Ministry of Education in Kigali, to discuss a potential partnership on student exchange, entrepreneurship education, and start-up assessment. COMPASS had also the opportunity to meet with Edward Kirenga, Managing Director at Uplus Mutual Partners, to engage with local potential businesses and authorities interested in partnering with COMPASS for advancing and translating technologies.