Born in Tema, Ghana • Studied Mathematics at the University of Glasgow, UK • Highest Degree PhD in Mathematics • Lives in Accra, Ghana • Occupation Lecturer
Growing up in Accra, Ghana, I loved mathematics. I found joy in solving mathematics questions but I did not envision a career in mathematics as a thing for me. My older sisters studied business courses at the university so I decided to follow in their footsteps and applied to study Business Administration as my first choice course at the University of Ghana. Fortunately or unfortunately, I could not gain admission for my first choice program and had to settle for my second choice which was mathematics and economics. Nevertheless, I loved the challenge mathematics presented. I had to spend hours after lectures revising lecture notes and solving exercises. I found this thrilling.
My motivation for giving back to the community where I grew up was to give students from less privileged backgrounds access to quality education.
After undergraduate studies, I went to the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Ghana for postgraduate studies. It was at AIMS that I got exposed to different fields of mathematics. From AIMS Ghana, I went to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) for a postgraduate diploma in mathematics. The program at ICTP was very challenging but it helped convince me that I could pursue mathematics further.
After postgraduate studies, I became conscious of the opportunities available when one studies mathematics. Prior to this, most of us thought anyone who studied mathematics at the university would end up as a teacher. This is not to say that teaching is not a good profession, I love teaching. When I realised the many opportunities available after postgraduate studies, I volunteered as a mathematics teacher in a junior secondary school in my community. This would inspire the young students that mathematics is not impossible to study as perceived and one could pursue a career in mathematics. In subsequent years, I volunteered as a mathematics teacher for at least a month and donated books to the library of this school. My motivation for giving back to the community where I grew up was to give students from less privileged backgrounds access to quality education.
My research interest is in noncommutative algebras which are abstract analogues of subtraction and division.
I was awarded a Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowship in 2015 to pursue PhD in Mathematics studies at the University of Glasgow (UofG). In 2019, I graduated with a PhD in Mathematics from UofG, returned to my home country Ghana and started working as a postdoctoral fellow at AIMS Ghana. I am currently a research associate and academic manager for the Girls in Mathematical Sciences Program (GMSP) at AIMS Ghana. I decided to pursue a career in academia because I love teaching and doing research.
A summary of my research interest is as follows. Consider the operations of addition and multiplication, it does not matter the order in which you perform them. That is, 2 + 3 = 3 + 2 and 2 × 3 = 3 × 2. In mathematics, we call this the commutative property. However, the operations of subtraction and division are not commutative. That is 2 − 3 is not equal to 3 − 2 and 2 ÷ 3 is not equal to 3 ÷ 2. We say that subtraction and division are noncommutative. My research interest is in noncommutative algebras which are abstract analogues of subtraction and division. For any shape that you can draw on a flat surface whereby the shape can be described by an equation, we investigate whether we can put a noncommutative structure on the shape to make it a quantum homogeneous space. This area of research is abstract but our hope is that there will be useful applications of our results in a few years time.
Our mission is to inspire young girls about the diverse career options available when you study mathematics and our vision is to see girls being confident to pursue a career in mathematics and related fields.
I am passionate about supporting and promoting women in mathematics which ties in well with my new role as the academic manager for the GMSP. The GMSP is a hybrid 9 month program for high school girls from Ghana to nurture their talents in the mathematical sciences. We meet students monthly online for masterclasses with experts in different fields of mathematics. Then during vacations from school, the students visit the AIMS Ghana campus for residentials where minicourses in mathematics, industrial visits, interactions with mentors and extracurricular activities are undertaken.
I am also the founder of Femafricmaths, a charity that promotes female African mathematicians. We host guests by interviewing them about their journeys with mathematics and share the videos on the Femafricmaths social media pages. Our mission is to inspire young girls about the diverse career options available when you study mathematics and our vision is to see girls being confident to pursue a career in mathematics and related fields.
There are few of us and we need to ensure that barriers are removed so more women can pursue careers in mathematics.
Mentors have played a critical role in my academic and professional journeys. Ken, Ulrich, Prince and Chelsea have been phenomenal mentors who mentor me every step along the way. I have also benefited from the Women in Noncommutative Algebra and Representation Theory (WINART) research group. This is a collaboration between women in mathematics from different universities. I learnt a lot working with this research group comprising both early career and established mathematics.
It is important to be intentional about creating opportunities for women in mathematics. There are few of us and we need to ensure that barriers are removed so more women can pursue careers in mathematics. I was awarded a Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Fellowship for my PhD studies. This fellowship is for women in STEM from developing countries to enable us to study at top universities abroad and return to our home countries to support teaching and research. It would have been challenging to find other sources of funding for my PhD if I had not been awarded this fellowship by the Schlumberger Foundation.