AIMS-Senegal Diploma Essay Topic Proposals
AIMS-Senegal postgraduate diploma programme is structured such that the last part of each academic year, students have to submit a short essay. Lecturers, Academic- and Industry- Researchers are therefore invited to propose essay topics on which they will supervise students in their area of interest.
The 2011-12 Essay proposal submissions are closed. Upon submission your proposal, the AIMS-Senegal academic team will review and approve the topics. The approved topics are made known to the students by 14 February, and the students must select a topic by 16 March of each year. The actual essay phase of the 2011-2012 programme is from 30 April to 15 June 2012 thus, seven weeks long. Should you have any questions please do e-mail our Academic Manager Dr. Amadou Tall.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The purpose of an AIMS essay is
Projects should be of an appropriate scope to allow students to do the necessary reading, work, and writing within the duration of the essay phase. As part of the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences Next Einstein Initiative (AIMS-NEI), AIMS-Sénégal will implement the AIMS-model which has been tried and tested in AIMS-South Africa over eight years of its operation. As a guideline therefore, please review essays in your field in the ARCHIVE of previous years' essays for the Postgraduate Diploma Programme as submitted in AIMS-South Africa.
The proposal must contain references of which at least one should be to a textbook, chapters from a textbook or a general review article. Further selected references to journal articles can be included where appropriate. The essay should be on a topic in the mathematical sciences and contain at least some parts that are formulated in terms of mathematics. The level of the project should be between that of a project of similar length at Senegalese Masters I degree level.
Students are not expected to do original work to achieve a passing grade. The criterion for an outstanding essay is broadly that it could constitute the early part of a Masters II thesis. For example, it could be publishable in a journal, or form an outstanding introduction to the field that could be used by other students entering the area.
SUPERVISION
Supervisors should be well versed in the field within which the project is proposed. They are expected to guide students in their essays and to help clarify difficult concepts. A supervisor should not take an excessive number of students — typically this would mean no more than 3 students. Supervisors who are not resident in the Senegal should indicate how they plan to interact sufficiently with a student. An honorarium is paid to those whose topic is chosen by a student and who subsequently become a supervisor for the duration of this essay phase.
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