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Guido Schwarz, IAU’s Press Officer, announced the prize
winners in a statement issued on the union’s official website page, a copy of
which was obtained Sunday in Abuja.
The prizes were in three categories, which included the IAU
Astronomy Outreach, Development and Education (ODE).
“The IAU has announced the 2024 winners of three IAU prizes
that were created in 2022.
“The three awards recognise individuals and organisations
who have made outstanding contributions to the fields of astronomy outreach,
development and education.
“The 2024 ODE Education prize is awarded to Linda Strubbe
and Okere for their leadership in creating high-quality educational experiences
in astronomy for African university students.
“Okere led the foundation of the Pan-African School for
Emerging Astronomers (PASEA) at the IAU 28th General Assembly, in Beijing to
improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education in Nigeria
and Africa.’’
Schwarz said that Okere’s partner, Strubbe, had been central
in creating very high-quality educational experiences in PASEA through her
design, leadership and teaching.
According to Schwarz, Okere’s work draws on a particularly
strong evidence base across the educational curriculum; from professional
development for PASEA instructors to the evaluation of student’s learning.
“The inquiry-based curriculum intertwines teaching content
with scientific practices, and is highly regarded by students, building on
Bonaventure Okere’s vision of leveraging the world-class astronomy facilities
on the continent.
“The impact of Strubbe’s and Okere’s initiative, leadership,
and excellence in implementing PASEA is already enormous and will continue to
grow into the future,” he said.
He said that PASEA had trained no fewer than 300 students
across 18 African countries, with the sixth school being held in Tunisia this
year.
Okere, in his response, said that with the many
observatories across Africa, he had always pondered on how to contribute to the
development of astronomers from Africa who would play key roles in the
observatories.
He said the collaborative journey to build a critical mass
of astronomers across Africa began in 2012 and led to the founding of PASEA,
adding that he was honoured to receive the prize for team PASEA.
Other prize winners were Saran Poshyachinda for IAU Outreach
and the Central American-Caribbean Bridge in Astrophysics for the IAU
Development.
A total of 62 valid nominations were received, with both the
nominators and nominees spanning the entire globe.
Schwarz said that the awards would be presented to the
winners at the IAU 32nd General Assembly (IAUGA2024) in Cape Town, South
Africa, in August.
Okere is presently the Director, Centre for Basic Space
Science and Astronomy, an activity centre of NASRDA.
Strubbe is an Astrophysicist, who is currently consulting
for a number of physics education projects in the U.S. and working to develop
more ways to support African astronomy lecturers and students. NAN