The election took place at AAS's annual meeting earlier today.
AAS, established in Trieste, Italy, in 1985 and headquarted in Nairobi, Kenya, is a continent-wide, non-political and non-profit organization whose mission is to champion science-based development in Africa. Since 2004, AAS has hosted the TWAS Regional Office for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ahmadou Ndiaye is past vice president of the Académie Nationale des Sciences et Techniques du Sénégal. He graduated from the University of Lyon's School of Medicine as a veterinary surgeon in 1963 and became head of the production department at Dahra (Senegal) Zootechnic Research Center (CRZ) and later director of the Center. In 1967, he began teaching at Dakar's École Inter-États des Sciences et Médecine Vétérinaires. In 1988, he became personal adviser to the President of Senegal. Starting in 1990, he served as first chancellor of Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis, Senegal. In 1999, he resigned from the university and was appointed special adviser to the President with the rank of cabinet minister. He is a member of several scientific organizations and academies and holds several national and international distinctions.
Ndiaye replaces Mohamed Hassan, who has served in that capacity for the past 10 years.
In addition, AAS announced the appointment of Berhanu M. Abegaz (TWAS Fellow 1998) from Ethiopia as its new executive director.
Abegaz was educated at Haile Selassie University in Ethiopia (BSc 1968) and at the University of Vermont (PhD 1973). Until his appointment at AAS, he was a professor of chemistry at the University of Botswana, where he also served as coordinator of the Network for Analytical and Bioassay Services in Africa (NABSA). He was previously professor of chemistry at Addis Ababa University from 1973-94; chairman of the natural sciences department of the Ethiopian Science and Technology Commission (ESTC) from 1982-92; and assistant secretary and treasurer of the Natural Products Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA) from 1984-96.