1st African School on
“Electronic Structure Methods and Applications”

19 - 30 July 2010

African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa


The African School series on Electronic Structure Methods and Applications (ASESMA) is planned on a biennial basis from 2010 to 2020. The schools will emphasize the theory and computational methods for practical calculations. The 2010 school will be held at the African Institute for Mathematical sciences (AIMS), Muizenberg, Cape Town, South Africa. The school is organized by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in collaboration with the IUPAP Commissions on Physics for Development (C13) and on Computational Physics (C20), the Italian National Simulation Centre CNR/INFM “Democritos”, the South African National Institute of Theoretical Physics (NITheP), and the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP).

BACKGROUND
Developments of new theoretical methods, algorithms and widely available codes have brought a new era in computational materials science. Because of the advent of faster, cheaper computers, new algorithms, and the availability of open source software, there is a world-wide community of scientists developing new methods and carrying out research on important materials problems. With improving networking infrastructure, it has now become viable for African researchers to join in on this exciting international research effort.

PROGRAMME
The workshop will cover methodological aspects such as density functional theory, pseudopotentials, plane waves, iterative diagonalization methods, etc. It will also cover the application of electronic structure methods to the mechanical, dynamical, electronic, and magnetic properties of materials. This opens a vast terrain for extensive studies for materials for their scientific and technological value. The workshop will consist of lectures and of hands-on computational laboratories based on the Quantum-Espresso codes.

INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY PANEL
R.M. Martin (USA), Chair; O.O. Adewoye (Nigeria); M. Alouani (France); G. Amolo (Kenya); S. Baroni (Italy); P. Borcherds (UK); R. Car (USA); R. Catlow (UK); XinGao Gong (China); J. Gubernatis (USA); W. Kohn (USA); A. Leggett (USA); Yu Lu (China); N. Marzari (UK); S.Y. Mensah (Ghana); B. M'Passi-Mabiala (Congo-Brazzaville); S. Narasimhan (India); C.M.I. Okoye (Nigeria); D. Pettifor (UK); K. Reed (USA); S. Scandolo (Italy); W. Soboyejo (USA); N. Spaldin (USA); P. Woafo (Cameroon)

LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
D. Joubert (U. Witwatersrand), Chair; N. Chetty (U. Pretoria); Ph. Ngoepe (U. Limpopo); B. Masara (SAIP)

PARTICIPATION
The participation in the activity is open to young scientists from all countries, which are members of the United Nations, UNESCO or IAEA, and aimed preferably at candidates from the African continent. As it will be conducted in English, participants should have an adequate working knowledge of this language. Participants should also have an adequate knowledge of Linux and of basic programming. Limited travel funds are available for some participants, who are nationals of, and working in, a developing country, and who are not more than 45 years old. Such support is available only for those who attend the entire School. There is no registration fee. The South-African participants are expected to arrange their own travel to Cape Town International Airport. Airport pickup, local accommodation and meals will be provided at no charge to all those selected for participation.

The Application should be completed before 31 March 2010 via either of following Activity Web pages:

http://cdsagenda5.ictp.trieste.it/full_display.php?smr=smr2204
http://www.nithep.ac.za/general/10.php

Co-sponsors:
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Trieste, Italy
International Union for Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP)
National Institute for Theoretical Physics (NITheP), South Africa
South African Institute of Physics (SAIP)
CNR-IOM-DEMOCRITOS, Trieste, Italy
International Center for Materials Research (ICMR), Santa Barbara, USA
Materials Computation Center (MCC), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
DCOMP, American Physical Society, USA
National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa
DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Strong Materials, South Africa