Provost Black & Indigenous Scholar Profiles
My research project aims to characterize the interaction between novel Stutzerimonas strains, which are predicted to possess nitrogen fixation genes, and various crop plants including corn, soybean, canola, and wheat. This characterization will assess their ability to colonize plants internally as endophytes (microorganisms like bacteria or fungi, that live within the internal tissues of plants without causing any apparent harm to the host) and confirm their capacity for nitrogen fixation, potentially reducing the need for nitrogen fertilizer application.
My research interests lie at the intersection of sustainable food systems, environment, and health. For my postdoctoral work, I will investigate the impact of water security and participatory water governance on women's empowerment throughout their life course in East Africa. This study aligns with the Provost Scholarship's vision of contributing empirical knowledge and promoting gender equality and women's empowerment, which are essential for improving livelihoods and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
My research work examines the ways that tourism can be more than simply an economic tool for Indigenous communities. I am interested in working alongside Indigenous and Tribal communities, including my own, to be able to explore and document how tourism can be a vehicle for resurgence, or (re)connecting people to traditional culture, community and Country (living lands, waters and non-human kin).
The prospect of designing novel data storage technologies based on nanomaterials, whose electric polarization and magnetization can be controlled simultaneously, promises to yield higher storage densities and faster processing speeds, while simultaneously reducing the power requirements of these devices. The class of materials known as multiferroics are ideal candidates in that regard, as they are simultaneously ferroelectric and ferromagnetic. The overall objective of this research is to quantitatively describe the correlation between the degrees of freedom of ferroelectric nanocrystals (NCs) with respect to their crystal and electronic structure, at the nanoscale and ensemble level, when interfaced with ferromagnetic NCs, in multiferroic nanocomposites.
The agriculture and agribusiness sector accounts for a significant share of all the major economic activities and sources of income among smallholder farmers in Ghana and across Africa. The agriculture and agribusiness sector accounts for a significant share of all the major economic activities and sources of income among smallholder farmers in Ghana and across Africa. However, the sector continues to be controlled by primary production as a result of high climate variability and hydrological flows, especially in the Northern Savannas of Ghana.
My dissertation-based book project explores ruling Islamists’ approaches to minorities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It analyzes the variation in ruling Islamists’ treatment of the South Sudanese and Darfuris in Sudan, as well as the Kurds in Turkey. It asks why some minorities are repressed while others are accommodated. For example, non-Arab Darfuris were subject to a genocide, while the South Sudanese were afforded the right to self-determination in Sudan.
My work involves conducting research and publishing articles as well as teaching.
My research mainly focuses on developing novel polymer nanobiocomposites with multifunctional, biodegradable, and recyclable properties. These novel polymer nanobiocomposites will be exploited in organic electronic devices and water desalination. This research work is of societal importance and transformative. This project also aligns well with research strengths set by the University of Waterloo, such as nanotechnology, water and energy sustainability, and security. Furthermore, this project favours multidisciplinary approaches to research leading to innovative knowledge and quality technology in the interest of improving societies.
As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo, my work focuses on understanding the complex causes of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a devastating condition affecting millions worldwide, including over half a million Canadians. Despite significant research efforts, the exact mechanisms leading to AD remain unclear, and current treatments are ineffective.
