RIT imaging science professor returning to Africa as Fulbright Scholar

Imaging science Professor Anthony Vodacek is no stranger to Africa, having visited numerous countries on the continent for more than a decade. This fall, he will be making another trip for his longest stay as he conducts research through the Africa Regional Research Program as a Fulbright Scholar.

Vodacek will be focusing on the African Great Lakes. He will be assessing the requirements for creating a sensor network to monitor the seven lakes that span 10 different countries.

“This Fulbright US Scholar award will allow me to collaborate directly with my hosts at Makerere University and the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization in Uganda, and with other scientists across the African Great Lakes region,” said Vodacek. “Our combined expertise across disciplines will ensure the system design is sustainable and effective under the regional conditions.”

As Vodacek explained, the African Great Lakes sustain fisheries, biodiversity, water resources, transportation, and agriculture for millions of people. However, there is no systematic and continuous environmental monitoring for the lakes, leaving gaps in knowledge even though the lakes are known to be changing.

The goal is to provide the region with a plan for a monitoring system, including costs and hardware options, so the governmental bodies have a sound basis for investing in an effective system. The partnership between the United States and Canada for the monitoring of the North American Great Lakes serves as an example of how this could work with numerous countries involved.

The idea for this project came about through Vodacek’s work with the African Center for Aquatic Research and Education (ACARE). While attending a meeting with the organization in Rwanda earlier this year, he learned that next year marks the 100th anniversary of the first scientific exploration of Lake Victoria. Now scientists are retracing the original work done during the 1926-1927 scientific survey, providing an interesting tie-in to Vodacek’s own work.

In addition to his work with ACARE, Vodacek is a global activities liaison to Sub-Saharan Africa for IEEE’s Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, scientific advisor for Space4Innovation, and associate editor of the Journal of Great Lakes Research.

Vodacek’s previous education and research projects have brought him to Madagascar, Kenya, Ecuador, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon, and Ghana. His Fulbright research will span the upcoming fall semester.

The Fulbright Scholars program is the United States government’s flagship program of international education and cultural exchange. The funding allows scholars the opportunity to study, teach, conduct research, and exchange ideas in order to find solutions to challenges facing communities and the world.

“I’ve never taken a sabbatical, so this is the first time I’ll be doing that,” said Vodacek. “I was thinking about what I would want to do, where I would want to go, and this occurred to me. This is what I should do. It’s a big international issue, and the science like I’m doing is not nearly as common in Africa.”