SUNY Poly AIX Center — Africa Partnership: Pivot to Online Engagement
Working Memo | Draft for Circulation | Steve Schneider, Co-Director, AIX Center, SUNY Polytechnic Institute | April 2026
Key Africa Holidays

Situation

The SUNY Poly AIX Center had planned an in-person partnership visit to Nigeria and Cameroon in May 2026, engaging institutions at five sites: NUC and NOUN (Abuja), Federal University of Technology Minna, University of Buea, and University of Yaoundé I. Due to a U.S. State Department Level 4 Travel Advisory, that visit has been postponed. Let's continue the partnerships, the projects, and the momentum.

I propose a virtual engagement model for May–June, keeping the spirit of the trip intact while establishing durable COIL-supported collaboration infrastructure that will set the stage for our upcoming in-person visit.

Three Cadence Options

We are considering three structural approaches for the four-session engagement. Each has trade-offs in terms of intensity, recovery time, and institutional bandwidth. All sessions are 2 hours each. Note: Sessions could also be extended to 2.5 hours (with one 15-minute break) or 3 hours (with two 15-minute breaks) without changing the structure below.

Option 1
Four Consecutive Days
May 18, 19, 20, 21 — back-to-back
Compressed intensity; full partnership arc in one week
✓ Momentum sustained; completion by May 21; energy and continuity across days; intensive engagement signal
✗ Four early mornings in a row for both time zones; no recovery/iteration between sessions; tight feedback loops
Option 2
Weekly Thursdays
May 22, 29, June 5, 12 — one week apart
Spaced engagement; longest arc (4 weeks)
✓ Recovery & prep time between sessions; room for feedback and iteration on COIL micro-projects; sustainable rhythm; allows deeper institutional coordination
✗ Longest timeline; momentum can dissipate; overlaps with competing institutional calendars
Option 3
2/2 Over Two Weeks
May 20, 21, then May 27, 28 — two days, week break, two days
Balanced intensity; geographic clustering possible
✓ Grouped focus (Nigeria cluster, then Cameroon cluster); one-week break for feedback and COIL refinement; regional coordination advantage
✗ Two-day intensity per cluster; back-to-back sessions each week; less individual institution spotlight time; requires tight regional coordination

Four Virtual Sessions (2 Hours Each)

Session Time Window Primary Focus Anchor Institution(s)
Day 1 8:30–10:30 AM EST
1:30–4:00 PM WAT
2:30–5:00 PM CAT		 Plenary, partnership framing, institutional commitment, project spotlight FUT Minna + NUC
Day 2 8:30–10:30 AM EST
1:30–4:00 PM WAT
2:30–5:00 PM CAT		 AI literacy, academic advising, gaming for education NOUN (Abuja)
Day 3 8:30–10:30 AM EST
1:30–4:00 PM WAT
2:30–5:00 PM CAT		 Health access, AI for underserved communities University of Buea (Cameroon)
Day 4 8:30–10:30 AM EST
1:30–4:00 PM WAT
2:30–5:00 PM CAT		 Advanced manufacturing, medical technology, 3D printing University of Yaoundé I (Cameroon)

Detailed Session Structure

Day 1: Plenary & Partnership Vision
8:30–10:30 AM EST | 1:30–4:00 PM WAT | 2:30–5:00 PM CAT

Audience: All five institutions (NUC, NOUN, FUT Minna, Buea, Yaoundé) — full partnership presence

0–45 min
Intro & Spirit of Collaboration — Welcome, partnership framing, vision for five-institution network. Set tone for trust and mutual benefit.
45–65 min (20 min)
Wole Sobeyejo Keynote: "Collaboration as Institutional Commitment" — SUNY President affirms long-term commitment to the partnership, research synergies, and open educational resource sharing across borders.
65–85 min (20 min)
Talhah Folorunso Keynote: "AIX Minna Vision for African AI Innovation" — FUT Minna co-director shares institutional vision, capacity-building agenda, and how precision agriculture and signal interpretation anchor the partnership.
85–120 min (35 min)
COIL Big-Picture Framework — What SUNY COIL partnerships look like; how they scale from workshops to semester-long collaborative projects; how 12 SUNY Poly seats deploy across the partnership; how to structure micro-project commitments. All five institutions anchor their own COIL workshops in Days 2–4.
Days 2–4: Institutional Focus Sessions with COIL Micro-Projects
8:30–10:30 AM EST | 1:30–4:00 PM WAT | 2:30–5:00 PM CAT

Audience: All five institutions (core partners) + local stakeholders invited by anchor institution (faculty, researchers, NGO partners, government education officials, tech entrepreneurs, health practitioners, manufacturers, etc.)

0–30 min
Welcome & Stakeholder Introductions — Core partnership members and local stakeholders introduce themselves. Establish common ground and frame the micro-project opportunity.
30–50 min (20 min)
Institutional Partnership Presentation — Anchor institution leads a deep dive into the day's project stream. Covers scope, local context, research questions, and partnership opportunities.
50–65 min (15 min)
Discussion & Question-Gathering — Open dialogue between core partners and local stakeholders. Surface collaborations, data needs, methodological questions, resource gaps.
65–120 min (55 min)
COIL Micro-Project Design Workshop — Hope Windle or designate frames the COIL model. All participants brainstorm one concrete micro-project tied to the day's theme. Settle on deliverable, named SUNY Poly lead, named local lead(s), timeline, and scope. Document the commitment. Pre-invited collaborators formally join the project team.

Project Streams Mapped to Sessions

Session Project Stream(s) Lead Institution(s) COIL Commitment
Day 1 Precision Agriculture & PNT
Signal Interpretation / GiveSignal & MDUN		 FUT Minna (Talhah Folorunso, Eustace Dogo)
Rick Wolfel, Eustace Dogo, Steve Schneider		 Big-picture COIL framework for all institutions
Day 2 AI Teaching, Learning & Education (OER)
AI Academic Support (Advising/Tutoring)
Gaming, AI & Education
Signal Interpretation / GiveSignal & MDUN		 NOUN (Adebayo Adegboyega)
NOUN (Adebayo Adegboyega)
Nick Lejeune, Adebayo Adegboyega, NOUN
FUT Minna (Eustace Dogo)		 COIL Commitment 1: NOUN + SUNY Poly
COIL Commitment 2: FUT Minna + SUNY Poly
Day 3 Health Access University of Buea (Nkweteyim Denis)
Jerome Niyirora (SUNY Poly)		 COIL Commitment 3: Buea + SUNY Poly
Day 4 Advanced Manufacturing & Medical Technology University of Yaoundé I (Edwin Mbinkar) COIL Commitment 4: Yaoundé I + SUNY Poly

COIL Micro-Project Commitments

What We Mean by COIL Micro-Project

A COIL micro-project is a bounded, real collaboration between SUNY Poly faculty/students and partner institution faculty/researchers. It has:

This memo draws on the AIX Africa Partnership overview (March 2026), ongoing email correspondence with Hope Windle, Adebayo Adegboyega, Talhah Folorunso, and partner institutions, and planning discussions with Wole Sobeyejo, Bill Thistleton, and the AIX Center team.