These photos were taken during a mathematics graduate summer school organised by Wilfrid Gangbo (Geogia Tech) in Benin, Africa during the period June 25-July 04, 2010. Courses were given by Cedric Villani (U. de Paris, who was later awarded the Fields medal in Hyderabad, India), Sir John Ball (Oxford), Luis Caffarelli (Austin, Texas), and myself.

About 45 graduate students attended the school from 14 neighboring countries. A hugely successful event, that led both Cedric and I to commit to help Wilfrid in setting up a more permanent mathematics Centre in Benin, that can support the needs of  that part of Western Africa. We used the remaining part of our visit to have good discussions with the French Ambassador, various local investors as well as the Chamber of Commerce.
During our stay, we were pleasantly surprised by the announcement of Prime Minister Harper pledging $20M for the AIMS initiative, which is a  project to build a network of mathematical science institutes across the African continent. The project is led by Neil Turok, Director of the Perimeter Institute, with whom we are hoping to work more closely on the important task of developing African Science.