I am a mathematician by training. I have always been passionate about solving challenging problems and mathematics provided fertile grounds for my intellectual restlessness. Lately I have felt an increasingly strong calling to turn to development. I firmly believe it is the most challenging problem of all for a son of Africa, and the one that most urgently merits our full energy and talents. That is why I enrolled in the MPAI/D program at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. I received my entire university education in the U.S. and prior to going to the Kennedy School, spent the last three years on the faculty at the University of Arizona. For a full summary of my professional experience please see my CV. Below is a summary of some of my other recent activities.

• Organizing a discovery discovery and information trip to Senegal for Harvard Kennedy School students; the trip inluded meetings with various segments of Senegalese society in an attempt to gain insight into the political and legal system as well as the economic and social dynamics.
• Developing an online database and tracking tool for the 2007 Senegalese elections;
• Piloting a solar panel initiative in Dassilame, Senegal which was selected as a finalist project in the 2008 Lighting Africa Development Marketplace;
• Co-organizing a workshop of the African Mathematical Union in Burkina Faso to foster young mathematical talent at the high school level;
• Systematizing input from over 30 UN entities on implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) into an online database, the first of its kind.