Our People - student spotlight

BeyeneAfricaArray Graduate Student Aims for University Career

AfricaArray is helping Binyam Beyene achieve his dream—to become a university professor.

Beyene, who has a master’s in geophysics, is in AfricaArray’s “sandwich” program which enables graduate students at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa to study and conduct research at an affiliated university in the U.S. or Europe. In January 2009, he came to Penn State for a five-month stay.

“At Penn State, there are more students, so we learn from each other by sharing our knowledge base and our knowledge experience,” said Beyene who began his doctoral studies in August 2008.

Beyene’s affiliation with AfricaArray predates his arrival at Penn State. In June 2007, he participated in the program’s field school, gaining valuable practical experience.

“In three weeks, I collected information which would have taken me several months to learn—because of my access to AfricaArray’s instrumentation,” Beyene said.

Even before blindly applying for that field school, Beyene had a connection with the program: An AfricaArray seismic station had been installed outside of Dessie in northeastern Ethiopia, where he previously lived.

At Penn State, Beyene is investigating seismic activity related tomining in deep South African gold mines. Comparing the data from the mines with data from AfrayArray stations across southern Africa will enable researchers to better determine seismic mechanisms and better understand the origin of the seismicity, he said. The research is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.