MARAM KAIRE
Co-founder & current President of the Senegalese Association for the Promotion of Astronomy (ASPA)
Knight of the National Order of the Lion (The Order of the Lion is Senegal's highest distinction), Maram KAIRE has become, since May 14, 2021, the 1st Senegalese to have his name attributed to an object of the Solar System with the designation of the asteroid (35462) 1998 DW23 now called (35462) Maramkaire by the International Astronomical Union. In 2021, he also entered the prestigious ranking of "AfricanDOers, the TOP 500 of the most influential Africans in the world" by TROPICS Magazine (Johannesburg, South Africa).
Co-founder and current President of the Senegalese Association for the Promotion of
Astronomy (ASPA), He is presented by the famous magazine CIEL & ESPACE and radio RFI as
being the engine of the development of Astronomy and space sciences in Senegal.
In 2018, Maram KAIRE ensured the Technical Coordination of an important NASA mission
carried out in Senegal to observe a stellar occultation by the asteroid ARROKOTH. This activity,
as part of the NEW HORIZONS space mission which flew over the planet PLUTON, saw the
collaboration of around forty American and French astrophysicists with Senegalese scientists.
Maram KAIRE was appointed, in March 2020, National Astronomy Education Coordinator (NAEC) for Senegal by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the organization that coordinates the work of astronomers and astrophysicists around the world with the mission to help to develop astronomy in the Senegalese education system.
Initiator of many astronomy development projects such as the SPACEBUS concept (the largest astronomy promotion activity ever organized in Africa), founding member of the African Astronomical Society (AFAS), He is also a member of the Executive Committee AFIPS (Africa Initiative for Planetary and Space Sciences) which works to develop planetary and space sciences on the African continent.
Between 2015 and 2019, he was Advisor to the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, in charge of the Promotion and Popularization of Scientific Culture. Focal point of the Ministry on issues related to space, he had to lead partnership projects with the CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales de France) and ARIANEGROUP (Operator of the Ariane rocket) for the development of university courses in science and the installation of a center for the assembly, integration and testing of microsatellites in Senegal.
A true scientific popularizer in the service of the development of astronomy and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), he was awarded a grant, in 2017, from the IVLP program (International Visitor Leadership Program) of the United States Department of State in the field of "science and technology education for young people".
He is Managing Director of AFRICASPACE, a company specializing in strategic support for African states in the development and implementation of their space policy.