Dr. Daniel Sui, professor of geography and holder of the Reta A. Haynes endowed chair in geosciences, will speak at a Global Dialogues on Emerging Science and Technology (GDEST) symposium March 16 to 19 in South Africa. Sui was invited by the U.S. State Department to participate in this symposium.

His talk, titled “From Digital Divide to Dividend: Free Geospatial Technologies for Africa”, will focus on whether open-source and volunteered geospatial information (VGI) will bring new hope for a sustainable Africa in the near future.

The State Department, under the office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary, conducts this series of bi- and multi-lateral GDEST symposiums to examine advanced and advancing science and technology.

Each symposium examines a specific area of emerging interest in different regions of the world. The 2008 symposium examines geospatial science and technology in Africa. These activities are intended to contribute to global security, address human aspects of sustainability, and advance opportunities for shared knowledge on emerging science and technology. They facilitate interactions between leading U.S. scientists and engineers and their foreign peers, with special emphasis on involving young investigators.

For more information on Dr. Sui visit http://geog.tamu.edu/~sui.