Three IBMer’s (Jessica O’Gorman (Canada), Venkatraman Umakanth (India) and Kazutaka Nakao (Japan)) and I have began working with the Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation & Reserarch (MASciR, http://www.mascir.com/) to develop a detailed analysis agricultural fertilizers and their implications for the mission of MASciR.  MASciR is a research institute with a strong emphasis in nano materials/nanotechnology, microelectronics, biotechnology and agriculture. 

The laboratory facilities at MASciR are high quality and the staff is  knowledgeable and friendly.  I have enjoyed engaging the engineers and scientists on technical discussions. My teammates tease me that they need to keep a careful watch on me that I do not sneak into a lab, put on lab coat and gloves and start working along side the researchers.  They are right!  The top four pictures below show all of us actively engaging the MASciR technical staff and discussing how they  impact  Morocco and the world community. Our host, Fouzia LAMNASFI (pictured below, in the blue next to Kazu from our team, second row left) and us are often found engaging in detailed discussions about what the next step is to enable  MASciR to make more of a global impact in the area of fertilizers.

After working hours, we continue to explore the beauty of Rabat.  The bottom row is a series of pictures taking yesterday as we walked along the beach next to the old city of Rabat at sunset.  It was a beautiful evening, the city population was outside, the weather was warm and the views were stunning.