Tino Nyawelo talks with students in the REFUGES Bridge program. (PHOTO CREDIT: Dave TItensor/University of Utah).

U.S-based physicist Tino Nyawelo has won the 2023 Spirit of Salam Award in recognition of his work to promote the development of science and technology in disadvantaged parts of the world.

Nyawelo, an associate professor of physics at the University of Utah, was recognized for founding Refugees Exploring the Foundations of Undergraduate Education in Science.

It is a program to help historically excluded students to pursue scientific education at the university level.

Nyawelo received the Spirit of Salam award from the founder of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) founder and Nobel Laureate, Abdus Salam.

“This award is very special to me because my time at the center put me directly on the path that I’m following today,” Nyawelo said.

Two other colleagues that received the similar awards are Hugo Celso, a professor of Physics and Mathematics in Cuba and Federico Rosei, a researcher in Montréal, Canada.

Nyawelo first completed a bachelor’s degree in physics from the Sudan University of Science and Technology in Khartoum, Sudan and was appointed as a teaching assistant.

He then left the country in 1997 to complete a postgraduate program in Italy, and completed his PhD in 2004.

“The ICTP diploma program was eye-opening, but difficult,” said Nyawelo.

“It was the first time I’d left my country, the first time I’d learned science in a language other than Arabic, I didn’t know anybody, and Italy was a culture shock.”

In 2020, the National Science Foundation awarded Nyawelo and collaborators more than one million US dollars to study how refugee teenagers construct self-identities related to science STEM across settings.