Dr. Ignace GATARE

Dr. Ignace GATARE is currently the Principal of the College of Science and Technology, University of Rwanda. Prior to this position, he served (April 2012 –February 2017) as the Director General of the Rwanda National Commission of Science and Technology (NCST), a public institution serving as think-tank and advisory board to the Rwanda Government on issues pertaining to the development of science, technology, research and innovation. Dr. GATARE also served (November 2009 - April 2012) in the Government of Rwanda as Minister in the President’s Office in Charge of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), as member of the Board of Governors of the University of Rwanda (November 2013 - March 2017), and as Chairperson of the Regulatory Board of Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA, January 2018 – January 2022). He served as Member of the Advisory Committee (PAC) of the BioInnovate Africa Program and Member of the steering committee of the Integrated Biological Control Applied Research Program (IBCARP), two programs project run under the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE). He is currently member of governing bodies and committees of various institutions and projects including: * Chairperson of the Joint Advisory Board of Carnegie Mellon University – Africa, Rwanda; * Member of the Governing Board of the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Nairobi, KENYA, * Member of the Advisory Committee of the GEONET project, an initiative of the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UNITED KINGDOM, * Member of the AFRA High-Level Steering Committee on Human Resource Development and Nuclear Knowledge Management (HSLC) * Secretary General and Founding Fellow of the Rwanda Academy of Sciences (RAS). He received his undergraduate and MSc. degrees in Electrical Engineering, respectively in 2001 and 2004, with major in Telecommunications, from the Mons Engineering Faculty (FPMs), Mons, Belgium. In 2008, He obtained a PhD degree in Engineering Sciences with specialization in Photonics from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where he also worked as a postdoctoral research fellow. His research interests include optical switching, optical injection-locking and synchronization of semiconductor lasers. Dr. GATARE coordinated and supervised various national telecommunications and ICT infrastructure projects including the construction of the 2.600-km National fiber-optic backbone network and the deployment of the National Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting Television Platform.