N.C. A&T Physics Professor to Present at First Joint Conference of African Meteorological Society

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (April 17, 2026) – The first African Meteorological Society (AfMS) Scientific Conference, set for April 20-23 at the new Ethiopian Meteorological Institute (EMI) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, will feature air pollution and climate change research from physics professor Solomon Bililign, Ph.D., of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

The international conference is organized by AfMS, EMI, and the International Forum of Meteorological Societies (IFMS) around the theme “Advancing Meteorological Science for Climate Resilience and Sustainable Development in Africa.”

Bililign’s 3-hour training presentation and plenary talk, “Air Pollution in Africa: A Menace to Health, Climate & Economic Growth,” kicks off the conference and will focus on sources, impacts and measurement of atmospheric pollutants and the urgent need for stronger monitoring and technical capacity across the continent. Bililign’s research has focused on air pollution and impacts on health and climate in Africa, most notably in East Africa, in the last decade where he used his training in atomic and molecular physics and spectroscopy for atmospheric applications.

A faculty member in N.C. A&T’s College of Science and Technology, Bililign joins Arif Albayrak, Ph.D., a senior research engineer at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, through Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research. Albayrak will examine how artificial intelligence and digital twinning are transforming disaster monitoring and related decision making, turning satellite data into actionable insights. The changes have applications for flood prediction and wildfire detection.

“Air pollution continues to claim the lives of millions of Africans and is now the second leading environmental risk factor. These risks will only increase given the rapid urbanization and economic growth occurring there,” said Bililign. “It is imperative to understand the unique African emission sources creating a pollution mix that is poorly understood and that will impact atmospheric composition and chemistry globally. International partnerships, working through multidisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations, are the key to addressing this critical need for environmental information.”

Expanding A&T’s global footprint and building international partnerships are among the university’s top priorities, particularly in relation to Africa and the African Diaspora. Students from all corners of the globe make up A&T’s student body, and half the university’s international student population comes from African nations.

Bililign completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics at Addis Ababa University before earning his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa. He also completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Utah Department of Chemistry. He has been part of the A&T faculty for more than three decades.

Bililign’s research has focused largely on atmospheric sciences over the last 20 years. In 2006, he led the establishment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s $12.5 million Interdisciplinary Scientific Environmental Technology Cooperative Science Center at A&T. He also played significant roles the atmospheric sciences capacities locally, including on the climate advisory panel that produced the North Carolina Climate Science Report.

Recently, he served as director of the Climate Resiliency Center in the Piedmont Triad, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. He has also served as a North Carolina State Climate Report panel member.