Prof. Ing. Anael Elikana Sam (PhD) is an associate Professor in the Computational and Communication Science and Engineering (CoCSE) at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST). Prof. Anael E. Sam is a holder of PhD in Electronics Engineering from the Institute of Electronics and Photonics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava, Slovak Republic.

His research interests focus on Mobile and wireless communications, Software Quality Assurance Engineering, Cyber Security and Development of Enterprise Systems. He has extensive work experience in developing and deploying mobile communications systems. He worked with Alcatel Lucent, Siemens Programme Engineering, Nokia Siemens Networks, Logica Plc.
Prof. Sam is also a cyber security and software quality assurance expert with vast experiences in high level consultancies; he worked for 3 years in the United Kingdom with Logica plc. (a multinational IT and management consultancy company) and Siemens also in the UK. He also worked Siemens Programme System Engineering, Slovakia for seven years and Alcatel Lucent plc for three.

At NM-AISTProf. Sam has been involved in various academic matters of teaching and supervising postgraduate students, conducting research and innovation activities, carrying out collaborative outreach activities with industry and mobilizing resources for capacity building. He has taught at NM-AIST on full time basis (and as part-timer in other higher learning institutions) in different areas of Information Technology; courses taught include Analog Electronics, Digital Electronics, Advanced Applied Electronics, Wireless and Mobile/cellular Communications, Information Systems Modeling, Design and Analysis, Computer Organization and Architecture, Ethical Hacking and Wireless Communication and Cyber Security to Masters and PhD students. He has supervised to completion, 39 masters and 6 PhD students. He is currently supervising 8 Master’s and 7 PhD students. Their theses cover areas of embedded systems, mobile systems, and Information and Communication Science and Engineering (Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering and Information Technology Systems Development Management). Most of the theses have resulted in developed technologies addressing needs of industry and society. His students come from more than 10 African countries, some come with language barriers, which Prof. Sam has managed to assist them to overcome the barriers.
As a researcher, he has published more than 40 articles in reputed international journals.

Prof. Sam has been very active in resources mobilization and has led several proposal write-ups. I have interacted with him in some of these. For example, he led and coordinated the proposal write-up team for establishing the Center of Excellency in Information and Communication Technology for East Africa (CENIT@EA). The applications were highly competitive among the five countries of East African Community at the time and among universities in the region. The NM-AIST proposal let by Prof. Sam was successful and the CENIT@EA, whose goal is to close the digital skills gap and brings disruptive ICT changes in the East African region was established at NM-AIST. The center offers a master’s degree in Embedded and Mobile Systems, short courses, Summer Schools and Community engagement services. Prof. Sam became CENIT@EA founding center leader. Additionally, he and his team members have successfully won at least 5 big research and capacity building projects where he is a Principal Investigator in some of the projects and thus responsible for budgeting, procurement and financial reporting. Prof. Sam has also held administrative posts and been member of committees and boards at institutional level.
Prof. Sam led the Tanzania Health Information Mediator a project on developing a middleware to facilitate health data exchange between the several information systems in use by the Tanzania Ministry of Health in 2021. The systems included DHIS 2 and OpenMRS (both registered DPGs) and the mediator layer was developed using OpenHIM.
Prof. Sam is advisor to PhD and Masters students, to the School Board of which he is a member and I was a member, and he plays crucial advisory roles in all matters related to the ICTs, electronic systems, and cyber security at the institutional level in the sensitive areas that require high level confidentiality and data protection such as admissions, examinations, and financials. He mentors the technical and technology staff in ICT laboratories, internet connectivity sections and digital systems.

Prof. Sam is a man with a pleasant nature, highly motivated, hardworking, and has experience of working in multi-cultural environments.

• Analog Electronics
• Digital Electronics
• Advanced Applied Electronics
• Wireless and Mobile/cellular Communications
• Information Systems Modeling, Design and Analysis,
• Computer Organization and Architecture
• Ethical Hacking

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISQTB)

• Best Worker at Alcatel Lucent 2003 plc.

Ongoing

• Centre of Excellence for ICT in East Africa

Phased Out

• Tanzania Health Information Mediator

• Orcid ID
• Google Scholar
• ResearchGate

• NM-AIST Consultancy Bureau: School representative and lead member of the NM-AIST consultancy bureau.