Grants Beneficiaries

Professor Azikiwe Peter Onwualu obtained B. Eng. Degree (1982) with First Class Honours and an M.Eng degree (1986) in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Nigeria.  The PhD degree (in Agricultural Engineering) was obtained from the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now Dalhousie University), Halifax, Canada in 1991.

He started his career as a Graduate Assistant in Agricultural Engineering in 1983 at UNN and with the PhD degree he resumed full time teaching and research at UNN in 1991 and rose through the ranks to Professor in 1999. He was Head, Agricultural Engineering Department, UNN (2000-2003), Director, Engineering Infrastructure, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NASENI, Abuja (2003-2005) and Director General/CEO, Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Abuja (2005-2013). He was a Visiting Professor at the National Universities Commission, Abuja (2014-2015). From 2016 to date, he is Head, Materials Science and Engineering Programme, African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja where he is also Director, Academic Planning and Quality Assurance for the university. He is Co-Centre Leader, World Bank sponsored Pan African Materials Institute (PAMI), Africa Centre of Excellence in Materials and Focal Point, World Bank Sponsored Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET), AUST, Abuja.

Professor Onwualu has over 30 years of experience in research, development and innovation work leading to over 200 technical publications as books, journal and conference papers and policy briefs. He was: Coordinator, Science Technology and Innovation (STI) thematic group of Nigeria’s Vision 20-2020, Chairman, Committee of Directors of Research Institutes of Nigeria (CODRI) (2010-2013) and Chairman, Steering Committee, Pan African Competitiveness Forum (PACF), Nigeria Chapter (2008-2013). He is currently: Member, Board of Directors of African Technology Policy Studies (ATPS) network, Nairobi and member, National Research Fund (NRF) Committee of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) of Nigeria and Vice President, Nigerian Academy of Engineering.

Over 60 organizations have recognized Professor Onwualu with awards including: Presidential merit award, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE); Individual Honours Award, Nigeria Society of Engineers, Abuja branch; Award of Excellence by Nigeria Institute of Physics, Most Distinguished Agricultural Engineer of the Year by NIAE and Professional Service Award by Rotary Club of Gwarimpa.  He is a Fellow of 12 professional bodies, including: Polymer Institute of Nigeria, Materials Science and Technology Society of Nigeria, Solar Energy Society of Nigeria, Agricultural Society of Nigeria, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Nigeria Academy of Engineering, Nigerian Institute of Management and Nigeria Academy of Science.

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Dr CAMARA Brahima, Maître de Conférences des Universités du CAMES à l’Université Félix HOUPHOUËT-BOIGNY Abidjan (Cocody) est né en 1973 à Mankono. Marié et père d’un enfant, il est actuellement le Directeur Adjoint de l’Unité Pédagogique et de Recherche de Physiologie et Pathologie Végétales où il focalise ses compétences sur la Phytopathologie et l’Agrophysiologie. Il a mis au point avec une équipe de chercheurs de nombreux biopesticides dont 6 sont brevetés : Neco 50 EC, Proraly 50 EC, Astoun 50 EC… A juste titre, en 2014, il a été colauréat de plusieurs prix dont celui du Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de Recherche Scientifique et surtout le prix d’Excellence décerné par la Présidence de la République de la Côte d’Ivoire en 2015 et les prix du Concours de l’Innovation Agricole Durable décerné par le FIRCA/FCIAD en 2017 et 2019. Il coordonne plusieurs projets de recherche sur les biopesticides actuellement.

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Dr. Damien Hanyurwimfura is currently Head of PhD Studies and Research and the Acting Director of the African Center of Excellence in Internet of Things, at the college of Science and Technology, University of Rwanda.

He received his Bachelor degree of Engineering in Computer Engineering and Information Technology from University of Rwanda (Former KIST) in 2005. He obtained his Master degree of Engineering in Computer Science and Technology and Ph.D. degree in Computer Science and Technology from Hunan University, China in 2010 and 2015 respectively.

He has been selected to participate in Postdoctoral Researchers’ Networking Tour 2018 organized by DAAD, Germany on the theme: Artificial Intelligence Coming of Age – Research and Development in Germany, September 23rd to 29th 2018.

He has demonstrated an active interest and aptitude for research and has developed a strong record in research since 2010 when he was doing his master’s studies.

He is a member of technical program of conferences such as IEEE smart world congress, 4th International Conference on Data Management, Analytics & Innovation, the 5th International Conference on Dependability in Sensor, Cloud, and Big Data Systems and Applications.

He has published and co-authored more than 20 research papers in leading international journals and conferences.

His research interests covers most aspect of data mining, machine learning, Network security, watermarking, Internet of Things, hate speech detection and recommender systems.

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Dr. Kizito Nkurikiyeyezu is a researcher at the University of Rwanda’s Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering and e-Health and a lecturer at the Africa Center of Excellence in Internet of Things.

He completed his Ph.D. (Engineering, Intelligence & information) in 2020 at Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan with a thesis on affect-aware intelligent thermal comfort. He received a master’s degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Oklahoma Christian University, OK, the USA in 2012 and 2011 respectively.

His research interests lie in the area of Humanized Computing, Intelligent Environments, Affective Computing, Physiological Computing, and Healthcare informatics.

In particular, his Ph.D. thesis proposed a novel thermal comfort provision system that estimates people’s thermal comfort level from the variation in their physiological signals (e.g., heart rate variability) due to their bodies’ response to the surrounding environment and uses appropriate constrained optimization algorithms to provide an efficient and personalized thermal comfort at the lowest energy. This approach not only provides higher quality thermal comfort but also significantly reduces the amount of energy required for thermal comfort provision. Nevertheless, because human affects (e.g., stress and thermal comfort) are expressed differently from one person to another, the proposed approach would only work if person-specific machine learning models were developed for each user of the system. Such limitations would be confining and costly for large-scale deployment. Consequently, I developed an efficient algorithm that mitigates these limitations and I laid the groundwork of an “affect-aware thermal comfort” system complementary to the existing thermal comfort provision methods. An affect-aware system would estimate in real-time the affects (e.g., thermal comfort, stress, and emotion) of its users and automatically adjust itself to satisfy the user’s implicit and explicit needs (in terms of, e.g., thermal comfort, ventilation, well-being, and productivity) sustainably (in terms of e.g., heating, ventilation and cooling efficiency, and lighting).

He was an invited researcher at Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan and an invited scholar at the Université Jean Monnet in France.

He currently holds international research collaboration with researchers in Japan, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

For additional information see his website at http://qiriro.com/

Dr. Mathew K. Munji is a lecturer at the Department of Physics, Kenyatta University, Kenya.  He is a PhD graduate in Physics, obtained in 2011 from the Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. He also holds a Master of Science in Physics and BSc in Physics degrees from Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya. Apart from this he also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) from Egerton University.

Just a few years before Joining Kenyatta University, he had become interested in the growing field of photovoltaic. During, his PhD work he began investigating various thin-film materials for their light-to-energy conversion properties, eventually specializing in characterization and performance of photovoltaic materials made from crystalline silicon and concentrator triple junction solar cells. He and collaborators have been supported by millions in government research grants over his career, mostly under the African Lacer Center for investigating improvements in the amorphous and crystalline silicon, point contact solar cells, back contact solar cells, edge refined film fed growth and concentrator triple junction solar cells.

He is currently a member of the Material Science research group at the Department of Physics, Kenyatta University. He is an accomplished scholar with proven track record in research and training as demonstrated by his publications in peer review journals, supervision and mentorship of post graduate students. He is a recipient of the Prestigious African Laser Center scholarships and the Nelson Mandel University scholarship for research. He has continued links with research and funding under the African Laser Center, NMU-KU partnership and collaboration.

He has made remarkable contribution in research in material science, electronic instrumentation, solar and renewable energy with over 26 research publications in refereed journals and over 11 oral presentations in international conferences. He has also authored several interactive e-learning Modules in Physics and electronics for the blended and e-learning programs.

Dr. Abigail A. Adaku is a lecturer at the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Ghana, Legon. She holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University, USA; a Master of Science degree in Agricultural and Resource Management from the University of Bonn, Germany; and a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture (Agricultural Economics major) from the University of Ghana. Dr. Adaku has 8 years of experience in teaching undergraduate and graduate courses as well as supervising graduate and undergraduate student research. She has experience in undertaking large surveys from her recent work with the USDA Food for Progress Ghana Poultry Program. Her research interest is in agribusiness economics and management and specifically focuses on agricultural marketing; agri-food supply chain, ranging from production level supply to end-consumer demand management; agricultural supply chain relationships; food safety issues and food policy analysis. She has published in internationally reputable peer-reviewed journals and is currently the vice secretary (Southern zone) of the Ghana Association of Agricultural Economists (GAAE). Her hobbies are gardening and watching documentaries from National Geographic

Emmanuel Ndashimye (ndashimye1980@gmail.com) holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Auckland, New Zealand. Dr Emmanuel received master’s degree in Communication and information systems from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China, 2009) and BSc degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering from University of Rwanda (2005). He is currently lecturer at University of Rwanda and Adjunct instructor at Carnegie Mellon University-Africa (CMU-Africa). Emmanuel’s current research interests are in 5G networks, IoT, LTE and WiFi, mobility and QoS management in vehicular network communications and advanced handoff techniques for heterogeneous wireless networks.

Currently, Dr. Gerard Rushingabigwi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, College of Science and Technology. He is a Coordinator of Biomedical Engineering Master’s Program in East Africa’s Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering and E-Health (CEBE); he is also a Supervisor of Postgraduate (Master’s and PhD) Students in the African Center of Excellence in Internet of Things (ACE IoT), Biomedical Engineering, Data Science as well as Water Resources Management, in the University of Rwanda, UR.

Gerard Rushingabigwi got the Bachelor’s Degree of Engineering in Electromechanical Engineering from University of Rwanda (Former Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, KIST, in December 2005. He obtained the Master degree of Engineering in Computer Science and Technology from the University of Science and Technology, Beijing (USTB), China, in July 2010, and the PhD in Electronic Science and Technology: Electromagnetic Fields and Microwave Technology from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Hefei- China, in June 2017.

From November 2017 to November 2020, Dr. Gerard Rushingabigwi did the Postdoctoral Research works on Remote Sensing Data Analysis and Information Engineering, focusing on Air and Water Pollutants in the School of Information Engineering, Qingdao University – China (for One Year); in collaboration with the University of Rwanda, College of Science and Technology – Rwanda (for 2 Years).

Besides, under collaboration between the University of Rwanda and Swedish Linköping University’s Centre for Teaching and Learning (CUL), from October to November 2017 Gerard Rushingabigwi received an intensive training as Advanced Courses in Higher Education Pedagogy to supervise doctoral theses; a Training Certificate was awarded to him in February 2018.

Gerard Rushingabigwi has published and co-authored more than 20 research papers in leading international journals and conferences.

His current research interest is on Sensing Technology, focusing on Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) applied in Remote Sensing of Aerosols & Selected Air/Water Pollutants, BioMEMS, Biosensors, and Transducers.

Dr. Jacqueline Kisato is a lecturer in the Department of Fashion Design and Marketing, Kenyatta University in Kenya. She holds a masters in Business Administration and a PhD in E-Marketing strategies for SMEs. She has further training in experiential entrepreneurship and business integrity from a German university and United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), respectively. She has been a visiting scholar at Leiden University (2021) in frugal innovation and entrepreneurship and is currently involved in multidisciplinary projects for sustainable entrepreneurial ventures that are good for people, planet and profit. She was invited as Africa’s research technical expert at UNESCO for the “Youth as Researchers (YAR) on COVID-19-Addressing the impact of COVID-19 on Africa’s Youth” in October 2021. She has over 12 research publications in refereed journals and made oral presentations in international conferences/workshops in the Netherlands, Germany, USA, United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Kenya, Uganda, Lesotho, Djibouti and Madagascar.  She has won funded projects to train youth in innovative entrepreneurship in partnership with a German University & UNESCO for over 5 African countries and has been a professional mentor at incubation centers in Kenya, Tony Elumelu foundation (Nigeria), African Entrepreneurship Award (Morocco) and a juror in various entrepreneurship pitching competitions in Kenya and the USA. Her research projects seek to link innovation and entrepreneurship to create sustainable enterprises that leverage technology, innovative and frugal entrepreneurial value chains and enhance environmental sustainable.  She is currently supervising postgraduate students in multidisciplinary projects in biodegradable packaging, sanitary towels, fashion marketing and entrepreneurship.

Juma Rajabu Selemani is a PhD holder in Environmental Sciences from East China Normal   University, Republic of China. Juma did Master of Science in Climate studies from Wageningen University, Netherland. He also holds a BSc (Hons) in Meteorology and a BSc in environmental Sciences and Management from University of Pretoria, South Africa and Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania, respectively. Juma is a lecturer at Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) where he teaches and conducts research in Environmental Pollution, Climate Change, energy and Water Quality.

Furthermore, Dr Juma did his PhD study in Pangani River Basin-Tanzania focusing on factors influencing water quality and quantity. Various challenges facing communities in the basin were observed among them were shortage of safe drinking water and poor sanitary services. Climate change analysis showed that Pangani Basin is expected to get more rainfall and temperature in the future than present level. Flooding, food shortage, outbreak of diseases are some of expected impacts whereas improvement in sewage system and sanitary services, improving agricultural activities and rain water harvesting techniques are some of proposed adaptation measures. He has authored and co-authored multiple scientific contributions in international peer-reviewed journals which can be found in https://www.researchgate.net/.

Research Interest: Climate Change Impact, Mitigation and Adaptation measures, Water

Quality, Renewable energy and environmental isotopes.

Dr. Omar Gatera is the head of Ph.D Studies and Research in the African Centre of Excellence in Internet of Things (ACEIoT) and lecturer in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, School of Engineering, College of Science and Technology, University of Rwanda.

Before joining the University of Rwanda, Dr. Gatera was working for Rwanda Standards Board (RSB) from 2008 to 2020, where he gained a sound expertise in standardization and conformity assessment of electrotechnical systems.

Dr. Gatera obtained various recognitions and professional certificates such as IEC Recognitions of Achievement for IECEE, IECQ IECEx and IECRE, and successfully completed the Intertek CQI-IRCA Certified ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems and ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems Auditor /Lead Auditor Training Courses, and attended the trainings on Research & Development and Innovation measurement instruments for evidence-based science, Technology and Innovation Policy Implementation under both the African Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (ASTII) and the Science Granting Councils (SGCs) Initiatives, and participated in grant writing workshop on ERASMUS + Programmes at ICIPE, Nairobi.

Dr. Gatera holds a BSc. Degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Systems and MSc Degree in Information, Communication Technology (ICT) both from the University of Rwanda in 2006 and 2008, respectively. He received his Ph.D in Telecommunication Engineering from Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Istanbul, Turkey in 2017. His research interests include wireless communication networks, Internet of Things (IoT) systems, signal processing techniques, digital health and software engineering.

Ag. Head of Department, Materials Science and Engineering, African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, Nigeria.

Field: Organic Electronics – Organic Photovoltaics(OPVs) and Light Emitting Devices(OLEDs); Perovskite-based solar cells and LEDs; Nanomechanics of structures relevant to OPVs and OLEDs; Finite Element Analysis of thin film structures relevant to OPVs and OLEDs.

Vitalis holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics from the University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon (2004), an MSc (2011) and a PhD (2015) in Materials Science and Engineering from African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja, Nigeria.

He has grown in his career in teaching and research in the field of energy materials in the department of Materials Science and Engineering at AUST and supervised various MSc and PhD dissertations in the department. He previously served as a full time faculty member, senior lecturer and head of Department of Electrical/Electronics Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering at Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria. In this faculty, he taught various courses and supervised both undergraduate and postgraduate students in the departments of Civil Engineering and Electrical-Electronics Engineering.

He was a World Bank-Step B/ African Development Bank (AfDB) and African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) scholar at AUST from 2010 to 2015. He is a member of Materials Research Society, African Materials Research Society, Materials Society of Nigeria, IEEE and Affiliate member of the African Academy of Science (AAS). His research interests are in the field of organic optoelectronic structures-the effect of pressure and adhesion on their performance; nanomechanics with the use of Finite Element Analysis (FEA), for the modeling and simulation of nanostructures and thin films; and hybrid organic-inorganic solar cells and light emitting devices based on perovskite structures. To date, he has over 20 scientific articles in reputable peer-reviewed journals.

He has been involved in several outreach programs geared at encouraging secondary school kids, mainly girls to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics careers and also participated in various interventions in the use of 3D printing technology for the production of personal protective equipment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

His vision is to see the department emerge as a centre of excellence for teaching, learning, research and innovation on various aspects of materials development for sustainable impact on the African continent.

Prof. Karimuribo is a One Health Epidemiology Professor at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Morogoro, Tanzania. In July 2017, he was appointed the Director of Postgraduate Studies, Research, Technology Transfer and Consultancy (DPRTC) at SUA for the first term which ended in June 2020 and extended for second term ending June 2023. In addition to administrative duties, he serves as academic member of staff in the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health at the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He also works with the SACIDS Foundation for One Health which operates as a university institute with regional responsibility. He graduated in 1995 with a veterinary degree from SUA and in 1998 was awarded a Master of Veterinary Medicine of the same university. He pursued studies in Veterinary Epidemiology at the University of Reading in UK and awarded a PhD in 2002. He began his academic career as an Assistant Lecturer at SUA in 2000 and in 2002 was promoted to the Lecturer position and later to Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor in 2009 and 2012, respectively. In 2018, he was promoted to a full professorship.

In 2007, he was awarded the UK-based Rothamsted International African Fellowship to work with the Moredun Research Institute (MRI) in Edinburgh-Scotland as a visiting Research Fellow. At MRI, he was trained in molecular epidemiology focusing on genetic characterization and analysis of host genetic factors affecting the infectivity of trypanosomes and subclinical mastitis in zebu cattle. Between 2009 and 2012, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in a Rockefeller Foundation-funded SACIDS project on resource mapping for epidemic disease preparedness and emergency response. Since 2012 he has been leading a SACIDS strand focusing on One Health cross-cutting issues including disease surveillance. Since 2012, thanks to the Canadian IDRC for research grant to SACIDS, he led a team of epidemiologists and IT programmers to developed One Health disease surveillance systems and tool “AfyaData”. Later, the financial support from Skoll Global Threats Fund enabled my team to remain focused on our vision.

He has managed several grants to support this work either as PI or co-PI.  His research career has focused on One Health cross-cutting issues. To date, he has received and managed 21 research grants from different grantors and published 109 articles in peer reviewed journals. He is a member of Tanzania Veterinary Association, Community Animal Health Network and Participatory Epidemiology Network for Animal and Public Health. He has supervised 24 post-graduates (MSc and PhD) students as well as two Postdoctoral Research Fellows.

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Prof. Francis Wanjala Nyongesa is an associate professor at the Department of Physics of the University of Nairobi, Kenya.  He holds a Master of Science in Physics and a PhD in Physics, obtained in 2000 from the University of Nairobi. He is currently serving as the academic chair of the Department of Physics of the University of Nairobi.

He is an accomplished scholar with proven track record in research and training as demonstrated by his publications in peer review journals, supervision and mentorship of post graduate students. He is a recipient of the Third World Academy of Science (TWAS) Award for young scientists for his contribution in scientific publications in physics. He has also received several fellowships including USHEPiA fellowship, the Abdus Salam Young Student Fellowship (Trieste, Italy) and the U.S-Africa Materials Institute (USAMI) visiting fellowship at Princeton University (USA) in 2008. He is among the founder members of the Global Young Scientists Academy (GYSA), member of African Materials Research Society (AMRS) and member of the Ultrasonic Nondestructive Testing (NDT) Society of Kenya. He is a member of the editorial board of Tanzania Journal of Science and the African Journal of physical Sciences (AJPS).

He has made remarkable contribution in research in material science and renewable energy with over 22 research publications in refereed journals and over 15 oral presentations in international conferences in the following countries: United States of America (USA), Japan, Germany, Italy, China, South Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania. He has also He has authored self study Modules in Physics for the distance learning programs and several undergraduate physics laboratory manuals.

His research interest include:  Functional Materials for Energy Efficiency Systems such as thermal insulators, Perovskite Solar Cells, Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs), and applications of Nanotechnology for Water Purification Systems. As a person, he is highly motivated individual possessing high levels of initiative and drive, good communication and interpersonal skills. He is a team player and has been involved in drafting a number of research projects with international partners.

His profile is available at https://profiles.uonbi.ac.ke/fnyongesa/.

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Professor Jibrin Mohammed Jibrin is a senior researcher and the pioneer Head of Department of Soil Science at Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. He has been the Director of the Centre for Dryland Agriculture (CDA) since 2012, which he led to become one of the World Bank supported Africa Centres of Excellence. He has over twenty-five years of teaching and research experience with focus on soil fertility and plant nutrition. His recent areas of research include the development of decision support tools for site-specific fertilizer recommendations, understanding and quantifying variabilities in yield responses to nutrients application and changing climate, and integration of GIS tools with Crop Simulation models to understand spatial variabilities in crop yields. He has won several research and development grants as lead scientist or principal investigator, some of these include NGN38,800,000.00 from TETFUND (2019); US$ 5,000,000.00 from the World Bank (2019); a sub-grant of US$ 445,000.00 from CIMMYT for the project “Taking Maize Agronomy to Scale in Africa” (2015); US$ 8,000,000.00 from the World Bank under the Africa Centres of Excellence initiative (2014); and US$150,000 from CIMMYT under the MAIZE Competitive Grant Initiative (2012 and 2013). Jibrin Mohammed Jibrin is a fellow and life of the Soil Science Society of Nigeria. He is also a member of several other professional associations including the International Union of Soil Science, Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America. He currently serves as a member of the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) of DFID-funded LINKS programme for Powering Economic Growth in Northern Nigeria. He is also a member of the Research Panel of Experts (RPoE) backstopping the implementation of action research in five irrigation schemes in Nigeria under the World Bank funded TRIMING project for transforming irrigation management in Nigeria.

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Professor Julius Mwakondo Mwabora earned a B.Sc. (Physics major) and M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Nairobi (UoN) in 1990 and 1993, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1999. He joined the Department of Physics at the UoN in 1992 as a Graduate Assistant, was promoted Tutorial Fellow in 1994, to Lecturer in 2000, to Senior Lecturer in 2003, to Associate Professor in 2009, and to Full Professor in 2014. He was Chairman, Department of Physics, UoN from 2013 to 2019. He has acted severally as Dean, School of Physical Sciences, UoN from 2014 -2019.  The Prof. Mwabora is currently the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) Coordinator and contact person at the University of Nairobi.

Prof. Mwabora’s stints as a visiting researcher at Graduate and Postdoctoral levels at the Institute of Energy Conversion, University of Delaware, USA under the Fulbright programme (1997-1998),  Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Sweden (2001 and 2002) under the International Science Programmes, and Heterogeneous Material System Section (SE2), Hahn-Meitner-Institute (Now Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Energy  Berlin), Germany (2005 and 2009) under DAAD Fellowship exposed him to international collaboration and  multidisplinary nature of materials science, solar cells research and Energy. His current research interests are Dye sensitized solar cells, Nanomaterials for Energy and Environment, Thin Films, Materials, and Energy.

Prof. Mwabora has many years of research, teaching experience and expert advice experience to government of Kenya. To date he has supervised Eight Ph.D. and Eleven M.Sc. student theses to completion, published over forty scientific articles in peer reviewed journals. As of 2020, Google Scholar reports over 1200 citations to his work. He has given numerous invited talks and involved in Education, Science, Technology and Innovation policy issues.

Professor Mwabora is a Member of many professional bodies including Kenya National Academy of Sciences (Currently Member, Hon. Assistant Secretary, Chemical and Physical Sciences and Council Member), Physics Society of Kenya, European Physical Society, and Materials Science for Solar Energy Network for Eastern and Southern Africa, Kenya DAAD Scholars Association, UoN Alumni Association, Institute of Physics, Fulbright Alumni-Kenya Chapter, African Materials Science Society. He is currently serving as a member, Board of Governors for Coast Institute of Technology, Kenya.

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Kalambuka is Associate Professor and Thematic Head of Nuclear and Radiation Physics at the Department of Physics, University of Nairobi, Kenya where he has worked since 1995. He is Founder (2006 -) and Leader of Applied Radiometrics and Spectroscopy Research Group which focuses on:

(i) Applied nuclear and radiation/health physics with emphasis on

(a) Nuclear forensics and attribution development methodologies in support of nuclear security;

(b) Analysis and modelling of nuclear traces and their impact dynamics in complex ecosystems; (c) Radiometric beam and dose quality assurance in nuclear based imaging & radiation medicine.

(ii) Method development in nuclear and laser based spectroscopy for trace (atomic, molecular, radiogenic, isotopic) microanalysis and spectral imaging/microscopy utilizing advanced chemometrics and machine/deep learning.

(iii) Diagnostics and quantitative analytical modelling of radiative surface discharges and ablation laser plasmas.

Prof Kalambuka holds BSc (Hons) and MSc degrees in Physics from the University of Nairobi (1992; 1996) and a Doctorate (Magna cum Laude) from Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany (2004). He has supervised 30 MSc and 6 PhD students in his area of specialization. Prof Kalambuka has diverse international research collaborations. His research portfolio includes 44 peer review 10 non-peer review publications and presentations at international (93) and national (8) conferences. As either principal or co-principal investigator in various research projects he has so far attracted US$ 1,550,778 (Ksh 174 million) from various grant bodies during the last 15 years.

Prof Kalambuka is a member of many professional and learned societies(Institute of Nuclear Materials Management (INMM), International Nuclear Security Education Network (INSEN), International Radiation Physics Society, Health Physics Society (HPS), African Spectral Imaging Network (AFSIN), Eastern African Association for Radiation Protection (EAARP (Co-Founder,1997)), Physics Society of Kenya (PSK) and is a regular reviewer of a number of international peer review journals (X-Ray Spectrometry (John Wiley & Sons), Analytica Chimica Acta (Elsevier),  RSC Advances (Royal Society of Chemistry), Fuel (Elsevier), Pedosphere (Elsevier), Scientific Reports (Nature), Analytical Methods (Royal Society of Chemistry), Heliyon (Elsevier), Analyst (Royal Society of Chemistry), Microchemical Journal (Elsevier), Geoderma (Elsevier), Sensors (MDPI). Prof Kalambuka was inaugural member of WAYS, and later, among those who in 2007 courtesy of UNESCO and ICSU founded WAYS-Africa in 2007 in Pretoria, South Africa. The World Academy (now Association) of Young Scientists is a non-profit science network – the largest grassroots, collaborative global scientific community for young scientists. He served as Vice Chair for Africa (2007-2010).

Prof Musembi is an Associate Professor of Solid-State Physics at the University of Nairobi based at the Department of Physics. He earned his B.Sc., MSc and PhD in Physics at the University of Nairobi from 1993 – 2009. During his postgraduate studies for MSc and PhD, he did sandwich research at the University of Dar es Salaam and Hahn Meitner Institute (Later renamed Helmholtz Centre for Materials and Research, Germany), respectively. He had a short stint for post-doctoral at Angstrӧm Laboratory (Uppsalla University) Sweden, and at Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India. His research interest is in fabrication and characterization of p-n junction devices including Solar cells and Light emitting diodes. Other areas of research are materials characterization, Computational method, Programming methods and application of Computer Algebra System in Physics. He is a member of the following professional organizations: Kenya Physical Society, European Physical Society (EPS), Materials Science and Solar Energy Network for Eastern and Southern Africa (MSSEESA), African Network for Solar Energy (ANSOLE), and Member of Kenya National Academy of Science (MKNAS

Professor Onyewuchi Akaranta obtained a Ph.D degree in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt in 1995; M.Sc in Polymer Science and Technology from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1982, and B.Sc degree in Chemistry in 1978 from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is a fellow, Polymer Institute of Nigeria (fPIN); member, Chemical Society of Nigeria (mCSN); member, Oil and Colour Chemists’ Association (mOCCA) of United Kingdom; member, West African Research and Innovation Management Association (mWARIMA) and Donald Ekong Professor of Oilfield Chemistry. In 2003, Professor Akaranta was listed in the 7th Edition of Marquis Who is Who in Science and Engineering, He has passion for promoting commercial application of research results. He is the Director, Science Institute and Coordinator of the two World Bank Africa Centres of Excellence in UniPort: (1) Centre for Oilfield Chemicals Research (CEFOR) and (2) Centre for Public Health and Toxicological Research (PUTOR). In 2015, he became the Coordinator of the Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE Port Harcourt) on Education for Sustainable Development. The Global RCE Network is coordinated by the Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability, United Nations University (IAS-UNU), Tokyo, Japan. He was Director, Centre for Research Management (2010-2015); Project Manager, World Bank STEP-B Project (2008-2013); Director, Exchange and Linkage Programmes Unit (2006-2010); Head, Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry (1999-2001) and has served in several other committees within and outside UniPort. Professor Akaranta possesses over thirty (30) years’ experience in research on agro wastes value addition for converting them into green industrial chemicals like adhesives, ion exchange resins, paint additives, natural anti-corrosion agents. He has over 100 journal articles thus, making tremendous contributions in the area of Materials Chemistry and development of multifunctional eco-friendly oilfield chemicals hence, creating pathways from wastes to wealth. Professor Akaranta is the coordinator of the 24-month Project on, “Strengthening Institutional Infrastructure for an Innovation Ecosystem (UP-ECOSIN) funded by the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) Research Award or Institutional Innovation Capacity Building Program Grants. UP-ECOSIN seeks to promote commercialization of research results and encompasses the economic, social, political, organizational, and institutional elements that influence the development and diffusion of innovations in the Nigerian University System.

Dr. Thomas Kivevele, Principal Investigator (PI) of the project holds a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa, majoring in Thermal Energy Engineering. His doctorate dissertation was on air source heat pump drying technology. He also holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, majoring in bioenergy from the same University and the B.Sc. in Electro-Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  He is a recipient of Fulbright post-doctoral scholarship for three months from September to November, 2018 to conduct research at Baylor University in Waco – Texas, United States. The Fulbright African Senior Research Scholar Program (ASRSP) was funded by the United States Department of State and administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. Dr. Kivevele is a graduate member of Tanzania Engineers Registration Board (ERB) since 2007. He is also a principal investigator and co-principal investigator of four projects funded by The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Erasmus+ of the European Union. Additionally, Dr. Kivevele is a head for research and innovation of the African center of excellence in Water Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy Futures (WISE Futures) located at NM-AIST and is funded by the World Bank. He is currently working as a Senior Lecturer at NM-AIST teaching energy related courses.  Dr. Kivevele has been conducting groundbreaking and diverse research for the past 10 years in the field of drying technologies, solar applications and biofuels and has published extensively (over 28 articles) in several esteemed international journals. Dr. Kivevele has been using his expertise in drying technologies to make major contributions in reducing postharvest loss and environmental remediation due to overuse of biomass (fuelwood) for drying applications. He is now exploring reliable solar-powered systems integrated with energy storage for drying heat sensitive biomaterials to facilitate drying even when it is cloudy, rainy, or night. He is also leading a project funded by COSTECH to develop alternative and environmentally benign technology to cure tobacco, which presently consume the highest percentage of fuelwoods in the country. The skills acquired from these projects will be invaluable in developing the dryer for this project with excellent thermal and drying performance.

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Dr. Yusufu Abeid Chande Jande completed PhD at Hanyang University in 2015, Mechanical Engineering Department in Ansan, South Korea and MSc and BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.  He is currently lecturing in the Department of Materials and Energy Science and Engineering, The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (www.nm-aist.ac.tz); and also the Deputy Centre Leader of Water Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy Futures (WISE-Futures) centre (www.wisefutures.ac.tz).  Yusufu is interested in doing research on energy, capacitive deionization for desalination and CO₂ capture, and rapid prototyping specifically in producing uniformly porous and graded porous structures using selective laser sintering (SLS) and producing composite materials from porous structures manufactured using SLS. Please click here for publications.

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