A Nigerian academia, Professor Ilesanmi Adesida has broken records last month by becoming the first black Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the well-respected University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in the United States.
The Ondo-born professor is a Nigerian engineer with outstanding work in the field of Nanotechnology which the scientific folks have widely acclaimed.
Adesida obtained his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and subsequently went on to develop a body of work in processing semiconductors and other materials at the nanometer-scale level.
Furthermore, after his studies, he worked in various capacities at what is now known as the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility and the School of Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Also, he headed the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria.
Speaking on current his record-breaking achievement, Prof Adesida said: “I’m honoured and humbled to be selected as provost of this great campus. This is something I take very seriously. I know how to work very hard and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get the job done.”
Adesida belongs to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Vacuum Society, and the Optical Society of America. He is also the past-president of IEEE Electron Devices Society.
