Meet di Nigerian scientists wey receive America highest honour

Six Nigerian scientists don receive di highest honour wey US goment dey give pipo wey don make ogbonge contributions to di research and development of healthcare for di world.

Dem dey among di 400 pipo US President Joe Biden honour wit di Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

President Biden honour dem wit di award sake of di important role wey dem dey play to create a beta society.

Na former America President Bill Clinton establish PECASE for 1996 to recognise scientists and engineers wey show exceptional potential for leadership early for dia research careers.

Di award dey recognise innovative and ogbonge developments in science and engineering, expand awareness of careers in science and technology, and among odas.

Nigeria President Bola Tinubu don hail di recipients of di awards. E say dis show Nigerians potential to excel at home and on global stage.

Dis na wetin to know about di awardees.

Tomi Akindele

Tomi Akindele na postdoctoral researcher for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Akindele research interests include di application of basic physics for nuclear non-proliferation and safeguards applications.

Her current research involve simulations and small scale experimentation to inform di performance of kilo-ton detectors filled wit water-based liquid scintillator.

She get PhD for Nuclear Engineering from di University of California, Berkeley. B.S. Nuclear Engineering, Texas A&M University.

Akindele don receive awards wey include Nuclear Science and Security Consortium Fellowship.

Azeez Butali

Azeez Butali na Professor of Oral Pathology, Radiology, & Medicine for di College of Dentistry, University of Iowa.

E graduate as dentist from di College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria, for 2000 and get im Ph.D. in genetics epidemiology for 2010 bifor e go for im post-doctoral training for craniofacial genetics for di University of Iowa.

For 2016, e get Certificate in Genetics and Genomics for Stanford University.

Currently e dey serve as PI of di Butali Laboratory; Director, African Craniofacial Anomalies Network; Director, College of Dentistry Biorepository, University of Iowa; and Director, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) for Topics in Human Genetics.

E don receive plenty awards wey include NIH Pathway to Independence Award from di National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to study nonsyndromic clefts in populations of African descent.

Wen e dey study for im doctorate degree, e set up eleven research centers across Nigeria to collect data and samples from pipo wit cleft lip and palate.

For im Instagram account, Professor Butali thank President Biden for di award and dedicate am to children wit orofacial clefts plus dia caregivers.

Ijeoma Opara

Dr Ijeoma Opara na Associate Professor of Public Health for di Department of Social & Behavioural Sciences for Yale School of Public Health.

She also be di founder and director of di Substance Abuse & Sexual Health Lab.

Her research interest focus on HIV/AIDS, STI, and substance use prevention for urban youth, racial and gender specific prevention interventions for Black girls, and community-based participatory research wit urban youth.

Dr Opara don receive many awards for her work in prevention research from di American Public Health Association, National Council on Family Relations, and Academy,

Dr Opara receive her PhD in Family Science & Human Development at Montclair State University, Master of Social Work from New York University, Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from New York Medical College, and a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from New Jersey City University.

For her Instagram account, she thank di White House and add say, "To dey recognized for my work in urban communities and youth substance use prevention truly na blessing. I dey beyond grateful."

Oluwasanmi Koyejo

Sanmi Koyejo na Assistant Professor for di Department of Computer Science for Stanford University.

Dr Koyejo research interests dey for developing di principles and practice of trustworthy machine learning.

E dey also focus on applications to neuroscience and healthcare. Koyejo don collect plenty awards, wey include best paper award from di conference on uncertainty in artificial intelligence (UAI), a Skip Ellis Early Career Award, and a Sloan Fellowship.

Dr Koyejo get Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from di University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA, for 2013.

E don collect plenty awards, wey include best paper awards and a Kavli Fellowship, an IJCAI early career spotlight.

Currently, e dey serve on di board of di Black in AI organization.

Dr Abidemi Ajiboye

Dr Abidemi Ajiboye na Associate Chair and Professor for di Department of Biomedical Engineering for Case School of Engineering.

Im main research interest na for di development and control of brain-computer-interface (BCI) neuroprosthetic technologies for restoring function to individuals wey don experience severe injuries to di nervous system, like spinal cord injury and stroke.

Currently, im interest na to understand at a systems level di relationships between di firing patterns of multi-neuronal networks and di kinetic (muscle activity and force) and kinematic (limb position and velocity) outputs of these neural systems for di control of upper-limb movements.

Di end goal of im research na to develop BCI systems wey allow for more natural interactions wit one surrounding environment, and more natural control of assistive technologies, like artificial limbs and functional electrical stimulation (FES) based systems.

Dr Ajiboye don receive junior and senior level Career Development Award from di Department of Veteran's Affairs.

E get two BS degree in Biomedical and Electrical Engineering, plus minor in Computer Science, from Duke University (Durham, NC) for 2000.

Dr Eno Ebong

Dr Ebong na Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biology and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies in Chemical Engineering for Northeastern University.

Dr Ebong get her S.B. (1999) in Mechanical Engineering from di Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, MA and her M.Eng (2001) and Ph.D. (2006) for di area of biomechanics from di Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY.

She be National Institute of Health Cardiovascular Research Fellow

Now Dr Ebong research mission na to study di way wey endothelial cell mechanotransduction dey occur under normal and pathological conditions, wit particular focus on cardiovascular diseases and on diseases in which dysfunctional vascular function play a role.

She don receive several honors and awards. Most notably, na di prestigious NSF CAREER Award, for her "EMBRACE STEM (Endothelial MechanoBiology Research And multiCultural Education in STEM)" project, among odas.