A Professor of Physics at the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA Prof. Mrs. Ibiyinka Fuwape, has been named as one of the winners of the prestigious African Union Kwame Nkrumah Regional Award for Scientific Excellence, AUKNASE 2020 Edition. The Award instituted by the African Union, AU honours outstanding African scientists for their achievements and discoveries in science, technology and innovation. It also promotes scientific development in Africa through recognition of excellence among African scientists, women, and men alike and young researchers and encourages them to persevere in their research or academic careers, and nurture their ambitions.
Ibiyinka Fuwape won the award for her outstanding contributions to cutting edge research in the areas of Climate Change, Air quality and Biophysics. Her research interests include theory of chaos and application of non-linear dynamics in coupled oscillator systems, neuronal systems, lower and upper atmospheric research. She has established the existence, implications and significance of dynamical complexes in atmospheric parameters. With appearance in several international academic conferences and publications in respected peer-reviewed journals, she has demonstrated high level of competency in research in her chosen field of study. She currently heads the condensed matter research group domiciled at the Federal University of Technology, Akure.
The African Union Award is not her first. Ibiyinka Fuwape is a recipient of many scholarships, fellowships, awards and grants. In 2006 she won the fellowship award of the Schlumberger Faculty for the Future (FFTF) program. She also received the Marshak Lectureship Award of the American Institute of Physics (APS) in 2018. She was an Associate member of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy from 1992-1996.
She has been a visiting scholar to many universities in the US and Europe. She has over 100 publications in reputable journals, as well as book chapters, conference abstracts and proceedings. She is a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Physics and Nigerian Geophysical Society. She has served on the Governing Council boards of some higher institutions of learning in Nigeria. She currently sits on the board of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in Nigeria and is a chairperson of a subcommittee of the board on Examinations.
Ibiyinka Fuwape graduated from the prestigious University of Ibadan, Ibadan with a First-Class degree in Physics in 1984. She was the best graduating student in the entire university. She obtained her master’s degree and doctor of philosophy degree in Physics from the same university in 1986 and 1989, respectively.
She was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer at the Federal University of Technology, Akure in 1989 and rose through the ranks to the position Professor of Physics in 2003. She is currently serving as the Vice Chancellor of Michael and Cecilia Ibru University, Agbarha-Otor, Delta State, Nigeria. She previously served as the Dean, School of Sciences at the Federal University of Technology Akure and was the first to serve as Dean of any School in the university. In 2015, she received the Best Dean of the year award for her outstanding performance.
Ibiyinka Fuwape is a promoter of women in science and has organized many workshops/conferences in this regard. She became the National President of the Organization of Women in Science for the developing world (OWSD) Nigeria Chapter in 2018. She has been the Team leader for Nigeria on the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Working Group of Women in Physics since 2002. She has used these platforms and many others to mentor many Nigerian girls and ladies into exceling in science fields.
With the African Union Award, which was presented virtually on Friday February 26th, 2021 Professor Ibiyinka Fuwape joins the elite group of African scholars who have been identified and honoured for raising the profile of Science, Technology and Innovation sector in African Union Member States, Regional Economic Communities so that Science, Technology and Innovation effectively contribute to Africa’s sustainable development, poverty alleviation and integration efforts.