I didn't even know that before rescuing Nigeria's electrical grid, Barth Nnaji was a distinguished inventor in America and one of the pioneers of the global robotics revolution.
Bartholomew Nnaji is an Igbo Nigerian scientist, innovator and one of the inventors of the E-Design concept. He was born in Enugu State, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics at St John's University, and then proceeded to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for post-graduate studies.
He joined the faculty at University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1983. After a few years, he became the director and a founder of the Automation and Robotics Laboratory at the University. He was made a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering in 1992. As a researcher, he focused on three major topics: Computer Aided Design, Robotics and Computer Aided Engineering. Using the knowledge he gained from his research pursuits, he created the term geometric reasoning, the idea that most things we operate has a geometric configuration. He is also credited as one of the innovators of the E-design concept.
He is also the founder of the first indigenous owned power generating company in Nigeria and was also a former minister for Science and Technology in the country.
He ran in the 2007 Nigerian presidential election as the candidate for the Better Nigeria Party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Nnaji |
Once had the privilege of meeting the distinguished professor. Here is a more comprehensive biography: [size=14pt] Note the U.S. Secretary of State Distinguished Service Award in 1995.[/size] This is one of the talented few that Nigeria must have to make progress. It is sad that while thieves, dullards and just plain daylight armed robbers are running wild in GEJ's government one of the rare gems has been let go. And to think one fool came here boasting about how VP Sambo was the one that sacked Bart Nnaji. People who contribute nothing to the system, but take everything are boasting!!! PROFESSOR BART O. NNAJI NNOM, CON
Professor Bart Nnaji is the Honourable Minister of Power, Federal Republic of Nigeria. A position he has held since July 2011. He was the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, the immediate past Special Adviser to the President on Power, and the Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power. He is a tenured Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, United States of America. He became an Alcoa Foundation Professor of Engineering at University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, also in the United States of America, in 2002. Until September 2007, he was the William Kepler Whiteford Professor of Engineering at University of Pittsburgh, where he spearheaded the creation of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Centre for e-Design as a multi-campus NSF Centre of Excellence in the United States of America.
He is the founder of Geometric Power Limited, the first indigenous private sector power company in Nigeria. He was a member of the National Energy Council (the apex decision making body on energy in Nigeria) in the President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua administration before he was appointed as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) in 2010 by the then Acting President Goodluck Jonathan. He was also the pioneer President of the Independent Power Providers Association of Nigeria (IPPAN).
He cut short his distinguished career as a University Professor in the United States of America and returned home voluntarily to find a lasting solution to the perennially poor electricity supply situation in Nigeria, using his Aba Independent Power Plant (IPP) as a private-sector driven model for the Country’s power industry.
He has served as principal or co-principal partner in research projects worth over $50 million sponsored by the US National Science Foundation, NATO, US Department of Defence, and many blue chip companies.
He has published five books and over 100 technical articles. His book, Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Engineering, won the 1994 world Best Textbook Prize for Manufacturing Engineering. He was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Design and Manufacturing and has served as editor of many professional journals.
He has also served as chairman of many conferences, including the World Conference on Robotics Research (1991), the UN Institute for Training and Research workshop on debt and financial management for developing countries attended by diplomats from various parts of the world at the UN Headquarters (2001 and 2002).
He is a recipient of numerous awards. They include: Commander of the Order of Niger (CON) from the Nigerian President (2010); the 2004 Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), Nigeria’s highest award for intellectual achievement; an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; an Honorary Doctor of Science from the Federal University of Technology, Yola; an Honorary Doctor of Technology from Enugu State University of Science and Technology; an Honorary Doctor of Science from Bells University, Ota; an Honorary Doctor of Science from the Michael Okpala University of Science and Agriculture, Umudike; the 1988 Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award by the Society of Manufacturing Engineering; the 1992 Outstanding Young Industrial Engineer Award; Fellow of Nigerian Academy of Science; Fellow of Nigerian Academy of Engineering; Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE); Fellow of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers; the U.S. Secretary of State’s Distinguished Public Service Award (1995); Distinguished Scientist Award by the World Bank-IMF Africa Group (October 1998); the ARCO Excellence in Science and Technology Award (2001); and the Baker Distinguished Research Award, the highest research award given by the IIE (May 2001).
He is on the Board of several companies and organizations including the Governing Board of the Nigerian National Merit Award.
Professor Nnaji holds a B.S. in Physics from St. John’s University, New York, where he graduated with distinction, an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia, respectively, and obtained a certificate of Postdoctoral studies in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Massachusetts, all in the United States of America.
He holds the traditional title of Onwa Nkanu (the Moon of Nkanu), jointly bestowed on him in November 1993 by the more than 60 Traditional Rulers in Nkanu Land, in Enugu State, with a population of more than one million. His Royal Majesty, Engr. Onyesoh, Eze Nri, in 2010, also conferred on him the distinguished traditional chieftaincy title of Aka Ji Oku of Igboland (The Torchbearer of Igboland), in recognition of his achievements in the power sector.
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