4th E. E. BALOGUN NATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
Date: Friday 24th July 2020 Time: 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Theme: Perspectives of COVID-19’s Impact on Global Environment from Atmospheric Research: Lessons and Opportunities
GUESTS
Emeritus Professor Ekundayo E. Balogun
Profile: Ekundayo Elisha Balogun was born on July 24, 1937, in Apapa, Lagos, although his parents were from Mopa in Mopamuro local government area of Kogi State, Nigeria. He attended Apapa Baptist School for his elementary education and Lagos Baptist Academy for his secondary education. His interest in atmospheric sciences started in 1957 after the well-publicized launch, by the Soviet Union, of the first successful Earth satellite, Sputnik 1. He therefore joined the Nigerian Meteorological Service on December 6, 1957, three days after he completed writing the Cambridge School Certificate Examination. He successfully completed the first meteorological induction course at the Meteorological Training School, Ikeja Airport in 1958. He came first in his class. He gained admission to the Nigerian College of Arts and Science at Ibadan in September 1958, and was sponsored for the Advanced Level Science course in Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry at the College by the Nigerian Meteorological Services. He successfully completed that programme in 1960. In February 1961, he left for the British Royal Air Force Weather Forecasting Training School at Stanmore, Middlesex, England, to train as a Weather Forecaster on the Sponsorship of the Nigerian Government. He also completed the training successfully and returned to Nigeria at the end of 1961.
The African Students Foundation, a Canadian foundation which provided university education for African students offered him scholarship to attend Canada’s topmost university, the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Physics, in 1966. He left Canada for the United States of America to attend the University of Chicago which, at that time, was an important centre of activities in the applications of satellite observed data. Professor Balogun obtained his Master and Doctorate degrees from the University of Chicago in 1967 and 1972 respectively.
On returning to Nigeria in 1972, he resigned from the Nigerian Meteorological Services to join the University of Ife, (now known as the Obafemi Awolowo University), where he was engaged in research and the teaching of atmospheric physics and meteorology.
In 1975, Professor Balogun spent months at the University of Chicago as a visiting Research Scientist. Professor Balogun was also a visiting Research Scientist at the Space Science and Engineering Centre, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.A. between 1980 and 1982, where he worked with the late Professor Suomi, one of the world’s leading figures in Satellite Meteorology. He has also visited many universities around the world for scientific meetings from the University of Oxford in England, to the University of Beijing in China. Professor Balogun was a frequent visitor to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy; and on some occasions, he was an instructor at ICTP.
As a teacher and academician, he has taught basic physics, atmospheric physics, and meteorology at his home university and many Nigerian universities, including the University of Ibadan, the Federal Universities of Technology at Minna and Akure, the University of Uyo, and at other universities across the country, at different times during his career. He is an external examiner to many Nigerian universities.
Professor Balogun received first class training in Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics, and has passed on his experience and training to many Nigerians. He has produced half a dozen PhDs and very many students at the Masters level. Many Meteorologists at the Nigerian Meteorological Services have received part of their training under him. He published several research papers in local and international journals, monographs, and conference proceedings. He was invited by the Vatican Academy of Science to present an original paper on “Space Science, Weather and Man”, at the Vatican City in Rome in 1985. His presentation was a contribution to a book.
More than fifteen years after his retirement from meritorious and active service, Obafemi Awolowo University found him worthy of appointment as an Emeritus Professor of Physics. He is also a Visiting Professor of Bowen University, Nigeria.
Prof. (Mrs) Ibiyinka A. Fuwape
Vice Chancellor,
Michael and Cecilia Ibru University,
Ughelli, Delta State, Nigeria.
Profile: Very few women scientists have achieved what this great woman has done in the field of physics. She had her secondary education at Methodist Girls High School, Lagos and later at the prestigious Queens College, also in Lagos. During her secondary education she was synonymous with ‘best’ wining the subject prize in physics in 1979/1980 and subject prize in physics and mathematics in 1980/1981 set. You can say she was born with a love for mathematics and physics.
She is a woman with one love, obtaining all her higher degree from the presitigious University of Ibadan, B.Sc (Physics) in 1984, M.Sc (Physics) – 1986 and her Ph.D (Physics) – 1989. During her education at the University of Ibadan, she had a plethora of awards which include faculty prize (1984), NUPENCO prize for best all-round student (1984), first Nigerian female student to graduate with first class degree in Physics to mention a few.
Prof.(Mrs) I.A. Fuwape specializes in Nonlinear Dynamics (Chaos) with applications in Neuroscience, climate and economics. She is a member of many scientific organizations within and outside the country including Nigerian Institute of Physics, Science Association of Nigeria, Nigerian Association of Mathematical Physics, American Institute of Physics, amongst others. Prof. Fuwape is an erudite scholar with numerous publications in reputable journals locally and internationally.
She joined the services of The Federal University of Technology, Akure as an Assistant Lecturer in 1989, rising through the ranks to become a Professor of Physics in 2003. She was the Dean, School of Sciences between 2011 – 2015. She was an Associate Member of The International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy between 1996 – 2002, She was awarded the Schulmberger fellowship between 2007 and 2009. In 2018, she was the recipient of the Marshak Lectureship of the American Physical Society. She is currently the Vice Chancellor, Michael and Cecilia Ibru University, Ughelli, Delta State, Nigeria.
Prof. Rabia Salihu Sa’id
Department of Physics
Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria
Talk: The impact of Covid19 on scholars and how to stay productive: lessons from personal experiences
Abstract : The year 2020 began with many surprises, which even the break out of the corona virus in Wuhan, China in November 2019 did not prepare many for. For scholars and many in academia, there are scheduled conferences, workshops, research visits and internships. All of these were turned off balance when it became clear that the corona virus is not just a Wuhan virus but spreading worldwide. When the WHO declared it a pandemic on 11 March 2020 and scientists named it Covid19, lockdown and shelter in place mechanisms began to be implemented. With shelter in place came a need to adjust to working remotely for many and scholars were not left out. In this presentation, I will share my experiences on the impact of Covid19 and the Shelter in place coping mechanisms and how to stay productive in the face of the pandemic and moving forward.
Profile of Prof. Rabia Salihu Sa’id
Rabia Sa’id is a Professor of Atmospheric Physics at the Bayero University, Kano in Nigeria. She holds a PhD, M.Sc. and B.Sc. in Physics and an M.Sc. in Environment and Development. She is an expert in Dust Aerosol effects on climate and air quality measurements. Also, she is an analyst in the areas of fluctuations of the earth’s magnetic fields and satellite measurements. Currently a member of the research team of the Tropospheric Data Acquisition (TRODAN) project. She is a member of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO), and participates as a nominated member (2020-2022) on the Climate Change (GEO-CC-WG) and Data (GEO-DWG) working groups. She was one of the winners of the Elsevier Foundation/OWSD (EF-OWSD Awards) for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World in 2015. She was featured in Nature (The international Weekly Journal of Science) and in the BBC Radio Program: Discovery Science. She was also listed on the BBC 100 inspirational women of 2015 and , featured as one of 100 Women in Tech in Nigeria on the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2020 (@100WomenInTechNigeria). She is very passionate about Girl-child education, girls’ and women’s access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. She is a co-founder of the association of Kano women in science (KANWIS) and the Women in STEM for Africa (WIS4Africa). Prof Rabia have a great interest in the environment and environmental security including and recently, as a 2020 Fellow at the James Martin Center for nonproliferation Studies (CNS at Monterey); advocacy in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament education and training, safety and safeguards and the peaceful use of nuclear.
Dr. Nsikanabasi Silas Umo
Research Scientist
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research – Atmospheric Aerosol Research (IMK-AAF)
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Hermann-von-Helmholtz Platz 1
76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
Talk: Exploring the interactions of non-tailpipe aerosol particles from vehicles in the atmospheric environment
Abstract: Non-tailpipe aerosol particles (NTAPs) from vehicles such as brake dust, tyre wears, rotor wears, oil and grease leaks are largely not quantified in our environment; and little is known about the interactions, impacts, and the fate of these particles in the Earth system. While catalytic converters, biofuel, and electric vehicles are all measures to minimize tailpipe emissions such as soot particles, no crucial step is taken towards limiting NTAPs emissions because our knowledge of these particles is highly limited. In this talk, I will present first-ever laboratory experiments with an aerosol and cloud simulation chamber to investigate the interactions of NTAPS in the troposphere. The results from these experiments give insights into understanding the dispersion, transport, and fate of NTAPs in the atmosphere.
Profile of Dr. Nsikanabasi Silas Umo
Nsikanabasi Silas Umo holds a PhD in the field of Atmospheric Science from the University of Leeds, UK. He has a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Chemistry from the University of Calabar, Nigeria, and a Master of Science degree in Environmental Chemistry and Pollution Control from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. After his PhD studies, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in Prof. Ben Murray’s group, University of Leeds, UK before he took up a faculty position at a Federal University in Nigeria (Federal University Lafia) where he taught chemistry/environmental science courses to undergraduate students. In addition, Dr. Umo has been a visiting scientist to the School of Earth and Environment, Leeds (UK), National Centre for Atmospheric Research – ACOM (USA), and the Centre for Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Wollongong (Australia).
In 2017, Dr. Umo was awarded the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship, which gave him the opportunity to research at the ‘#1’ Atmospheric Research Institute in Germany – the Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Currently, he is working as a research scientist in the same Institute. Dr. Umo’s research focuses on understanding the ice nucleation properties of anthropogenic and natural aerosol particles, which he performs fundamental experiments in a world-class aerosol and cloud simulation chamber called AIDA. He has broad research interests in aerosol-cloud interactions, and in biogeochemical interactions/transformation of aerosol particles in the atmosphere.
Dr. Umo belongs to a number of professional organizations including the Royal Society of Chemistry, European Geosciences Union, UK Aerosol Society, American Meteorological Society, German Aerosol Society, Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria, & others.
When Dr. Umo is not in the lab, he enjoys travelling to natural scenic places and hiking in natural habitats. He is very open to research collaborations and will be happy to discuss with anyone that is interested.
Publications: https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=OJ1wRtwAAAAJ&hl=en