Ozoemena Kenneth Ikechukwu
Ozoemena Kenneth Ikechukwu was elected as an AAS Fellow in 2015. As a fellow, Ozoemena Kenneth Ikechukwu contributes to the development of the Academy’s strategic direction through participation in AAS activities and governance structures. . This gears the Academys vision of transforming african lives through science.
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Ozoemena Kenneth Ikechukwu
COUNTRY (NATIONALITY)
Bio Nigeria
Year elected2015
DISCIPLINEChemical Sciences
Prof Kenneth Ikechukwu Ozoemena was educated at Abia State University (Nigeria) where he obtained his BSc (Hons) in Industrial Chemistry in 1992, and the University of Lagos (Nigeria) where he obtained double MSc degrees in Chemistry (1997) & Pharmaceutical Chemistry (1998). He arrived in South Africa in 2000 and earned his PhD (Physical-Inorganic Chemistry) in 2003 at Rhodes University.
Presently, he is Research Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) where he where he heads the prestigious South African DSI-NRF SARChI Chair in Materials Electrochemistry and Materials Technologies (MEET). Prior to joining Wits in 2017, he had worked at Rhodes University as Andrew W Mellon Foundation Lecturer in Chemistry (2004 – 2006), University of Pretoria as a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry (2006 – 2009), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) as Chief Research Scientist and Research Group Leader of the Electrochemical Energy Technologies (2009 - 2017), and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Technology Finance Corporation (SOC) Ltd (Technifin) - a state-owned corporation and subsidiary company of the CSIR.
His key research activities are on advanced batteries, fuel cells and electrochemical sensors. As of July 2023, he has published over 240 peer-reviewed articles, 11 book chapters, edited three books, and registered 11 patents (including 2 granted US patents).
Some of his accolades include the ‘A’-rating by the South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF), Wits’ Vice Chancellor’s Research Award, and CSIR CEO Award. He is a member of the national Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), Fellow of the African Academy of Science (FAAS), Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), and a Fellow of the Association of Commonwealth Universities at Coventry University, UK (2021). He serves on the Editorial Board of several journals including Current Opinion in Electrochemistry (Elsevier) and Scientific Reports (Springer-Nature). He is the Associate Editor for Electrocatalysis (Springer-Nature), and Associate Editor for Electrochemistry Communications (Elsevier). Prof Ozoemena is a Visiting/Honorary Professor at the Wuhan University of Technology, China.