Nigerian-American Scientist Robert Okogie Inducted into NASA’s Hall of Fame

Nigerian-American Scientist Robert Okogie Inducted into NASA’s Hall of Fame

In recognition of his significant contributions to the US by inventing new technologies, Nigerian-American scientist Robert Olusola Okogie has been inducted into the US National Aeronautics Space Administration‘s (NASA) Hall of Fame.

Robert is one of the 36 persons that has been honored in the history of NASA and the fourth black person to be so conferred with the prestigious award.

A leading expert on silicon carbide-based Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) utilized in extreme environments, Robert Okojie has a B.Sc, M.Sc and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from New Jersey Institute Of Technology in the US. He has worked as a senior research scientist at Kulite Semiconductor Products, where he developed high temperature ohmic contacts to silicon carbide semiconductor that was then for the first time implemented as pressure sensor for high temperature applications. He has also worked at Ford Microelectronics as a senior research engineer focusing on the development of Micro Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) based sensors, smart fuel injectors and associated MEMS packaging technologies before joining the silicon carbide research group at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland as an Electronics Engineer, primarily responsible for developing high temperature microsensors and enabling metal contacts and packaging technologies, he has been working with NASA for 20 years.

NASA stated that,”During his decades at Glenn, Okojie has received numerous accolades.

He was also recognized in 2002 as the Scientist of the Year by the National Technical Association for his “exceptional accomplishments in advancing the state–of–the–art of MEMS for use in harsh environments” and in 2007 was a recipient of the Cleveland Executive Board Wings of Excellence award. Okojie has mentored several students at Glenn, all of whom have gone on to achieve high academic and professional success in their various fields. He received the NASA Abe Silverstein Medal for Research in 2009.In 2012, he also received the Glenn Research Center Distinguished Publication Award.

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As a successful scientist, RobertOkogie holds more than 20 patents relating to high-temperature devices, including several licensed for commercial use that could reduce spacecraft weight and thereby launch cost and fuel consumption, while leaving additional space for scientific payloads.

Robert Okogie has also published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers relating to his field. Currently, Robert’s research focuses on single-chip integrated multifunctional sensing for extreme environments.