Professor Ilesanmi Adesida
Professor Ilesanmi Adesida is a successful scientist, engineer, and an experienced administrator in both the scientific and educational circles. He is currently the Provost of Nazarbayev University, a school in Kazakhstani, the 9th largest country in the world. Professor Ilesanmi Adesida is one of the several Nigerians in the academia breaking grounds in the diaspora.
Professor Ilesanmi Adesida earned his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. However, he has served as a Researcher and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Cornell University; the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Nigeria. He joined the ranks of the University of Illinois in 1987, where he served as faculty until 2016.
Prior to his appointment at Nazarbayev University in 2016, Professor Adesida previously served as the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He also served as the Dean of the College of Engineering and the Director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at the same institution.
Professor Ilesanmi Adesida academic positions were Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Donald Willett Professor of Engineering. He worked as the Dean Emeritus of the College of Engineering. During his tenure at Illinois, he was instrumental in creating many innovative programs including the iFoundary for Engineering Education, the Applied Research Institute, the Advanced Digital Systems Center (in Singapore), and the new College of Medicine.
As a great scholar, other positions held by Professor Ilesanmi Adesida at Illinois include: the Dean of the College of Engineering, Director of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, and Professor of the Coordinated Science Laboratory. Professor Ilesanmi Adesida was a member of the board of Fluor Corporation from 2007 to 2011.
Professor Ilesanmi Adesida’s field of academic research is nanotechnology with special emphasis on high-speed devices used in communications. His research expertise also includes nanofabrication science and technology, high-speed optoelectronic devices, and wide-bandgap materials and devices.
Asides from being an academic, Professor Ilesanmi Adesida is an author who has written different publications that have contributed greatly to different fields. Professor Adesida has published over 350 peer-reviewed articles and has made more than 250 presentations at international conferences. He won many awards including the Oakley-Kunde Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education in 1994, the Best Paper Award at the Micro- and Nano-Engineering Conference in 1996, awarded the Electrons Devices Society Distinguished Service Award by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in 2011, and the 2016 TMS John Bardeen Award for outstanding contributions to electronic materials.
He was named an outstanding graduate of the EECS Department at the University of California, Berkeley in 2009. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by IEEE Electron Device Society of which he served as President previously. He has served on many academic and industry Advisory Boards all around the world (US, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.) and he is a member of the prestigious United States’ National Academy of Engineering.
At Illinois, he was appointed a University Scholar and an Associate Member of the Center for Advanced Study. He is a former president of the IEEE Electron Device Society, a winner of the EMSA Presidential Student Award; an IEEE Electron Device Society Distinguished Lecturer (1997–2002); a member of the Bohmische Physical Society (1988); and the holder of an IBM Postdoctoral Fellowship (1979–1981).
In 2013, he was selected by the Carnegie Foundation of America as a 2016 Great Immigrant Honoree.
Professor Ilesanmi Adesida is a force to reckon with, we are inspired and so proud of his achievements.