K.O.S. (Determination) |
Iqra! (96:01)
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Just what is it that grad students do anyway? Good Question. I still don't really have a clue! Okay, well then can you at least explain what you do? Ah, fair enough. I am a graduate student in the Electrical Engineering department. My advisor is Professor Wole Soboyejo (MAE Dept). Our group works on a variety of materials science questions, with a significant focus on creating and implementing solutions to problems in the developing world - closing the technological divide both by providing affordable and practical products, and by helping to promote and develop the local scientific and R&D culture of these societies. My particular research topic deals with Organic Electronics (OLEDs and Solar Cells) - devices which can provide affordable and easy-to-manufacture light displays (from white light devices to TV screens) and energy sources, respectively. More specifically, I am working on characterizing the adhesion between the individual layers that comprise these structures. In the summer of 2007, I traveled to Akure, Nigeria for two months as a USAMI fellow to help develop a local research institute that was also working in polymer electronics. In December of the same year, I gave a presentation (below) at a conference in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, before a pan-African crowd of scholars and researchers involved in materials science research. That's nice.. but then what do you want to do when you're done? Well, I still have a while before I can think about 'life after Grad school,' as the typical program is at least 5 years. But I know that I want to use my technical skills towards solving issues of development and sustainability, particularly on the global scale. I have been accepted to a certificate program with the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy, studying the rate of adoption and diffusion of technology through a rural community in Kenya [link to Proposal]. CV (updated 06.08.2008): Word | pdf Papers and Presentations: "Adhesion in Organic Electronic Structures" T. Tong, B. Babatope, S. Admassie, J. Meng, O. Akwogu, W. Akande, and W. O. Soboyejo Journal of Applied Physics 106, 083708-8 (2009) | pdf "The Story of the Hundred-Dollar Laptop (Presentation, Global Development Network 2008) | PPT |
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Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?"
I dream things that never were and say, "Why not?"
~ Bernard Shaw
This is a 786 Tongmark Production
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