Nigerian Prof. makes history in US, heads Ivy League school

Professor Ilesanmi Adesida Makes history in the United States of America last week when he was honored at the Urban-Champaign campus of the University of Illinois where he was selected as the first African to head an Ivy League school in the US (Born in 1949 in Ifon, Ondo state Nigeria) he his a naturalized American physicist.he attended the University of california, Berkeley also in the United States.

Before relocating to the United States Prof Adesida attended Imade college, Owo in Ondo State Nigeria.

Chief Rotimi Ogunmodede, Adesida'a mate at Imade college who flew in for the ceremony from Nigeria described Adesida as a star right from high school.

Adesida's field of academic research is nanotechnology with special emphasis on high speed devices used in communications. He has held posts as 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 of Advanced Science and Technology and research professor of the Coordinated Science Laboratory, all at the University of Illinois. Adesida earned his bachelor’s (1974), master’s (1975), and doctoral (1979).