The Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) has awarded the 2024 NAS Gold Medal Prize for Physical Sciences to a professor of Physical Chemistry at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Matthew Ayorinde Adebayo.

The NAS Gold Medal Prize was instituted by the Academy in 2016, to be awarded to deserving Nigerian scientists who have made significant achievements (of national relevance and global resonance) in science. The award is made yearly, alternating between Life and Physical Sciences, and consists of a medal, a certificate, and a purse. The 2024 award is in Physical Sciences.

Adebayo is an astute researcher whose area of research has been in material science, water treatment, corrosion technology, as well as environmental and Applied Chemistry.

His research has focused on water treatment using adsorption, coagulation/flocculation and photo-degradation processes. He has researched widely on the development of low-cost green materials, and composites, for the remediation of organic dyes from water.

Meanwhile, Adebayo would receive the award from the Academy on January 22, 2025, during the sixth NAS yearly scientific conference in Abuja.

The NAS is the foremost independent scientific body in Nigeria established in 1977. NAS is uniquely positioned to bring scientific knowledge to bear on the policies/strategic direction of the country and is also dedicated to the development and advancement of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in Nigeria. The aims and objectives of the Academy are to promote the growth, acquisition, and dissemination of scientific knowledge, and to facilitate its use in solving problems of national interest.