A lecturer at the Federal University Otuoke in Nigeria, Engr. Frank Efe Erukainure, has been awarded the prestigious 2023 Virginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS) Doctoral Scholars Fellowship in the United States.
Erukainure is among the first two Africans to receive the fellowship and one of just ten PhD candidates worldwide to achieve this distinction.
His groundbreaking research in novel tactile sensor development and the integration of artificial intelligence algorithms for sensing soft biological tissue stiffness and viscoelastic properties played a pivotal role in his recognition as a top PhD student eligible for the Virginia Tech fellowship.
In his research, published in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, the Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, and the IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, Erukainure and his team demonstrated that their sensor could be applied in the biomedical and agricultural sectors to accurately estimate soft tissue stiffness.
In a letter issued in October 2023 by Virginia Tech ICTAS, Dr. Mary Kasarda commended Erukainure for accepting the fellowship offer as a “top student” in one of the Virginia Tech graduate programs.
The letter read, “Your nomination by Dr. Ali was one of the top applications in a very competitive field of students from departments in the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The ICTAS review committee was very impressed by your high GPA in both your BE in Mechanical Engineering at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources in Nigeria, as well as in your MS in Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering at the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology in Egypt.
“We were very impressed with your three 1st-author journal publications, as well as your presentation at the 2022 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics. The committee also commented on your commitment to service and leadership, as shown partly through your role as a Representative of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Engineering Students’ House of Assembly for the Nigerian Society of Engineers at FUPRE.
“We also were very impressed by your contributions to the Shell Eco-marathon competition as the former Team Manager at FUPRE and as Project Manager at Federal University Otuoke. The strength of your contributions to scholarship, research, and service demonstrated to us that we very much wanted to invite you to be a member of our ICTAS Doctoral Scholars team and the Virginia Tech family.”
This recognition underscores the global relevance of Nigerian academia and highlights Erukainure’s dedication to advancing science and technology on an international stage.
