Black History Month is a yearly opportunity for us to celebrate and honour Black excellence. Read on to learn more about some of the Black graduate and undergraduate students in our own department

Olajide Akintayo

Olajide is a Ph.D. student in the SIM3P research group, researching solidification microstructures in Advanced High Strength Steels. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at the Federal University of Technology Akure, in Nigeria, and his double Master's degree in Functional Advanced Materials Engineering at the Grenoble Institute of Technology, in France and the University of Augsburg, Germany.

  • The interdisciplinary nature of the job allows me to exploit concepts from chemistry and physics to engineer products for other fields that make use of materials in any form.

  • That would be my sibling who is in the process of completing a Ph.D. program in the United States of America. She inspired me to take up a doctoral study and has continuously paved the path of excellence that I towed from infancy to date.

  • It was during my time as an R&D engineer intern at a global stainless steel player in France. I was employed to work on the development of a lightweight and cost-effective grade of stainless steel. At first, it appeared to me like every other fundamental research project I had done previously. However, when I joined the team, I realized it was much more. The product was meant to serve as a crash structure that would keep automobile users safe in crash impact situations. This required I approach my task with safety, economics, and functionality in mind. I had to learn a lot quickly by asking questions and communicating frequently with peers and supervisors. Subsequently, I was able to apply these new skills in a practical way to complete my project. This experience helped enhance my technical skills and grow as an engineer.

A young, Black man with short hair, wearing a blue collared shirt, looking thoughtfully into the camera.

OJ Onyeagwu

OJ is a fourth-year Materials Engineering undergraduate student, specializing in Computational Materials. He is passionate about the intersection of AI with materials science and how that knowledge can be leveraged to better select materials and design products.

  • I would say the amount of variety in specialization. From biomedical to computational applications, materials engineering plays a crucial part in making the products that surround us. I really love this variety because it allows so much creative thinking and collaboration.

  • That’s a tough question. I would have to say two people. Firstly, Sundar Pichai, the current CEO of Google. He is a constant reminder to me that you are not bounded or enclosed by the field you study. Despite studying metallurgy for his bachelor’s, he eventually played a significant part in the development of Google’s browser, Chrome. But I would also have to say Fred Hampton, an early president of the Black Panther Society Chicago Chapter. The main reason I look up to him is because he was a perfect example of someone who realized they weren’t too young to rise up to the occasion. It’s crazy to think that he was my age (21) when he successfully united the various communities in Chicago by focusing on their similarities and not differences.

  • The most enduring piece of advice that I’ve received is the following: “The greatest disservice you can do to yourself is believing that you have nothing else to learn from the people around you.”

    This applies to basically every area of life as we grow and has made me a more curious engineer. You would be surprised by the amazing conversations and insight that can be sparked by one simple question.