Dr. David Oluwasegun Afolayan

Postdoctoral Fellow, African University of Science and Technology

Dr. David Oluwasegun Afolayan holds a doctorate and a master of science degrees (distinctions) in materials science and engineering from the African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja, Nigeria and a bachelor of engineering degree in chemical engineering (best graduating student), from University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria. He is a Regional Scholarship Innovation Fund (RSIF) PhD scholar and Alumni, Nelson Mandela Institute (NMI) and African Development Bank (AfDB) MSc scholar. David is also a Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) PhD scholarship awardee, an international visiting scholar and affiliate research associate at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester (WPI), MA, USA (2019-2022), where he conducted research into baryte ores processing. He is currently the Executive Secretary to the RSIF Alumni Network. He is a passionate tutor and mentor to many across Nigeria, within Africa, and the United States. 
 

Dr. Afolayan is the acting head, Mechanical Engineering department, African University of Science and Technology (AUST), Abuja, Nigeria. He currently teaches applied mechanics at the School of Engineering, AUST, Abuja where he mentors undergraduate and postgraduate/PhD students. As a researcher, David has over 10 years’ experience. He is among the five awardees of the 2022 RSIF JIRA Research Grants funded by the African governments and the World Bank. His first research was on clay minerals in 2012 and afterwards, the production of zeolite Y catalyst for petroleum refining (2013-2014). In 2016, he commenced research in baryte characterization and processing and has helped improve the recovery of baryte from its ores using methods, technologies and devices he developed and designed. Dr. Afolayan has over 6 years in baryte processing research and published his works in SCOPUS indexed journals.