MIT's Technology Review Magazine of Innovation (May 2002) Top 100 Young Innovator

Ten years ago, Adekunle Adeyeye left his computer-programming job in Ibadan, Nigeria, to get a masters in microelectronics engineering at the University of Cambridge in England. Despite a rocky start, he finished atop his class. He joined the physics PhD program at the university's Cavendish Laboratory, where he researched magnetism in thin films. He then became the first Nigerian to be elected as a prestigious junior research fellow of Trinity College at Cambridge. There, Adeyeye devised nanofabrication techniques that allowed him to create novel nano magnets. His mentor, physicist Stephen Julian, attributes Adeyeye's success to tremendous energy and creativity. Today Adeyeye is a founding researcher at the $10 million Information Storage Materials Laboratory at the National University of Singapore, where he works in the field of spintronics. Conventional electronic take advantage of the charge of electrons in semiconducting materials. But electrons also have a property called spin. If Adeyeye succeeds in better utilizing electron spin, he could help revolutionize memory and logic devices, leading to smaller, faster and less power-hungry computers.

University Awards 2004

The Awards honor the best in education, research and service. It singles out those who have, in particular, uplifted the University's mission through excellence in advancing knowledge and fostering innovation, educating and nurturing talent and in the service of country and society. The Award is expressed as a dynamic figure racing forward with arms spread upwards as if poised for flight. The taut figure is energized, driven by passion to soar above the norm. The wing-like arms are indicative of boldness and expansiveness highlighting creativity and innovation unfettered by the limitations of mindsets, boundaries or resources. For further information refer to University Awards 2004

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