United States’ NASA Inducts Robert Okojie Into Hall Of Fame

NOVEMBER 23, 2020

The United States’ National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) has inducted into its Inventors Hall of Fame a Nigerian-American scientist, Robert Olusola Okojie.

Okojie has been working with NASA for 20 years and has 21 patented inventions to his credit.

According to NASA, the scientist joined the silicon carbide research group at agency’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland in 1999. He gained worldwide recognition as the leading expert on silicon carbide-based microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for use in extreme environments.

“He holds more than 20 patents relating to high-temperature devices, including several licensed for commercial use that could reduce spacecraft weight, and thereby launch cost and fuel consumption, while leaving additional space for scientific payloads,” NASA published on its website. “He has also published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers relating to his field.”

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Okojie has received numerous accolades while at Glenn, including in 2009 the NASA Abe Silverstein Medal for Research and in 2012 the Glenn Research Center Distinguished Publication Award.

He was also recognized in 2002 as the Scientist of the Year by the National Technical Association for his “exceptional accomplishments in advancing the state–of–the–art of MEMS for use in harsh environments” and in 2007 was a recipient of the Cleveland Executive Board Wings of Excellence award.

He has mentored several students at Glenn, all of whom have gone on to achieve high academic and professional success in their various fields.

Currently, Okojie’s research focus is in single-chip integrated multifunctional sensing for extreme environments.