Florence Oloo (born 1960) is a Kenyan scientist and professor of chemical sciences at the Technical University of Kenya, in Nairobi. [1] She was the first Kenyan woman to receive a PhD in Chemistry. [2]
Florence Oloo (born 1960) is a Kenyan scientist and professor of chemical sciences at the Technical University of Kenya, in Nairobi. [1] She was the first Kenyan woman to receive a PhD in Chemistry. [2]
Florence Oloo was born in Eldoret in 1960; since childhood, she has been passionate about science.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nairobi, and while there she was the only female student in the chemistry program. [3] She went on to earn a degree in Philosophy and Education from the University of Rome, and a PhD in Chemistry from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Juja, Kenya, becoming the first woman from her country to earn a doctorate in chemistry. [1] [2] [3]
Oloo has directed the Community and Engagement program, which seeks to encourage girls' participation in STEM disciplines. [1]
As the deputy vice-chancellor of Strathmore University in Nairobi, she headed the university's ethics committee, which is responsible for supervising about 300 scientific investigations each year with human subjects to stop irregularities that might harm anyone participating in the scientific studies and make sure investigators did not falsify their resulting scientific data. [2] [3] [4]
She leads the nanomedicine platform at the Centre for Research in Therapeutic Sciences (CREATES) in partnership with the Scientific and Industrial Research Council of South Africa. [4]
Oloo has also worked at the Jakana Study Centre in Kanyawegi, near the city of Kisumu, Kenya, where she leads the "Woman Empowerment Program", which aims to empower girls and women between 18 and 30 years old from diverse and vulnerable backgrounds in Kisumu County. This is an area next to Uganda where "more than half a million women live, many of whom live in poverty." [3] The short six-month training program aims to help rural women create a business and use those skills to improve their family life and educational opportunities for the women and their children. [5] Through the program, they learn "entrepreneurial techniques to provide them with skills that will enable them to start and maintain an economic activity that will provide them with income. Along with these, pastry and bakery courses are conducted to ensure that they have a skill set that they can monetize." [3]
In 2009, she participated in the Synod for Africa convened by Pope Benedict XVI.
She won the 2023 Harambee Award for her work on the Promotion and Equality of African Women. [1] The award ceremony took place on 22 March 2023 at the Urban Hotel in Madrid, Spain. [5]
Kisumu is the third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and Mombasa. It is the second-largest city after Kampala in the Lake Victoria Basin. The city has a population of slightly over 600,000. The metro region, including Maseno and Ahero, has a population of 1,155,574 people according to the 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census which was conducted by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
The Kenya national football team, also known as the Harambee Stars represents Kenya in association football. It is controlled by the Football Kenya Federation, the governing body football in Kenya, and competes as a member of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA). It is colloquially known as Harambee Stars and plays its home games primarily at the Nyayo National Stadium in the capital, Nairobi.
The University of Nairobi is a collegiate research university based in Nairobi and is the largest university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dates back to 1956, it did not become an independent university until 1970. During that year, the University of East Africa was split into three independent universities: the Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and the University of Nairobi in Kenya.
Education in Kenya refers to the education system in Kenya. It is considered a basic right that should be offered to every individual. Education in Kenya predates to as early as the 18th century among the Swahili people. The earliest school was established by missionaries in Rabai. During colonial rule, a limited number of Kenyans were able to access higher education opportunities abroad.
Kisumu County is one of 47 counties in the Republic of Kenya. Its borders follow those of the original Kisumu District, one of the former administrative districts of the former Nyanza Province in western Kenya. Its headquarters is Kisumu City which is the third largest city in Kenya after the capital Nairobi and the coastal city of Mombasa. It has a population of 1,155,574. The land area of Kisumu County totals 2085.9 km2.
Bethwell Allan Ogot is a Kenyan historian and eminent African scholar who specialises in African history, research methods and theory. One of his works starts by saying that "to tell the story of a past so as to portray an inevitable destiny is, for humankind, a need as universal as tool-making. To that extent, we may say that a human being is, by nature, historicus.
The National Museums of Kenya is a state corporation that manages museums, sites and monuments in Kenya. It carries out heritage research, and has expertise in subjects ranging from palaeontology, archeology, ethnography and biodiversity research and conservation. Its headquarters and the National Museum are located on Museum Hill, near Uhuru Highway between Central Business District and Westlands in Nairobi. The National Museum of Kenya was founded by the East Africa Natural History Society (E.A.N.H.S.) in 1910; the society's main goal has always been to conduct an ongoing critical scientific examination of the natural attributes of the East African habitat. The museum houses collections, and temporary and permanent exhibits. Today the National Museum of Kenya manages over 22 regional museums, many sites, and monuments across the country.
Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, politically known simply as Anyang' Nyong'o, is a Kenyan politician and author who is the Governor of Kisumu County. He is a former Secretary-General of Orange Democratic Movement. Professor Nyong'o was the acting party leader from March 11 until late May when Raila Odinga was in the United States and was elected to the National Assembly of Kenya in the December 2007 parliamentary election, representing the Kisumu Rural Constituency. He was the Minister for Medical Services and previously the Minister for Planning & National Development. He previously served as the Senator of Kisumu from 2013 to 2017.
The Kenya women's national football team represents Kenya in women's football and is controlled by the Football Kenya Federation.
Kisumu Rugby Football Club is a Kenyan rugby union club based in Kisumu. Also known as Lakeside RFC, for the 2015–16 season the club competes in the Nationwide League.
Virginia "Gina" Vargas Valente is a Peruvian sociologist and a well-known figure in the women's movement in her country.
Vanessa Koutouan is an Ivorian women's rights activist. She is the director of the Rural Center Ilomba, an educational initiative in the Bingerville area of the Ivory Coast that promotes the education of girls.
The Kenya Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is a partially finished railway system connecting Kenya's cities. Once completed, it will link the country to the neighboring country of Uganda, and through Uganda, to South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. There are also plans to link to Addis Ababa, in neighboring Ethiopia to the north. The first segment, between Mombasa and Nairobi, opened passenger rail service in June 2017, and freight rail service in January 2018. Other segments are under construction or planned. The new standard gauge railway, is intended to replace the old, inefficient metre-gauge railway system.
Ruth Khasaya Oniang'o is a Kenyan Professor of Nutrition and a former member of Parliament. She created Rural Outreach Africa (ROA) to empower smallholder farmers to reduce malnutrition, she oversaw her country's nutrition policy.
Evelyn Nungari Gitau is a Kenyan cellular immunologist at the African Academy of Sciences, and was named a Next Einstein Fellow.
Lady Justice Hannah Magondi Okwengu is a judge of the Court of Appeal in Nairobi.
Celine Tendobi is a Congolese doctor of obstetrics and gynecology with a specialty in gynecology and ultrasound.
Susan Nakhumicha Wafula, is a Kenyan politician former cabinet secretary of health and supply chain expert in the Cabinet of Kenya. Beyond the KMTC diploma, she has a first class honors bachelor in Procurement and Logistics from JKUAT. Before that she oversaw the supply chain for the Global Programme for Research and Training at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
Achola Pala is a Kenyan anthropologist, sociologist, and women's policy specialist. Born in a small town in western Kenya, Pala completed her education at the University of East Africa and Harvard. She worked as a researcher with the University of Nairobi and later was the head of social science research at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology. Concerned about women's empowerment and the impact of public policies on women, she worked with numerous divisions of the United Nations including UNESCO, UNICEF, the United Nations University, and the World Food Council, before becoming chief of the Africa Section of UNIFEM. She also participated in numerous conferences on women including the 1980, 1985, and 1995 World Conferences on Women. She worked with Esther Jonathan Wandeka to gain governmental support for the 1985 conference held in Nairobi and was instrumental in introducing the peace torch at the 1995 Beijing conference.
