Marian Asantewah Nkansah | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Ghanaian |
Education | Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology University of Bergen |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Chemistry |
Institutions | Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology |
Marian Asantewah Nkansah FGA is a Ghanaian environmental chemist. Her research work focuses on finding solutions to environmental problems associated with levels and fate of toxic substances such as heavy/trace metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in food, water, soil, rocks, sediments and other environmental samples. She also researches on the interaction of these pollutants with each other in the environment. In 2016, together with some scientists from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, she led a research which led to the confirmation that edible white clay poses potential cancer risk. [1] [2] In 2016, she became the first scientist to win the Fayzah M. Al-Kharafi Prize, an annual award that recognises exceptional women scientists from scientifically and technologically lagging countries. [3] She and Collins Obuah, another scientist from the University of Ghana, were the two scientist selected to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting in 2017. [4] In 2021, she was among five women recipients in developing countries of the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards. She received the 2022 Africa Role Model Overall Female Personality Award, and was inducted as a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences the same year.
Nkansah was born in Ghana to Mary and Joseph Nkansah, both educationists. She had her primary and secondary school education at St. Anthony's Experimental School, Nkawkaw and the St. Roses Senior High School at Akwatia, respectively and all in the Eastern Region of Ghana. She then furthered at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where she acquired a bachelor's degree in chemistry and a master's degree in Environmental Chemistry. She holds a PhD in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Bergen in Norway. [5] [6] [7]
She is an Associate Professor at the Chemistry department of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where she teaches Practical Chemistry, Nuclear/Radiochemistry, Chemistry and Society, and Petroleum Chemistry. She is a past warden of Africa Hall of Residence and the Deputy Director of Student Affairs in charge of Welfare at KNUST. She serves on the Executive Committee of the International Year of Basic Science for Sustainable Development. Nkansah is a former executive member and alumna of the Global Young Academy. She is also a board member of the Ghana Geological Survey Authority and Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. [6] [8] [9]
Nkansah has been recognised and awarded for her work including: [10] [5] [6] [7]
Francis Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained independence from Britain. He was then the first Prime Minister and then the President of Ghana, from 1957 until 1966. An influential advocate of Pan-Africanism, Nkrumah was a founding member of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and winner of the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1962.
The national flag of Ghana consists of a horizontal triband of red, yellow, and green. It was designed in replacement of the British Gold Coast's Blue Ensign.
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), commonly known as UST, Tech or Kwame Tech, is a public university located in Kumasi, Ashanti region, Ghana. The university focuses on science and technology. It is the second public university established in the country, as well as the largest university in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
The Nzema are an ethnic group numbering about 328,700, of whom 262,000 live in southwestern Ghana and 66,700 live in the southeast of Côte d'Ivoire. In Ghana, the Nzema area is divided into three electoral districts: Nzema East Municipal, also known as Evalue Gwira; Ellembele; and Nzema West, also known as Jomoro. Their language is also known as Nzima or Appolo.
Raphael Ernest Grail Armattoe was a Ghanaian scientist and political activist. He was nominated for the 1948 Nobel Peace Prize and was a campaigner for unification of British and French Togoland. He was called by the New York Post "the 'Irishman' from West Africa", and the BBC producer Henry Swanzy referred to him as the "African Paracelsus".
The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) is a learned society for the arts and sciences based in Accra, Ghana. The institution was founded in November 1959 by Kwame Nkrumah with the aim to promote the pursuit, advancement and dissemination of knowledge in all branches of the sciences and the humanities.
The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings are annual scientific conferences held in Lindau, Bavaria, Germany, since 1951. Their aim is to bring together Nobel laureates and young scientists to foster scientific exchange between different generations, cultures and disciplines. The meetings assume a unique position amongst international scientific conferences, as from 30 to 65 Nobel laureates attending each edition they are the largest regular congregation of Nobel laureates in the world, apart from the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.
Honourable Samia Yaba Christina Nkrumah is a Ghanaian politician and former chairperson of the Convention People's Party (CPP) making her the first woman to ever head a major political party in Ghana. In the 2008 parliamentary election, she won the Jomoro constituency seat on her first attempt. She is the daughter of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana.
Francis Kofi Ampenyin Allotey was a Ghanaian mathematical physicist. Together with Daniel Afedzi Akyeampong, he became the first Ghanaian to obtain a doctorate in mathematical sciences, earned in 1966.
Marian Ewurama Addy was a Ghanaian biochemist and the first Host of the National Science and Maths Quiz. The first Ghanaian woman to attain the rank of full professor of natural science, Addy became a role model for school girls and budding female scientists on the limitless opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Marian Addy was also a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected in 1999. In the same year, she was awarded the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science.
Professor Aba A. Bentil Andam is a Ghanaian particle physicist who was President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences from 2017 to 2019. She is the first Ghanaian female physicist.
Letitia Eva Takyibea Obeng was the first Ghanaian woman to obtain a degree in zoology and the first to be awarded a doctorate. She is described as "the grandmother of female scientists in Ghana".
Nikoletta Samonas is a Ghanaian and Greek actress and a freelance model. She is known as Nikki Samonas in the entertainment industry and has had roles in a number of feature films. She is an alumna of both Holy Child High School and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
Samuel Nii Odai is a Ghanaian professor of hydraulics and water resources, and a serving vice chancellor of Accra Technical University. He is a Commonwealth Academic Fellow, and a recipient of the National Best Research Scientist Gold Award for water, environment and sanitation.
Priscilla Kolibea Mante is a Ghanaian neuropharmacologist, a researcher and lecturer from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, currently based at the Kumasi campus. Her research work focuses on alternatives of plant-based therapeutic options to manage drug-resistant epilepsy and the neglected tropical disease neurocysticercosis. In her work, she mostly explores the anticonvulsant activity of the plant alkaloid cryptolepine and its solid-lipid nanoparticles in the management of neurocysticercosis-induced epilepsy. Her goal is to identify a way to help cryptolepine permeate more efficiently into the central nervous system to reduce the risk of convulsion, helping patients to manage their condition as effectively as possible. Aside from her studies of epilepsy, Mante has also worked toward new therapies to alleviate pain, anxiety, and depression.
Mavis Owureku-Asare is a Ghanaian food scientist. She researched the use of solar dehydration to preserve tomatoes. She conducted research showing that poor quality foods were sold in some Ghanaian markets. She is the CEO of Impact Food Hub, a leading Consultancy for Agribusinesses in Ghana. She was a principal research scientist at the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. She is a fellow of the Norman E. Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (LEAP) and a recipient of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD).
Hutton Ayikwei Addy, was a Ghanaian academic and physician (paediatrician). He was a founding member of the School of Medical Sciences of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and a founding member and first dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University for Development Studies.
Isabella Akyinbah Quakyi is a Ghanaian academic. She is a professor of Immunology and Parasitology at the University of Ghana and the Foundation Dean of the University of Ghana School of Public Health. She is also a researcher in the field of medicine and a health practitioner. She is a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. Professor Quakyi was recognized by Newsweek magazine as one of “seven women scientists who defied the odds and changed science forever”.
Richard Tuyee Awuah is a Ghanaian academic, and Plant Pathologist. He was the dean of the faculty of Agriculture of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and the principal of the University of Education's College of Agriculture.
Peggy Oti-Boateng is a Ghanaian bio-chemist. She is the current executive director of African Academy of Sciences. She is the immediate former head of UNESCO Science Policy and Capacity Building Department. She was also a former head of the Sciences Sector for the Southern African Development Community, director of the Research Centre at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and former chair of the BioInnovate Africa Programme Advisory Committee (PAC).