Dr. Nyong Ekpenyong O

Dr. Oku Nyong studied Mechanical Engineering as an undergraduate at the Polytechnic Calabar and the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi State, Nigeria. Later, he earned a Master's degree in mechanical engineering from Rivers State University of Technology in Port Harcourt, where he majored in thermo-fluid engineering. In 2010, he was appointed as a lecturer in the mechanical engineering department at Cross River University of Technology in Calabar, Nigeria. He began his PhD studies at the University of Sheffield in 2012. During his PhD studies, he attended workshops/training on Large Group Teaching, Assessment and Feedback, Small Group Teaching (Laboratory Demonstration), and supervising research projects. These workshops/training were provided by the University of Sheffield as a requirement for part-time employment as a Laboratory Demonstrator in order to develop his skills in teaching and laboratory demonstration for undergraduate and postgraduate students. His PhD dissertation was titled "The Development of Rapid Compression Machine for Screening Alternative Fuels for Gas Turbines." His primary research interests were in the design, optimization, CFD modelling, autoignition delay time measurement, and chemical kinetics modelling of conventional and non-conventional hydrocarbon fuels. In 2017, he received a PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Following that, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate/Experimental Officer at the University of Sheffield's low carbon combustion center (LCCC), where he gained practical hands-on experience with the Rolls Royce Tag combustor and carried out experimental work on the vibrations, emission, and particulate measurement (PM) of conventional and non-conventional fuels and blends in a gas turbine. During his PhD and postdoctoral studies, he was able to develop skills and expertise in a variety of areas, including designing manufacturing systems with CAD software, performing finite element analysis of design, experimentation, CFD modelling of manufacturing and energy systems, combustion and chemical kinetics modelling of fuels, design of experiment and optimization, instrumentation and measurement, data acquisition and processing.
His research interests include experimentation as well as CFD modelling, combustion and fuel, ignition delay time measurement, heat transfer, and fluid flow systems. His expertise includes design, combustion and fuel, chemical kinetics modelling, and CFD modelling. He is a registered engineer in Nigeria and a member of several professional organizations, including the Nigeria Institution of Mechanical Engineers (NIMechE), Calabar Branch, the Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE), Nigeria, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), London. He has received both local and international awards, including the Bauchi state Certificate of Honour (NYSC Honours), the IGTI Award 2013 from the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute, the Centennial Scholarship Award 2014 from the Royal Aeronautical Society Award in the United Kingdom, and the IGTI Award 2016 from the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute (USA).
He is currently a senior lecturer and the lead researcher of the ThermoFluid, combustion, and energy research group at Cross River University of Technology in Calabar, Nigeria. His research focuses on fluid mechanics and ThermoFluid systems, such as thermodynamics, heat transfer, CFD modelling, and energy systems. He recently received a 4.5-million-naira TETFUND research grant and is currently working on the development of a Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger.
He has demonstrated initiative and creativity in the context of original research, which has resulted in a number of publications in highly regarded journals. He has strong verbal and written communication skills, as well as the ability to build and sustain successful external and internal networks in order to foster relationships for future business collaborations.