Idowu Kayode Okeshola
IGC FELLOW | Global Change Center
Ph.D. Student • Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Interests: Fate and transport of contaminants in the environment, sensors for environmental contaminants, climate change, contaminated sites
Advisor: Dr. Peter Vikesland
okesholaidowu@vt.edu
Idowu obtained a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria in 2012, and a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering and Hydrogeology at the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany in 2020. He has 1 year experience as a graduate research assistant, 3 years of work experience as a site engineer, and also belongs to the registered engineering body. As a certified project manager, Idowu has also completed courses in health and safety in the workplace through the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health in the UK. His research has targeted topics such as:
- the analysis and degradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in groundwater samples from tar oil contaminated site in Frankfurt, Germany
- stable isotopes, and
- use of fired termite hill as a construction material
Working with GCC affiliate Dr. Peter Vikesland, Idowu’s PhD research will be focused on development and testing of sensor technologies for the detection of environmental contaminants.
Idowu grew up in Lagos state, Nigeria – the most populated city in Africa – faced with environmental problems such as air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, land pollution, deforestation, waste disposal, climate change and more. Years ago, he visited Southern Nigeria where oil exploration took place, and he found it devastating to see what poor drilling techniques and oil spills could do to a community. The contamination of the region motivated him to pursue his career researching sensors that can detect environmental contaminants. Climate change, specifically global warming, is of great concern to Idowu because it poses threat to all – human, animals, ecosystem, and species, and he believes that environmental contaminants are one of the driving forces of global change and a problem to all professions or disciplines. Idowu’s goal is to work on early detection of contaminants and to options of eradicating contaminants and sources.
In the News
The Interfaces of Global Change IGEP provides PhD students with a unique intellectual focus and training.
Each IGC Fellow gains depth in their specific scientific area of expertise (e.g. biology or engineering), while simultaneously gaining breadth in the multifaceted realm of global change and the science-policy interface.
