Nigerian-borne, 20-year-old, Charles Umashankar Egharevba made Nigeria proud at Iowa State University, USA, as he bagged super first class (Summa Cum Laude) in Chemical Engineering, a rare feat that stood him, and few others, apart amongst 900 engineering students in 14 engineering departments who participated in the 2023 graduation ceremony recently held, May, 2023, in Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA, writes By Emma Nnadozie.
He was the speaker at the pre-commencement ceremony held at the Department of Chemical Engineering of the University.
An outstanding scholar, he enrolled in Iowa State University in 2019 as an international student from Nigeria for a four-year Chemical Engineering program after completing his secondary school education at Norwegian International School, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, where he made 9 distinctions (7A*s and 2As) in IGCSE (Cambridge) International General Certificate School Examination.
From the 2019 date of his admission to Iowa State University, he posted outstanding academic performance that got him a place in the Dean’s list of the College, all through, and was among the top two percent of the College of Engineering until 2023, the year of his graduation. In the course of his undergraduate program, his exceptional talent manifested brightly in all his endeavors, fetching him the honor of early enrolment as a member of America Institute of Chemical Engineers (AiChE) a rare honor for outstanding Chemical Engineering students in American universities.
Barely one year into his undergraduate program, his extraordinary talents were discovered as he was appointed a research assistant in the College of Engineering Research in Biopolymers from January, 2020 to April, 2020. From August, 2021 to Dec., 2021, he was a Supplemetary Instructor (SI) Leader in General Physics in the course of which he conducted study sessions and exam reviews three times each week to simplify lecture contents, while at the same time, preparing interactive lesson plans that facilitated learning of complex ideas to his peers in efficient and approachable manner. He also managed SI website that relayed key information and useful resources to the students.
From August, 2022, till June 2023, when he graduated, he was a Teaching Assistant in Chemical Engineering Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer and Thermodynamics. He taught 300-level Chemical Engineering students, leading multiple help hours to highlight key ideas presented on homework materials to enable students to complete them accurately and timely, and also enlightened students on effective methods to tackle problems with confidence. He also developed challenging problem sets to test students’ understanding of key concepts presented in lectures.
Besides working with Professor and Reginald R. Baxter Endowment Department Chair, Chemical and Biological Engineering, from December 2021 to his graduation, he was also Griswold intern/research assistant, and, in collaboration with Prof. Hillier, he did a poster presentation, titled Gold Nanowire Synthesis and Self-Assembly Methods at the 2022 Annual Meeting/Conference of Chemical Engineers (USA) held in Phoenix, Arizona
College of Engineering.
Charles Umashankar’s outstanding academic performance earned him straight admission with Bachelor’s degree to PhD program with full scholarship in several American universities, including some Ivy League. Cornel University, New York, the best Ivy League in Engineering offered him a doctoral admission, which reads, “Congratulations! I am very pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into the Ph.D.
Program in the field of Chemical Engineering at the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University, beginning Fall 2023. As part of our offer of admission, we guarantee you full financial support for five academic years, including a stipend, health insurance, and full academic year tuition. Your anticipated financial support is described in the accompanying addendum.” The total scholarship package stands at USD364,000 which, at today’s Naira to USD forex rate is more than #260,000,000 (two hundred and sixty million naira).
Charles Umashankar Egharevba was born to Engr. Charles and Dr. (Mrs) Sukanthy Egharevba, a Sri Lankan, South East Asian, mother who is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Visual Arts and Technology, Cross River University of Technology, CRUTECH, Calabar, Nigeria. His Nigerian father, a quiet philanthropist, is a Mechanical Engineer by training and a multidisciplinary Engineer by practice who has over three (3) decades of work experience with multinational corporations in the oil and gas industry across Europe and Africa.
By Emma Nnadozie