2015 Materials Science and Engineering Symposium (MSES’2015)
Chair: Peter Azikiwe Onwualu
The Materials Science and Engineering Symposium (MSES) is a platform to explore and facilitate
dissemination of the most recent advancements in Materials Science and application of cutting edge
innovations and technologies in value addition and development of materials for infrastructure and
industrial development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Sub Saharan Africa is endowed with natural resources including: crude oil, solid minerals, agricultural products,
hydro, wind, solar. However, it is relatively poor in technology for infrastructure and manufacturing, compared to
other continents. This has led to a situation where raw materials are exported with little or no value addition and in
return intermediate and advanced materials and finished products are imported, a situation that further
impoverishes the continent. One major reason that has been advanced for this state of affairs is the inability of the
economies of the different countries to exploit, harness and convert the abundant resources to wealth through the
judicious application of Science and Technology to convert the raw materials to primary, intermediate and
advanced materials for manufacturing and production of goods and services within the continent. There is
therefore the need for capacity building within Sub Saharan Africa in order to build a critical mass of engineers
and scientists as well as technologies for development of materials to drive industrialization and manufacturing to
make the sub region relevant in the globalized economy.
This symposium is aimed at providing the scientific base for solving the problem by addressing the challenge of
Materials for Sustainable Infrastructure Development in: energy; environment; food and agriculture; medicine and
healthcare; manufacturing; construction; water and sanitation; information and communication technologies (ICT).
It will bring together researchers, experts, educators, developers, managers, entrepreneurs, industrialists,
students, policy makers, professionals in Industry and government to publish and share original findings,
innovations, success stories, and challenges faced in the pursuit of advanced knowledge and technologies in
Materials Development and Manufacturing

Program Topics
The main theme of the Symposium is Capacity Building in Materials Development for Industrialization in Sub
Saharan Africa.
The sub themes are:
 Materials for Energy: materials for energy production, conversion and storage; Clean Energy Solutions;
photovoltaic, wind and biomass energy systems; overcoming barriers to development and adoption of
renewable energy systems in Africa; semi conductors; electrical and optical properties of materials, organic
solar cells, organic light emitting diodes.
 Biomaterials: biomaterials for medicine and environmental remediation, nanomedicine, disease detection and
treatment, tissue engineering, nanomaterials, bio processing, BioMEMs device fabrication and drug delivery.
 Materials for Water Purification: water treatment chemicals; water recycling; water filtration technologies;
materials for water storage, conveyance and packaging.
 Construction Materials: sustainable building materials; steel and other metals for construction industry;
cement; concrete; ceramics and other building materials; alternative building materials; road construction
materials, the role of materials in building collapse, building material properties.
 Food Preservation and Agro Processing: engineering properties of agricultural materials; materials for food
preservation and storage; modern trends in agro materials processing; food packaging materials; biomass
processing; next generation biofuels.
 Mineral and Chemical Processing: mineral characterization and materials properties; value addition;
minerals beneficiation; industrial chemicals processing; polymers; recycling


 Instrumentation and Software Applications in Materials Science and Engineering: emerging trends in
instrumentation and measurement of materials properties; software applications in materials design, selection
and applications; teaching aids and e-resources; computational materials science, simulation and new
materials..

International Program Committee
 Peter Azikiwe Onwualu, Professor, Africa University of Science and Technology, Abuja, Nigeria.
 Abdulkarim S. Ahmed, Professor, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and President Materials Society of Nigeria
 Shola Odusanya, Shetsco Science and Technology Complex, Abuja.
 Marcel Hochet, President Greenelec, Paris, France.
 Esidor Ntsoenzok, Professor, CNRS-CEMHTI, Orleans, France
 Douglas J. Buttrey, Professor, University of Delaware, Newwark, USA
 Zebaze Kana, Kwara State University, Ilorin, Nigeria.
 Oscar Komla Awitor, Professor, Universite d’Auvergue, France
 Babaniyi babatope, Obafemi Awolowo Unibversity, Ile Ife, Nigeria.
 Peter Ngene, Utrecht University/Deft University of Technology, The Netherlands