To Engineer(,) Be Human

I often struggle to present myself (online or otherwise). Here is an attempt …

 --TLDR

I am interested in helping others learn and grow (education); I enjoy finding out and sharing things about some aspects of our world (research); I like to come up with and implement ideas that help make progress (engineering). I have a multicultural background growing up in Ghana, living in North America, and having family from other parts of the world. I hope that the ideas and reflections related based on my background and experiences that I share in this online space may be helpful to others.

--Verbose

My LinkedIn profile tagline begins with “Educator, Research, Engineer …” These are how I identify professionally. For me education is about creating an environment and experiences that help people learn and grow personally and professionally; research is about investigating particular topics or questions of interests and sharing what is learned with others; and engineering is the process of working towards goals, leveraging existing resources, within constraints, often resulting in an artefact that helps to meet the goals. I am engaged in all three endeavors in my personal life and professional work, even though at first look, it may look like a particular role I have focuses more on only one or two of the three.

I am currently a faculty member (professor) in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering (FASE) at the University of Toronto. My official title is Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream. I have budgetary cross-appointments (i.e., they pay me) in the Institute for Studies in Transdisciplinary Engineering Education & Practice (ISTEP) and the Division of Engineering Science (EngSci). I also have a non-budgetary cross-appointment in the Edward S. Rogers Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) (i.e., they don’t pay me but allow me to have most of the benefits of being a member of the department). From 2023 to June 2025, I am also Dean’s Advisor on Black Inclusivity.

I used to be a faculty member in the College of Engineering at Bucknell University. My official title was Assistant Professor and I was in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. From 2015 to 2018, I was also a Swanson Fellow in the Sciences and Engineering, from 2015 to 2016, I was a Multicultural Student Services Fellow, and from 2016 to 2019, I served as a Faculty Consultant for the Small Business Development Center.

I co-own an IT company, Diginera LLC focused on providing services to other small business and non-profits. I was also a member of the Board of Advisors of Encore Renewable Energy from 2020 to 2023. I was involved in music and performing arts in my early years, and on and off since graduate school.

I grew up in Accra, Ghana, attending an international high (secondary) school, which was a boarding school with students who came from a number of different African countries. I completed my higher education in the U.S., attending University of Pennsylvania for my undergraduate and masters degrees both in Electrical Engineering and University of Virginia for my Ph.D. in Computer Engineering. While at the University of Virginia, I was a Scholar-in-Residence at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a year. My spouse’s family is from an African country different from mine, and she grew up in another African country different from where her family is from. We have three kids.

I will be drawing on this varied background and the privilege the roles I have held and current hold afford me to share some thoughts and reflections on various topics related to my professional and personal experience. My hope is that some of these are useful others on their personal and professional journeys.

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