Skip to main content
UMass Collegiate M The University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Give
  • Search UMass.edu
College of Engineering College of Engineering

Main navigation

  • Academics

    Academic programs

    Undergraduate programsGraduate programs4+1 Accelerated MS programsCertificate programsCourses
    See all academic programs
    AdmissionsTuition & financial aidAcademic advisingCareers & experiential learningStudy abroad for engineers
  • Research
    Research centers, institutes, and programsResearch areasUndergraduate researchResearch news & highlightsInnovation and Entrepreneurship
    Faculty ProfilesResearch development servicesCore facilitiesInstitute for Applied Life SciencesMGHPCC
  • Community
    Office of Diversity, Equity, and InclusionStudent OrganizationsMakerspacesAdvisory Boards and CouncilsNotable AlumniStudent VoicesInvited LecturesAwards Programs
    Industry Partnership ProgramEngineering ScholarshipsGive to Engineering
  • About
    Mission, vision & inclusivity statementStrategic PlanDepartmentsFaculty & StaffFaculty AchievementsLeadershipAccreditationContact
    Info for current studentsInfo for newly admitted studentsInfo for faculty and staffOpen Faculty PositionsVisit
  • News and Events
    NewsEvents

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. News

Evbarunegbe and Olisedeme-Akpu Win Prestigious Scholarships from the National Society of Black Engineers

April 5, 2023 Student Life

Content

NSBE Scholarship Winners
George Olisedeme-Akpu and Nelson Evbarunegbe attend the Inspire STEM Gala in Boston

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Boston Professionals has awarded graduate student Nelson Evbarunegbe of the Chemical Engineering (ChE) Department and undergraduate George Olisedeme-Akpu of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department scholarships from the NSBE Boston Scholarship Program. NSBE established the scholarship program to support its professional and collegiate members majoring in disciplines related to the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math). Evbarunegbe received a $1,500 NSBE scholarship, while Olisedeme-Akpu’s award was $3,000.

Evbarunegbe is an M.S. student on a Ph.D. track in the ChE department who is also working on his M.S. in the Computer Science Department. He earned his B.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Benin in Nigeria, ranking third in a class of 92.

Among the research projects worked on by Evbarunegbe at UMass Amherst is a study of “AI-assisted polymer coating formulations – fingerprint benchmarking,” which is also his ChE M.S. Thesis. In addition, some of his other works and projects include researching the design of the combustion chamber of a coal-fired combustor; studying to optimize biodiesel production from waste vegetable oil using a functionalized cow-horn catalyst; and development of a scalable and efficient machine-learning ensemble for determining the outcomes of National Football League games.

Evbarunegbe’s leadership experiences include serving as a graduate advisor to the Dean of Engineering. In addition, he is currently the social chair of the Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Society, a graduate student advisor for NSBE, and a Chemical Engineering student representative to the national organization for the UMass Amherst chapter of the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists & Chemical Engineers.

Among several of Evbarunegbe’s professional experiences, he has served as a process and data engineering trainee at Deep Water Consultancy & Engineering Services Limited in Lagos, Nigeria, and as a data analyst intern for Hash Analytics.

Olisedeme-Akpu is projected to earn his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2024. He is also working on a Minor in Information Technology, is a student in the UMass Amherst Commonwealth Honors College, is on the Dean’s List, and has received a UMass Amherst Chancellor’s Scholarship.

Among other work experiences, Olisedeme-Akpu was a design and engineering intern for the summer of 2022 at the General Dynamics Electric Boat complex in Groton/New London, Connecticut. As part of that position, he communicated with internal stakeholders to collect and verify technical and scheduling data, redesigned process schedules to assist engineers in keeping track of consecutive and simultaneous processes, supported production control in troubleshooting material tag issues and implementing solutions, and organized data to support design review for upper management and the Navy.

Olisedeme-Akpu currently does research in the Human Performance Laboratory, where he collects and analyzes data on human interactions with autonomous driving systems and provides relevant and constructive feedback on peer-reviewed research papers. He is also a senator in the UMass Amherst chapter of NSBE and a member of both Pi Tau Sigma and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. (April 2023)

Article posted in Student Life

Related departments

  • Chemical Engineering
  • Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Site footer

College of Engineering
  • Find us on Facebook
  • Find us on YouTube
  • Find us on LinkedIn
  • Find us on Instagram
Address

Amherst, MA 01003
United States

Info for

  • Current students
  • Newly admitted students
  • Faculty and staff
  • Alumni

Academics

  • Academic programs
  • Departments
  • Academic advising

About

  • About the College of Engineering
  • News
  • Events
  • Faculty & Staff
  • Contact
  • Give to Engineering

Utilities

  • Email
  • SPIRE
  • Canvas
  • Online File Storage & Collaboration
  • People Finder

Global footer

  • ©2025 University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Site policies
  • Privacy
  • Non-discrimination notice
  • Accessibility
  • Terms of use