Dr. Aniekan Okon

University of Uyo

Spring 2022

Dr. Aniekan Okon is a mechanical engineering lecturer at the University of Uyo, Nigeria. He was an MIT-ETT fellow in 2022 and was deeply impressed by MIT’s culture of self-belief, excellence, innovation, and hands-on learning. He emphasizes that this mindset is exactly what educators and stakeholders in Nigerian higher education need in order to create groundbreaking solutions and drive wealth generation for the nation. In his teaching, Dr. Okon encourages a practice-oriented approach and instills entrepreneurial thinking in his engineering students. His research spans combustion and energy systems, and he has studied how to improve the stability and efficiency of combustion under various conditions. By merging high standards of learning with a problem-solving ethos, he aims to produce engineers who are not only technically competent but also bold and innovative in tackling Nigeria’s engineering challenges.