In far away Canada, a Nigerian is quietly spearheading a revolution in the field of science that is set to challenge western media’s perception of the Nigerian.
When corrosion engineer, Dr Gabriel Ogundele, bagged the Houston, Texas, United States-based NACE International’s Technical Achievement Award 2009 for his pioneering work on simulated groundwater electrolyte, it marked a major turning point for the school of thought that has always held that the future of the country resides with the Diaspora Nigerians.
Ogundele was recognized in Technical Achievement category by the global body for developing the simulated groundwater electrolyte currently referred to as NS4, which has been in use in most corrosion laboratories worldwide for studying stress corrosion cracking of pipeline steels in near-neutral pH environments for more than 20 years.
The Nigerian scientist joined a select and rare 41 other individuals and companies honoured by the NACE International for their outstanding commitment and service to the association’s growth and recognition as the world leader in corrosion control on March 25, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, during its annual Awards Dinner at Corrosion 2009.
The NACE Technical Achievement Awards recognizes individuals’ technical achievements in corrosion engineering. The achievements must have had significant effects on the practices of corrosion control or have enhanced the corrosion engineering profession. Recognized achievements can be in the areas of research, engineering, or education.
NACE International was originally known as “The National Association of Corrosion Engineers” when it was established in 1943 by eleven corrosion engineers in the pipeline industry. NACE International has become the largest organization in the world committed to the study of corrosion.
In its citation, the association had said: “The NACE Foundation is grateful to this dedicated group of individuals whose vision, financial support and continued efforts have resulted in a one of a kind organization dedicated to promoting knowledge of corrosion science and engineering to our industry’s next generation.”
Ogundele did not bag the award by chance. In fact, this Nigerian has etched his name and that of his country on the walls of corrosion engineering in North America for over a decade and steadily collecting recognitions on his way this major award.
In 1985, the first transgranular cracking incidents were reported in Canadian pipelines. Since the first report on transgranular cracking, a number of similar pipeline failures have been reported around the world. Transgranular stress corrosion cracking (TGSCC) has been associated with near-neutral pH environments, primarily under disbonded coatings.
In 1987, based on analysis of solutions from initial failures, Ogundele developed a series of solutions to simulate TGSCC environments in the laboratory, termed NS1, NS2, NS3, and NS4.
During the 1990s, NS4 became the standard for SCC propagation experiments in most laboratories worldwide, and was used in all 12 papers studying SCC in pipeline steels, as published in the two-volume book Environment-Induced Cracking of Materials, by S.A. Shipilov, R.H. Jones, J.M. Olive, and R.B. Rebak.
Born and raised in Nigeria, Ogundele obtained a higher diploma in mechanical engineering from The Polytechnic in Ibadan, Nigeria. He later attended the University of Calgary, Canada, where he obtained a M Sc and PhD in mechanical engineering, specializing in metallurgy and corrosion.
Ogundele has authored more than 30 publications in corrosion science and engineering, and was co-winner of the Paul Cohen Memorial Award for the “most precise and innovative paper in the field of power systems water technology for the paper titled ‘Corrosion Fatigue of Boiler Tubing – Effect of Water Chemistry,’ presented at the 54th annual International Water Conference in 1993.”
Ogundele who is married, lives in Mississauga city, in Ontorio, Canada, and has four grown children-all in their twenties, and all of whom are at or have graduated from university. He has been a grandfather since last September, thanks to his first daughter, who is currently working for Shell in Malaysia. He is active in his community, both as archdiocese representative on the Central Committee for Catholic School Councils of the Dufferin-Peel, a leader in his church, and as past Grand Knight of a local chapter of the Knights of Columbus.
Ogundele has been involved in the metallurgical examination and assessment of steam generator tubing materials and thus possesses the knowledge base on failure analyses concepts for the characterization of the various damage mechanisms in critical components. The results and recommendations of the investigations are contained in over 25 publications and 70 reports that were issued to clients.
He is involved in a number of laboratory investigations on the integrity of engineering materials, and providing solutions to materials’ degradation under various environmental and operational conditions.
Specific activities include: laboratory evaluation of various corrosion mechanisms such as corrosion fatigue, stress corrosion cracking, and erosion corrosion on power plant component materials, for input into ‘fitness-for-service’ guidelines; developing specialized testing apparatus; conducting failure analysis on damaged components in nuclear and thermal plants.
Ogundele began his classroom career in Canada as a Staff Lecturer at U of Toronto, in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, where he taught ‘fatigue and fracture engineering’, ‘dynamics’, and direct energy conversion and corrosion.
From 1997-2000, he was an Adjunct Professor at Ryerson U., in the School of Mechanical Engineering.
Joining Ontario Hydro in 1988, Ogundele is a principal scientist in the Materials and Equipment Reliability Department at Canada-based Kinectrics Incorporated.
He has been with OH/OPG/Kinectrics for over 15 years where he has been engaged in corrosion-related activities and materials performance. He is also involved in numerous corrosion issues related to various components that include steam generators, heat exchangers, moderator cover gas systems, and buried piping
As a long-term member of NACE International, Ogundele has chaired numerous committees and held several leadership positions for the NACE Northern Area and Toronto Section, where he is currently career development and publicity chair. He has also authored more than 30 publications in the field of corrosion science and engineering.
Before his sojourn overseas, Ogundele had received a higher diploma with distinction in Mechanical Engineering from The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Nigeria.
He is currently the Toronto Section Career and Student Development Chairman and Northern Area Research Chairman.
He founded the University of Toronto Student Chapter of NACE and served as Advisor to the Chapter. He was instrumental in writing the operating manual for the running of a Student Chapter of NACE. He is a member of NACE Technical Committee T3-E: Stress Corrosion Cracking and Corrosion Fatigue. He served on the organizing committee of the Northern Area Conference held in Toronto as the vice-chair.
He organized and chaired an Environment Assisted Cracking Session at the Conference. Dr. Ogundele also reviews papers for publication in the Corrosion Journal of NACE.
It is noteworthy to remark that after graduation from the University of Calgary, Ogundele worked as Post-Doctoral Fellow and Research Associate in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto from 1984 to 1988. During that period he performed and coordinated research in materials’ science and engineering, fatigue, corrosion and environment assisted cracking of metallic materials.
A major activity of Ogundele was the evaluation and assessment of field (soil) data relevant to underground natural gas transmission pipelines and conducted experimental work on the stress corrosion cracking of pipeline steels using the synthetic dilute (low pH) solution developed from the field data.
While as a Senior Research Engineer with the Ontario Power Technologies (formerly, Ontario Hydro Research Division), Ogundele was involved in various projects in the areas of (a) environment assisted cracking of metallic materials impacting on steam generator operation, (b) microbiologically influenced corrosion and fouling impacting on heat exchangers’ operation and on used fuel disposal container material, and (c) failure analyses on degraded metallic components in thermal and nuclear plants.
He has been a co-winner of Paul Cohen Memorial Award for the most precise and innovative paper in the field of Power Systems Water Technology for the paper titled “Corrosion Fatigue of Boiler Tubing – Effect of Water Chemistry”, presented at the 54th Annual International Water Conference, Pittsburgh, United States.
In addition to these, Ogundele is very active in the community as a volunteer in local organizations and involved in promoting the field of Science and Engineering at various levels through guest speaking at the Ontario Science Centre and at Secondary School Career Days.
On receiving the award, the Nigerian scientist had remarked: “This award is very important to me,” says Ogundele. “It’s very satisfying that my contribution to the area of environment assisted cracking of metallic materials is so highly valued.”
NACE International is a professional technical association dedicated to promoting public safety, protecting the environment, and reducing the economic impact of corrosion. Established in 1943, NACE International has more than 20,000 members worldwide and offers technical training and certification programmes, sponsors conferences, and produces industry standards, reports, publications, and software.
Dr. Gabriel Ogundele has been a NACE International member since 1979 when he joined the Calgary Section as a Student member. He has been with the Toronto Section since 1984. He served in various positions in the Toronto Section (Chairman, Membership, Programme, and Arrangements).
bivnze's space 