AGBAJE Kafilat Omoshalewa was born 24th March, 1994 in Ilesha, Osun State, the first of five children composed of two females and three males in a nuclear family of seven. A trained Pharmacist by profession, she is currently pursuing her Masters degree program, having graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife with a distinction (Grade point of 4.83/5.00), and being the recipient of eight different awards. Kafilat’s interests is in Pharmacognosy, with a view to developing new lead drug molecules from the vast resources available in nature. Also, she wishes to address a major challenge in alternative /complementary medicine which bothers on lack of standardization by working with decision makers in organization such as the WHO and Centre for Disease Control to initiate and advance policies on standardization of herbal medicines. This, in her view, is necessary as increasing number of people adopt herbal medicines as their first port of call for their primary health care needs. In her words “Personally, this scholarship is important because beyond covering the cost of my GRE exam, the mentoring aspect holds huge potential for building my capacity and experience. Essentially, I know the importance of mentorship and consequences of lack of it. For instance, given my academic performances, people’s expectation is that I would have long taken the GRE exam, unfortunately because of lack of information and mentor to guide in this direction, it had to be delayed.” She continues, “I believe I will be successful in the USA due to the quality of training I have received here in Nigeria, and also given this rare opportunity of being mentored by someone who has gone through the same process and recorded huge success.”

Dare Ogungbemi is a 26 yr old native of Ibadan, Oyo State. The second born in a family of three kids, he enjoys reading and meeting people and is currently employed as a graduate engineer in Ove Arup and partners Nigeria. A First-class graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, he graduated as the best student in the department of Civil Engineering and was the recipient of the Ifedayo Akintunde Geotechnical Engineering prize for the student with the best overall performance in Geotechnical Engineering in the B.Sc. degree examination in Civil Engineering for Dec 2018. Dare loves challenges as he sees them as the opportunity to learn new things. He learnt about the scholarship through a friend who uploaded it on his graduating class WhatsApp group and believes that getting to write this exam moves him closer to the actualization of his dream of obtaining a Master’s degree in the US. He is interested in specializing in water resources/hydraulics engineering and plans to gather substantial level of experience from the high level of technological know-how available in the US before coming back to Nigeria to apply the knowledge learnt.

Adenike AdelakunNN is a 24 yr old graduate of the University of Ibadan where she completed her undergraduate studies, earning distinctions in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutics, and bagging a First Class degree along with the 2018 award for the best graduating student with a CGPA of 6.8/7.0 in the Faculty of Pharmacy. Born and raised in Ibadan, Oyo State in Western Nigeria, she is the first child in a family of six. She is currently on her one-year National Youth Service Corp practicing as a pharmacist and enjoys travelling, playing board games, reading, learning and participating in new adventures- ranging from the familiar – volunteering for health outreaches in her professional capacity as a pharmacist and the unfamiliar – a new passion and interest in volley ball. Nike learnt about the scholarship when her sister sent her the link to the JarusHub site where the scholarship was posted and is grateful to have this opportunity to continue in the pursuit of her dreams to pursue graduate studies in the US.

Isioma Jessica Nwayor is 22 years old from Anambra state, she grew up in Lagos and was raised by a single parent (her mother).  She is a first-class graduate of the Department of Geography at Obafemi Awolowo University. She graduated as the best graduating student of the Department of Geography and Faculty of Social Sciences in 2019. In 2020  she concluded the compulsory NYSC at the University of Lagos, where she worked as an administrative assistant to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development Service).   During her undergraduate program, she served in many leadership positions, one of the most prominent was serving as the first president of the GIS club at OAU. In her second year, she was selected for the Total-NNPC scholarship.   She is currently pursuing an Msc-PhD degree at Indiana University Bloomington. Her research interest is presently centred on Climate change Impacts and Spatial Statistical Analysis.        Isioma Jessica Nwayor is 22 years old from Anambra state, she grew up in Lagos and was raised by a single parent (her mother).  She is a first-class graduate of the Department of Geography at Obafemi Awolowo University. She graduated as the best graduating student of the Department of Geography and Faculty of Social Sciences in 2019. In 2020  she concluded the compulsory NYSC at the University of Lagos, where she worked as an administrative assistant to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development Service).   During her undergraduate program, she served in many leadership positions, one of the most prominent was serving as the first president of the GIS club at OAU. In her second year, she was selected for the Total-NNPC scholarship.   She is currently pursuing an Msc-PhD degree at Indiana University Bloomington. Her research interest is presently centred on Climate change Impacts and Spatial Statistical Analysis.            

Mariam Adefowoke ONABANJO is 24 years old, born and raised alongside 10 siblings in Iyana-Ipaja, a surburban area of Lagos, Nigeria. Fluent in English and Yoruba, she can read and converse in basic French and has lived most of her life in Lagos apart from a one-year stint at the Benin, Edo state for her National Service year. She currently works as the financial secretary for Eko Youth Agricultural Cooperative, a startup cooperative that she launched with some acquaintances, to increase the involvement of youths in agricultural processes and ventures tackling the problems of youth unemployment and food insecurity in Nigeria. She holds a first-class Bachelor of Science degree in Botany from the University of Lagos, Nigeria; having graduated as the best student in her class with a CGPA of 4.67/5.00 and winning the University Prize for the Best Graduating Student in the Department of Botany (2017). She intends to pursue a PhD in Bioenergy/ Sustainable energy studies and join other research scientists on their quest to create clean energy to meet the world’s transportation and industrial needs by 2030. She considers winning the scholarship as an essential part towards to the furtherance of her studies because the GRE is an integral part of applications to many schools in the US. It will help her to secure admission in a reputable graduate school and therefore help achieve her future goals in the Bioenergy sector. Mariam’s continued interest is creating a world that is safer and better for everyone. She is passionate about learning, good education, quality healthcare, and the environment and has volunteered with certain NGOs in these areas. Her determination to always see things through and unrelenting spirit for research will make her a successful candidate in any field of endeavor that she finds herself.

Mbanefo Chibuike Cornelius – the second child of a family of six – was born and raised in Awka, a commercial city in Anambra state. Coming from a humble background, he learnt early the virtues such as hard work, self-confidence, empathy, and time management as the necessities of one who wants to realize his dreams. He attributes his determined, passionate and strategic approach life to the practical applications of these virtues and graduated from the Federal University of Technology Owerri with a Bachelor of Technology in Biomedical Technology in 2018 with full funding from the Addax Undergraduate Scholarship. He currently works as a graduate teaching assistant at the Niger State School of Health Technology Minna as part of the one-year national service for graduates. He is passionate about Biomedical Engineering and wants to get a PhD in order to fulfill a dream of a research and teaching career. Having successfully interviewed for current programs in the Material Science and Engineering of the prestigious John Hopkins University, taking and completing the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) was the only hurdle towards potential admission into the program and as a recipient of the Michael Taiwo Graduate Record Examination Scholarship, this gap has been bridged and this is a giant step towards actualization of his dreams. Outside academics, he serves as a Young African Leadership Initiative regional fellow (YALI RLC), a member of the Slum2School Africa Project, Commonwealth100 and the Startup Anambra community. He enjoys reading short stories and poems, and as a Spring Literary Fellow, he occasionally writes, and reviews works of budding writers. He also likes to be considered as a football fanatic, a Lionel Messi close fan, advocate of SDG, Pan-Africanism, Africapitalism and the many things that unite Africans.

Opeyemi (Ope) SOREMEKUN is a 27 yr old graduate of Ladoke Akintola University Ogbomoso (LAUTECH) where he completed his undergraduate studies bagging a First-Class degree in Chemical Engineering. Having scaled through what he considers the hurdle of pain, discomfort and stress of studying in Nigerian Universities and working in the country, he learnt about the Michael Taiwo scholarship from Facebook posts and saw it as an opportunity for a relief in the ongoing cost of applications into a PhD program in US universities. His dreams are to complete his PhD and work in an energy start-up or established company.