Shaping Africa’s Future With Microelectronics

Timothy Ayelagbe dreams of using technology to advance health care and make other improvements across Africa.

Ayelagbe calls microelectronics his “joy and passion” and says he wants to use the expertise he’s gaining in the field to help others.

“My ultimate goal,” he says, “is to uplift my fellow Africans.”

He is pursuing an electronics and electrical engineering degree, specializing in microelectronics, at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He says he believes learning how to employ field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) is the path to mastering the hardware description languages that will let him develop affordable, sustainable medical electronics.

He says he hopes to apply his growing technical expertise and leadership abilities to address the continent’s challenges in health care, infrastructure, and natural resources management.

Ayelagbe is passionate about mentoring aspiring African engineers as well. Early this year, he became an IEEE Youth Endeavors for Social Innovation Using Sustainable Technology (YESIST) ambassador. The YESIST 12 program provides students and young professionals with a platform to showcase ideas for addressing humanitarian and social issues affecting their communities.

As an ambassador, Ayelagbe made online webinar sessions in his student branch while also mentoring pre-university students through activities encouraging service-oriented engineering practice.

A technologist right out of the gate

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Ayelagbe was captivated by how things worked from a young age. As a child, he would dismantle and reassemble his toys to learn how they worked.

His mother, a trader, and his father, then a quality control officer in the metal processing industry, nurtured his curiosity. While the conventional path to upward mobility in Nigeria might have led him to becoming a doctor or nurse, his parents supported his pursuit of technology.

As it turns out, he is poised to advance the state of health care in Nigeria and around the globe.

For now, he is focused on his undergraduate studies and on gaining practical experience. He recently completed a six-week student work experience program as part of his university’s engineering curriculum. He and fellow OAU students developed an angular speed measurement system using Hall effect sensors, which calculates the speed when its Hall’s element moves in relation to a magnetic field. Changes in the voltage and current running through the Hall element can be used to calculate the strength of the magnetic field at different locations or to track changes in its position. One common use of Hall effect sensors is to monitor wheel speed in a vehicle’s antilock braking system.

“I want to apply the things I’m learning to make Africa great.”

Like commercialized versions, the students’ device was designed to withstand harsh weather and unfavorable road conditions. But theirs is certain to have a significantly lower price point than the magnetic devices it emulates, while producing more accurate readings than traditional mechanical versions, Ayelagbe says.

“We did some data processing and manipulation via Arduino programming using an ATmega microcontroller and a liquid crystal display to show the angular speed and frequency of rotation,” he says.

Because the measurement system has potential applications in automotive and other industries, Ayelagbe’s OAU team is seeking partnerships with other researchers to further develop and commercialize it. The team also hopes to publish its findings in an IEEE journal.

“In the future, I hope to work with semiconductor giant industries like TSMC, Nvidia, Intel, and Qualcomm,” he says.

Volunteering provides valuable experience

Despite Ayelagbe’s academic success, he has faced challenges in finding semiconductor internships, citing some companies’ geographical inaccessibility to African students. Instead, he says, he has been gaining valuable experience through volunteering.

He serves as a social media manager for the Paris-based Human Development Research Initiative (HDRI), an organization that works to inspire young people to help achieve the 17 sustainable U.N. development goals known collectively as Agenda 2030. He has been promoting environmental and climate action through LinkedIn posts.

Ayelagbe is an active IEEE volunteer and is involved in his student branch. He is the incoming vice president of the branch’s IEEE Robotics and Automation Society chapter and says he would love to take on more roles in the course of his leadership journey. He organizes webinars, meetings, and other initiatives, including connecting fellow student members with engineering professionals for mentorship.

Through his work with HDRI and IEEE, he has the opportunity to network with students, professionals, and industry experts. The connections, he hopes, can help him achieve his ambitions.

African nations “need engineers in the leadership sector,” he says, “and I want to apply the things I’m learning to make Africa great.”