Kwabena Bediako

Daniel Kwabena Dakwa Bediako is a Ghanaian-British chemist. He is currently Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and is the Cupola Era Professor in the College of Chemistry. His research considers charge transport and interfacial charge transfer in two-dimensional materials and heterostructures. He is also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the '' Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS)''.

Early life and education

Bediako was born in Accra, Ghana in 1986 to Kwame Bediako, a Ghanaian, and Gillian Mary Bediako, British. He grew up in Akropong, Ghana, but also spent portions of his childhood in Edinburgh. Bediako was a student at the Akosombo International School through elementary and high school. During his time at high school, Bediako became interested in chemistry and was influenced by his high school chemistry teacher.

In 2004, he moved to the United States to attend Calvin University as an undergraduate student. At Calvin University, Bediako did research with Douglas Vander Griend, an inorganic chemistry professor, and became interested in inorganic coordination chemistry. He graduated with honors in 2008, and joined UOP LLC to study new catalysts for industrial applications.

After a year in industry, Bediako moved to the East Coast, where he joined the laboratory of Daniel G. Nocera at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bediako eventually earned his master's degree at MIT, where he worked on mechanistic studies of water splitting electrocatalysis, and the development of metal catalysts for solar energy storage. At MIT, he also worked on devices that use electricity from photovoltaic cells to generate hydrogen than can be used in fuel cells, and was part of the team who developed the components of the artificial leaf; a device which makes use of bacteria to convert solar energy into a liquid fuel. When Nocera moved to Harvard University, Bediako moved with him, and completed his doctoral research on the catalytic behavior of structurally disordered first row transition metal oxides.

Research and career

After completing his doctorate, Bediako remained at Harvard University as a postdoctoral research fellow in Philip Kim's group. Here he looked at quantum transport through two-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures. Here he focused on isolating ultra-thin layers of materials and precisely positioning them into a super-structure. By stacking materials in such a way, and embedding lithium ions between the individual layers, Bediako showed that it was possible to engineer higher electrochemical capacities.

In 2018, Bediako started a faculty position at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been awarded an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, a United States Air Force Young Investigator Award and a United States Department of Energy Early Career Award. He received the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar award in 2020.

Select publications

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Personal life

Bediako is a fan of Manchester United F.C.

Bediako's older brother, Timothy Yaw Bediako, received a PhD in immunology and works as a principal investigator at th
West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens
(WACCBIP).

References

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Living people
UC Berkeley College of Chemistry faculty
Calvin University alumni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
Harvard University alumni
American chemists
1986 births