Noble Banadda (14 May 1975 – 1 July 2021) was a

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

n biosystems engineer,

researcher Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

and

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

, who was a professor of biosystems engineering at

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of ni ...

, Uganda's largest and oldest

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

. He was appointed a full professor in 2012 at age 37, one of the youngest persons in the history of the university to attain full professorship. He died from complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Kampala, Uganda, on 1 July 2021.

Early life and education

Banadda was born in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda's capital city on 14 May 1975. After attending local primary and secondary schools, he was admitted to

Sokoine University of Agriculture Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) is a public university in Morogoro, Tanzania, specializing in agriculture. The university is named after the country's second prime minister Edward Sokoine. Introduction Sokoine University of Agriculture ...

, in

Morogoro Morogoro is a city in the eastern part of Tanzania west of Dar es Salaam. Morogoro is the capital of the Morogoro Region. It is also known informally as "Mji kasoro bahari" which translates to “city short of an ocean/port." The Belgian based ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, graduating with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

Food Science and Technology ''Food Science and Technology International'' is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes scholarly articles in the field of food science. The journal was established in 1995, and is currently published by SAGE Publications in as ...

. His

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in

process engineering Process engineering is the understanding and application of the fundamental principles and laws of nature that allow humans to transform raw material and energy into products that are useful to society, at an industrial level. By taking advantage ...

, together with his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

degree in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

, were both obtained from

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

, in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Later he studied in a post-doctoral fellowship at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, in the United States. He was the first

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

n person to graduate with a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit-Leuven in Belgium. Banadda was a Visiting Research Fellow at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, United Kingdom.

Career

Banadda had a trailblazing scientific career. He was hired by Makerere University, serving in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. In 2012, he was appointed a full professor at age 37. Noble was the first African recipient of the Pius XI Golden Medal (2018) awarded by Pope Francis in Vatican (http://www.xn--academiadascincias 6wb.va/content/accademia/en/about/medal.html); a laureate of the Next Einstein Fellowship (https://nef.org/fellow/noble-banadda); Oliver Reginald Tambo Research Chair (https://www.nrf.ac.za/media-room/news/ortarchi-meet-team-aiming-contribute-transforming-african-research-landscape); honoured young scientist at the World Economic Forum; alumni of the Global Young Academy (2013 -2018) (https://globalyoungacademy.net/noble-banadda/); Member of the Malabo Panel of Experts (www.mamopanel.org); fellow of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences; council member of the Pan African Society for Agricultural Engineering (www.pasae.org.za); Member of the Makerere University Senate; adjunct professor at Iowa State University (US) (https://www.engineering.iastate.edu/people/affiliation/faculty/page/5/); research fellow at Clare Hall at University of Cambridge (UK); college member of the UKRI GCRF programme. Noble was full-time professor and chair of the department of Agricultural and Bio-Systems Engineering (ABE) at Makerere University (Uganda). His research focus areas were in the biosystems engineering field and include mathematical modelling of biological systems and interactions. His goal was to create value-added products from solid biowaste resources.

Other consideration

Noble was favourably cited with thus far published research findings in over 240 peer-reviewed journal scientific publications. He also (co)-supervised 12 PhD students to completion and 31 M.Sc. students.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banadda, Noble 1975 births 2021 deaths Ganda people Ugandan engineers Ugandan Roman Catholics Ugandan chemical engineers Academic staff of Makerere University Sokoine University of Agriculture alumni KU Leuven alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni People from Central Region, Uganda Fellows of Uganda National Academy of Sciences Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda

Early life and education

Career

Other consideration

See also

References