Professor Simeon Olatayo Jekayinfa was born 55 years. He attended Anglican Grammar School, Ogbomoso, from 1977 to 1982. He served the country as Agricultural Engineer in the Bakolori Irrigation Project, Talata Mafara between 1988 and 1989, during which time he had the opportunity to participate in the maintenance of irrigation reticulation and pumping machineries. He was employed as Executive Agro processor with Oyo State Agricultural Development Programme (OYSADEP), Saki, from July 1990 to August 1997 where he rose to the rank of a senior Agricultural Engineer. He joined the services of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso in August 1999, as Lecturer Grade 1, and rose through the ranks, being promoted Senior Lecturer in 2004, Reader in 2007 and a full Professor of Farm Power and Machinery on 1st October 2010.
Engineer Prof Jekayinfa obtained a Bachelor of Engineering degree from University of Ilorin, Nigeria in 1988. He later obtained Master’s and PhD Degrees in Agricultural Engineering from University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 1995 and 2004 respectively. Prof Jekayinfa had his postdoctoral training at the Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Potsdam, Germany between 2006 and 2008. He was also a Visiting Professor to the same institute in 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2019. He has been a recipient of many awards including The World Academy of Science (TWAS) Research Grants, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowships (AvH), Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND) research grant, Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND) Book publication grant and conference attendance. Prof Jekayinfa is also a four-time recipient of the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH)’s Humboldt Kolleg conference grants in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2019 with which he hosted over 300 professors and scientists from Nigeria and other African countries. He was the Head of his Department for 5 years spanning 2004 – 2006 and 2008 – 2011.
He was the Director of Academic Planning and Manager of the University Press of LAUTECH between 2012 and 2015. He was the Dean, Faculty of Engineering, Adeleke University, Ede, Osun State from 2018 to 2019. He is the current Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology and the National Vice Chairman, Committee of Deans of Engineering and Technology in Nigerian Universities (CODET). He has served as external examiner to more than 20 Universities within and outside Nigeria. He has also served as External Assessor for professorial candidates in many Universities within and outside Nigeria. He has successfully supervised over 150 BSc, 20 MSc and 14 Ph.D. candidates.
He has authored/co-authored over 120 articles in journals, books, and Monograph and conference proceedings which have been cited more than 1540 times, leading to an h-index of 20 which is exceptional in the discipline of power and machinery given the fact that he has also held some non-academic positions. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Journal of Engineering & Technology and Adeleke University Journal of Engineering & Technology. He holds membership of Editorial Board of 10 scientific journals and is involved in reviewing manuscripts for over 30 scientific journals.
Prof Jekayinfa is a Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) registered Engineer and a Member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) and Institution of Agric Engineers of UK (IAgrE). He is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Agricultural Engineers (NIAE) and African Scientific Institute (ASI).
