Ing. Umar M. Lahai received his B.Eng. degree in mechanical and maintenance engineering from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone. He further received an M.Sc. degree in renewable energy and the environment from Njala University, Sierra Leone. Ing. Lahai further obtained his PhD in Sustainable Energy Engineering and Management at the University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani, Ghana. Ing. Lahai is currently serving in the accreditation advisory subcommittee of the Professional Engineers’ Registration Council (PERC) of Sierra Leone. In September 2024, Ing Lahai was hired as an energy expert by one of the oldest and most prestigious energy consulting firms in Europe, GOPA (Gesellschaft für Organisation, Planung und Ausbildung mbH (German: Society for Organization, Planning and Training; consulting firm)), to execute one of the most important and urgent projects: "Transformational Energy Use for Sierra Leone Phase 1 (TEUSL-1)—Technical and Business Development Skills Training for Productive Users of Renewable Energy in Eastern Sierra Leone." Project Number: 14.2275.7-338.00. Ing. Lahai’s research interests are mass and convective heat transfer, combustion of solid fuels, energy conservation, modeling of biomass combustion systems for emission reduction, post-combustion carbon capture, clean cooking technologies, biomass energy conversion techniques, fluid mechanics, and climate change. Before joining Milton Margai Technical University (MMTU), Freetown, Sierra Leone, Ing. Lahai served as a senior lecturer and director of foundation programs in the Faculty of Engineering at the Government Technical Institute (GTI), Freetown (now the Freetown Polytechnic), Sierra Leone. Between 2010 and 2012, he served as a part-time Lecturer and taught undergraduate courses in solar energy principles and biomass technology at the School of Technology, Njala University. Over the years at MMTU, Ing. Lahai has served as head of the Mechanical Engineering Department for two terms and was voted dean of the Faculty of Engineering, a position he held up to 2019. Ing. Lahai has also served as a member of the following committees: Campus Management Committee, Senior Management Committee, Academic Board Committee, Examinations Task Force Committee, and Curriculum Review Committee, in which he was the lead person in the review of all the engineering curricula that use the general concept as a basis for engineering education at the Milton Margai Technical University and the country as a whole. In 2021, Ing. Lahai served as National Consultant for the TVET curriculum development for the Skills Development Project financed by the WORLD BANK and the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education through NCTVA Sierra Leone. Furthermore, Ing. Lahai has also served as an examiner for the National Council for Technical, Vocational, and Other Academic Awards (NCTVA) in Sierra Leone from 2006 to date. Ing. Lahai is a registered member of the Sierra Leone Institution of Engineers (SLIE) and certified by the Professional Engineering Regulatory Council of Sierra Leone (PERC)
