‘I am unstoppable’. That is the profile message on her twitter handle @xtyluv, …and she’s living it!
Christiana Esio Udoh has left a trail of outstanding academic feats at the Imperial College, London, easily one of the top 10 Ivy League institutions in the world.
The 26-year-old from Akwa Ibom was recently awarded the Dudley Newitt Prize for Experimental Excellence by the prestigious university, the first Nigerian to have received the award since the university was established in 1845.
She attributed the feat to hard work, and it’s not difficult to believe her: she has been consistently outstanding.
Having gained admission into the United Kingdom university on the platform of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) scholarship for her Master’s programme in 2014, Ms Udoh was in 2015 offered another full scholarship by the Imperial College for her doctoral degree programme after emerging as the best graduating student in her Masters programme in Advanced Chemical Engineering.
It is instructive that this impressive academic performance had been consistent since her undergraduate days.
After her secondary education at the Air Force Secondary School in her home state of Akwa Ibom, Christiana was said to have obtained an ‘exceptional’ First Class honours in Chemical Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.
Perhaps it is worth mentioning also that while at the Air Force Comprehensive Secondary School, Okop Ndua Erong, Miss Udoh reportedly picked 15 out of the 21 prizes on offer in a class of 72 students during their valedictory session in 2006.
She also led her team of contestants during the 2006 Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) science quiz contest, in which Akwa Ibom State emerged overall winner ahead of 26 other states of the federation.
“Hard work opened the door for me. I worked really hard in my research, so my supervisor nominated me for a university-funded PhD programme,” she told the Akwa Ibom State official website, akwaibomdakkada.com.
It is said that Ms Udoh, from the beginning of her Ph.D programme had been hardworking and exceptionally brilliant – the reason her supervisor, Dr Valeria Garbin, didn’t find it difficult recommending her for the coveted award.
The award was officially announced during the Dudley Newitt Lecture at the university campus, London.
For her achievement and for making both her home state and Nigeria proud, the Akwa Ibom State government also awarded her a $20,000 scholarship to facilitate her Ph.D programme.
Governor Udom Emmanuel has also commended Christiana for making the state proud through her dedication and commitment to her academics. He also thanked her father, Esio Okwong Udoh, for investing in her education.
The excited father, himself a medical doctor, described his daughter as “a pacesetter who has remained undaunted in being top of her class, irrespective of the environment.
“Whether in Nigeria, Ghana or over there in far away United Kingdom, Christiana has retained her number one position and we feel thrilled about it. This shows that Nigeria is on course to favourably compete with any nation of the world.”
According to information gleaned from the official website of the Imperial College, London, www.imperial.ac.uk, Christiana Udoh had in 2013 worked as Assistant Database Manager – Pharmacovigilance, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, Nigeria, after her graduation in 2012 from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Her Ph.D research, in Christiana’s own words on her bio on the website “focuses on the use of droplet microfluidics to extract physical properties such as interfacial tension from micro-emulsions and also in the study of the dynamics of formation and dissolution of polymer micro-particles.”
and then