Ambrose Adegbege, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award in Electrical and Computer Engineering for the 2023–2024 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. He will head to Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
While abroad, Adegbege will work with scholars in Nigeria on an area of artificial intelligence known as embedded control that involves specialized computing hardware used to operate critical infrastructure like smart electric grids.
“The research seeks to develop efficient and structurally simple control algorithms whose behavior can be easily realized in electrical circuits that operate similarly to the human brain,” he said. “The study is complemented by a course on embedded control incorporating proposed scholarship in teaching to enhance the student learning experience.”
According to Adegbege, the proposed project has the potential benefit of improving the efficiency of Nigeria’s power grid along with oil and gas processing infrastructures.
Fulbrighters engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions.
“My future career goal is to get more involved with the international aspects of engineering education and to foster transnational research collaborations and scholarly exchanges,” he said. “This Fulbright award will offer a unique opportunity for me to engage on issues relating to international education and cultural exchanges between the two countries.”
During his nine years at TCNJ, Adegbege’s Laboratory for Embedded Control and Optimization has helped bridge the gap between the theory and the practice of control through high-impact research in mathematical programming and neuromorphic computing. . As a faculty mentor to over 30 undergraduate students, he has shared authorships on over 25 technical papers published in reputable peer-reviewed conferences and journals.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world.
— Emily W. Dodd ’03