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When Kadmiel B. Adusei ’20 M.S. left his native country of Ghana for the first time, he flew 4,900 miles to begin his master’s degree in environmental engineering at the University of New Haven. “I didn’t know anybody in America,” he said. His welcome was warm, and when he began taking his classes, he said, “I knew I had come to the right place.”

Agamemnon Koutsospyros, Ph.D., professor emeritus, opened Adusei’s eyes to the possibilities that lived in research. “He talked with us about his research and how research was moving engineering and science forward,” said Adusei. “He and my other professors showed me the beautiful way that research, academia, and industry are entwined.”

Adusei’s plan was to work in industry after earning his master’s degree. At first, that’s what he did. He was a senior design technician with CPH Engineers, where he contributed to wastewater treatment plant renovations, and he was a staff engineer at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In both positions, he found his colleagues turning to him with problems that needed solving, and he’d delve in. “I realized what I wanted to be doing was research,” he said.

As a grad student, Adusei talked with Goli Nossoni, Ph.D. associate professor of civil engineering, about what was involved in applying for and pursuing a Ph.D. “She spent so much time with me, explaining what I needed to do to be a strong candidate,” he said. He used that advice and applied.

Today, Adusei is pursuing his Ph.D. at George Mason University. His current doctoral research focuses on disinfectant byproducts and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) in drinking water. His work is supported by a National Science Foundation research grant.

His research could have health impacts as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) “suggest associations between increases in exposure to (specific) PFAS and certain health effects, including increases in cholesterol levels, lower antibody response to some vaccines, changes in liver enzymes, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, small decreases in birth weight and kidney and testicular cancer.”

Last year, as a graduate assistant at George Mason, he taught a course in hydraulics. “I incorporated what my University of New Haven professors did in their classes – making sure every student was involved through a mix of hands-on activities and discussions, and encouraging them to always ask questions.”

In 2023, he won George Mason’s College of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering’s Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant. He plans to seek a position in academia so he can continue to do research and teach. “I love both,” said Adusei, who has also co-founded a company that provides health and environmental solutions.

For his accomplishments, Adusei was recognized by the Tagliatela College of Engineering with its 2024 Outstanding Young Alumni Award. He was celebrated at the Tagliatela College’s biennial Hall of Fame event earlier this fall.

“He has accomplished so much in such a short time and he is a great champion of our university,” said Ronald S. Harichandran, Ph.D., P.E., F.ASCE, dean of the Tagliatela College of Engineering and vice provost for research. “When he was here, he was extremely active in promoting the University, organizing events, and supporting the dreams and goals of students in several African communities.”

As part of the Hall of Fame celebration, Anil Shah, '86 M.S., received the 2024 Distinguished Lifetime Alumni Award. A member of the University’s Board of Governors, Shah founded MRCC, an IT solutions and staffing firm in Billerica, Mass., with branches in India. Over 28 years, MRCC has completed 700 projects for clients, including General Electric, Goldman Sachs, MIT, and Harvard University.

“He is a longtime friend of the college,’ Harichandran said. “He established an endowment to support graduate students in engineering and computer science, and he participates in outreach in India to recruit engineering students.”

RBC Bearings of Oxford received the Exemplary Partner Award. RBC’s President and CEO is University alum Mike Hartnett ’69 ’08 Hon.. “Mike and RBC have funded scholarships, building projects, and academic-excellence initiatives at the University, sponsoring senior design projects in mechanical engineering since 2009,” Harichandran said. An entire table at the awards dinner was filled with Tagliatela College of Engineering alumni now working for RBC Bearings.

At the event, Dean Harichandran highlighted the Tagliatela College’s successes and growth, with nearly 2,000 graduate and undergraduate students currently pursuing engineering degrees. He noted that federal grants secured by faculty rose from $190,000 a decade ago to $2.75 million in the last fiscal year. “We now have three National Science Foundation CAREER Award winners in the college,” he said. “This is the most prestigious award given by NSF to early career faculty.”

Dean Harichandran attributes this success to “the passion of the faculty and the expectations of excellence we set for them,” he said. “The students who come to us are really hands on and driven. They are strong students, and they work hard.”

Adusei the Young Alumni Award recipient said he was thrilled to be recognized and to be back on campus. “I was incredibly humbled and honored,” he said. “It was like stepping back home. I didn’t want to leave.”