Soni Olufemi Olubunmi Oyekan was a Nigerian-American chemical engineer, inventor, entrepreneur, author, mentor and educator.
[3] Oyekan was both a Fellow and a Trustee of the AIChE, and has served on its Fuels and Petrochemicals Division and Minority Affairs Committees.
Oyekan was a recipient of an African Scholarship Program of American Universities (ASPAU) award which was administered by the Africa-America Institute (AAI) in 1966.
[8] His MS degree thesis title was on "The Stability of Low Tension Interfaces—Effects of layers of Discrete Dipoles and Charges".
The title of his doctoral thesis was "An Infrared Spectroscopic Study of the Isomerization and Hydrogenation of Cyclic Olefins Over Zinc Oxide".
Dr Soni Oyekan was named an Eminent Black Chemical Engineer at the AIChE Centennial Meeting in 2008.
He was the recipient of the AIChE William W. Grimes award for excellence in chemical engineering and for the mentoring of under represented minority groups in 2008.
[1][13] The Percy Julian award is the most prestigious honor given by the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE).
The award recognizes and honors a recipient's scientific contributions and achievements, dedication to research, commitment to the educational development of others and passion for the chemistry profession.