Bennet Nii Akwei Brown
Bennet graduated as the overall best science student at Adisadel College, a top-three senior high school in Ghana. He contested in National Science and Mathematics Quiz (NSMQ) for Adisadel College in 2015. As captain of the Adisadel College Science and Math Quiz team, he spearheaded the team’s success as the nation’s first runner up by organizing several trial sessions among his peers and being a fiery force of motivation. At Columbia, he is majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Electrical Engineering.
During his high school days, he, with the assistance of some colleagues, carried out a research on the susceptibility of mosquitoes and bedbugs to three insecticides under the supervision of his mentor, Mr. John Essandoh. This research was part of an ongoing national exercise to curb the ever-growing malaria pandemic. Bennet is still actively involved in research activities, serving as a research assistant at Sia Lab, a research lab that focuses on using microfluidics for point-of-care diagnostics and mobile health. He also spent his summer 2019 at Samsung-Yonsei Display Center in Seoul, researching on improving visible-light absorption capabilities of semi-conductor based phototransistors.
With an ardent love for human development, Bennet co-founded Happy Needmas(a foundation that raises funds for needy children during festive seasons). During the summer before his enrollment at Columbia, Bennet worked with a student from Grinnell College on ‘Aspire for More’ (A Davis Project for Peace) in organizing a week-long seminar to empower junior high school students in low-income communities to pursue higher paths in education.
Bennet takes delight in sharing ideas with his peers. He enjoys reading entrepreneurial books, playing table tennis and Chess. He is actively involved in the African Students Association(serving as the Marketing Chair) and the National Society of Black Engineers at Columbia. He continues to make very good use of the state-of-the-art facilities, excellent resource persons and vibrant student body available to pursue his professional and academic interests to the benefit of humanity and make the world a better place to live. Getting a computer science degree won't be enough for him.