Nigerian Morolake Omoya makes History as the first Black University of California Los Angeles Student to earn 3 Degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering

 According to a report by Matthew Chin for the UCLA Newsroom, Morolake Omoya, in March 2023, successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, becoming the first Black student to receive bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in civil and environmental engineering from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. Supervised by Professor Henry V Burton, her Ph.D. Dissertation on Bayesian Methods for Modeling Post-Earthquake Damage and Recovery of Infrastructure was based on the 2014 Napa earthquake. Omoya’s approach uses more data — including detailed building and site information, as well as sociodemographic data — than previous models. And it incorporates a type of statistical analysis called Bayesian inferencing for more robust and real-time modeling. Ultimately, the goal was to develop a better blueprint to help communities in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake and throughout their long-term recovery.

Congratulating her, Associate Adjunct Professor Audrey P. O'Neal, noted that Rolake, as she is fondly called, is "a brilliant scholar, leader, role model, and advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion", who is "guided by faith and her supportive family in Nigeria to be the change she wants to see."

Rolake herself opined that she has through her history-making 3 degrees earning years at UCLA's Samueli School of Engineering learnt vital life lessons "that we rise by lifting others and others are lifted because we rise".

Congratulations to this trailblazing Nigerian lady, Dr. Morolake Omoya, PhD Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Read more at UCLA Newsroom