The Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO) in Imo State has announced a partnership with the Victoria Nwaeke Foundation to fully digitalize learning at the university. This collaboration aims to advance learning and research through technological innovations.
During a ceremony to hand over a simulation laboratory donated by the Victoria Nwaeke Foundation to the Department of Biomedical Engineering, FUTO Vice Chancellor Prof. Nnennaya Oti expressed the institution’s commitment to partnering with groups interested in advancing education and research. Represented by Prof. Sylvester Alisi, Oti stated, “We are grateful to the Victoria Nwaeke Foundation for donating such a digitalized laboratory to us. We promise to make good use of this simulation laboratory to improve learning and research in the school.”
The Victoria Nwaeke Foundation, founded by Obinna Ama, aims to ensure that FUTO becomes fully digitized. The foundation also focuses on reducing breast cancer in the community. Ama, represented by the foundation’s secretary, Ijeoma Ogbonnah, highlighted the foundation’s commitment to healthcare advancement through technology in Africa. “The foundation was founded in memory of my mother, who died of breast cancer,” he said.
The foundation has carried out successful anti-breast cancer programs in three local government areas of Borno State and offers educational activities, including undergraduate scholarships at FUTO and David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences in Ebonyi State. The foundation also provides scholarships for students to study abroad.
For the FUTO Simulation Laboratory, the foundation aims to empower the next generation of biomedical engineers by establishing a state-of-the-art Biomedical Engineering Simulation and Computational Laboratory. This lab is expected to foster innovation, collaboration, and impactful research to improve human health. “Expected outcomes include bridging the knowledge and skills gap between domestic Biomedical Engineering students in FUTO and their international counterparts,” said Ama.
The laboratory will offer capabilities in bioinformatics, medical robotics, computational modeling, and infectious disease outbreak modeling, such as COVID-19. It will also help students stay up-to-date with the latest trends in artificial intelligence within the medical and healthcare sector. Long-term goals include collaborating with other research institutions locally and internationally.
The laboratory will serve as a one-stop shop for clinical and health research data, non-identifiable patient data, genomics data, neuroscience data, and registry data. Equipment in the laboratory includes computer hardware and software licenses (such as MATLAB, R, CADs, Solidworks), virtual reality headsets, and tools for simulating human anatomy.
This partnership is expected to significantly enhance the educational and research capabilities at FUTO, positioning the university as a leader in biomedical engineering and healthcare innovation.
