Professor Ilesanmi Adesida is a successful scientist/engineer and an experienced administrator in both scientific and educational circles. Prior to his appointment at Nazarbayev University, Professor Adesida previously served as the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He also served as the Dean of the College of Engineering and the Director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at the same institution.

Professor Adesida has published over 350 peer-reviewed articles and has made more than 250 presentations at international conferences. He won many awards including the Oakley-Kunde Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education and the 2016 TMS John Bardeen Award for outstanding contributions to electronic materials. He was named an outstanding graduate of the EECS Department at the University of California, Berkeley in 2009. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by IEEE Electron Device Society of which he served as President previously. He has served on many academic and industry Advisory Boards all around the world (US, Singapore, Hong Kong, etc.) and he is a member of the prestigious United States’ National Academy of Engineering.