Prof. Paul Ndirangu Kioni

Prof. Paul Ndirangu Kioni is  the former Vice Chancellor, and now the Head of Research-Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education (RIEEED) Office, and a Professor of Thermo-fluids in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Dedan Kimathi University of  Technology. He is working on the establishment of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s Origin Research and Innovation Labs Physical Hub of East Africa that is hosted in DeKUT.  Prof. Kioni was instrumental in the establishment of DeKUT for which he started working in 1999 before joining as the founding Principal and Chief Executive Officer  in 2008 and becoming the founding Vice-Chancellor in 2012 upon its award of University Charter.  During his 14 ½ year as the head of the institution, DeKUT emerged as a leading University of Technology with a diverse range of technological programmes, 26 independent research centres; host of Kenya’s first National Science and Technology Park; and home of Semiconductor Technologies Limited (STL), the first semiconductor technologies research and development laboratories of its kind in Africa, thus, entering the region into the semiconductors manufacturing global supply chains. He has led, developed and promoted many programmes for accelerating knowledge generation and dissemination and technology transfer in Africa. He holds a B.Sc. from University of Nairobi, and a PhD from Cambridge University. He is a professional engineer, a member of the Institution of Engineers of Kenya (IEK), and serves as the Patron of Kenya’s Council of Engineering Deans and Principals.