Abu Bakarr Kanu

Abu Bakarr Kanu is a Sierra Leonean chemist who is a Professor at Winston-Salem State University. His research considers separation-type instrumentation for the rapid analysis of chemical and biological compounds. Kanu is also involved with education and outreach programmes, and works to bring hands-on chemistry lessons to young people in Sierra Leone.

Abu Bakarr Kanu
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
University of Sierra Leone
Scientific career
InstitutionsWashington State University
Winston-Salem State University
ThesisEnvironmental quality assurance monitoring with membrane inlet differential mobility spectrometry (2003)

Early life and education

Kanu was the first member of his family to attend university. He attended University of Sierra Leone, where he studied chemistry in Fourah Bay College.[1] He was involved with track and field as an undergraduate student.[1] Kanu was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship, and moved from Sierra Leone to Manchester for his graduate studies.[1] When he arrived at the University of Manchester Kanu started to work on gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.[2] For his doctoral degree he developed miniaturised systems for environmental monitoring.[3] His doctoral research formed the basis of two patents focussing on membrane sampling, which reduced sampling time by 60%.[4]

Research and career

After earning his doctoral degree, Kanu started a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington State University. He worked alongside Herbert H. Hill, Jr. on the development of ion mobility mass spectrometry. He proposed that this work could be used to reduce false positives in airport screening for explosives and drugs. He also showed that it was possible to separate drugs using the drift gas selectivity of ion-mobility spectrometry–mass spectrometry.[1] He has applied ion-mobility spectrometry–mass spectrometry to identify environmental pollutants in both indoor air and contaminated water.[5] He has created a novel sampling system that incorporates a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane and nanoparticles for one-step sampling, isolation, separation and desorption of environmental pollutants.[5]

Alongside his academic research, Kanu works to improve the representation of minority students in science. He leads undergraduate research programmes and supports student chapters of the American Chemical Society and National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. Kanu leads the annual Extreme Forensic Instrumentation Experience Lab at Winston-Salem State University, which sees high school seniors take part in a research project themed around a crime drama.[4] He works with Chemists Without Borders to introduce young people in Sierra Leone to practical chemistry skills and help to rebuild the education system after the Civil War.[6] As part of this work, Kanu created affordable green chemistry lab kits, which included materials and manuals.[7]

Selected publications
  • Kanu, Abu B.; Dwivedi, Prabha; Tam, Maggie; Matz, Laura; Hill, Herbert H. (2008). "Ion mobility–mass spectrometry". Journal of Mass Spectrometry. 43 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1002/jms.1383. ISSN 1096-9888.
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References
  1. "ASMS Faces of Mass Spectrometry" (PDF). ASMS. 2020.
  2. Kanu, Abu Bakarr (1999). Investigating the desorption profiles produced through cold vapour desorptions using gas chromatography/gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Thesis). Manchester: UMIST.
  3. Kanu, Abu Bakarr; University of Manchester (2003). Environmental quality assurance monitoring with membrane inlet differential mobility spectrometry. Manchester: University of Manchester. OCLC 828572513.
  4. "A Bakarr Kanu - Winston-Salem State University". www.wssu.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  5. "NSF Award Search: Award#1900124 - Research Catalyst: Environmental Quality Assurance using Ion Mobility Spectrometry". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
  6. "To Educate Is to Drive Change". The Analytical Scientist. Retrieved 2020-08-12.
  7. "C&EN profiles Chemists Without Borders, the humanitarian chemistry organization". Chemical & Engineering News. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
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