Engr. Professor Olawale Usthman Dairo was born in Ibadan, Oyo State on the
13th of October, 1966. He started his Primary School Education in 1970 at the
Children Home School in Ibadan, moved to Government College Ibadan in
1977 and finished his secondary school in 1982. He was again in Government
College Ibadan briefly for his HSC before gaining entrance into the prestigious
University of Ife, Ile Ife in 1982. He graduated from the University of Ife with
B.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering in 1987 and served the Nation in the Bendel
State College of Agriculture, Igboriakhi in Ovia Local Government of Bendel
state as a corp member in 1988. He returned for his postgraduate programme in University of Ife as a
University Scholar and graduated with a M.Sc. degree in Agricultural Engineering (post-harvest and processing
option) in 1991.
Prof Dairo started his working career in 1991 in the services of the Oyo State Agricultural development
program in the Old Oyo state as an Agro-processing Engineer in Ilesha zone of the Programme and was
moved to the headquarters (Saki) in 1992 as the Head of the Agro-processing and Mechanization Unit after
the Bifurcation of Old Oyo State into Osun and Oyo State. He worked as the workshop manager and
Agricultural Engineer I, before leaving the services of the state government to join the academics in 1997.
Engr. Dairo joined the services of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta in 1997 as an Assistant
Lecturer in the College of Plant Science and rose to Lecturer II. On the establishment of a new College of
Engineering in 2005, he was moved as well as other engineers to the new college as pioneer academic staff
members. He rose through the ranks of Lecturer I, Senior Lecturer and Reader, He was promoted Professor
of Crop Utilization and Bio-Resources Engineering in October 2017.
Professor Dairo was appointed the for two terms as Acting Head of Department of Agricultural Engineering
from 2013 to 2017 and was elected as the Deputy Dean, College of Engineering in 2018. He was the Deputy
Dean till 2021 and was elected the Dean of Engineering in 2021. He is a member of several committees in
the University and External Examiner and Assessor to some Nigerian Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges.
He has been involved in several research and projects within and outside the Country.
He is a member of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), the Nigerian Institution of Agricultural Engineers
(NIAE), a COREN registered engineer and have over 90 published articles in reputable national and
international journals, refereed conference proceedings and technical reports in his area of expertise.
He is married and blessed with lovely children who are professional in their own fields.
B.Sc, University of Ife, Ile-Ife, 1987
M.Sc., Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, 1992
PhD, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, 2010
i. Processing and utilization of agricultural products with special interest in oil seeds.
ii. Determination of characteristics of agricultural crops into food with special interest in drying.
iii. Recent focus is on utilization of crops as alternative farm energy sources especially under-
exploited seeds(Castor, jatropha and unexploited oil seeds of major interest)
iv. Production of biofuel from agricultural waste/byproducts
v. Physical and drying properties of seeds and food products.
a. Completed :
i. Development and utilization of ARTI Floating type biogas digester
ii. Development of a vertical plane wind turbine for rural power use
iii. Development of a biomass briquette machine
iv. Development of a biogas production equipment
v. Prototype Bio-diesel Processor design and construction
vi. Laboratory Biogas production from waste paper, cow dung and kitchen waste
vii. Investigation of drying methods on drying kinetics and nutritional properties of tomato
varieties in Nigeria
viii. Development of a Biomass gasifier.
b. In progress
i. Drying kinetics and characteristics pawpaw seed and quality ncharacxteristics of pawpaw oil
seed
ii. Production of Essential oil from Castor seed using Microwave extraction methods
iii. Drying characteristics of legumes for grazing
PUBLICATIONS
University of Ife. Postgraduate Fellowship Award 1989 – 1991
Dean College of Engineering From August 1, 2024 to July 31, 2027
Corporate Member, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Reg. No 11177
Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria No 13301
Member, Nigerian Institute of Agricultural Engineers.
1. International Seminar on Raw Material Research, Development and Utilization: Harnessing Natural Resources for National Development. 10th 11th February 2009. RMRDC, Abuja. Nigeria.
2. 12th Annual Conference of Nigerians Society of Engineers. 4th to 8th November 2008, Bauchi. Bauchi State Nigeria.
3. International Conference on Engineering Research and Development: Impact on Industry. 5th to 7th September 2006. Benin, Edo State. Nigeria.
4. 12th Annual Conference of Nigerians Society of Engineers. 4th to 8th November 2006, Abeokuta. Ogun State. Nigeria.
5. 35th Annual Conference of Agricultural Society of Nigeria. 12th to 23rd September 2002. University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State. Nigeria.
A Dissertation
1. “A study of the drying characteristics of Benniseed”. M.Sc research. Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile –Ife. 1992
2. “Investigation into the steam gelatinization of cassava cubes”. B.Sc project. University of Ife, Ile-Ife. 1987.
B Articles in Learned Journals
1. Sobukola O.P, O.U Dairo, and A.V Odunewu, 2008. Convective Hot Air Drying of Blanched Yam Slices. International Journal of Food Science and Technology( In press)
2. Sobukola O.P, O.U Dairo, T.T.Afe, and O.J. Coker. 2007. Water sorption Isotherm and crispiness of Fried Yam chips in the temperature range of 293K to 313K. International Journal of Food properties, 10(3): 561 – 575pp.
3. Sobukola O.P and O.U. Dairo, 2007. Modeling drying kinetics of fever leaves (ocimen viride) in a convective hot air drier. Nigerian Food Journal, 25(1): 145 – 153pp.
4. Sobukola O.P, O.U Dairo, L.O. Sanni, A.V. Odunewu, and B.O. Fafiolu, 2007.Thinlayer drying process of some leafy vegetables under open sun drying. Food science and Technology International, 13(1): 35 – 40pp.
5. Aviara, N.I, O.O.Ajibola and O.U Dairo, 2002. Thermodynamics of Moisture sorption in sesame seed. Bio-System Engineering. Vol. 83(1): 423 – 431pp
6. Dairo, O. U and O.O. Ajibola, 2001. Desorption Isotherm models of Sesame seed. ASSET. Vol. 1(2): 45 – 56pp.
7. Dairo, O.U and O.O. Ajibola. 1998. The relationship between equilibrium relative humidity and moisture content of sesame seed using vapour manometric method. Ife Journal of Technology. Vol. 8(1): 61 – 67 pp
8. Dairo, O.U and O.O. Ajibola. 1994. Resistance to airflow of bulk sesame seed. British Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research. Vol. 58: 99 -105pp.
Conference Proceedings
1. Olayanju T.M.A; Akinoso, A.A; Aderinlewo, A.A; Dairo, O.U and Ola I.A. 2009. Moisture Dependence of some Aerodynamic Properties of Benniseed. 3rd International conference on Science and National Development. February 2009. Abeokuta . Nigeria.
2. Sobukola O.P, O.U Dairo, and A.V Odunewu, 2007. Convective Hot Air Drying of Blanched Yam Slices. International Conference on Engineering Research and Development: Impact on Industry, 5th to 7th September 2006. Benin. Nigeria.
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