Johnson Urama

Johnson Ozoemenam Urama (born July 1, 1965) is a Nigerian Professor of Physics and Astronomy (Astrophysics) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was the Pioneer Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI) from October 2012 to September 2013. He has served as Director of both the Academic Planning Unit and of the Quality Assurance Unit of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and he is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) of the same university. Johnson Urama was the state returning officer during the Kogi State gubernatorial election in Nigeria in 2024. According to a scientific index ranking, his works have been cited 650 times.

Early life and education
Johnson Urama was born on July 1, 1965, in Ovoko, Igbo-Eze South L.G.A. of Enugu State to Apollos Urama. He attended secondary school at Igbo Eze where he became a Science Quiz Champion for Secondary Schools. Urama proceeded to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from 1982 to 1986, graduating with a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Physics & Astronomy and getting an award as the Best Graduating Student. He also acquired an M.Sc. in Theoretical Solid State Physics in 1990 and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics in 1999, leading to his winning the Vice-Chancellor's Postgraduate award as the Best graduating Doctoral (Ph.D.) student in the Faculty of Physical Sciences.

Career
Urama began his career as an Assistant Lecturer in the Division of General Studies, Anambra State (now Federal) Polytechnic, Oko from November 1987 to August 1991. He was Lecturer II in the Department of Science Education, Anambra State College of Education, Awka from September 1991 to March 1992. Urama was Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Industrial Physics, Enugu State University of Science and Technology from April 1992 to November 1992. He was employed as Lecturer II in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nigeria Nsukka in December 1992. Urama rose through the ranks, becoming professor of astrophysics on October 1, 2007.

Johnson Urama was the Head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Nigeria at different times (2011–2012; and 2015–2017). From October 2012 to September 2013, he held the position of Pioneer Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo (FUNAI). After this role, he also served as Director of the Academic Planning Unit and the Quality Assurance Unit at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Currently, he holds the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Urama is the Coordinator of the African Cultural Astronomy Project, which aims to ignite interest in African ethno-astronomy and indigenous knowledge about astronomy in Africa. He had done some publications about the idea, including a book he co-edited and published on the subject.

He served as a Guest Professor at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, teaching a class called AST 201: Introduction to Indigenous Astronomy online from 2007 to 2009.

Johnson Urama delivered the 188th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka entitled, "By their Unsteady Steps You Shall Know Them: Tales of Some Dead Bodies in the Sky" on September 7, 2023.

Urama served as the state returning officer during the Kogi State gubernatorial elections in 2024 in which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Ahmed Ododo, winner of the gubernatorial election. Johnson Urama vied for the Vice Chancellorship of the University of Nigeria in June 2024.

Research contributions
Urama (with Jarita C. Holbrook and Thebe Medupe) began the African cultural astronomy project. According to an explanatory article, " The African Cultural Astronomy Project aims to unearth the body of traditional knowledge of astronomy possessed by peoples of the different ethnic groups in Africa and to consider scientific interpretations when appropriate for cosmogonies and ancient astronomical practices." On March 29, 2006, a total solar eclipse was visible from West Africa, and the scholars used this celestial event as the focus for a conference on African Cultural Astronomy. Following the conference, the African Cultural Astronomy Project was born. A book of proceedings from the conference, edited by the three scholars, serves as a resource for cultural astronomy researchers interested in conducting studies in Africa. The book, entitled, African Cultural Astronomy: Current Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy research in Africa, is the first academic compilation of articles dedicated to the cultural astronomy of Africans. It combines astronomy, anthropology, and African studies, exploring African myths and legends regarding the sky, alignments with celestial bodies at archaeological sites and places of worship, rock art featuring celestial themes, and the scientific knowledge evident in local astronomy traditions like ethnomathematics and calendar creation. Astronomers Kim Malville, Johnson Urama, and Thebe Medupe, archaeologist Felix Chami, and geographer Michael Bonine, along with many other scholars, contributed the articles. The African cultural astronomy project, which focuses research within Africa, fuels the burgeoning African cultural astronomy subfield within the field of cultural astronomy. Experiences in archaeoastronomy, cultural anthropology, and observational astronomy are provided in this subfield by experts who routinely utilize these experiences in their work.

Membership and fellowship
Urama is a member, International Astronomical Union, and, Member, American Institute of Physics. He is also a Fellow, Astronomical Society of Nigeria.

Personal life
He married Evelyn Ezugwu Urama on December 14, 1996, and they have children.

Academic publications

 * Jarita C. Holbrook,  Johnson O. Urama and R. Thebe Medupe (2008). African Cultural Astronomy (Ghana Eclipse Conference)
 * Ayantunji, Benjamin Gbenro; Okeke, P. N.; Urama, J. O. (2011). "Diurnal and Seasonal Variation of Surface Refractivity Over Nigeria". Progress in Electromagnetics Research B. 30. The Electromagnetics Academy: 201–222.
 * Shabanova T. V., Lyne A. G., and Urama J. O. (2001). “Evidence for Free Precession in the Pulsar B1642–03” (The American Astronomical Society).
 * Liu Z. Y., Wang N., Urama J. O. and Manchester R. N. (2006) “Monitoring of Pulse Intensity and Mode Changing for PSR B0329+54” Chinese Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
 * Urama, J. O. (2002). “The challenges of astronomy in Nigeria“ Physica Scripta.
 * Innocent Okwudili Eya, Johnson Ozoemene Urama and Augustine Ejikeme Chukwude (2019). “On the distributions of pulsar glitch sizes and the inter-glitch time intervals”, National Astronomical Observatories.