User:F.akamagwuna/sandbox

Frank Akamagwuna is a Nigerian-born aquatic scientist at the University of Alabama's Center for Freshwater Studies in the Biological Sciences Department. He has a particular interest in freshwater systems and is primarily known for his work on biomonitoring the health of freshwater ecosystems in the African landscape. In 2022, he was awarded the 8th Raylen Cole (RCE) Editorial Fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO). He was elected to the Society for Freshwater Science Board of Directors (BoD) in 2024, where he serves as the Early Career Committee representative.

Early Life and Education

Akamagwuna grew up in Delta State, Nigeria, and belongs to the Anioma subgroup of the Igbo tribe in southern Nigeria. Raised by his parents, Mary and Jonathan Akamagwuna, who did not have a secondary or university education, he spent his childhood in the remote town of Ubulu-Uku. As one of ten siblings, his family was supported primarily through peasant farming and his father's entry-level civil service job.

Akamagwuna graduated with excellent records from Delta State University in Zoology, and Chemistry Technology, becoming the first in his family to earn a university degree. In 2016, he joined a master's program at Rhodes University in South Africa on a fellowship, completing it in 2017. He then pursued a PhD in Zoology at the same institution, earning his doctorate in 2020. Following his PhD, he joined the Institute for Water Research at Rhodes University for a postdoctoral fellowship under the African Multiple Cluster of Excellence, funded by the University of Bayreuth, Germany, in 2021. During this time, he worked on the social-ecological risks of plastic pollution in South African urban river systems.

In 2022, Akamagwuna received the Developing Country Travel Grant from the Society for Freshwater Sciences to present at the Joint Aquatic Science Meeting in Michigan, USA, and was one of two African early career scientists awarded the Emerge Fellowship of the Society for Freshwater Sciences (SFS). He founded the "FreshWater Plastic Initiative (FWPI) in 2023." He subsequently joined the University of Alabama for a postdoctoral position, where he currently working on a numerical programming tool to model nutrient transport in streams.

Research

Akamagwuna's research focuses on monitoring pollution in freshwater ecosystems. He and his collaborators have advanced the development of trait-based ecology, and tools for monitoring human-induced stressors on freshwater ecosystem health in Africa. He also contributed to the pioneering effort to develop a trait database for freshwater invertebrates in southern Africa, which is now widely used across the continent for biomonitoring studies. In other studies, Akamagwuna developed a novel, predictive trait-based approach for monitoring and predicting the impact of fine sediments on river ecosystems in South Africa. He has also worked closely with colleagues on transdisciplinary research practice, working on transdisciplinary approaches to managing anthropogenic pollution in African urban river landscapes.

Recognition and Engagement Activities

In 2024, Akamagwuna was elected to the Board of Directors of the Society for Freshwater Sciences (SFS). He currently serves as an Early Career Member (ECR) and represents ECRs on the Board of Directors. He is the 2024-2026 Raylen Cole Editorial Fellow of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), where he collaborates with other RCE fellows and ASLO journal editorial staff to advance skills in open-access publication. Akamagwuna is also a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) diversity ambassador, working towards increased participation of minorities of Black African descent in freshwater sciences. He volunteers with Legacy Scholars of the Capstone Center for Student Sucess at the University of Alabama, where he is involved in mentoring first-generation students.