A ‘Thank You’ Email to my undergraduate supervisor earned me a scholarship. I now have a PhD. At 28

By Silas NyanchwaniWhen Victor Kariuki graduated from the University of Nairobi with a degree in Industrial Chemistry, he looked back and realized that his research supervisor Dr Austin Aluoch had been instrumental in his undergraduate studies. He had been his mentor, and he decided to send him a “Thank You” email.Dr. Aluoch was in the United States at the time, and he wrote back telling Victor about an opening he wanted to discuss with him. But that would only happen when Dr. Aluoch returned to Kenya.Also Read: Kenyan Student in America Wins Prestigious Science Award, Earns Praise From PeersThe opening was a scholarship and he wanted Victor Kariuki to take it up. Dr Aluoch guided him through the usually onerous process and mid-2012, he was accepted to the State University of New York at Binghamton to study PhD in Chemistry on a full scholarship.“He saw something in me that no one had realized and he offered me this opportunity,” says a grateful Kariuki.His small habit of being grateful to everyone who does something good to him earned him the opportunity has seen him earn a PhD five years later.BeginningsGrowing up in Nturiri, a dusty village in the outskirts of Chogoria town, 90-odd miles North-East of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, Kariuki never imagined that one day he will graduate from a prestigious, world-reknown university.“There was no electricity in the village in the early 1990s, we used lantern lamps for lighting. Television was a luxury, we only played out with boys,” he recalls.His working parents took him to school when he was three years old, “just to spend time, not learning as such as I waited to be old enough to start schooling.” This was at a time when children started going to school aged at least 6. He would be promoted to Class 1, when he outperformed his other his classmates.For primary school, he went to Chogoria Boys Boarding, where his father was the deputy-head teacher as well as his mathematics and science teacher.Also Read:The Curvaceous Girl With Embu Roots Who By and By is Finding Her Spot in HollywoodIt never occurred to him that he was schooling with students from some of the richest families, some raised in urban centers when he came from the village. In his first ever exam at the school, he came third from the bottom in a class of 30, something that shocked his parents and teachers. At the time, he could neither write nor speak Swahili or English, mom and dad would take turns tutoring him over the holidays.When time came to sit for KCPE, he would emerge the 3rd best in the school with 418 points out of 500.  He joined Nguviu Boys High School in Embu, not far from his home. His dream was to attend Lenana Boys High School, but he missed by a point or two and he had to settle to District School giant, one of the best performing provincial schools in the country.At Nguviu Boys, he would maintain a sterling performance, and in Form 3 and 4 emerging the student Embu District Mocks.While he passed his secondary school education, again he came short of the requirements to join his dream course-Medicine. He wanted to be a neurosurgeon. He changed his options after a lengthy discussion with the parents and counseling sessions at the University of Nairobi, Career Centre. He settled for Industrial Chemistry at the University of Nairobi, Chiromo Campus, graduating in 2011.  At the University of Nairobi, he also pursued a Diploma in Human Resource Management and graduated in 2010, also with a distinction.He recalls his undergraduate years holed up in the library studying. With a friend, Kevin Luvaga, who is now pursuing his PhD at the University of Connecticut, they would form study groups to motivate each other.“My parents had set a target for me, they insisted I was an A student and I could easily clinch a First-Class Honors,” says Victor, adding “this expectation was the ultimate driving force.”A PhD under 30In Kenya, the average age of attaining a PhD is impossibly high. Professor Maurice Amutabi, a Vice Chancellor at Lukenya University in Kenya weighed in on the issue earlier in the year,“Honestly, the age of students graduating with PhDs in Kenyan universities is worrying, because many of them are in their 50s and 60s and something needs to be done about it. This leaves them to work for about 20 years and they reach emeritus status compared to the west where the age of PhD graduates is about 28 and they expect about 50 years’ service from their PhD holders, and which gives them tremendous amount of advantages,” he wrote in his blog.At 28, Victor Kariuki is one of the youngest PhD holders in Kenya, in a STEM field, no less. Very few Kenyans accomplish the feat under the age of 30. And to think, he was reluctant to take the opportunity were it not for the prodding of Dr Aluoch.It makes him proud.“It means I have an opportunity to inspire others that it can be done,” he says. He intends to use this achievement to nurture and encourage others to pursue their terminal degree at a young age.Also Read: XN Iraki: Memories of Life In USA And The Seed I Planted

“Because then it has a greater socio-economic impact. In future, I would like to use my experience to improve quality and align Kenya’s education system to the current world’s best models.”But it was not walk in the park. Settling down for a foreigner for starters is never easy.“My major challenge in graduate school was settling down in a foreign country, adapting to a new culture and way of doing things,” he says.Some of his friends in the course experienced difficulties ranging from lack of motivation, procrastinating their assignment, time management as well lack of support from their research supervisor, writing thesis/papers and stress from uncertainty of graduating or securing a job.It was different for him. His research advisor, Prof Omowunni Sadik was helpful in planning projects, seeing his journals published and helping Kariuki to attend international conference. Life as a foreigner in the StatesBeing a foreign student in the United States is one thing. Living as a foreigner is another. Everyone goes through the motions; missing home, dealing with a new education system with more work load than the Kenyan education system and totally new social structure. Besides life in the US demands that one has car, valid drivers’ license to move around, all these take time to achieve.Like anyone else moving to a new culture, he had his fair share of culture shock. He learnt Americans disliked the idea of wasting time, though some can be late for appointment. Being late for an appointment with an American can be taken as a personal offence because it indicates disrespect.But another shocker was the informality of the Americans.Order Now! African Warrior Magazine Digital Copy“People dress very casually (including professors), call superiors by their first names, and eat just about anywhere. It was in America I realized that we used the same bathrooms with senior professors/ staff in the department. This is related to Americans’ idea of equality. If we are all social equals, then we can be informal in just about any situation,” he observes.Also, there was the problem the British English that is taught in Kenya, and the American English he had to adapt.Five years later, armed with a PhD and having published in numerous journals, he is ready to take on the world. For Kenyans and Africans interested in studying in the US, he advices,“Get the real picture of what to expect. It is different out here. You need to be tough to hack it. The quality of education is undoubtedly high, but the experience can be frustrating, you have to be ready to spend time in the library and stay away from fun.”Victor Kariuki has won the following awards-academic, research, conferences and travel grants.

•  2017: Graduate Student Research Assistant Award, by Chemistry Department, State University of New York at Binghamton. (awarded to graduate student demonstrating outstanding research accomplishments by chemistry department)
•  2017: Graduate Student Excellence Award in Research, by State University of New York at Binghamton. (This is a University Level award by University President In recognition of outstanding performance in graduate study and significant contribution to institutional quality)
•  Nov 10-12, 2015: Travel grant, awarded by Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO).
•  June 20-21, 2015: Travel grant, awarded by Gordon Research Seminars (GRS).
• Nov 2-4, 2014: Travel grant, awarded by Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization (SNO).
•  Nov 3, 2014: Second Best Poster presentation award at the 3rd Annual Conference of Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization. (This particular award had a major confidence boost for me. I was at the start of my 3^rd year. We presented our research together with other Ivy League university students. My work being picked as second best by very experienced professors and trouncing some ivy league students had me really motivated that I was surely doing a great research).

He has ten publications, including 5 as First Author, 4 as co-author and one book chapter with the Royal Society of Chemistry. He is presently co-authoring a book; “Chemical Processes for a Sustainable FutureHis work has been published by the likes of RSC Nanoscale, RSC Analyst, RSC Advances, RSC Environmental Science Nano, ACS Journal of Physical Chemistry C, ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, Science of The Total Environment, Springer Electro-catalysis among others.You read other eye opening and life changing articles in our June-August issue of African Warrior Magaizine. Click Here to order