Person: Agwu, Nkechi
Nkechi Agwu was born in Nigeria where she eared her first degree, then went to the United States for her doctorate. She is an expert on mathematical education and is particularly interested in ethnomathematics.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- At the time Nkechi was born, Jacob was Senior Assistant Secretary in the Premier's Office, Enugu, Nigeria.
- Her parents were Christian and Nkechi was baptised a few weeks after her birth in the Holy Ghost Cathedral, Ogui, Enugu, Nigeria on 4 November.
- Nigeria became an independent country in 1960 ending its time as a British colony, so Nkechi was born into independent Nigeria.
- Jacob Agwu was a Biafran and supported Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War, helping with the logistics of supplying their army.
- This made Nkechi realise just how important it was to receive an education.
- His influence on Nkechi and her siblings was an important factor in how her life developed.
- Agwu was fascinated by mathematics as she grew up and saw mathematics in so many things around her.
- Agwu studied mathematics at the University of Nigeria, in Nsukka, graduating with a B.Sc. (hons.) in 1984.
- Both Ezeilo and Adjaero encouraged Agwu to go to the University of Connecticut for postgraduate study.
- Adjaero wrote a strong letter of recommendation to Eugene Spiegel and Agwu was accepted onto the graduate programme at the University of Connecticut and offered a place starting at the beginning of the 1986-87 session.
- Her advisor at Syracuse was Howard Johnson and Agwu was awarded a Ph.D. in 1995 for her thesis Using a Computer Laboratory Setting to Teach College Calculus.
- After the award of her Ph.D., Agwu had hoped to return to Nigeria but, having been forced to resign from Kaduna Polytechnic when she went to the United States, she had no job to return to in Nigeria.
- From 1997 to 2002 Agwu studied the history of mathematics, particularly writing biographies of African or African-American mathematicians and scientists.
- In 2014 Agwu received a Carnegie Africa Diaspora Fellowship which allowed her to spend three weeks in Nigeria on the project Culture and Women's Stories: A Framework for Capacity Building in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Related Fields.
Born 8 October 1962, Enugu, Nigeria.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
African, Origin Nigeria, Women
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
- Github:
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
