Akwasi Acheampong

Faculty Biography

Prof. Akwasi Acheampong is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry, and the Dean for the Faculty of Educational Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. He holds two PhD degrees from the University of Paris-Sud in France (now Paris-Saclay) and the Kwame Nkrumah university of Science and Technology in Ghana. He holds a Master of Science degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from KNUST. He has a Bachelor of Science (First class honours) degree in Chemistry from the University of Cape Coast. He had his A' level at Opoku Ware School and the O' level at Asanteman Senior High School.He is a member of the Ghana Science Association (GSA), the Royal Society of Chemistry (U.K.), Ghana Chemical Society, and the Pan African Chemistry Network (PACN). He is currently the honorary National President of the Ghana Chemical Society.He has since his employment in June 2006 at KNUST, published over 50 refereed journal articles and has also attended many national and international conferences, where he made scientific presentations to the scientific community. He has supervised about 150 undergraduates and 30 postgraduate research and theses. He has graduated five PhD students and is currently supervising three PhD theses.His research centers on Natural products, Lipids, pharmaceutical analysis and quality control, analysis of water, food, and food supplements, environmental pollution, Chemical Ecology and chemistry education. In the area of natural products, he investigates the phytoconstituents of various medicinal plants as well as fruits and seeds known to have high medical values.  He investigates the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory antiplasmodial, anthelminthic, and antimicrobial activities of various plant extracts of medicinal plants as well as their isolates.In lipid research, his focus has been on identifying various fatty acids and triacylglycerols (TAG) present in vegetable oils. The major interest has been the design of various HPLC-MS methodologies that permit the complete characterization and quantification of TAG. This aspect of the research seeks to find vegetable sources of essential fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6 oils found in fish.In pharmaceutical analysis, he focuses on analyzing drug products in pharmacy shops in Ghana to see if they meet the quality parameters enshrined in the standard books, especially the British Pharmacopoeia. Again, this area of research seeks to develop various HPLC methods of analysis for various multi-component drugs being produced locally or imported into the country.In water quality assurance and quality control analysis, he conducts research to assess the quality of underground water (boreholes and wells), water from some rivers, as well as bottle and sachet water from different manufacturers in Ghana.In environmental pollution, he researches into heavy metals as well as radionuclide pollution of soils, river sediments, surface water of rivers, and fishes in rivers.In analyzing food and food supplements for their safety, he has been assessing food and food supplements for their safety with respect to heavy metal and pesticides contamination.In Chemical Ecology, Prof. Acheampong’s interest has been on the semio-chemicals released by plants in defence of herbivory feeding, their identification, characterization and quantitation that will lead to the synthesis of blends that can be used as biological pesticides.In chemistry education, he is interested in investigating the causes of students difficulty in understanding various concepts in chemistry and providing possible ways by which they difficulties could be addressed. His research seeks to bring to the attention of policy makers the challenges in the country's education system and the need to effect policy changes to address them. He is involved in the training of teachers (JHS specialism) at KNUST, and was a part of the team that developed the curriculum for the B.Ed Chemistry education (SHS specialism) for KNUST. Prof. Akwasi Acheampong is currently in charge of managing the Rothamsted Chemical Ecology project in the Chemistry Department. He is a Co-investigator to the late Dr. Samuel Osafo Acquaah on the Rothamsted Research project, and he is seeing to the completion of the project.He has served the International, National and the University communities through his involvement as an editorial member for Universe Scientific Publishing, a Reviewer for thirty (30) refereed journals, Departmental Examinations/Registration officer, Chairman for the KNUST Central Welfare Fund Management Committee, Chairman for the KNUST Welfare Scheme, Chairman for the Committee for GSA / CoS STEM Workshop for Teachers, member of the College of Science Quality Assurance Committee, and a member of Council of Convocation for two terms. He has been a member of the Welfare Services Board, a Secretary of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), KNUST branch.He is a member of the National Implementation Support Team (NIST) overseeing the migration of Colleges of Education to Tertiary status and addressing post-migration issues. He is a member of the team developing a continuous professional development framework for the B.Ed (SHS/SHTS/TVET) programmes. He is a fellow of the Republic Hall of KNUST. He is a resource person for many secondary schools and some tertiary institutions including Kumasi Technical University