Florence Oloo (born 1960) is a Kenyan scientist and professor of chemical sciences at the

Technical University of Kenya Technical University of Kenya (TU-K) is a public university in Nairobi, Kenya. It was chartered in January 2013 by then-president Mwai Kibaki. History Technical University of Kenya grew out of the Kenya Polytechnic. The Kenya Polytechnic was f ...

, in Nairobi. She was the first Kenyan woman to receive a PhD in Chemistry.

Biography

Florence Oloo was born in

Eldoret Eldoret is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. Located in western Kenya and lying south of the Cherangani Hills, the local elevation varies from about at the Eldoret International Air ...

in 1960; since childhood, she has been passionate about science. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a college, collegiate research university based in Nairobi and is the largest List of universities and colleges in Kenya, university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dat ...

, and while there she was the only female student in the chemistry program. She went on to earn a degree in Philosophy and Education from the University of Rome, and a PhD in Chemistry from the

Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) is a public university that is situated in Juja, 36 kilometres northeast of Nairobi, along the Nairobi-Thika SuperHighway, off Exit 15. It offers courses in Technology, Engineering, ...

in Juja, Kenya, becoming the first woman from her country to earn a doctorate in chemistry.

Activist

Oloo has directed the Community and Engagement program, which seeks to encourage girls' participation in STEM disciplines. As the deputy vice-chancellor of

Strathmore University Strathmore University is a chartered university based in Nairobi, Kenya. ...

in Nairobi, she headed the university's ethics committee, which is responsible for supervising about 300 scientific investigations each year with human subjects to stop irregularities that might harm anyone participating in the scientific studies and make sure investigators did not falsify their resulting scientific data. She leads the

nanomedicine Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology, translating historic nanoscience insights and inventions into practical application. Nanomedicine ranges from the medical applications of nanomaterials and biological devices, to n ...

platform at the Centre for Research in Therapeutic Sciences (CREATES) in partnership with the Scientific and Industrial Research Council of South Africa. Oloo has also worked at the Jakana Study Centre in Kanyawegi, near the city of

Kisumu Kisumu ( ) is the third-largest city in Kenya located in the Lake Victoria area in the former Nyanza Province. It is the second-largest city after Kampala in the Lake Victoria Basin. The city has a population of slightly over 600,000. The ...

, Kenya, where she leads the "Woman Empowerment Program", which aims to empower girls and women between 18 and 30 years old from diverse and vulnerable backgrounds in Kisumu County. This is an area next to Uganda where "more than half a million women live, many of whom live in poverty." The short six-month training program aims to help rural women create a business and use those skills to improve their family life and educational opportunities for the women and their children. Through the program, they learn "entrepreneurial techniques to provide them with skills that will enable them to start and maintain an economic activity that will provide them with income. Along with these, pastry and bakery courses are conducted to ensure that they have a skill set that they can monetize." In 2009, she participated in the

Synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

for Africa convened by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

. She won the 2023

Harambee Harambee is a Kenyan tradition of community self-help events, e.g. fundraising or development activities. The word means "all pull together" in Swahili language, Swahili, and is the official List of national mottos, motto of Kenya, appearing on ...

Award for her work on the Promotion and Equality of African Women. The award ceremony took place on 22 March 2023 at the Urban Hotel in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain. Oloo's win of the award was followed in the following year by another activist from Kenya.

Susan Kinyua Susan Kinyua (born c. 1970) is a Kenyan economist known for her work in Africa. She won the 2024 Harambee Award for the Promotion and Equality of African Women Life Kinyua was born in Meru in about 1970 where she one of five children. There were ...

won the award in 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oloo, Florence 1960 births Scientists from Nairobi Kenyan chemists Kenyan women chemists Kenyan Catholics 20th-century Kenyan educators 20th-century Kenyan women scientists 20th-century women educators Living people University of Nairobi alumni Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology alumni