Dr. Ferdinand Chirure Nyongesa was appointed to the Universal Service Advisory Council (USAC) on 15th November, 2023 for a period of three years.
He has over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications field, straddling the industry and academia. In industry, Dr. Nyongesa worked at the Directorate of Civil Aviation (DCA) as aeronautical telecommunications engineer where he installed and maintained air navigation equipment at airports, at Kenya Pipeline Company as tele-control and instrumentation engineer where he operated and maintained the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for quality control and product accounting, at the National Communication Secretariat as a resource expert in research where he developed a framework for carrying out research in various ICT sectors and was involved in finalising the national ICT policy. He has practised as a telecommunications equipment/wiring engineer.
In academia, Dr. Nyongesa has taught Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenyatta University (KU), Egerton University, and at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST). He has published widely in wireless communications centred on Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) frequency at 5.9 GHz for high-speed mobile-to-mobile communications without use of base stations.
He was extensively involved in the upgrade of JKUAT to degree status from certificate and diploma college, in introduction of a Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications and Information Technology at Kenyatta University, in the establishment of the Department of Electrical and Communications Engineering as the founder Chairman at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) and in the introduction of the MSc in Electrical Engineering programme as a co-ordinator and academic leader also at MMUST.
He holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering earned at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), South Africa, an MSc in Communication Engineering – University of Bradford/University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and a BSc (Physics) University of Nairobi.