Professor Robert Kwame Nkum was born on March 13, 1954, at Agona Bobikumah in the Central Region. He attended the Bobikumah Methodist Primary School between 1961 and 1967 and the Bobikumah Local Authority Middle School between 1967 and 1969. He sat for and passed the Common Entrance in 1969 and gained admission into the Government (now Ghana) Secondary Technical School (GSTS), Takoradi, with a Cocoa Marketing Board Scholarship. He completed the General Certificate of Education (Ordinary) in 1974 with Division 1 Distinction. That same year he was re-admitted into GSTS where he completed the GCE (Advanced Level) in 1976.

In 1976, Professor Robert Kwame Nkum gained admission into the then University of Science and Technology to pursue a four-year degree programme in Physics. He completed the BSc (Physics) programme in 1980 with a Second Class (Upper Division). He also completed the two-year MSc (Physics) programme at the University of Science and Technology in 1983. In September, 1986, he left the shores of Ghana to the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel, to study for the Doctor of Science (DSC) degree as a Lady Davis Fellow. He completed the doctorate programme in August, 1989. During the doctorate research programme, Professor Nkum discovered and reported for the first time the observation of ferroelectricity in cadmium-zinc-telluride ternary system.  Between November 1, 1990 and October 30, 1992, Professor Nkum worked with the Condensed Matter Physics group of the Department of Physics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as a Postdoctoral Fellow.

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Physics in 1983. He became a Lecturer in 1984 and was promoted to the post of Senior Lecturer in 1993. In 1998, he was promoted Associated Professor and became a Full Professor in 2003.

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum has served the international and local communities in a number of capacities. He has refereed a number of articles for publication in journals such as the Journal of the Ghana Science Association, the Ghana journal of Science, the Journal of Science and Technology, Journal of Applied Science and Technology, Canadian Journal of Physics, Journal of Materials Science, Materials Chemistry and Physics, etc. He has also assessed a number of MSc and PhD theses for various Universities. In addition, Professor Nkum has served on a number of International and National Committees including the National Committee on the Information and Communication Technology Policy for Ghana.

Prof. Nkum has served on several internal and external Boards and Committees in various capacities.

At the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Professor Nkum has served as the Deputy Vice-Dean and Vice-Dean of the then Faculty of Science (now College of Science), Vice-Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Head of the Department of Computer Science. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the University. He is a member of the Academic Board and the Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences.

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum is a member of the Ghana Institute of Physics, a member of the Ghana Science Association, a member of the Materials Research Society of Ghana, a member of the West Africa Materials Society, a Chattered Physicist and a Member of the Institute of Physics (UK). He is also a Senior Associate of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum has been involved in research in the following areas: Dielectric and ferroelectric properties of materials, Superconducting and normal-state properties of bismuth-based systems, Transport properties of amorphous semiconductors, and Magnetic properties of materials. He has published forty-five papers in International journals including Physical Review Letters, the Physical Review, Physica C, Solid State Communications, Thin Solid Films, Acta Materiala, Materials Chemistry and Physics, Superconductor Science and Technology, Journal of Materials Science, Materials Engineering B, Journal of Applied Physics, Discovery and Innovation,  etc. In addition, he has numerous Conference and Seminar papers.

Professor Nkum is a practicing Christian and an active member of the Bethel Methodist Church, Ayigya. He is a Sunday School Teacher, a Bible Class Leader, a Steward of the Bethel Society and an accredited Local Preacher. He is also the Chairman of the Christian Education Committee, Children’s Work Programme Committee and a member of the Synod of the Kumasi Diocese of the Methodist Church Ghana.

He is married to Mrs. Grace Ama Nkum and they have five children – Marian, Judith, Philip, Grace and Priscilla.

Contact Address:

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum
Department of Physics
College of Science
KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
Mobile: +233-208-222460, +233-273-444575
Email: rknkum.cos@knust.edu.gh / rkwamenkum@yahoo.com