The Board of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) has appointed Professor Samuel Boakye Dampare as the new Director-General (D-G)of the institution effective February 1, 2022.
He takes over from Prof.Benjamin Jabez Botwe Nyarko, who has attained the statutory retirement age and whose term of office ends on January 31, 2022.
Professor Dampare, whom until his appointment, was the Deputy Director of Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI) of GAEC, becomes the ninth Executive Head and the fourth Director-General of the foremost scientific research institution.
This was contained in a statement signed and issued in Accra yesterday by Sheila Frimpong, the Acting Director of Commercialisation and Communication Directorate at GAEC.
It said the decision of the Commission’s Board was taken at its 122nd regular meeting held on Wednesday, November 10, 2021, which considered and approved the recommendations of the Search Committee.
Prof.Dampare served as the Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS) of the University of Ghana–Atomic and the Head of the Neutron Activation Analysis Laboratory at the Ghana Research Reactor–1 (GHARR–1) Centre of GAEC.
He had his basic education at Maase Methodist School, Abuakwa and obtained his GCE Ordinary and Advanced Levels at the Ofori Panin Secondary School, Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region.
Professor Dampare is an alumnus of the University of Ghana and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree and M.Phil. in Geology in 1996 and 2001, respectively.
Professor Dampare obtained his PhD in Geology in 2008 at the Okayama University in Japan through a Japanese Government Scholarship (Monbukagakusho).
After obtaining his PhD, Professor Dampare was awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) to conduct collaborative research at the same university.
He has been a recipient of several awards and fellowships such as the Dean of the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology Award for Academic Excellence, Okayama University (2006); Bank of Ghana Graduate Fellowship, University of Ghana (1998–1999) and MacCallien Memorial Prize for Best Graduating Student in Geology given by Geological Society of Ghana in 1997.
Professor Dampare’s scientific career at GAEC started in 2002 as an Assistant Research Scientist at the Ghana Research Reactor–1 (GHARR–1) Centre.
He was upgraded to the rank of Research Scientist in 2003 and promoted to Senior Research Scientist in 2008, Principal Research Scientist in 2011 and Chief Research Scientist in 2018. He was conferred with the title of Associate Professor and Professor in Nuclear Earth Sciences in 2012 and 2020, respectively.
As a researcher, he has undertaken works in areas including petrology and geochemistry of igneous and sedimentary rocks, crustal evolution studies of the West African Craton (WAC), Isotope hydrology and hydrogeochemistry, uranium geology, environmental pollution.
Professor Dampare is a fellow of the Ghana Institution of Geoscientists and a member of several professional associations including the Ghana Nuclear Society, Geological Society of Africa, Japan Association of Mineralogical Sciences, American Geophysical Union, the Geochemical Society and Geological Society of America and Ghana Science Association.He is married with four children.
BY TIMES REPORTER
