PROF. OMINDE, HONGO SIMEON
Prof. Wandiga was born in Karachuonyo, Homa Bay County in 1939. He received his early education at Kamagambo School and Pine Forge Institute, Pennsylvannia. He received his B.Sc., M.Sc and Ph.D degrees at Howard, Maryland and Case universities respectively. He joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nairobi in 1972, where he has held various positions, including Chairman and Professor of Chemistry, Principal of College of Biological and Physical Sciences, Deputy Vice Chancellor, and Founder Director of the Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation. He was a member of many national and international scientific organizations, including, Chairman, Natural Sciences Committee of the Kenya National Commission of UNESCO, a member of the International Society for Trace Element Research in Humans and Coordinator of the Eastern and Southern Africa Environmental Chemistry Network. Prof. Wandiga has had a long-standing research interest in coordination chemistry, and environmental and pollution chemistry. He has to date published over 70 scientific papers mainly in the area of coordination and analytical chemistry. His studies of heavy metal content in living specimens have revealed moderate to high concentrations in Kenya Human hair. However, the concentration of these metals in the tissues of fish from the Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria and Indian Ocean are low. Similarly, the metals concentration in the Kenyan lake waters and sediments are low. His recent achievement involves the identification of termites as a major biological source of methane and carbon dioxide emission of the tropics feeding on fungus combs and soil do emit methane and carbon dioxide as do lower termites