The annual Buck Weirus Spirit Award is given to 65 students in recognition of their leadership, involvement and positive impact while enhancing the core Aggie values. Chemical engineering doctoral candidate Ifeoluwa Babalola is one of this year’s recipients.
Throughout her time at Texas A&M, Babalola has exhibited the Aggie Core Values of Excellence, Integrity, Leadership, Loyalty, Respect and Selfless Service.
“I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity to serve fellow Aggies, graduate students, future Aggies, and engineers,” Babalola said.
Babalola came to Texas A&M in 2021 after receiving her master’s degree in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Toledo in Ohio. When she arrived, she began fully embracing the community and looking for outreach opportunities.
“When I got here, I really enjoyed the Aggie community and wanted to share my vision and plans,” Babalola said. “We really have a great community of students, and I was really motivated to start up the West African Graduate Student Association.”
Another way she gave back to the Aggie community was by mentoring 20 junior high school students and facilitating science workshops for 12 elementary teachers in 2023 in collaboration with Spark! PK-12 Engineering Education Outreach (the K-12 STEM outreach of the College of Engineering).
I am so excited and grateful for the opportunity to serve fellow Aggies, graduate students, future Aggies, and engineers.
“I am committed to raising the next generation of engineers and have offered my service in this regard,” Babalola said. “I am intentionally looking at my hands to make an impact.”
Volunteering to do the workshop resonated with Babalola, who is passionate about merging education and chemical engineering and encouraging future engineers.
"Facilitating a section of the workshop for the elementary science teachers and mentoring the junior high students resonates with my research interests and dreams,” Babalola said. “This award was genuinely humbling because I did those activities out of passion and love for what I do."
Babalola’s research ties into her work. Her studies in microfluidics revolve around chemical engineering education research. She describes it as bringing laboratory research into the classroom. Babalola has students do experiments in the classroom to incorporate active learning.
When Babalola graduates next year, she plans to stay involved with an alumni group to continue supporting STEM education and outreach.
“Through her dedicated efforts in crafting innovative, hands-on instructional tools, Ifeoluwa has not only significantly enhanced the learning experience in our classrooms but has also set a high standard of excellence for her peers,” said Dr. Victor Ugaz, chemical engineering professor and Babalola’s faculty advisor. “Her commitment to inspiring Aggies across all levels epitomizes the spirit of service and excellence we strive to foster in our department.”