By James Babatunde

Nigeria’s cybersecurity specialist, John Kolawole Omoniyi, has received a prestigious Summer Research Award from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), marking another milestone in a career that has consistently blended academic excellence with real-world impact.

In a further leap, Omoniyi has also secured a fully funded PhD admission at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCAT), where he will be researching the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity applications in additive manufacturing processes.

The award, valued at $2,000, recognizes his ongoing research contributions and positions him as a rising voice in a field that is becoming increasingly central to global security. Speaking on the honor, Omoniyi noted: “Cybersecurity is no longer just about defense—it’s about anticipating threats before they strike. In additive manufacturing, where industries are building the future, my goal is to ensure that security is built in, not bolted on.”

Omoniyi, who currently serves as a Graduate Instructional Assistant in UNCG’s Department of Computer Science, has been contributing to teaching and mentoring students in courses such as Computer Networks, System Programming, Software Engineering, and Web Development. 

Alongside his teaching duties, his research has focused on machine learning approaches to detecting malicious threats in additive manufacturing and mitigating vulnerabilities in open-source software through penetration testing.

Before moving to the United States, Omoniyi had already established himself in Nigeria’s IT and energy sectors. At Access Bank Plc, he managed and secured network infrastructures across 150 branches nationwide, leveraging tools like PRTG and SolarWinds for real-time monitoring and reducing security vulnerabilities by 30%. 

Earlier, at the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), he implemented robust data security protocols that cut risks of breaches and data loss by 20%, while at TCN’s National Control Centre in Osogbo, he collaborated on deploying endpoint detection solutions that reduced malware incidents significantly.

His educational track has been no less impressive: from earning a B.Tech. in Computer Science at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, to completing a Master’s in Computer Science at Osun State University, and now charting a path toward advanced research in the U.S. with both UNCG and NCAT.