Profile Information

Okon Samuel Ukpong

Lecturer II

Basic Information

  • Okon Samuel Ukpong
  • +2348032739839
  • samuelokon@aksu.edu.ng
  • Lecturer II
  • Marine Biology
  • Academic Staff

Profile

Dr. Samuel Ukpong Okon is a British-trained Ocean Scientist and a Chinese-trained Coastal/Ocean Engineer. He is currently a Lecturer and Oceanographer at Akwa Ibom State University in Nigeria and a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Zhejiang University in China. 
 
Dr. Sam Okon graduated with a B.Sc in Marine Biology from the University of Calabar and was employed in 2013 as a Graduate Assistant in the Department of Marine Sciences, Akwa Ibom State University. In 2014, he got admission into the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University in the United Kingdom, where he completed his M.Sc program in Physical Oceanography. In 2017, the Chinese Government awarded him the prestigious Marine Scholarship of China to study ‘Colliding Gravity Currents’ at the Sediment and Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory in the Ocean College of Zhejiang University, China. This research led to his Doctoral dissertation on the hydrodynamic characteristics of symmetric and asymmetric colliding gravity currents. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Ocean Engineering and was offered a postdoctoral research position in 2022. With his Chinese research teammates, Sam has been involved in research projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Key Research & Development Program of China, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in China. 
 
As a broad-based oceanographer, Dr. Sam has also studied several oceanography-related short professional courses and obtained certificates in Blue Economy from James Michel Blue Economy Research Institute and the University of Seychelles, Seychelles; Fishery Oceanography for Future Professional from International Training Center for Operational Oceanography (ITCOocean), India; Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) from IMBeR Interdisciplinary Marine Early Career Network, Nova Scotia, Canada; Climate Dynamics and Air-Sea Interactions from First Institute of Oceanography, Qingdao, China; Transdisciplinarity in Fisheries & Ocean Sustainability from Global Partnership for Small-Scale Fisheries, Newfoundland, Canada; and Remote Sensing of Coastal Ecosystems from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). As a Postdoc in China, Dr. Sam is currently researching the interaction between Density Current and the Foundation Structure of Offshore Wind Turbine Using an Artificial Intelligent (IA) Algorithm. He is a member of several professional organizations, including the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Organization of African Academic Doctors (OAAD), etc. 
 
Dr. Sam also completed a Ph.D. enrichment course on ‘Sustainable Development of Life Below Water’ at the Bergen Summer Research School of the University of Bergen in Norway, with European Transferable Credits. He is a multiskilled oceanographer with research experience across different disciplines of ocean sciences. His multidisciplinary oceanography background grants him a wealth of research experience in Geological, Physical, Biological, and Fisheries Oceanography. He is interested in estuarine and marine pollution, fluid dynamics, sediment transport, contaminant transport, experimental and numerical modeling of buoyant plumes, etc. Besides his sea survey experience on the Prince Madog research vessel along the Menai Strait and the English Channel in Europe, Dr. Sam currently uses laboratory experiments and numerical simulations to explore how large-scale geophysical flows collide in the atmosphere, estuaries, and oceans. He has attended and presented papers at several international conferences. He has published in several reputable SCI journals, including Physics of Fluids, Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, Environmental Engineering Research, Environmental Toxicology, and Pharmacology, etc. 
 

Research Area

Coastal and Ocean Dynamics, Marine Pollution, Sediment Transport, Experimental Fluid Dynamics, and Numerical Modeling

Publications

  • Okon, S. U., Zhong, Q., and He, Z. (2021): Experimental study on the vertical motion of colliding gravity currents. Physics of Fluids, 33, 016601. 
  • Chen, Y., He, Z., Lou, Y., Zhang, H., Zhu, R., and Okon, S. U. (2021): Experimental study of horizontal heated buoyant jets in a linearly stratified ambience. Physics of Fluids, 33, 047116. 
  • He, Z., Xu, B., Chen, Y., Okon, S. U., and Li, L. (2022): Numerical investigation of the sediment hyperpycnal flow in the Yellow River Estuary. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 10(7): 943. 
  • He, Z., Zhang, H., Chen, Y., Okon, S. U., and Lou, Y. (2022): Hydrodynamics of the Horizontal heated jet in linearly stratified fluids. Physics of Fluids, 34, 025108.
  •  Okoye, C. O., Nyaruaba, R., Ita, R. E., Okon, S. U., Addey, C. I., Ebido, C. C., Opabunmi, A. O., Okeke, E. S., and Chukwudozie, K. I. (2022): Antibiotic resistance in the aquatic environment: Analytical techniques and interactive impact of emerging contaminants. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, 96, 103995. 
  • Tegomo, F. A, Zhong, Z., Ullah, S., Okon, S. U., Gray, N. A., Chen, K., Sun, Y., Xiao, J., Wang, L., Ye, Y., Huang, H., and Shao, Q. (2021): Experimental studies on the impact of projected ocean acidification on Fish Survival. Animal, 11: 3119. 
  • Mgbechidinma, C. L., Zheng, G., Baguya, E. B., Zhou, H., Okon, S. U., and Zhang, C. (2023): Fatty acid composition and nutritional analysis of waste crude fish oil obtained by optimized milder extraction methods. Environmental Engineering Research. 2023; 28(2): 220034. 
  • Okon, S. U., Atakpa, E. O., and Ewa-Oboho, I. (2019): Spatial and seasonal characteristics of heavy metals in Ikpa River, Niger Delta – Nigeria. International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies, 7(2): 193-199. 
  • Francis, A., Inyang, U. E., and Okon, S. U. (2017): Biology and Population Dynamics of Sarotherodon Melanotheron from the New Calabar River, Nigeria. Delta Agriculturists, 9(1): 32-45. 
  • Ama-Abasi, D., Udo, V., and Okon S. U. (2012): Proximate Composition and Size Relationship in Parachanna obscura (Gunther 1861) of the Cross River, Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Fisheries, 9(1): 428-433. 
  • Okon, S. U., He, Z., Li, Q., and Shen, F. (2022): A numerical investigation on the hydrodynamic characteristics of colliding gravity currents. (Completed Manuscript). 
  • Okon, S. U., He, Z., Chen, Y., and Zhong, Q. (2021): Colliding oceanic bottom currents: insights from laboratory experiments. (Under Revision after Peer Review). 
  • Okeke, E. S., Okoye, C. O., Nyaruaba, R., Ita, R. E., Okon, S. U., Addey, C. I., Ebido, C. C., Opabunmi, A. O., and Chukwudozie, K. I. (2022): Antibiotic Resistance in the Aquatic Environment: Interactive Impact of Emerging Contaminants. Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology (Under Review). 
  • Okon, S. U., He, Z., and Chen, Y. (2022): Experimental Study on the Collision Between Counterflowing Bottom Currents [Accepted Full Paper & Oral Presentation]. The 39th IAHR World Congress to be held in Granada, Spain. 
  • Okon, S. U., He, Z., and Chen, Y. (2021): Observing colliding gravity currents in the laboratory [Accepted Abstract & Oral Presentation]. The 7th International Conference on Estuaries and Coast, Shanghai, China. 
  • Okon, S. U., He, Z., and Chen, Y. (2020): Experimental study on the collision between counterflowing gravity currents [Accepted Abstract & Oral Presentation]. The 8th International Conference on the Application of Physical Modelling in Coastal and Port Engineering and Science, Zhoushan, China. 
  • Okon, S. U., and He, Z. (2020): Colliding gravity currents and its environmental implication [Oral Presentation]. Marine Environment and Resources Doctoral Students Forum, Zhoushan, China. 
  • Okon, S. U., and He, Z. (2019): Colliding gravity currents [Oral Presentation]. The 9th UNESCO/IOC-ODC training course on Climate Dynamics and Air-Sea Interactions, Qingdao, China.
  • Okon, S. U., and He, Z. (2017): Vulnerability of Nigeria’s Coastal Zones to Sea Level Rise [Oral Presentation]. The 3rd Sino-Africa Forum on Marine Science and Technology, Hangzhou, China.