Adesida Ilesanmi is an Engineering professor with outstanding work in the field of Nanotechnology. Adesida was born 1949 in Ifon, Ondo State.He obtained his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and subsequently went on to develop a body of work in the processing of semiconductors and other materials at the nanometer-scale level. Adesida joined in investigating the processing of semiconductors and other materials at the nanometer scale level, applying the techniques to the realization of ultra-high speed optoelectronic devices and circuits. As a naturalized American, Adesida went ahead in 2012 making history as the first black first black Provost/Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the University of Illinois at Urbana.