Prof. Geoffrey Kihara Rurimo is a distinguished researcher and educator in physics and in particular optics and lasers. Before his appointment as Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Rurimo was the Director of the National Institute for Optics and Lasers (NIOL) at Multimedia University of Kenya (MMU), where he conducted ground breaking research and training in Physics, specifically in Optics and Lasers. He authored the research proposal that secured funding from the National Research Fund (NRF) for the establishment of NIOL at MMU.
Added to this, Prof. Rurimo was able to secure additional funding from Max Planck Society to establish Max Planck Partners Research Group in Collaboration with Max Planck institute for the Science of Light in Germany. The Partner Research Group is being supported by Max Planck Society for a five year period. It is the first partner group within chemistry, physics and technology section of the Max Planck research groups in Africa. As testament of his research credentials, the President of Max Planck Society appointed Prof. Rurimo as the Group Leader of Max Planck Partner Research Group in Africa. The support from Max Planck has been pivotal to the advancement of NIOL’s objectives and mandate by enabling the Institute to offer scholarships to post graduate students, among others.
Previously, he served as the pioneer Chairman of the Physics Department at Multimedia University of Kenya where he lead the department to establish four undergraduate degree programmes which are now accredited by the Commission for University Education (CUE). He has also been an external examiner in Physics for several universities and has played a significant role in the development of academic programs.
Prof. Rurimo holds a First Class Honors Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), an MSc. in Optics and Lasers from the University of Adelaide, South Australia, and a PhD in Optics and Lasers from the Max Planck
Institute for the Science of Light, University of Erlangen, Germany. He is an Associate Professor of Physics (Optics and Lasers) and is passionate about the development of lasers as sources of light, the interaction of light with matter, and the applications of light for the benefit of humanity.
He has published extensively in refereed journals and has over 30 years of teaching and research experience at the university level. Prof. Rurimo consults with the Commission for University Education (CUE), the National Research Fund (NRF), and various universities on the development of academic programs. He is currently the chairperson of the Nyandarua County Education Board (CEB) and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Pan Africa Christian university.