UCI’s Ronke Olabisi Shares Inspiring Academic Journey

The UC Irvine conversational series What Matters to Me and Why (WMMW) features faculty members addressing their lives on a personal level, often through biographical speeches. It’s a national conversation that has been happening at many schools, such as the University of Southern California (USC), for approximately 20 years. The series, now in its 13th year at UCI, encourages open discussions on topics such as religious beliefs, the inclusion of women and freedom of speech. 

The founder of the WMMW series was Susan Laemmle, former USC dean of religious life, in 1999. In 2012, UCI professor of physics and astronomy Jonathan Feng started the series at UCI through the UC Irvine Office of Inclusive Excellence

UC Irvine’s Office of Inclusive Excellence hosted their 13th annual informal lunchtime series designed to build a bond between faculty and students. During this year’s What Matters to Me and Why, UCI biomedical engineering assistant professor Ronke Olabisi spoke about her academic journey on Jan. 22. Her story tells of how she shifted from pursuing her dream of space exploration as an astronaut to finding herself in education.

“I never wanted to be a professor. Professor was my plan B,” Olabisi told New University. “I love my research as much as I love affecting students’ lives.”

Olabisi emphasized the importance of loving what you do, which, in her case, led her to discover a passion for teaching. Her determination to become an astronaut sparked the day she watched the sci-fi film The Day The Earth Stood Still, which revealed to her that “the scientists and the engineers were the heroes, not the leaders.”

Inspired, Olabisi pursued an education in engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She took an internship at GE Astrospace to work on the Mars Observer and Telstar Four. However, she found herself uninterested in the constraints of designs that were limited by space-related requirements, such as weight and structural rigidity. This realization prompted her to change her major to mechanical engineering.

“I really enjoyed the freedom that it had —  a lot more freedom,” Olabisi said. “We could design a lot of things — not just for going to space but for things like this.”

Olabisi later pivoted to aeronautical engineering after a competition involving the design of gadgets from scrap pieces inspired her. During this time, she took a class where she had to design composite material for a non-aerospace application. Through this project, she discovered her passion for bones and moved to Wisconsin to begin working on limb lengthening. 

“I realized, ‘I love this [the study of bones].’ I could read about this all the time,” Olabisi said. “Whereas, with aerospace structure, it didn’t drive me the same way.”

While in Wisconsin, Olabisi took a post-doctorate in biophysics and began investigating the biophysical structure of mother-of-pearl, a pearl-colored material found inside seashells. After earning her first patent in Houston, she met astronauts Dr. Mae Jemison and Buzz Aldrin, taking the biggest step towards her astronaut dreams. They helped her to apply to NASA to become an astronaut, but she wasn’t selected. Olabisi then earned her second patent while teaching. 

“I had so many different students telling me so many stories of all of the adversity that they had gone through just to be in my class,” Olabisi said. “And the more I talked, the more the students became heroes. To me, they were my inspiration.”

Olabisi ended the event by recalling a time when a professor discouraged two women she knew from pursuing STEM careers. 

“Your path might be different,” she said. “It might take you longer, but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible.”

At UCI, Olabisi hosts a workshop for students who are interested in faculty positions. 

She’s currently researching tissue engineering to address injuries. Olabisi’s lab has provided projects for TARGET, a summer program for girls in grades 6 through 11 designed to increase awareness and familiarize them with career opportunities in engineering. Olabisi also serves as a scientific movie reviewer for the One Hundred Year Starship, part of the mission that aims to ensure astronauts have the capabilities in place to travel to another star within 100 years.

“I wanted to invent things. I wanted to understand how things worked. I would take apart our landline phones and I would put them together in the wrong way to see what it would do.”

Clara Carvalho is a Features Intern for the winter 2025 quarter. She can be reached at claraac@uci.edu.

Edited by Alyssa Villagonzalo and Jaheem Conley.

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