Ikenna Abara, or “IK” as his friends call him, is the first child of three boys; he comes from Mbaitoli in IMO State. He grew up in Lokoja, Kogi State; that is also where he was born on the 7th of September 1995. Ikenna Abara comes from a humble background, growing up in a single-mother household since he turned 7. Ikenna speaks Igbo natively, English to a very advanced level and German to a professional level. His interests include Volunteering and community service, learning languages, technology and pro sports.   He went to Michael Omonogun Memorial Nursery, Primary and Secondary School. During his ultimate year in secondary school, he was awarded the award as the second best student in the core sciences. Due to Ikenna’s flair for Math, he chose Electrical and Electronics Engineering as his Undergraduate course and got into the program at the University of Ilorin’s Faculty of Engineering and Technology. He was a very consistent student maintaining his rank in the top 5% of his class from his first year till his final year and ultimately graduated with a First Class Honors as the fourth best student in his department. During his time at the University of Ilorin, he was introduced to the world of Engineering, Technology and Computing. This exposure instilled a passion and love for Engineering and Technology in him, and he craved a deeper and broader knowledge and understanding into this remarkable field,  hence he decided to pursue a research program in the US.      Given that the US is a major hub for Technological advancements with research colleges at the forefront of modern research, Ikenna believes that obtaining an advanced training under a strong research-focused school in the US will broaden his knowledge immensely and place him strategically at the forefront of modern technological advancements.     Research-wise, Ikenna is interested in investigations into improving the performance and energy-efficiency of novel parallel computer technologies. The main stimulus for this was the ever-increasing need for high performance computers that will find applications in Artificial Intelligence, Genetic Algorithms, Biological Synthesis, e.t.c. After college, he intends to work in a National Lab or a game-changing industry to continue developing his flourishing career by harnessing the knowledge and research skills acquired during his graduate program to offer solutions to the plethora of challenges faced in the technology sphere and extend the research works in the area of Computing and make significant contribution in promoting technical progress in this field.