ING. Professor Osei-Wusu Achaw was born on 14th December, 1962 at Ankaase (lake side) in Bosome-Freho District in the Ashanti region. He is married with three children. Prof. Osei-Wusu had his Ordinary and Advanced levels General Certificate of Education at Toase Secondary School in the Ashanti region in 1979 and Sunyani Secondary School in the Brong Ahafo region in 1981 respectively.
He holds a certificate in BSc. Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Budapest in 1987. He followed this up and earned a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering at Technical University of Budapest in Budapest, Hungary in the year 1989. He then earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Chemical Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Kumasi, Ghana, in 2005.
In his bid to advance his education, Prof. Osei-Wusu underwent postgraduate studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, United States of America from 1990-1992. From 1993 to 1995, he had another postgraduate studies in Chemical Engineering in Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. He has attended series of workshops which include a NABPTEX Workshop on Test Item Writing at Kumasi Technical University (KsTU), Kumasi, Ghana and another on Writing Proposals to Source Funding for Research Projects in Kumasi in 2012. Moreover, he attained a certificate in Higher Education Management from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana/ University of Twenete, Holland in 2006.
In September 1996, he joined Kumasi Technical University (then Kumasi Polytechnic) as a member of staff and founding lecturer of the Department of Chemical Engineering. Between 1997 and 2008, he served as the Head of the newly established Department of Chemical Engineering. Between 2002 and 2008, Prof. Osei-Wusu served as the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Kumasi Technical University. In 2008, he was promoted to a Senior Lecturer (the first in the Institution to be so promoted since its establishment as a tertiary institution) and was promoted to Associate Professor in April 2014. From 2011 to 2013, he held the position of Director of the School of Graduate Studies Research and Innovation (SGSRI).
Prof. Osei-Wusu is a professional Engineer and an accomplished academic, researcher and administrator with both local and international experience. Between 2014 and 2018, he served as the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Institution of Engineering (GhIE) and a member of the Council of the Institution. He is also a Senior Partner of OWACH Process Solution, a consultancy firm engaged in trouble shooting and offering engineering solutions to the chemical process industries.
He served on almost all the key Standing and Ad-hoc committees of the University including the Executive Committee, Academic Board, the Development Committee, the Research and Conferences Committee, the Appointments and Promotions Committee and the Scholarship and Staff Development Committee. Most recently, he chaired the Committee that reviewed the National Council for Tertiary Education’s (NCTE’s) draft documents on the Statutes, Scheme of Service and Conditions of Service for the newly converted Technical Universities.
He has researched extensively and published close to forty (40) peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed articles. He has also supervised close to 50 Higher National Diploma (HND), B Tech and PhD theses. He has also chaired and taken part in the development of HND, B Tech, M Tech and D Tech curricula in Chemical Engineering.
He has helped to generate income for the University both directly and indirectly. Directly, he has written proposals that have brought close to $500,000.00 (five hundred thousand Dollars) to the University. Indirectly, as the Campus Coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund (TALIF), he was instrumental in facilitating proposals that fetched close to $1,500.000.00 (One million, and five Hundred Thousand US Dollars) to the University. Recently, he led a team that presented a proposal to the Petroleum Commission to set-up Centers of Excellence for the training of technicians in the University at an estimated cost of $1,800,000.00 (One million and eight hundred thousand Dollars ).
As the Chairman of the GhIE in the Ashanti region, he championed Engineering education in the region. Among his key contributions in that direction are; two years ago, he led a team of Engineers to raise close to Gh₵ 100,000.00 (one hundred thousand Ghana Cedis) to organise a workshop to encourage young girls to take up Engineering as a career choice. In 2017, he led a similar team to raise Gh₵ 210,000.00 (two hundred and ten thousand Ghana Cedis) to organise an Engineering project competition for the youth. Importantly, he was instrumental in setting-up a branch office of the Institution in Kumasi in Ashanti region, the only region outside of Accra where the Institution has an office.
Outside the University, he has also contributed to community and national development. He is the Ankobeahene of Kokofu-Penanko. In that capacity, he has contributed immensely to the development of the community, key among which is being the Chairman of the biennial Opemsuo Festival of that community; an international festival that draws visitors from all over the world to Kokofu and Ghana. He has also chaired for six consecutive years, the annual Easter Meet-me-There programme at Ankaase (Lake Side) to organise Easter festivities for holiday- makers.
He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Kokofu Credit Union. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Kokofu General Hospital. Previously, he served on the Board of Governors of Toase Senior High School. Presently, he is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of Oppon Memorial Senior High School in Kokofu, Ashanti region. Between 2004 and 2008, he served on the Programme Advisory Committee of the Renewable Energy programme of Koforidua Technical University. He also participated in the National Council of Tertiary Education (NCTE) conference on tertiary education in Ghana in 2015 in Accra.