Eng. Dorothy Kabagajju Okello is the new President of Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers. The celebrated Engineer beat two other male engineers to assume the highest office of UIPE.
She got 169 votes beating Eng. Vincent Chwo with 125 votes into the second position while Eng. Mubaala collected 25 votes in the third position.
The elections were held at the weekend in Kampala during the Institution’s annual general meeting. Eng. Dr Okello takes over from Eng. Dr Isaac Mutenyo and becomes the first female president in the male dominated profession at the institution founded in 1972.
Who is Eng. Dr Dorothy Kabagajju Okello
She is the Principal Researcher, netLabs!UG at College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology, Makerere University
She achieved a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (Electrical) from Makerere University in 1992, and moved to Texas, USA to undergo a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1995 as a Fulbright Scholar. In 2004 she received Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering from McGill University, Canada as a Canadian Commonwealth Scholar.
Eng. Dr. Okello has always been an active in the area of women’s rights and empowerment. She founded the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), a non-governmental organization to promote the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) among women in Africa.
She has served as a board member of the National Board of Action Aid International Uganda (AAIU) to work with the poor women, men, boys and girls, the local civil society, and other development players to eradicate absolute poverty in Uganda by overcoming the inequality that cause it.
She currently serves on the expert panel of Women Thought Leadership Advisors and APC-Africa- Women which empower women’s organizations to access and use ICTs for equality and development.
For her work in this area she has been awarded the ‘Top ICT Woman – Uganda ICT Excellence Awards 2009’, “Top 10 Personalities that Shaped Uganda’s ICT in 2011” and the Women Achievers Award in 2012 as well as being the first recipient of Africa’s Digital Woman Award.
She is a member of the governing Council for Uganda Institute for Information and Communications Technology (UICT) as well as Vice President, Electrical Division of Uganda Institution of Professional Engineers (UIPE).
She is currently the principal investigator at netLabs!UG, Senior Lecturer, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Makerere University and Director of Innovation, Eastern Africa Resilience Innovations Lab (EA RILab).
