by Morgan State U
July 09, 2025
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Pursuing Clean Water for All: A Morgan Staff Member’s Journey
Nko Okina Solomon serves as the senior environmental safety specialist in the Office of Safety, Health and Environment (OSHE) at Morgan State University. Here, in addition to her regular duties overseeing environmental compliance, hazardous materials handling, management and sustainability initiatives at the National Treasure, she is also continuing to chart a path of innovation in the increasingly critical field of wastewater treatment.
“…My research focuses on developing a portable, affordable, nanotechnology-based water filter designed to convert contaminated water sources into safe drinking water for rural and underserved communities,” Solomon explains. “This innovative filter (would) transform local available water, whether from wells, rivers or other potential unsafe sources into potable water through on-site treatment…. This approach ensures communities can have access to clean water without relying on centralized water treatment infrastructure which they don’t have.”
Solomon is a Marylander now, but the qualities that brought her to her current professional career and research had all been well-rooted by the time she completed her undergraduate education decades ago and took her first job, as an environmental engineer, in her home country, Nigeria. Those qualities include her caring for rural communities, her curiosity about technology, her work ethic and her drive toward excellence in every endeavor.
Solomon was born and reared a rural area named Ekori in southern Nigeria then earned her bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering at Federal University of Techology, Yola, in the northern part of the country. Her journey to higher education began “when my mother relocated to Yola for work, allowing both me and my elder sister to attend university while staying close to family,” Solomon recounts. “…My mother is my heroine, actually. In the late ’90s, she left her successful business in Cross River State to start over in Yola. So our work ethic, humility and respect for others enabled her to build a peaceful life while raising two daughters as a single mother. She always told me, ‘To whom much is given, much is required. And much is expected, too.’”
“This principle guides my life today,” says Solomon. “I strive to give my best in everything I do, knowing that I have been blessed with opportunities.”
Contact Information
Office of Public Relations & Strategic Communications
1700 East Cold Spring Lane
McMechen Hall Rm. 635
Baltimore, Maryland 21251
“…My research focuses on developing a portable, affordable, nanotechnology-based water filter designed to convert contaminated water sources into safe drinking water for rural and underserved communities.”
— Nko Solomon, Senior Environmental Safety Specialist, Morgan State University Office of Safety, Health and Environment
Engineer and Advocate
Solomon’s interest in environmental work began with that first job as an environmental engineer with Total E&P Nigeria Ltd., in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
“What truly captivated me was my direct impact, the visible impact of my environmental work as to communities,” Solomon says, as she recalls disturbing scenes of contaminated farmland and children drinking dirty water. “I discovered I could put smiles on people's faces by providing tangible solutions to their environmental problems. Environmental engineering allowed me to tackle diverse challenges from water treatment to soil remediation with immediate meaningful benefits to the communities.
“…As an environmental engineer, I consider myself as a community advocate,” she adds. “We use science to uplift lives. So my primary focus is helping communities to safeguard one of their most basic rights, which is access to clean water.”
International Research
Coming to the U.S. in 2022 to pursue a master’s degree in Environmental Health and Safety at Marshall University, in West Virginia, Solomon thrived in her new home.
“As a graduate student and a mother at Marshall, I was able to balance my education pursuit and also achieve a 4.0 GPA in my program, while also being an example to my two little children,” Solomon says. “(At graduation), I received a Woman of Color Award as a result of my dedication and also my commitment to promoting multicultural understanding and fostering an inclusive environment.”
Solomon’s research at Marshall examined nanoparticles as a detoxifier for industrial wastewater.
“Through my literature review, I discovered that combining metals and ceramics, like silver-magnesium oxide, could create a portable, nanotechnology-based fluid…which I can use to make a nanofilter. This tiny material possesses vast surface area, enabling (it) to absorb contaminants more effectively than the conventional water filters we already know…not only identify the contaminants but also remove them before they reach a dangerous level that could endanger people’s lives or the ecosystem,” Solomon explains.
An experiment she initiated to test the process, conducted by a colleague, Reginald Imaezue, at University of Ibadan, in Nigeria, was successful, Solomon reports, and a review of her research was published in Springer Journal in 2024. Last August, the Nigerian newspaper The Nation published an article about her work at Morgan and her wastewater research.
For The Next Generation
The opportunity to work as a senior environmental safety specialist brought Solomon to the Morgan family in June 2024. Since then, she has led numerous safety enhancements at the University. She is also pursuing funding and detailing her plans to continue and expand her wastewater research and development work, as a student in Morgan’s Ph.D. program in Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Engineering, beginning this fall. Developing a portable nanotech device to filter “forever chemicals” (PFAS) as well as other contaminants from wastewater is the new research goal of Solomon and her team, which includes researcher Reginald Imaezue and Solomon’s husband, researcher Wisdom Ukueje. Morgan Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Dong Hee Kang, Ph.D., is slated to be her research advisor.
Her long-term goal is to follow in Dr. Kang’s footsteps.
“I want to leverage my extensive industrial and research experience to educate the next generation in environmental engineering and also sciences,” says Solomon, “…to hand over this innovation to them to carry on with later in life.”
Contact Information
Office of Public Relations & Strategic Communications
1700 East Cold Spring Lane
McMechen Hall Rm. 635
Baltimore, Maryland 21251