Prof. Ampadu obtained his BSc in Civil Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi Ghana and both his MSc and PhD from Tokyo University in Japan focusing initially on advanced testing of civil engineering materials. He has over 35 years of teaching and research experience at KNUST where he taught Soil Mechanics, Foundation Engineering and Geotechnical Engineering as well as Development Engineering to both undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students until retirement. He now does same on contract. He has supervised over 50 post-graduate and over 350 undergraduate student theses. From 2008 to 2010 he was Head of the Civil Engineering Department and from 2010 to 2016, he was the Provost of the College of Engineering, providing leadership for the College made up of a student population of about 5,000 with an academic staff strength of about 120 running 15 different engineering programmes.

Prof Ampadu’s research career started with his post-doctoral internship at the Research Institute of Industrial Safety of the Ministry of Labour of Japan where he worked on construction material research and construction methodology. This was followed in the 1990s by his research into the use of labour-based technology in rural road construction and maintenance under ILO sponsorship. This project ushered him into rural road infrastructure and he became the focal point of labour-based technology in tertiary institutions in Africa and coordinated the involvement of academia in labour-based engineering. Out of this he developed the “development engineering” course with its post graduate component of “rural road engineering and technology choice” which introduced cross-cutting issues into civil engineering programmes. As a result of his expertise in construction materials in tropical climatic zone he is currently serving as Chairman of the Technical Committee of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE) on Laterites and Lateritic soils (TC-107). Currently he is an overseas co-investigator in a project addressing the global challenge of providing sustainable and resilient infrastructure for African countries sponsored by the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of UK.

Not only is Prof Ampadu an accomplished academic he is also a respected practicing engineer. He is a Fellow of the Ghana Institution of Engineers and served as the 43rd President of the Ghana Institution of Engineers from 2012-2013.  Prof. Ampadu’s expertise in Geotechnical and in Development Engineering has been tapped for various projects in the country. In Ghana he has served as Geotechnical Consultant on several projects and assisted through several Development Partners including the EU and GIZ in the rebuilding of Liberia and Sierra Leone.  He currently serves as a member of the technical panel of the UK aid-funded Research for Community Access Partnership (ReCAP) working in Africa and Asia. 

Some recent Publications

Fred Kofi Boadu and Samuel Ampadu, (2019) Assessing Relations Between Electrical and Geotechnical Properties of Sand-Clay Mixtures Using Jonscher Fractal Power Law Model, Journal of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics, Vol 24, Issue 1, pp 75-83

Ampadu SIK, Ayeh FFJ and Boadu F (2018), Deriving SPT N-values from DCP Test Results: The case of Foundation Design in a Tropical Environment, Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, August 2018, Volume 36 Issue 4, pp 2517-2531

Ampadu SIK, Ackah P, Owusu Nimo F, Boadu F (2017), A laboratory study of horizontal confinement effect on the dynamic cone penetration index of a lateritic soil in the laboratory. Transportation Geotechnics 10, 47-61

Ampadu SIK and Fiadjoe, G.Y. (2015), The influence of water content on the dynamic cone penetration index of a lateritic soil stabilized with various percentages of quarry by-product, Transportation Geotechnics 5(2015) 68-85

Samuel I.K. Ampadu and Joseph Oddei (2017), A field investigation of confinement effect on dynamic cone penetration index of a lateritic soil, 19th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Seoul 17-22 September, Seoul, Korea 2017 

Ampadu S.I.K. and Addison F.K. (2015), A comparison between the life cycle cost of gravel and of bituminous surfacing options for feeder roads in Ghana, International Journal of Pavement Engineering, DOI: 10.1080/10298436.2015.1065990 

Stephen Agyeman and Samuel I.K. Ampadu, (2015), Exploring the techno-economic feasibility of mine rock waste utilisation in road works: The case of a mining deposit in Ghana, Waste Management and Research 1-9, DOI 10.1177/0734242X15611739

Ampadu S.I.K., Lawer A and Anochie-Boateng, K. 2015, Forensic analysis of asphaltic pavement failures in Ghana-case histories, Proceedings, 11th Conference on Asphalt Pavements for Southern Africa (CAPSA), 16-19 August, 2015, Sun City, South Africa

Ampadu, S.I.K, Ackah P., Owusu-Nimo F., Ayeh, F.J.F. (2015), The Effect of pretreatment on index and compaction properties of a lateritic gravel, Proceedings, 16th African Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 27-30 April 2015, ISBN 978-9938-12-936-6 Tunisia, Eds. Bouassida, M. Khemakhem M and Haffoudhi, S. E., pp. 553-560

Ayeh, F.J.F., Ampadu S.I.K., Owusu-Nimo F., Boadu, F. and Lawer A. K.  (2015), A laboratory investigation of the effect of used oil contamination on the direct shear behaviour of a lateritic soil, Proceedings, 16th African Regional Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 27-30 April 2015, ISBN 978-9938-12-936-6 Tunisia, Eds. Bouassida, M. Khemakhem M and Haffoudhi, S. E. pp. 567-572