She worked on a physics thesis that involved simulations of the internal combustion engine and on a chemistry research project that provided chemical insight to engine complexities. She had been interested in chemistry and liked physics and math -her father is a mechanical engineer - but it wasn't until she began an internship at Pall Corporation, a Port Washington science and engineering firm, that she chose chemical engineering as her field of interest. She became convinced of an important application of membrane technology.

"I was looking for a job that would give something to people to improve their lives. I wanted to do something that really helps people," Dada explained. She realized she could make a difference in the lives of people in underdeveloped countries such as her homeland, Nigeria, by devising membrane-based filtration techniques to make drinking water safe. "Some people take things for granted. In my country, I don't trust the water, and I boil it at home."

Broadening her horizons, Dada answered an advertisement in the Pioneer, the school newspaper. She worked her way up to assistant news editor and learned "to interact with people of different dispositions and from a wide variety of ethnic and academic backgrounds," she remembers. She also served as treasurer of Kappa Theta Epsilon Honor Society, her way of "giving back," and attended special Honors classes. She immersed herself in campus life, working in the Writing Center and ushering at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts. She even learned to ride a bicycle at C.W. Post. She spent summers on campus and came to think of it as her own back yard.

Now 22 years old, Dada has been living in Glen Cove since last December and is finishing her thesis. In the fall, she will attend the Ph.D. program in physics at Lehigh University. She talks enthusiastically about chemical engineering, a broad field where there is always something new, but she also sees herself writing someday because of her love for fiction. Her dream is to own her own business in her native Nigeria - one that will enable her to travel to and work in other countries including Europe, the United States, and other African countries. But that prospect is in some ways scary, she says. "But if my years at Post have taught me anything, it is that fear and doubt are not nearly good enough reasons not to take a chance."

Dada believes every individual can make a positive difference in the world. "The September 11 attacks and struggling economy have been added to the constant pressure on us to be successful. But in the face of so much uncertainty, there are limitless possibilities."

Dada will join 1,500 graduates at C.W. Post's 44th annual commencement exercises on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 12, 2002. C.W. Post is one of six campuses of Long Island University, the eighth largest private university in the United States.