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Education

PhD in Computer Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
Master of Science in Information Engineering, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK
Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo, Nigeria

Profile

Clement Essien was drawn to North Park for its deep commitment to integrating rigorous academics with values of faith, diversity, service, and community. “It felt like a place where I could not only teach, but also mentor and grow,” Essien said. “What keeps me here is the authenticity. I get to be part of a supportive environment where students from all walks of life discover their potential.”

Essien particularly enjoys watching students grasp computer coding for the first time and watching them use technology to solve real-world problems. One of Essien’s favorite courses to teach is “Computing Science 1” (CSIS 1210), a foundational course in which students develop a systematic way of thinking. Essien has earned degrees on three continents: Africa, Europe, and North America.

Recent Publications

Essien, C., Wang, N., Yu, Y., Alqarghuli, S., Qin, Y., Manshour, N., He, F., & Xu, D. (2025). “Predicting the location of coordinated metal ion-ligand binding sites using geometry-aware graph neural networks,” Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 27, 137–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2024.12.016

Essien, C., Jiang, L., Wang, D., & Xu, D. (2023). “Prediction of Protein Ion–Ligand Binding Sites with ELECTRA,” Molecules, 28(19), 6793.

Essien, C., Wang, D., & Xu, D. (2019). “Capsule Network for Predicting Zinc Binding Sites in Metalloproteins,” In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Biomedicine (BIBM), 2337–2341.