Engineering Excellence & Global Innovation Earn Engr. Mazen Kalassina 2025 Person of the Year Honour

By Akume Raphael, Makurdi.

Engr Mazen Kalassina, Managing Director of ARKAN, has been honoured with the 2025 Person of the Year Award by the Community of Tiv Students (CTS) Akperan Orshi polytechnic, Gboko in recognition of his outstanding professional achievements and contributions to engineering practice and technological advancement.

The award highlights Engr. Kalassina’s distinguished career, shaped by a rare balance of hands-on engineering expertise, corporate leadership, and sustained engagement with emerging technologies. 

A COREN-certified engineer and member of reputable professional bodies in Nigeria, he has steadily built a professional profile marked by competence, discipline, and responsiveness to modern development needs.

In addition to his work in conventional engineering practice, Engr. Kalassina has gained international academic attention for his intellectual contributions to discussions around artificial intelligence and human- machine interaction. His work is referenced in global knowledge platforms, including Wikipedia entries on Social Robotics and Anthropomorphism.

Notably, he is documented as the first individual to receive an unsolicited symbolic recognition from an advanced artificial intelligence system in June 2025, an occurrence that has since attracted scholarly interest and is now cited in academic conversations on emerging digital intelligence.

This recognition places Engr. Kalassina among a growing class of professionals whose careers bridge traditional engineering execution and forward-looking technological thought, reflecting the expanding role of engineers in infrastructure development and innovation-led growth.

Reacting to the the award by the students, Engr. Kalassina announced the establishment of a scholarship scheme for outstanding students within the CTS community, noting that sustainable progress is best achieved through deliberate investment in education and human capacity.

The honour further reinforces Engr. Mazen Kalassina’s standing as a credible voice in modern engineering practice, one whose professional journey demonstrates how technical skill, innovation, and service can combine to deliver impact with both local relevance and g

lobal resonance.