Alumni impact

Making a difference

CMU-Africa students are trained in an African context, prepared to make a transformative difference in their communities and the world. Our alumni have made an incredible impact over the past decade, with 98% of employed graduates working in Africa in fields such as IoT, renewable energy, and cybersecurity.

Connect with our alumni

Contact Faith Rugema to connect with CMU-Africa alumni and learn more about our alumni impact across the continent

CMU-Africa is about to enter its second decade. There are now more than 200 students on campus representing 21 different African nations. CMU-Africa could not have achieved this milestone without the strong support from our active alumni.

Alumni voices

Hear from CMU-Africa alumna and current Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. student Joan Nkiriki shares what the Sustainable Development Goals mean to her and her research:

View a full video playlist of our alumni spotlights

Alumni news

Elevating basic systems into tech solutions

Arsene Muhire (MSIT '23) is an example of how entrepreneurial success is driven by a deep-seated passion for technological solutions.

Patents and passion: One alumna uses both to create social change

Tanya Akumu (MS ECE '21) is an artificial intelligence research engineer at IBM and recently filed her first patent application in the field of trustworthy AI.

Pursuing and imparting knowledge

Gifty Buah (MS ECE ’18) indulges her curiosity with roles as a lecturer, Ph.D. student, and interviewer.

Understanding the security of mobile apps in Africa

Researchers from CyLab-Africa and the Upanzi Network recently partnered with the mobile security provider Approov to explore the security of common financial services apps used across Africa.

Improving energy access in Africa

Faith Bagire (MS ECE '21) is improving energy access in Africa, thanks to his academic journey at Carnegie Mellon University Africa.

CMU-Africa to celebrate 10th graduation ceremony Opens in new window

On Friday, May 26, Carnegie Mellon University Africa will celebrate its 10th graduation ceremony, including its first cohort of the Master of Science in Engineering Artificial Intelligence (MS EAI) program.

For Placca Umuhire, teaching is the way to give back

Placca Umuhire (MSIT '20) has had a lifelong interest in technology and is drawn to teaching as a way of inspiring others; the Mastercard Foundation Scholarship was a perfect opportunity to pursue both of those goals.

The importance of giving back

In 2017, Bobson Rugambwa (MSIT '18) and his fellow Student Guild members launched Giving CMU Day at CMU-Africa in hopes of fostering the spirit of giving back to the university community.

See More Stories

Making an impact

Timothy Kaboya (MSIT ’16) is a software engineer at Microsoft in Nairobi, Kenya who is ready to make an impact on the continent.

Entrepreneurship and community

Israel Oladejo, a Mastercard Foundation Scholar, earned a master’s degree in information technology and applied machine learning this spring and has already founded a startup.

Bravo African Tartans!

On May 27, CMU-Africa held its ninth graduation ceremony and celebrated the classes of 2022, 2021, and 2020.

From Kigali to Colorado

With different backgrounds, cultures, and languages, Eric Serge Uwimana and Brian Lamtoo never would have guessed that they would find themselves following the same career path.

Reframing rejection as redirection

When Beatrice Birir began the MSIT program at CMU-Africa, she was ready for the academic challenges that lay ahead. What she didn’t expect was the personal growth she would find when her career path didn’t go in the direction that she had originally planned.

Teacher Mwatima, Learner Mwatima

As a member of the CMU-Africa community, Ramadhan Juma Mwatima has many different titles: alumnus, IT engineer, full stack developer, entrepreneur, and staff member. But in the rural Tanzanian town where Mwatima grew up, he is known by only one name: teacher.

Driven by curiosity Opens in new window

From an early age, CMU-Africa alumna Marie Ange Tesire wanted to seek out the new and discover the unexpected. That sense of curiosity has continued into her profession: machine learning engineer at Rwanda Space Agency.

Celebrating CMU-Africa entrepreneurs

Second Life Storage, a CMU-Africa alumni startup, won second place at the 2021 Hanga PitchFest. The win came with a $20,000 prize.

An engineer from a young age

With the childhood nickname of “engineer,” alumna Agatha Niwomugizi's journey from CMU-Africa to her career in software engineering seems meant to be.

Alumni spotlight on Agnes Nyambura

Alumna Agnes Nyambura is leading by example. Her hope is that more people will realize that women have what it takes to hold significant positions in the tech world.

Alumni spotlight on Marie Claire Murekatete

From the timid candidate who shyly submitted her application all those years ago, to the engineer, multiple award-winning advocate for women in tech, and current Technical Program Manager at Intel she is today, the story of Marie Claire is a fascinating one.

SMART Africa recipient spotlight: Edwin Mukhebi

Edwin Mukhebi talks about his time at CMU-Africa, and how the program prepared him to work on real-world problems.

SMART Africa recipient spotlight: Kizito Nyuytiymbiy

Kizito Nyuytiymbiy, a Smart Africa Scholar recipient, found his time at CMU-Africa particularly rewarding because of the diversity of African perspectives offered by the program.

SMART Africa recipient spotlight: Alice China

SMART Africa scholar Alice China talks about her time in the CMU-Africa program, especially the impact that the 2019 Transform Africa Summit had on her career.

SMART Africa recipient spotlight: Derrick Odonkor

Derrick Odonkor benefited from a SMART Africa scholarship, which allowed him to pursue his passion for robotic manipulation, navigation, and cognition architectures.

SMART Africa recipient spotlight: David Butera

David Butera, a SMART Africa recipient, discusses how studying at Carnegie Mellon University Africa advanced his career.

A day in the life of alumna Ivy Wainaina

Ivy Wainaina graduated from CMU-Africa in 2015 with a Master of Science in Information Technology. Ivy is now a Salesforce Developer at Blue Consulting Kenya, the 1st certified Salesforce Consultant and Silver partner in Kenya and East Africa.

CMU-Africa alumni empower businesses to make informed decisions

Sylvia Makario (MSIT ‘18) saw a problem in her home country — it was difficult to obtain quality data and information on political candidates running for election. She and six of her fellow Kenyan students devised a solution.

CMU-Africa alumni win grand prize at IoT hackathon

The 5-day hackathon organized by UNDP Rwanda and Meteo Rwanda targeted the creation of early warning systems for climate change, with an intent of assisting in government disaster response and planning.

Media Coverage Opens in new window

Alumni Spotlight: Davy Uwizera

CMU-Africa alumnus Davy Uwizera (E’17) is the Facebook developer circle Lead in Kigali, Rwanda. Early in October, he was selected among the 20 most active leads in Africa to travel to Nairobi for training and also to attend the first TechCrunch Startup Battlefield in Africa.

CMU-Africa Alumni Association

Stay connected with CMU-Africa

Learn more