CMU-Africa students shine at global electronics conference

Iyata Adikpe (MS ECE ’25) and Akabway Rurangwa (MS ECE ’26), recently participated in the IEEE Southern Power Electronics Conference (SPEC 2025). Rurangwa moderated a young professional’s panel discussion and presented a paper at the event, while Adikpe led a startup team in a pitching competition.

SPEC 2025, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, is part of the Power Electronics Society, one of the technical societies of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), the world’s largest professional organization in the field of electrical engineering.

Both Rurangwa (from Uganda) and Adikpe (from Nigeria) chose to focus on energy systems at CMU-Africa, pursuing research and entrepreneurial ventures in energy access for African communities. Rurangwa was encouraged to apply to CMU-Africa by a friend, a CMU-Africa alumnus, who told him, “CMU-Africa has the best professors in the field of energy. You get to learn from the world-class faculty, and they are within reach here in Africa,” he said.

Rurangwa and Adikpe credit CMU-Africa Adjunct Professor Sarath Tennakoon, co-chair of the conference, for their participation in the event.

“One of my papers was accepted into the conference,” Rurangwa said. “It started as a class project, and with the guidance of Professor Jesse Thornburg, we worked on the paper, and it was accepted.” The paper focused on modeling of hybrid geothermal and solar photovoltaic power generation in Uganda. Thornburg is an assistant teaching professor at CMU-Africa.

“People in rural Uganda face challenges in accessing electricity,” he said. “Yet the country has abundant solar and geothermal resources that remain largely untapped, particularly in the Albertine region, which is experiencing rapid industrialization driven by oil exploration and a growing demand for reliable power.” The paper presents a techno-economic analysis of how much electricity can be generated from these renewable resources and the potential financial returns for investors. “We are trying to show the public that this is a really profitable area you can invest in, and at the same time, the investment improves access to electricity,” he said.

The conference also hosted IEEE’s Empower Billion Lives global pitching competition. Adikpe and his team, Umuganda Energy Finance, entered the student competition of 100 teams around the world and was selected as one of the 25 finalists invited to compete at the live pitching event.

Under the guidance of Associate Teaching Professor Barry Rawn and Tennakoon, Adikpe said the team was accepted into the finals in their first effort. “Although we didn’t clinch the prize, it was a very valuable experience just being there,” Adikpe said. “We’re looking forward to trying out again, because we heard valuable feedback from the judges.” The pitch was for crowdsourcing through a digital platform for community energy projects across Africa. 

For us it’s a journey; it’s never a single destination. Just the ability to connect with innovators from around the globe was amazing.

Iyata Adikpe, student, CMU-Africa

Rurangwa was invited to chair the workshop for IEEE young professionals at the conference. “We organized a really wonderful panel discussion, and Iyata was one of the panelists,” he said. The theme of the panel discussion was moving from graduate engineer to senior engineer.

Akabway and Iyata also took the opportunity to experience South African culture, and visit monumental public sites like the Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton, Johannesburg, and the Eskom Research and Innovation Center where they learned about the energy innovation culture of Eskom, the national energy company in South Africa.

“For us, it’s a journey; it’s never a single destination,” Adikpe said. “Just having the ability to connect with innovators from around the globe that featured both students and panelists from industry was amazing.”