Industry partners, insightful speakers inspire EESC members

Patricia Raffaele

Aug 31, 2026

Inspiring, educating, and developing future careers for members is the vision for Carnegie Mellon University Africa’s (CMU-Africa) Energy and Embedded Systems Club (EESC). Club members and non-members alike experience the vision coming to life through programs, networking with industry leaders, and finding internship opportunities.

Club president Temidayo Opeoluwa Akanmu (MS ECE ‘26), who is from Nigeria, discovered the EESC when he arrived at CMU-Africa as a new student.

“The moment I got to CMU-Africa, I was looking for extracurricular activities that happen on campus so that I could keep my focus on going to classes and finishing my assignments. I found this really interesting club, the EESC,” he said. He started seeing what programs EESC had in place and then thought about how the club could grow.

  • The students in the club standing in a classroom
    Members of CMU-Africa’s Energy and Embedded Student Club look forward to managing the hackathon for the Open Access Conference, which will be hosted by CMU-Africa in October 2026.
  • A large group outside the Ampersand building
    Inspiring speakers such as Simone Fobe from the Microsoft for Good AI lab provide information and education on topics such as AI and energy to members and nonmembers of CMU-Africa’s Energy and Embedded Student Club.
  • Four students all with their heads turned right. They're sitting at a long table.
    The Energy and Embedded Student Club connects CMU-Africa students with industry partners offering internships, helping to grow student’s careers.

    • Akanmu describes the club as one that cultivates a thriving community of students, saying “the club started with two members and has since grown to 28 members.”

    Before the semester started, the officers had a list of what the members wanted to achieve. One of the requests from members was to bring in a speaker on the topic of AI and its application to energy. The club’s faculty advisers, adjunct professor Sarath Tennakoon and associate professors Barry Rawn and Nathan Williams, helped the officers contact Simone Fobe, senior research scientist for the Microsoft AI for Good Lab. She shared her journey in applying AI to energy in a well-attended online session.

    “It was exactly what we needed,” Akanmu said. “It’s about communicating with our faculty advisers and telling them about our vision for the semester, and them helping us.”

    An exciting development for the club is that CMU-Africa will host the third Open Access Conference from October 26-27, 2026, an event that brings together experts, researchers, and leaders from global energy organizations. As part of the event, the EESC will manage the hackathon section of the conference. 

    The club has expanded by inviting CMU-Africa students who are not members to its programs.  For example, 45 students from EESC and other clubs toured Ampersand Rwanda Ltd, a company that manufactures zero emission motorcycles powered by AI optimized batteries.

    The EESC is not just a club operating at CMU-Africa. We are collaborating with other universities throughout Rwanda and seeing how we can mutually contribute to each other.

    Temidayo Opeoluwa Akanmu (MS ECE ‘26), President, Energy and Embedded Systems Club, CMU-Africa

    The value of touring a company extends beyond the time spent on site. “When these companies meet us and if they have internships, they are always willing to share that information with CMU-Africa and the EESC,” he explained. In fact, Akanmu applied for and then was selected for a summer internship through one of the club’s industry partners.

    The EESC hosted a variety of other events and programs including a panel discussion attended by many club members and nonmembers: “Unlocking Opportunities, Research, Internship and Industry Collaboration.”

    The future of the EESC is bright as it expands its reach.

    “The EESC is not just a club operating at CMU-Africa,”  Akanmu said. “We are collaborating with other students in universities throughout Rwanda and reaching out to see how we can mutually contribute to each other.”