Bob Muhwezi

About

Am a second year PhD student in the Electrical & Computer Engineering department at the University of Massachusetts (UMass)-Amherst. I work as a research assistant in the Systems Towards Infrastructure Measurement & Analytics (STIMA) lab under the supervision of Professor Jay Taneja. Prior to joining UMass, i worked for the planning department of the Electricity Utility in Rwanda where i was responsible for optimal planning of midterm and longterm electricity-infrastructure projects.

Regarding my research, I have always enjoyed data-driven approaches in solving interdisciplinary problems; especially in developing countries. Thus, my work at UMass lies at the intersection between Energy, Economics and International development. Here, i mainly use large scale remote sensing data plus temporal & spatial electricity consumption datasets to both understand and predict electricity demand growth, as well as measure Economic activity in Kenya.

Education

PhD-Electrical and Computer Engineering Jan 2019 - Feb 2023 (expected) University of Massachusetts, Amherst

MSC Electrical and Computer Engineering June 2017 Carnegie Mellon University-Africa (CMU-A)

Bsc (Hons) Electrical Engineering September 2013 Kigali institute of Science and Technology (KIST),Kigali, Rwanda

Experience

Graduate research assistant (STIMA-lab: 2019-present)

Using remote sensing and data analytics to understand electricity demand and GDP growth in Kenya.

Projects Planning Engineer (EDCL, Rwanda: Jan-2018 to Jan-2019)

At EDCL, I was responsible for modelling Rwanda’s energy demand, modelling Least Cost generation expansion, static and dynamic stability studies of Rwanda’s HV network, feasibility studies for LV and MV grid extension projects and lastly, worked as part of the Rwanda government team in negotiating Power Purchase Agreements (PPA’s).

Intern EUCL-Rwanda (Feb-2017 to July-2017)

I worked as an Intern in the planning department at the Energy Utility Corporation Ltd (EUCL) in Rwanda. Here, my main duties involved carrying out load flow as well as transient stability studies for purposes of operational planning.

Teaching Assistant – Carnegie Mellon University, Africa (Jan-2017 to December-2017)

Carrying out recitations as well as grading of assignments for various graduate courses in systems modeling as well as renewable energy.

On going projects

Understanding Electricity consumption among Kenya’s grid-connected Small Commercial electricity consumers.

This project involves the analysis of historic monthly-electricity consumption of all Kenya Power’s Small Commercial consumers. In this analysis, we leverage the deep temporal and Spatial features of the dataset to segment consumers and as a result better understand how electricity demand has changed over time. In the future, we hope to use our understanding of these particular consumers in building better demand prediction models.

Sub-national disaggregation of Kenya’s GDP using electricity demand and remote sensing.

In this project, we’re hoping to measure correlations between published Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’ data and electricity demand at the county level as well as Night time Lights data.

Past Projects

Development of Rwanda’s Least Cost Power development plan

Under this project, I was tasked with modelling future demand as well as optimal generation expansion pathways for the government of Rwanda. This model was reviewed and accepted by the Ministry, regulator as well as donors. It’s most recent version can be found on the EDCL website

Fellowships and Awards

1. Spaulding Smith Fellowship, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2019

2. Dean’s Fellow Program, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2020