I am a PhD candidate in Earth & Environmental Engineering at Columbia University and a researcher in the Quadraçci Sustainable Energy Lab. My work focuses on household electricity use, power system reliability, and access to affordable electricity, with a particular emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa.
I examine how households adopt, use, and pay for electricity, and how these patterns shape electrification planning, tariff design, and grid investment decisions. My research combines energy systems modeling with empirical demand estimation and outage analysis to evaluate pathways toward more equitable and climate-aligned electricity access.
Through this work, I aim to expand access to clean and affordable electricity for low-income households and to promote the productive use of electricity as a pathway to higher and more stable household incomes. By grounding policy and planning decisions in household-level evidence, my research supports electrification strategies that both reduce energy poverty and enable small businesses to use electricity as an engine for local economic growth.
Advisor: Prof. Vijay Modi
- Led collaborative projects with government agencies to identify grid challenges and scale renewable energy solutions.
- Designed and executed household surveys, including sampling strategy and field deployment.
- Developed predictive ML and econometric models for electricity consumption behavior.
- Constructed geospatial energy access scenarios integrating utility, survey, and infrastructure data.
- Analyzed household survey data to estimate electricity demand profiles and assess financial capacity for sustained electricity use.
- Evaluated existing and potential mini-grid sites by identifying viable anchor loads, productive use opportunities, and community energy needs.
- Refactored survey instruments to better capture household socio-economic characteristics and productive activity potential.
- Designed strategies to strengthen productive use of electricity, focusing on applications that enhance rural livelihoods and ensure mini-grid viability.
- Participated in interdisciplinary professional development workshops and seminars on global energy systems, decarbonization, and climate policy.
- Engaged in networking events with energy sector leaders, policy experts, and fellows across academia, government, and industry.
- Contributed to research discussions and roundtables on energy access, grid modernization, and clean energy transitions in emerging markets.
- Collaborated with fellows and CGEP staff on policy briefings and knowledge-sharing initiatives.
- Supported the planning and execution of fellow-led events promoting dialogue on just and equitable energy transitions.
- Developed a Natural Language Processing (NLP) model to analyze maintenance and incident reports, automating root-cause classification.
- Built a detection pipeline to identify patterns indicative of electricity theft and non-technical losses.
- Quantified the financial and operational impacts of outages using geospatial outage, consumption, and revenue data.
- Collaborated with engineering teams to validate model outputs and improve reliability planning workflows.
- Designed APIs to distribute electricity demand forecasts and geospatial analytics to global partners.
- Led data-access negotiations and stakeholder engagement across Sub-Saharan African utilities.
- Designed irrigation surveys and conducted analysis for smallholder agricultural electrification.
- Estimated electricity demand under grid and off-grid scenarios using quantitative modeling.
- Co-led irrigation pilot deployments with governments and field teams.
- Designed and deployed smart metering strategies across mini-grid assets.
- Evaluated cost-effectiveness and performance of emerging metering technologies.
- Monitored smart metering platforms to ensure data quality and integration.
- Analyzed high-resolution electricity usage to identify patterns and improve customer engagement.
- Applied the STEMM techno-economic model to evaluate mini-grid project viability.
- Monitored the performance and operation of ten 18 MW hydroelectric turbines.
- Performed preventive and corrective maintenance on electrical and mechanical systems.
- Diagnosed equipment failures and coordinated timely repairs.
- Updated SOPs, maintenance logs, and service reports to support reliability-centered maintenance.
- Supported major equipment overhauls and plant safety audits.
Programming & Data Science
- Python (pandas, geopandas, scikit-learn, statsmodels, NumPy, seaborn)
- R (econometrics & statistical modeling)
- Machine Learning (CNNs, supervised learning, spatial prediction)
- Data cleaning, feature engineering, model evaluation
- Git & GitHub, Jupyter
Geospatial & Remote Sensing
- QGIS, GeoPandas
- Raster/vector processing
- Satellite imagery analysis
Cloud & API Development
- AWS (Lambda, EC2, S3, API Gateway)
- RESTful API design
- Cloud-based pipelines
Energy Systems
- DIGSILENT PowerFactory
- Energy access modeling
- Tariff & power system analysis
Econometrics & Causal Inference
- OLS, Fixed Effects, IV
- Panel & time-series econometrics
- Monte Carlo simulation
- DID, PSM, Control Function
ABOUT ME
Hi, I’m Joel Mugyenyi, a traveler, gamer, amateur guitarist, and lifelong observer of art, people, places, and the stories they carry. I enjoy learning about new cultures, walking through historic streets, and hiking through nature.
My travels have led me from the cliffs of the Grand Canyon to the canals of Amsterdam, the fountains of Rome, the bright nights of Las Vegas, and the windy coastline of the Golden Gate. I have stood beneath waterfalls in Uganda and wandered through tropical gardens in Lagos. These experiences have broadened my perspective on how people live, create, celebrate, and persevere. Travel, for me, is a search for meaning and a way to connect more deeply with the world.
Outside of travel, I enjoy music with an eclectic taste that spans soul, rock, afrobeat, hip hop, and rhythm and blues. Some of my favorite artists include The Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Tems, Maroon 5, and Bob Marley. I also enjoy cycling, keeping up with the news, and listening to history podcasts. Each of these interests shapes how I see the world and the kind of life I hope to build within it.
Also, I really love hats. If you are ever thinking of getting me a Christmas or birthday gift, you cannot go wrong with a good hat 🙂
A picture is worth a 1000 words
Contact
Thank you for visiting my website! If you’d like to connect, collaborate, or discuss my work in energy access, infrastructure development, or data-driven sustainability solutions, feel free to reach out.
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