Joining IDEAS Lab
- Admitted to the PhD program in Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Washington
- Joined the IDEAS Lab
PhD Student · IDEAS Lab
Kwame Donkor
Kwame earned his bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from KNUST in Ghana, specializing in power systems. He has extensive experience designing and installing commercial- and industrial-scale electrical and automation systems, leading technical teams, and managing projects focused on renewable energy and off-grid electrification. Kwame is passionate about using data analytics, geospatial analysis, and machine learning to advance reliable, sustainable, and inclusive energy systems. Through an interdisciplinary lens, he explores how insights from grid-edge sensors, weather observations, and other sources can support the equitable delivery of reliable electricity, particularly in resource-constrained regions. His research interests include power-grid resilience to climate shocks, machine-learning applications in power systems, and the economic feasibility of grid-hardening and modernization strategies. Outside of his research, Kwame enjoys working out, running, hiking, exploring the outdoors, and spending time with friends.
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Learning · Research · Impact
PhD timeline
Scroll through the milestones, or jump to a year. Scheduled activities are marked below.
2023
2024
Exploring climate and grid resilience
- Began general literature review on power grid resilience to extreme weather events globally and in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Field research and research exchange
- Began exploring and cleaning power quality and reliability (PQR) and demographic data for Greater Accra, Ghana.
- Attended the IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting in Seattle.
- Co-mentored Lillian and Biniyam, undergraduate computer science students in the Clean Energy Bridge to Research program, on projects analyzing mini-grid customer payment patterns in Western Uganda and inequities in access to heating and cooling infrastructure across Seattle.
- Attended ORCAS 2024, the International Conference on Energy Conversion and Storage, on Bainbridge Island.
- Participated in the e-GUIDE retreat in Niagara Falls and Rochester, New York, connecting with consortium researchers and presenting a poster on ongoing research.
- Traveled to Ghana for research, attending the public launch of nLine’s GridWatch PQR dataset and conducting semi-structured interviews with meteorological agency and local utility staff.
Research exchange in Summer 2024. 
Panel discussion during Summer 2024 research activities. Teaching and grid resilience
- Teaching Assistant for EE 454: Power Systems Analysis.
- Continued research on weather impacts on power quality and reliability in Greater Accra, Ghana.
2025
Communicating research
- Presented ongoing research work titled “Investigating Correlations between Power Grid Resilience, Extreme Weather and Social Equity: Insights from Accra” at the UW Scholars’ Studio Lightning Talk.
- Continued research on weather impacts on power quality and reliability in Greater Accra, Ghana.
Fellowship, showcase and qualifying exams
- Recipient of the Cascade Energy Fellowship, Renewable Energy Scholarship Foundation
- Poster presentation at UW ECE Research Showcase
- Passed Qualifying Exams
- Continued research on weather impacts on power quality and reliability in Greater Accra, Ghana.
Kwame at the 2025 UW ECE Research Showcase. Industry internship
- Internship at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (Charlotte, NC) with the Automation Team, Engineering Services.
Teaching and conference exchange
- Teaching Assistant for EE 454: Power Systems Analysis
- Presented research, “Bridging Climate Risk and Grid Resilience in Africa’s Energy Transition” in a hybrid presentation and poster session at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Atlanta.
- Continued research on weather impacts on power quality and reliability in Greater Accra, Ghana.
Presenting grid resilience research at INFORMS 2025.
2026
Grid resilience and capstone mentoring
- Delivered a virtual presentation at a KiloWatts for Humanity (KWH) meeting titled “Bridging Climate Risk and Grid Resilience in Africa’s Energy Transition: A Case Study of Greater Accra, Ghana.”
- Continued research on weather impacts on power quality and reliability in Greater Accra, Ghana.
- Served as Faculty Mentor for an undergraduate capstone team exploring battery energy storage strategies for the University of Washington’s campus electrical distribution system, with GE Vernova as the project’s industry partner.
Capstone showcase and research
- Continued research on weather impacts on power quality and reliability in Greater Accra, Ghana.
- Continued mentoring the undergraduate capstone team, whose work culminated in a final project report and a student poster presentation at the UW ECE ENGINE Showcase.
- Co-authored “When Climate Shocks Collide with Grid Failure,” published by the Energy for Growth Hub on April 9, 2026, with June Lukuyu, Mohini Bariya, and Genevieve Flaspohler.
Kwame and the capstone team at the UW ECE ENGINE Showcase. New research and international exchange
- Mentored Yufei, an ECE undergraduate, who is interested in pursuing a career in power systems, renewable energy integration, and energy access for underserved communities.
- Attended the week-long AI-in-Practice workshop organized by the eScience Institute.
- Began work on second research project: exploring how instrumentation coverage and historical data depth shape graph neural network (GNN) performance on distribution grids.
- Completed the research project “Neighborhood disparities in weather-related power outages and voltage quality in Accra, Ghana” and submitted for publication.
- Was invited to give a talk on life as a PhD student at the CMU-Africa Research Club in Kigali and joined Dr. Nathan Williams for a subsequent Q&A panel.
- Attended the Rwanda Climate Science Symposium and presented a poster on ongoing GNN research titled “Measuring the Value of Distribution-Level Data for Predicting Climate-Driven Grid Vulnerability.”
Rwanda Climate Science Symposium 2026. 
Research and PhD life discussion at CMU-Africa. 
Discussing distribution-grid research at the Rwanda Climate Science Symposium. 
Sharing the GNN research poster at the Rwanda Climate Science Symposium. 
With the CMU-Africa Research Club. Teaching power systems
- Teaching Assistant for EE 454: Power Systems Analysis
Research in focus
Projects
Neighborhood disparities in weather-related power outages and voltage quality in Accra, Ghana
Research on weather, outages, voltage, and neighborhood vulnerability in Greater Accra, begun in Summer 2024 and completed in Summer 2026. The resulting manuscript has been submitted.
Measuring the Value of Distribution-Level Data for Predicting Climate-Driven Grid Vulnerability in Data Sparse Settings
Investigating how graph neural network (GNN) performance for outage prediction varies with spatial instrumentation coverage and the depth of historical outage and weather data. Begun in Summer 2026.
Sharing the work
Outputs
Manuscript · Submitted Summer 2026
Neighborhood disparities in weather-related power outages and voltage quality in Accra, Ghana
Submitted to Communications Earth & Environment (Nature Portfolio). This is a submitted manuscript, not a published article; no public manuscript link has been added.
Policy memo · 9 April 2026
When Climate Shocks Collide with Grid Failure
Co-authored with June Lukuyu, Mohini Bariya, and Genevieve Flaspohler for the Energy for Growth Hub.
Presentation & poster · Autumn 2025
Bridging Climate Risk and Grid Resilience in Africa’s Energy Transition
INFORMS Annual Meeting, Atlanta. A related Greater Accra case-study presentation was delivered virtually to Kilowatts for Humanity in Winter 2026.
Poster presentation · Summer 2026
Measuring the Value of Distribution-Level Data for Predicting Climate-Driven Grid Vulnerability
Presented at the Rwanda Climate Science Symposium.
Capstone poster · Spring 2026
Modeling UW Campus and Battery Design as Flexible Load
UW ECE ENGINE Showcase. Students: Daniel Wang, William Bollich, Sean Lai, Mellvin Chia, and Rory McAndrew. Advisers: June Lukuyu and Kwame Donkor. Industry mentors: Vaidy Ramachandran and Jesse Gantz. Sponsor: GE Vernova.