UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu is part of a multi-organization team that has received a grant to develop machine learning datasets, which will enable fast, flexible, and accessible power systems planning in underserved communities.
UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel was recently elected part of the 2026 class of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for his pioneering contributions to computer science.
UW ECE offers our congratulations to the graduating Class of 2026. We wish you all the best for the future!
UW ECE is proud to announce that alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05) will serve as honored guest speaker for the UW ECE 2026 Graduation Ceremony. Jordan is a managing vice president at Capital One, a leading financial services corporation, and serves as head of Capital One Garage, the company’s innovation accelerator.
UW ECE is proud to announce that Khushbu Patel (MSECE ‘26) and Kathryn Fehme (BSECE ‘26) have been selected to speak at this year's Graduation Ceremony.
UW ECE undergraduate student Anders Pearson has been awarded a fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The NSF GRFP recognizes outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based degrees in STEM.
UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu is part of a multi-organization team that has received a grant to develop machine learning datasets, which will enable fast, flexible, and accessible power systems planning in underserved communities.
UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel was recently elected part of the 2026 class of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for his pioneering contributions to computer science.
UW ECE offers our congratulations to the graduating Class of 2026. We wish you all the best for the future!
UW ECE is proud to announce that Khushbu Patel (MSECE ‘26) and Kathryn Fehme (BSECE ‘26) have been selected to speak at this year's Graduation Ceremony.
UW ECE undergraduate student Anders Pearson has been awarded a fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The NSF GRFP recognizes outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based degrees in STEM.
UW ECE is proud to announce that alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05) will serve as honored guest speaker for the UW ECE 2026 Graduation Ceremony. Jordan is a managing vice president at Capital One, a leading financial services corporation, and serves as head of Capital One Garage, the company’s innovation accelerator.
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UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu is part of a multi-organization team that has received a grant to develop machine learning datasets, which will enable fast, flexible, and accessible power systems planning in underserved communities.
UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel was recently elected part of the 2026 class of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences for his pioneering contributions to computer science.
Congratulations, Class of 2026!
UW ECE offers our congratulations to the graduating Class of 2026. We wish you all the best for the future!
Two student speakers selected for UW ECE Graduation
UW ECE is proud to announce that Khushbu Patel (MSECE ‘26) and Kathryn Fehme (BSECE ‘26) have been selected to speak at this year's Graduation Ceremony.
UW ECE undergraduate Anders Pearson awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
UW ECE undergraduate student Anders Pearson has been awarded a fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The NSF GRFP recognizes outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based degrees in STEM.
Jared K. Jordan of Capital One to speak at UW ECE Graduation
UW ECE is proud to announce that alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05) will serve as honored guest speaker for the UW ECE 2026 Graduation Ceremony. Jordan is a managing vice president at Capital One, a leading financial services corporation, and serves as head of Capital One Garage, the company’s innovation accelerator.
UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu is part of a multi-organization team that has received a Climate Change AI Innovation Grant to develop machine learning datasets, which will enable fast, flexible, and accessible power systems planning in underserved communities in the Global South. Photo by Ryan Hoover / UW ECE[/caption]
Access to reliable electricity remains out of reach for millions of people across the Global South. At the same time, the worldwide transition to renewable energy is accelerating. Bridging this gap — ensuring that underserved communities can benefit from clean, reliable power — is one of the most important energy challenges today. To help address this issue, researchers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence, or AI, to design faster, more accessible solutions.
Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and hydropower, are being adopted at growing rates around the world. This shift offers clear benefits, from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to improving public health. But progress is uneven. Wealthier regions with established infrastructure are advancing quickly, while many lower-resource communities face significant barriers to deploying modern energy systems.
These challenges are especially pronounced in the Global South, which includes many countries across Africa, South America, and Asia. Expanding energy access in these regions often means reaching remote or underserved communities — an effort that requires careful planning, coordination, and innovation. With this in mind, governments, industry leaders, and engineers are forming new partnerships to design power systems that are not only sustainable, but also tailored to the specific needs of local communities.
“We’re trying to make power systems planning more accessible to people who are currently left out of the process. Power systems planning is how countries decide what power infrastructure to build, where, and when. It directly shapes whether or not communities get reliable, affordable, and clean electricity.” — UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu
UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu is working at the forefront of this effort. A member of the Clean Energy Institute and leader of the Interdisciplinary Energy Analytics for Society, or IDEAS, research group at the UW, Lukuyu focuses on developing sustainable, inclusive, and integrated energy systems for underserved communities. She is also part of a multi-organization team that recently received a Climate Change AI Innovation Grant — an award that supports the use of AI to address critical climate challenges.
The project funded by the award from Climate Change AI is one of just 12 selected from more than 400 applications representing 78 countries, underscoring both its significance and its global relevance. With this support, Lukuyu and her collaborators are developing machine learning datasets that will enable faster, more flexible, and more accessible power systems planning in lower-resource settings.
Why AI matters for energy planning
At the center of this work is machine learning, a branch of AI that allows computers to learn from data and make predictions. In the context of energy systems, machine learning can help planners quickly evaluate different scenarios — reducing the time and expertise required to design effective power networks.
Traditionally, power systems planning relies on complex optimization models that can take days to produce a single scenario and often require specialized technical knowledge. These constraints limit who can participate in planning processes and slow progress, particularly in regions where resources and expertise are limited.
“This grant is supporting work that sits at the intersection of two things that don’t always come together: cutting-edge machine learning research and the practical realities of energy planning in under-resourced contexts,” Lukuyu said. “A lot of sophisticated power systems modeling work never makes it out of the lab, and a lot of planning work in the Global South is constrained by the tools available. We’re trying to close that gap.”
Building smarter, more accessible tools
[caption id="attachment_41400" align="alignright" width="400"]
UW ECE doctoral student Ahana Mukherjee will be developing machine learning models that are optimized for power systems planning in the Global South. The models will be trained on the datasets Lukuyu’s team is curating. Photo courtesy of June Lukuyu.[/caption]
Lukuyu is collaborating on the project with Mohini Bariya, Joshua Adkins, and Genevieve Flaspohler from Rhiza Research, a nonprofit focused on identifying and addressing gaps in data, technology, and technical capacity in community-centered projects. The partnership combines expertise in power systems planning, machine learning, and applied research, along with strong connections to practitioners in the field.
Also contributing to the work is UW ECE doctoral student Ahana Mukherjee, who is co-advised by Lukuyu and Bariya. Mukherjee will develop machine learning models trained on the datasets the team is curating — datasets designed to serve as the foundation for faster and more user-friendly planning tools.
This effort builds on earlier work by Lukuyu, her IDEAS research group, and members of Rhiza Research. In a previous project funded by Climate Change AI, the team used machine learning to detect and localize power losses caused by malfunctioning equipment and overloaded distribution lines in Ghana. The goal of their approach was to help operators increase efficiency through precisely targeted interventions to address grid failures.
In the new project, the team is expanding that work by focusing on the datasets themselves — an essential building block for effective AI tools.
“The tools that exist today, both open source and commercial, are built on optimization models that can take days to run to come up with one planning scenario,” Lukuyu explained. “They also require significant technical expertise, which excludes many of the planners, researchers, and policymakers who need them most. We want to build something that’s simpler, faster, and computationally light — but still genuinely useful. And the foundation for that is curating a high-quality dataset.”
From research to real-world impact
[caption id="attachment_41404" align="alignright" width="400"]
This project builds on earlier work using machine learning to detect and localize power losses from faulty equipment and overloaded power lines in Ghana. The team is now focusing on improving datasets as a foundation for effective AI tools. Photo courtesy of the American Public Power Association.[/caption]
A key goal of the project is to ensure that these tools are not only developed, but also adopted. Lukuyu emphasizes the importance of collaboration among engineers, governments, nonprofits, utility companies, and energy developers — as well as meaningful input from the communities that these power systems are intended to serve.
Looking ahead, she plans to work closely with universities, practitioners, and community partners in the Global South to share knowledge and build capacity. By integrating these tools into academic and professional settings, the team hopes to expand who can participate in power systems planning.
“The transition to renewable energy needs to be a just transition,” Lukuyu said. “That means people need to be able to participate in the decisions that shape their energy systems. Right now, the complexity of planning tools is a barrier to that participation. If we can lower that barrier, we can open the door to a much broader set of voices.”
By making power systems planning more accessible, Lukuyu and her collaborators aim to help communities design energy systems that reflect their needs and priorities — ensuring that the benefits of the clean energy transition are shared more equitably around the world.
More information about UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu can be found on her UW ECE bio page and the IDEAS research group website.
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[caption id="attachment_41341" align="alignright" width="600"]
UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel was recently elected part of the 2026 class of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He joins the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Albert Einstein, Jennifer Doudna, Barack Obama and more. Photo by Ryan Hoover / UW ECE[/caption]
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honor societies, has elected Shwetak Patel as part of its 2026 class of new members. Patel is the Washington Research Foundation Entrepreneurship Professor in UW ECE and the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Allen School director and professor Magdalena Balazinska was also elected to the AAA&S this year. Chartered in 1780, the Academy recognizes exceptional individuals across academia, industry, the arts and more who examine new ideas and address issues of importance to both the nation and the world.
Patel is known for thinking outside the box by bringing together research in human-computer interaction (HCI) with ubiquitous computing and sensor-enabled embedded systems to advance new health and sustainability innovations.
“I’m humbled and honored to be inducted to the AAA&S. To see highly applied computing research celebrated at this level is so rewarding. I hope this serves as a catalyst for others to embrace a broader, more practical perspective on what computing can achieve for society,” said Patel, who is also associate director for development and entrepreneurship in the Allen School.
Many people carry around a smartphone in their pocket, and Patel’s research focuses on leveraging the device’s combined sensing, data processing and communication abilities to expand health care access. Patel, who directs the Allen School’s UbiComp Lab, has pioneered the ability to extract clinical grade signals using these everyday sensing devices to help users continuously monitor their health — which is especially helpful to those in low-resource settings. For example, he and his team developed the app FeverPhone that turns smartphones into thermometers and a smartphone-based glucose and prediabetes screening tool called GlucoScreen.
[caption id="attachment_41347" align="alignright" width="400"]
Patel has pioneered new ways of using the sensors built into smartphones for health screening, such as using the camera to gauge bilirubin levels.[/caption]
To help commercialize some of these technologies, Patel founded the mobile health diagnostics company Senosis Health, which was acquired by Google and is now a core part of Google’s consumer health efforts. In addition to his UW faculty position, Patel is Distinguished Scientist and Head of Health Technologies at the company, which developed multiple apps that could screen for various health conditions. These include an app that uses a smartphone’s accelerometer to detect osteoporosis and another that analyzes selfies to screen for pancreatic cancer through changes in the scleral color of a user’s eye.
"To see highly applied computing research celebrated at this level is so rewarding. I hope this serves as a catalyst for others to embrace a broader, more practical perspective on what computing can achieve for society."
— UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel
Another line of Patel’s research looks into using sensing technology to improve the health of the planet and tackle sustainability challenges. For example, he developed low-cost and easy-to-deploy sensor systems that could measure household energy consumption and help residents detect inefficiencies more effectively. Patel founded residential energy monitoring company Zensi, which was later acquired by Belkin, and he also co-founded the low-power wireless sensor platform company called SNUPI Technologies, which was acquired by Sears. More recently, he has helped reduce environmentally hazardous electronic waste by creating recyclable printed circuit boards and introduced AI models to help users better understand the environmental impact of everyday decisions.
“Shwetak’s work is deeply important, impactful, and incredibly creative,” said Jeff Dean (Ph.D., ‘96), chief scientist for Google DeepMind and Google Research. “He has an incredible record of research publication, entrepreneurship, and real-world impact. His health sensing research has been integrated into Google products used by more than one billion people. As a fellow American Academy of Arts & Sciences member, I am proud to see Shwetak’s induction.”
Patel’s election to the Academy is the latest in a string of accolades recognizing the wide-ranging impact of his work. He has also received a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award, Sloan Research Fellowship, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship, MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 Award, World Economic Forum Young Global Scientist Award, NSF CAREER Award, National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Award and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
A Fellow of the ACM, Patel earned that organization’s ACM Prize in Computing for mid-career contributions to the field and was inducted into the SIGCHI Academy by the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction.
Read more about the members of the 2026 class of members in the AAA&S announcement and a related UW News story.
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Khushbu Patel (MSECE '26), at left, and Kathryn Fehme (BSECE '26), at right, will speak at this year's Graduation Ceremony, which will take place in the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Wednesday, June 10, from 7 to 9 p.m.[/caption]
UW ECE is proud to announce that in addition to UW ECE alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05), two students have been selected to speak at our 2026 Graduation Ceremony. Khushbu Patel (MSECE ‘26) will offer remarks on behalf of graduate students, and Kathryn Fehme (BSECE ‘26) will represent undergraduates. Patel and Fehme were selected for this honor because of their academic achievements, extracurricular activities, and service to the Department. This year’s Graduation Ceremony will take place in the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Wednesday, June 10, from 7 to 9 p.m. The event will be presided over by UW ECE Professor and Chair Eric Klavins.
“We have two outstanding students from our graduating class speaking at this year’s Graduation Ceremony,” Klavins said. “Khushbu has done exemplary work in our Professional Master’s program while working full-time in aerospace engineering. Kathryn has excelled academically and in her internships while gaining hands-on project experience here at UW ECE. I’m very much looking forward to hearing what they both have to say.”
Learn more about both students below:
Graduate student speaker
Khushbu Patel
(MSECE ‘26)
[caption id="attachment_41082" align="alignright" width="575"]
Khushbu Patel (MSECE '26)[/caption]
Khushbu Patel is graduating from UW ECE’s Professional Master’s Program in electrical and computer engineering. She pursued her degree while working as an engineering leader at Gravitics, an aerospace startup designing and manufacturing space station modules. There, she leads multidisciplinary teams developing onboard systems, such as avionics and flight software, for space station technologies.
She has worked across the space industry, bridging the gap between simulation and flight operations for complex systems. Her previous roles at Virgin Orbit and Relativity Space focused on high-fidelity test systems, vehicle software, launch vehicle avionics, and critical life support technologies.
Khushbu’s passion for space began at an early age, leading her to an internship at NASA Johnson Space Center, followed by studies in aerospace engineering and computational sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. She has since built a career dedicated to advancing humanity’s presence in space.
Beyond her technical work, Khushbu is passionate about mentorship. Through the UW ECE Industry Mentorship Program, Wired for Success, and For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics, she has mentored students pursuing engineering pathways, with a focus on encouraging young women in STEM. After graduating, Khushbu hopes to continue building technologies that push humanity forward while helping others see a place for themselves in engineering and beyond.
Undergraduate student speaker
Kathryn Fehme
(BSECE ‘26)
[caption id="attachment_41084" align="alignright" width="575"]
Kathryn Fehme (BSECE '26)[/caption]
Kathryn Fehme is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering. As a child, Fehme dreamed of becoming an engineer, which inspired her passion for aerospace and technical innovation. During her time at UW ECE, she specialized in control systems and hardware through internships and hands-on engineering experience. Her senior capstone project, completed in partnership with General Dynamics, was designing and building a 3D drone simulator in MATLAB using advanced control system concepts.
Fehme’s experiences in aerospace and engineering leadership shaped her passion for solving complex technical challenges while building strong professional communities. After two internships with Boeing, she will continue her career in Boeing’s flight test sector, working on sensors and signal conditioning while pursuing a dual master’s degree focused on electrical engineering and engineering leadership.
Beyond her technical work, Fehme is dedicated to mentorship and creating opportunities for future engineers. Through the Society of Women Engineers, where she served in the UW student chapter as vice president of corporate relations, she mentored fellow students and helped connect aspiring engineers with industry professionals through professional development, recruitment, and networking opportunities. After graduation, Fehme plans to remain involved with SWE and continue mentoring students pursuing careers in STEM.
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UW ECE undergraduate student Anders Pearson has been awarded a fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at accredited U.S. institutions.[/caption]
UW ECE is proud to announce that undergraduate student Anders Pearson has been awarded a fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at accredited U.S. institutions. The fellowship provides a competitive annual stipend for three years, along with a cost-of-education allowance provided in partnership with the student’s institution.
Pearson is part of UW ECE’s Combined Bachelor of Science – Master of Science program, and is expected to earn his bachelor’s degree this spring before entering the Department’s master’s degree program in the fall.
“I am very honored to receive this award and thankful for those who helped me achieve it,” Pearson said. “I plan to take full advantage of this opportunity to explore ambitious research directions.”
Pearson is advised by UW ECE Professor Joshua Smith, who holds a joint appointment in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Smith leads several high-profile research efforts at the University, including work on wireless power transfer systems for lunar environments. In Smith’s Sensor Systems Laboratory, Pearson conducts research at the intersection of machine learning and wireless communication networks. This work is supported by Smith’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Early Stage Innovations grant, “Deep Contact Graph Routing for Lunar Operations.”
Specifically, Pearson is developing machine-learning-driven frameworks to model radio wave propagation in extreme environments, such as the surface of the moon. His research will support future NASA lunar surface missions and help enable more resilient wireless communication networks on Earth. He is lead author of an upcoming paper about this work and presented his research at the 2026 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP). As a graduate student under Smith’s supervision, Pearson plans to continue research related to 6G and non-terrestrial wireless communication networks.
“Anders is incredibly focused, productive, and creative,” Smith said. “The results he has already delivered as an undergraduate would be impressive for a doctoral student, so I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes in graduate school.”
To view all 2026 NSF GRFP recipients nationwide, visit the NSF GRFP website.
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UW ECE is proud to announce that alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05) will serve as honored guest speaker for the UW ECE 2026 Graduation Ceremony, which will take place in the Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, from 7 to 9 p.m. Jordan is a managing vice president at Capital One, a leading financial services corporation, and serves as head of Capital One Garage, the company’s innovation accelerator.[/caption]
The University of Washington Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering is proud to announce that alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05) will serve as honored guest speaker for the UW ECE 2026 Graduation Ceremony. This year’s ceremony will take place in the Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, from 7 to 9 p.m. The event will be presided over by UW ECE Professor and Chair Eric Klavins.
“We are excited to welcome Jared as our graduation speaker. He has built a distinguished career as an engineering leader across several top-tier companies,” Klavins said. “His work has impacted countless people around the world, and he is widely respected for his commitment to building and supporting diverse, inclusive teams. I very much look forward to hearing what he will share with our graduating class.”
Jordan is a managing vice president at Capital One, a leading financial services corporation, and serves as head of Capital One Garage, the company’s innovation accelerator. In this role, he leads multidisciplinary teams across engineering and product development to advance innovation in developer platforms, artificial intelligence labs, and customer experiences. His work is helping transform how Capital One delivers smarter, technology-driven solutions to millions of people worldwide.
Before joining Capital One, Jordan built a distinguished career leading engineering teams at renowned technology companies, such as Google, YouTube, Netflix, and Microsoft. At Google, he served as director of engineering for Gmail, where he helped shape AI-powered tools that changed how millions of people interact with email. At YouTube, he led the launch of Primetime Channels and developed features supporting live sports and on-demand streaming. While at Netflix, he drove global engineering initiatives that contributed to significant market growth. Earlier in his career at Microsoft, he developed and deployed business-wide solutions supporting company objectives.
Throughout his career, Jordan has been a champion of inclusive, high-impact engineering cultures that value diverse perspectives and approaches. He is actively involved in multicultural community initiatives and mentoring programs that support underrepresented groups in technology, helping to cultivate the next generation of technology leaders. His work reflects a deep commitment to mentorship, organizational excellence, and turning bold ideas into reality.
In addition to receiving his bachelor’s degree from UW ECE, Jordan is now pursuing a master’s degree in business administration from Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. Widely recognized as an outstanding leader, he is also a member of the UW College of Engineering Advisory Board.
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[post_content] => By Wayne Gillam / UW ECE News
[caption id="attachment_41398" align="alignright" width="600"] UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu is part of a multi-organization team that has received a Climate Change AI Innovation Grant to develop machine learning datasets, which will enable fast, flexible, and accessible power systems planning in underserved communities in the Global South. Photo by Ryan Hoover / UW ECE[/caption]
Access to reliable electricity remains out of reach for millions of people across the Global South. At the same time, the worldwide transition to renewable energy is accelerating. Bridging this gap — ensuring that underserved communities can benefit from clean, reliable power — is one of the most important energy challenges today. To help address this issue, researchers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence, or AI, to design faster, more accessible solutions.
Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and hydropower, are being adopted at growing rates around the world. This shift offers clear benefits, from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to improving public health. But progress is uneven. Wealthier regions with established infrastructure are advancing quickly, while many lower-resource communities face significant barriers to deploying modern energy systems.
These challenges are especially pronounced in the Global South, which includes many countries across Africa, South America, and Asia. Expanding energy access in these regions often means reaching remote or underserved communities — an effort that requires careful planning, coordination, and innovation. With this in mind, governments, industry leaders, and engineers are forming new partnerships to design power systems that are not only sustainable, but also tailored to the specific needs of local communities.
“We’re trying to make power systems planning more accessible to people who are currently left out of the process. Power systems planning is how countries decide what power infrastructure to build, where, and when. It directly shapes whether or not communities get reliable, affordable, and clean electricity.” — UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu
UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu is working at the forefront of this effort. A member of the Clean Energy Institute and leader of the Interdisciplinary Energy Analytics for Society, or IDEAS, research group at the UW, Lukuyu focuses on developing sustainable, inclusive, and integrated energy systems for underserved communities. She is also part of a multi-organization team that recently received a Climate Change AI Innovation Grant — an award that supports the use of AI to address critical climate challenges.
The project funded by the award from Climate Change AI is one of just 12 selected from more than 400 applications representing 78 countries, underscoring both its significance and its global relevance. With this support, Lukuyu and her collaborators are developing machine learning datasets that will enable faster, more flexible, and more accessible power systems planning in lower-resource settings.
Why AI matters for energy planning
At the center of this work is machine learning, a branch of AI that allows computers to learn from data and make predictions. In the context of energy systems, machine learning can help planners quickly evaluate different scenarios — reducing the time and expertise required to design effective power networks.
Traditionally, power systems planning relies on complex optimization models that can take days to produce a single scenario and often require specialized technical knowledge. These constraints limit who can participate in planning processes and slow progress, particularly in regions where resources and expertise are limited.
“This grant is supporting work that sits at the intersection of two things that don’t always come together: cutting-edge machine learning research and the practical realities of energy planning in under-resourced contexts,” Lukuyu said. “A lot of sophisticated power systems modeling work never makes it out of the lab, and a lot of planning work in the Global South is constrained by the tools available. We’re trying to close that gap.”
Building smarter, more accessible tools
[caption id="attachment_41400" align="alignright" width="400"] UW ECE doctoral student Ahana Mukherjee will be developing machine learning models that are optimized for power systems planning in the Global South. The models will be trained on the datasets Lukuyu’s team is curating. Photo courtesy of June Lukuyu.[/caption]
Lukuyu is collaborating on the project with Mohini Bariya, Joshua Adkins, and Genevieve Flaspohler from Rhiza Research, a nonprofit focused on identifying and addressing gaps in data, technology, and technical capacity in community-centered projects. The partnership combines expertise in power systems planning, machine learning, and applied research, along with strong connections to practitioners in the field.
Also contributing to the work is UW ECE doctoral student Ahana Mukherjee, who is co-advised by Lukuyu and Bariya. Mukherjee will develop machine learning models trained on the datasets the team is curating — datasets designed to serve as the foundation for faster and more user-friendly planning tools.
This effort builds on earlier work by Lukuyu, her IDEAS research group, and members of Rhiza Research. In a previous project funded by Climate Change AI, the team used machine learning to detect and localize power losses caused by malfunctioning equipment and overloaded distribution lines in Ghana. The goal of their approach was to help operators increase efficiency through precisely targeted interventions to address grid failures.
In the new project, the team is expanding that work by focusing on the datasets themselves — an essential building block for effective AI tools.
“The tools that exist today, both open source and commercial, are built on optimization models that can take days to run to come up with one planning scenario,” Lukuyu explained. “They also require significant technical expertise, which excludes many of the planners, researchers, and policymakers who need them most. We want to build something that’s simpler, faster, and computationally light — but still genuinely useful. And the foundation for that is curating a high-quality dataset.”
From research to real-world impact
[caption id="attachment_41404" align="alignright" width="400"] This project builds on earlier work using machine learning to detect and localize power losses from faulty equipment and overloaded power lines in Ghana. The team is now focusing on improving datasets as a foundation for effective AI tools. Photo courtesy of the American Public Power Association.[/caption]
A key goal of the project is to ensure that these tools are not only developed, but also adopted. Lukuyu emphasizes the importance of collaboration among engineers, governments, nonprofits, utility companies, and energy developers — as well as meaningful input from the communities that these power systems are intended to serve.
Looking ahead, she plans to work closely with universities, practitioners, and community partners in the Global South to share knowledge and build capacity. By integrating these tools into academic and professional settings, the team hopes to expand who can participate in power systems planning.
“The transition to renewable energy needs to be a just transition,” Lukuyu said. “That means people need to be able to participate in the decisions that shape their energy systems. Right now, the complexity of planning tools is a barrier to that participation. If we can lower that barrier, we can open the door to a much broader set of voices.”
By making power systems planning more accessible, Lukuyu and her collaborators aim to help communities design energy systems that reflect their needs and priorities — ensuring that the benefits of the clean energy transition are shared more equitably around the world.
More information about UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu can be found on her UW ECE bio page and the IDEAS research group website.
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[post_content] => By Wayne Gillam / UW ECE News
[caption id="attachment_41398" align="alignright" width="600"] UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu is part of a multi-organization team that has received a Climate Change AI Innovation Grant to develop machine learning datasets, which will enable fast, flexible, and accessible power systems planning in underserved communities in the Global South. Photo by Ryan Hoover / UW ECE[/caption]
Access to reliable electricity remains out of reach for millions of people across the Global South. At the same time, the worldwide transition to renewable energy is accelerating. Bridging this gap — ensuring that underserved communities can benefit from clean, reliable power — is one of the most important energy challenges today. To help address this issue, researchers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence, or AI, to design faster, more accessible solutions.
Renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and hydropower, are being adopted at growing rates around the world. This shift offers clear benefits, from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to improving public health. But progress is uneven. Wealthier regions with established infrastructure are advancing quickly, while many lower-resource communities face significant barriers to deploying modern energy systems.
These challenges are especially pronounced in the Global South, which includes many countries across Africa, South America, and Asia. Expanding energy access in these regions often means reaching remote or underserved communities — an effort that requires careful planning, coordination, and innovation. With this in mind, governments, industry leaders, and engineers are forming new partnerships to design power systems that are not only sustainable, but also tailored to the specific needs of local communities.
“We’re trying to make power systems planning more accessible to people who are currently left out of the process. Power systems planning is how countries decide what power infrastructure to build, where, and when. It directly shapes whether or not communities get reliable, affordable, and clean electricity.” — UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu
UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu is working at the forefront of this effort. A member of the Clean Energy Institute and leader of the Interdisciplinary Energy Analytics for Society, or IDEAS, research group at the UW, Lukuyu focuses on developing sustainable, inclusive, and integrated energy systems for underserved communities. She is also part of a multi-organization team that recently received a Climate Change AI Innovation Grant — an award that supports the use of AI to address critical climate challenges.
The project funded by the award from Climate Change AI is one of just 12 selected from more than 400 applications representing 78 countries, underscoring both its significance and its global relevance. With this support, Lukuyu and her collaborators are developing machine learning datasets that will enable faster, more flexible, and more accessible power systems planning in lower-resource settings.
Why AI matters for energy planning
At the center of this work is machine learning, a branch of AI that allows computers to learn from data and make predictions. In the context of energy systems, machine learning can help planners quickly evaluate different scenarios — reducing the time and expertise required to design effective power networks.
Traditionally, power systems planning relies on complex optimization models that can take days to produce a single scenario and often require specialized technical knowledge. These constraints limit who can participate in planning processes and slow progress, particularly in regions where resources and expertise are limited.
“This grant is supporting work that sits at the intersection of two things that don’t always come together: cutting-edge machine learning research and the practical realities of energy planning in under-resourced contexts,” Lukuyu said. “A lot of sophisticated power systems modeling work never makes it out of the lab, and a lot of planning work in the Global South is constrained by the tools available. We’re trying to close that gap.”
Building smarter, more accessible tools
[caption id="attachment_41400" align="alignright" width="400"] UW ECE doctoral student Ahana Mukherjee will be developing machine learning models that are optimized for power systems planning in the Global South. The models will be trained on the datasets Lukuyu’s team is curating. Photo courtesy of June Lukuyu.[/caption]
Lukuyu is collaborating on the project with Mohini Bariya, Joshua Adkins, and Genevieve Flaspohler from Rhiza Research, a nonprofit focused on identifying and addressing gaps in data, technology, and technical capacity in community-centered projects. The partnership combines expertise in power systems planning, machine learning, and applied research, along with strong connections to practitioners in the field.
Also contributing to the work is UW ECE doctoral student Ahana Mukherjee, who is co-advised by Lukuyu and Bariya. Mukherjee will develop machine learning models trained on the datasets the team is curating — datasets designed to serve as the foundation for faster and more user-friendly planning tools.
This effort builds on earlier work by Lukuyu, her IDEAS research group, and members of Rhiza Research. In a previous project funded by Climate Change AI, the team used machine learning to detect and localize power losses caused by malfunctioning equipment and overloaded distribution lines in Ghana. The goal of their approach was to help operators increase efficiency through precisely targeted interventions to address grid failures.
In the new project, the team is expanding that work by focusing on the datasets themselves — an essential building block for effective AI tools.
“The tools that exist today, both open source and commercial, are built on optimization models that can take days to run to come up with one planning scenario,” Lukuyu explained. “They also require significant technical expertise, which excludes many of the planners, researchers, and policymakers who need them most. We want to build something that’s simpler, faster, and computationally light — but still genuinely useful. And the foundation for that is curating a high-quality dataset.”
From research to real-world impact
[caption id="attachment_41404" align="alignright" width="400"] This project builds on earlier work using machine learning to detect and localize power losses from faulty equipment and overloaded power lines in Ghana. The team is now focusing on improving datasets as a foundation for effective AI tools. Photo courtesy of the American Public Power Association.[/caption]
A key goal of the project is to ensure that these tools are not only developed, but also adopted. Lukuyu emphasizes the importance of collaboration among engineers, governments, nonprofits, utility companies, and energy developers — as well as meaningful input from the communities that these power systems are intended to serve.
Looking ahead, she plans to work closely with universities, practitioners, and community partners in the Global South to share knowledge and build capacity. By integrating these tools into academic and professional settings, the team hopes to expand who can participate in power systems planning.
“The transition to renewable energy needs to be a just transition,” Lukuyu said. “That means people need to be able to participate in the decisions that shape their energy systems. Right now, the complexity of planning tools is a barrier to that participation. If we can lower that barrier, we can open the door to a much broader set of voices.”
By making power systems planning more accessible, Lukuyu and her collaborators aim to help communities design energy systems that reflect their needs and priorities — ensuring that the benefits of the clean energy transition are shared more equitably around the world.
More information about UW ECE Assistant Professor June Lukuyu can be found on her UW ECE bio page and the IDEAS research group website.
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[caption id="attachment_41341" align="alignright" width="600"] UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel was recently elected part of the 2026 class of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He joins the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Albert Einstein, Jennifer Doudna, Barack Obama and more. Photo by Ryan Hoover / UW ECE[/caption]
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honor societies, has elected Shwetak Patel as part of its 2026 class of new members. Patel is the Washington Research Foundation Entrepreneurship Professor in UW ECE and the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Allen School director and professor Magdalena Balazinska was also elected to the AAA&S this year. Chartered in 1780, the Academy recognizes exceptional individuals across academia, industry, the arts and more who examine new ideas and address issues of importance to both the nation and the world.
Patel is known for thinking outside the box by bringing together research in human-computer interaction (HCI) with ubiquitous computing and sensor-enabled embedded systems to advance new health and sustainability innovations.
“I’m humbled and honored to be inducted to the AAA&S. To see highly applied computing research celebrated at this level is so rewarding. I hope this serves as a catalyst for others to embrace a broader, more practical perspective on what computing can achieve for society,” said Patel, who is also associate director for development and entrepreneurship in the Allen School.
Many people carry around a smartphone in their pocket, and Patel’s research focuses on leveraging the device’s combined sensing, data processing and communication abilities to expand health care access. Patel, who directs the Allen School’s UbiComp Lab, has pioneered the ability to extract clinical grade signals using these everyday sensing devices to help users continuously monitor their health — which is especially helpful to those in low-resource settings. For example, he and his team developed the app FeverPhone that turns smartphones into thermometers and a smartphone-based glucose and prediabetes screening tool called GlucoScreen.
[caption id="attachment_41347" align="alignright" width="400"] Patel has pioneered new ways of using the sensors built into smartphones for health screening, such as using the camera to gauge bilirubin levels.[/caption]
To help commercialize some of these technologies, Patel founded the mobile health diagnostics company Senosis Health, which was acquired by Google and is now a core part of Google’s consumer health efforts. In addition to his UW faculty position, Patel is Distinguished Scientist and Head of Health Technologies at the company, which developed multiple apps that could screen for various health conditions. These include an app that uses a smartphone’s accelerometer to detect osteoporosis and another that analyzes selfies to screen for pancreatic cancer through changes in the scleral color of a user’s eye.
"To see highly applied computing research celebrated at this level is so rewarding. I hope this serves as a catalyst for others to embrace a broader, more practical perspective on what computing can achieve for society."
— UW ECE and Allen School Professor Shwetak Patel
Another line of Patel’s research looks into using sensing technology to improve the health of the planet and tackle sustainability challenges. For example, he developed low-cost and easy-to-deploy sensor systems that could measure household energy consumption and help residents detect inefficiencies more effectively. Patel founded residential energy monitoring company Zensi, which was later acquired by Belkin, and he also co-founded the low-power wireless sensor platform company called SNUPI Technologies, which was acquired by Sears. More recently, he has helped reduce environmentally hazardous electronic waste by creating recyclable printed circuit boards and introduced AI models to help users better understand the environmental impact of everyday decisions.
“Shwetak’s work is deeply important, impactful, and incredibly creative,” said Jeff Dean (Ph.D., ‘96), chief scientist for Google DeepMind and Google Research. “He has an incredible record of research publication, entrepreneurship, and real-world impact. His health sensing research has been integrated into Google products used by more than one billion people. As a fellow American Academy of Arts & Sciences member, I am proud to see Shwetak’s induction.”
Patel’s election to the Academy is the latest in a string of accolades recognizing the wide-ranging impact of his work. He has also received a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” Award, Sloan Research Fellowship, Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship, MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 Award, World Economic Forum Young Global Scientist Award, NSF CAREER Award, National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Award and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
A Fellow of the ACM, Patel earned that organization’s ACM Prize in Computing for mid-career contributions to the field and was inducted into the SIGCHI Academy by the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction.
Read more about the members of the 2026 class of members in the AAA&S announcement and a related UW News story.
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[post_title] => Congratulations, Class of 2026!
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[post_content] => [caption id="attachment_41079" align="alignright" width="575"] Khushbu Patel (MSECE '26), at left, and Kathryn Fehme (BSECE '26), at right, will speak at this year's Graduation Ceremony, which will take place in the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Wednesday, June 10, from 7 to 9 p.m.[/caption]
UW ECE is proud to announce that in addition to UW ECE alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05), two students have been selected to speak at our 2026 Graduation Ceremony. Khushbu Patel (MSECE ‘26) will offer remarks on behalf of graduate students, and Kathryn Fehme (BSECE ‘26) will represent undergraduates. Patel and Fehme were selected for this honor because of their academic achievements, extracurricular activities, and service to the Department. This year’s Graduation Ceremony will take place in the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Wednesday, June 10, from 7 to 9 p.m. The event will be presided over by UW ECE Professor and Chair Eric Klavins.
“We have two outstanding students from our graduating class speaking at this year’s Graduation Ceremony,” Klavins said. “Khushbu has done exemplary work in our Professional Master’s program while working full-time in aerospace engineering. Kathryn has excelled academically and in her internships while gaining hands-on project experience here at UW ECE. I’m very much looking forward to hearing what they both have to say.”
Learn more about both students below:
Graduate student speaker
Khushbu Patel
(MSECE ‘26)
[caption id="attachment_41082" align="alignright" width="575"] Khushbu Patel (MSECE '26)[/caption]
Khushbu Patel is graduating from UW ECE’s Professional Master’s Program in electrical and computer engineering. She pursued her degree while working as an engineering leader at Gravitics, an aerospace startup designing and manufacturing space station modules. There, she leads multidisciplinary teams developing onboard systems, such as avionics and flight software, for space station technologies.
She has worked across the space industry, bridging the gap between simulation and flight operations for complex systems. Her previous roles at Virgin Orbit and Relativity Space focused on high-fidelity test systems, vehicle software, launch vehicle avionics, and critical life support technologies.
Khushbu’s passion for space began at an early age, leading her to an internship at NASA Johnson Space Center, followed by studies in aerospace engineering and computational sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. She has since built a career dedicated to advancing humanity’s presence in space.
Beyond her technical work, Khushbu is passionate about mentorship. Through the UW ECE Industry Mentorship Program, Wired for Success, and For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics, she has mentored students pursuing engineering pathways, with a focus on encouraging young women in STEM. After graduating, Khushbu hopes to continue building technologies that push humanity forward while helping others see a place for themselves in engineering and beyond.
Undergraduate student speaker
Kathryn Fehme
(BSECE ‘26)
[caption id="attachment_41084" align="alignright" width="575"] Kathryn Fehme (BSECE '26)[/caption]
Kathryn Fehme is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering. As a child, Fehme dreamed of becoming an engineer, which inspired her passion for aerospace and technical innovation. During her time at UW ECE, she specialized in control systems and hardware through internships and hands-on engineering experience. Her senior capstone project, completed in partnership with General Dynamics, was designing and building a 3D drone simulator in MATLAB using advanced control system concepts.
Fehme’s experiences in aerospace and engineering leadership shaped her passion for solving complex technical challenges while building strong professional communities. After two internships with Boeing, she will continue her career in Boeing’s flight test sector, working on sensors and signal conditioning while pursuing a dual master’s degree focused on electrical engineering and engineering leadership.
Beyond her technical work, Fehme is dedicated to mentorship and creating opportunities for future engineers. Through the Society of Women Engineers, where she served in the UW student chapter as vice president of corporate relations, she mentored fellow students and helped connect aspiring engineers with industry professionals through professional development, recruitment, and networking opportunities. After graduation, Fehme plans to remain involved with SWE and continue mentoring students pursuing careers in STEM.
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[post_content] => [caption id="attachment_41029" align="alignright" width="550"] UW ECE undergraduate student Anders Pearson has been awarded a fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at accredited U.S. institutions.[/caption]
UW ECE is proud to announce that undergraduate student Anders Pearson has been awarded a fellowship by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at accredited U.S. institutions. The fellowship provides a competitive annual stipend for three years, along with a cost-of-education allowance provided in partnership with the student’s institution.
Pearson is part of UW ECE’s Combined Bachelor of Science – Master of Science program, and is expected to earn his bachelor’s degree this spring before entering the Department’s master’s degree program in the fall.
“I am very honored to receive this award and thankful for those who helped me achieve it,” Pearson said. “I plan to take full advantage of this opportunity to explore ambitious research directions.”
Pearson is advised by UW ECE Professor Joshua Smith, who holds a joint appointment in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Smith leads several high-profile research efforts at the University, including work on wireless power transfer systems for lunar environments. In Smith’s Sensor Systems Laboratory, Pearson conducts research at the intersection of machine learning and wireless communication networks. This work is supported by Smith’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Early Stage Innovations grant, “Deep Contact Graph Routing for Lunar Operations.”
Specifically, Pearson is developing machine-learning-driven frameworks to model radio wave propagation in extreme environments, such as the surface of the moon. His research will support future NASA lunar surface missions and help enable more resilient wireless communication networks on Earth. He is lead author of an upcoming paper about this work and presented his research at the 2026 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP). As a graduate student under Smith’s supervision, Pearson plans to continue research related to 6G and non-terrestrial wireless communication networks.
“Anders is incredibly focused, productive, and creative,” Smith said. “The results he has already delivered as an undergraduate would be impressive for a doctoral student, so I can’t wait to see what he accomplishes in graduate school.”
To view all 2026 NSF GRFP recipients nationwide, visit the NSF GRFP website.
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[post_content] => [caption id="attachment_41013" align="alignright" width="525"] UW ECE is proud to announce that alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05) will serve as honored guest speaker for the UW ECE 2026 Graduation Ceremony, which will take place in the Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, from 7 to 9 p.m. Jordan is a managing vice president at Capital One, a leading financial services corporation, and serves as head of Capital One Garage, the company’s innovation accelerator.[/caption]
The University of Washington Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering is proud to announce that alumnus Jared K. Jordan (BSEE ‘05) will serve as honored guest speaker for the UW ECE 2026 Graduation Ceremony. This year’s ceremony will take place in the Hec Edmundson Pavilion on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, from 7 to 9 p.m. The event will be presided over by UW ECE Professor and Chair Eric Klavins.
“We are excited to welcome Jared as our graduation speaker. He has built a distinguished career as an engineering leader across several top-tier companies,” Klavins said. “His work has impacted countless people around the world, and he is widely respected for his commitment to building and supporting diverse, inclusive teams. I very much look forward to hearing what he will share with our graduating class.”
Jordan is a managing vice president at Capital One, a leading financial services corporation, and serves as head of Capital One Garage, the company’s innovation accelerator. In this role, he leads multidisciplinary teams across engineering and product development to advance innovation in developer platforms, artificial intelligence labs, and customer experiences. His work is helping transform how Capital One delivers smarter, technology-driven solutions to millions of people worldwide.
Before joining Capital One, Jordan built a distinguished career leading engineering teams at renowned technology companies, such as Google, YouTube, Netflix, and Microsoft. At Google, he served as director of engineering for Gmail, where he helped shape AI-powered tools that changed how millions of people interact with email. At YouTube, he led the launch of Primetime Channels and developed features supporting live sports and on-demand streaming. While at Netflix, he drove global engineering initiatives that contributed to significant market growth. Earlier in his career at Microsoft, he developed and deployed business-wide solutions supporting company objectives.
Throughout his career, Jordan has been a champion of inclusive, high-impact engineering cultures that value diverse perspectives and approaches. He is actively involved in multicultural community initiatives and mentoring programs that support underrepresented groups in technology, helping to cultivate the next generation of technology leaders. His work reflects a deep commitment to mentorship, organizational excellence, and turning bold ideas into reality.
In addition to receiving his bachelor’s degree from UW ECE, Jordan is now pursuing a master’s degree in business administration from Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. Widely recognized as an outstanding leader, he is also a member of the UW College of Engineering Advisory Board.
[post_title] => Jared K. Jordan of Capital One to speak at UW ECE Graduation
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