Joan Nkiriki is a Graduate Research Assistant and Ph.D. student in Engineering and Public Policy offering expertise in energy and climate sustainability. Most recently, Joan was awarded both a Steinbrenner Institute Doctoral Fellowship and 2020 Presidential Fellowship in the College of Engineering at CMU, for her research in sustainable energy development in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

She has had three years of energy industry experience at Halliburton Energy Services, where she worked as an Associate Technical Professional from 2013 to 2016, leading customer-facing teams. Halliburton is one of the largest upstream oil and gas companies globally. She is a gifted communicator with a dynamic and persistent personality and relationship-driven mentality. 

Joan completed her Master’s in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University Africa in Rwanda and received the Lakshmi Subramanian Student Excellence Award upon completion of her degree.  Joan received a B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana, US, in 2013.  She is also among the recipients of the Smart Africa Scholarship (2016 - 2017).