Kurutsi Tabki Joshua 

What motivates you? 

My motivation comes from my desire to make things around me better, and guarantee a better life for all, now and for the future generation.

What drew you to your professional field?

Growing up at Magami Jalingo Taraba State-Nigeria, we rarely had electricity to watch our favorite television shows and have the light bulbs on due to constant load shedding that could sometimes last for days. At a very tender age, I was curious and had to ask my Dad if we could store electricity in a drum, similar to how we store water, and then retrieve it whenever we needed it. This curiosity led me to admire circuits, and the love for circuits led me to study electrical engineering at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and thereafter contribute at a national scale to electricity access at my current place of work (Nigeria Electricity Management Services Agency), and as well use Nigeria's abundant energy resource from the sun to continuously provide solar-powered electricity to the underserved population.

I hope to spend my life mitigating energy crises through the deployment of clean energy technology.

What is something from your country that you would like to share with the UC Davis community?

I would like to share common concerns about the effects of climate change in Nigeria, as well as the challenges of Nigeria's electricity industry and the numerous investment opportunities available in Nigeria's electricity industry.

How would you like to engage with UC Davis and the community here?

I look forward to sharing my knowledge, experience, and ideas to forge a lifelong relationship focused on solving the global energy crisis and learn from individual and corporate contributions to climate change mitigation, clean-energy provision, and seek areas of collaboration and partnerships between the UC Davis community and Africa.