Kingsley Amankwah-Ampofo is a final-year graduate student pursuing a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, where he currently works as a research assistant for the Institute for Complex Additive Systems Analysis (ICASA).
In January 2023, he started working with his former advisor, Dr. Kevin Wedeward, on his Master’s thesis titled, “Performance Analysis of a Hybrid Grid Forming/Following Inverter Controller Under Power Systems Disturbances”, which is currently supervised by Steven Ball, an Electrical Power Specialist working for ICASA. This research focuses on modeling a hybrid inverter control system that combines traits from both Grid Following inverters (which operate by following the grid’s voltage and frequency) and Grid Forming inverters (which do not rely on the grid’s voltage and can form their own voltage on a de-energized network). This inverter controller has been implemented on a simplified model of the New Mexico Tech campus microgrid with the aim of providing power during outages, supporting weak networks, regulating undesirable frequency deviations, and achieving several other objectives, all geared towards providing an uninterrupted and reliable electrical power supply to consumers.
Kingsley has also worked as a teaching assistant for the electrical engineering department. He assisted in courses such as Stochastic Processes and Communications, Signals and Systems, Circuits and Signals II, and Electricity and Magnetism. He assisted students during help sessions at the electrical engineering lab by providing tutorial sessions. He also assisted in grading homework assignments and quizzes as well as proctoring a number of exams.
He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) in Ghana. During his undergraduate program, he engaged in extracurricular activities such as serving as the Ghana National Adventist Student Association’s (GNAAS) choir director, organist, and youth leader.
After obtaining his bachelor’s degree, Kingsley worked with the Electricity Company of Ghana, where he worked with the Substation Maintenance and Protection and Control Teams. In his role, he maintained, installed, and conducted various tests on electrical transformers, circuit breakers, instrument transformers, and relays.
Prior to moving to the United States to pursue his Master’s degree, he also worked with Zipline (Ghana- Branch), an American drone delivery company, which uses drones to deliver on-demand and critical medical products, as a certified flight operator, battery maintenance technician and coordinator, ground systems maintenance lead, drone maintenance technician, drone software deployment coordinator, Air Traffic Controller as well as a training coordinator.
During his time in Zipline, Kingsley was awarded a certificate of recognition for living the company’s value of ‘ownership’. Kingsley is an active member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) association-NMT chapter as well as a student member in the international chapter. He has been involved in numerous club activities such as the Rube Goldberg Machine construction, the Laser Maze design, and attended the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with the club that took place in Las Vegas.
Kingsley loves classical and chorale music, and enjoys playing the piano. He also loves composing music and directing choirs. He believes that, ‘just as music brings harmony to discordant notes, it brings hope to difficult moments and joy to everyday life’.
