![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Sandrine-Mubenga-copy.jpg\")
<\/a>UToledo’s Dr. Ngalula Sandrine Mubenga is the leader of a new regulatory agency in her native country in Africa.<\/p><\/div>\n
She started in the position in August and continues to teach and conduct research on battery power systems at UToledo during the week and live full time in Toledo with her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all have learned during COVID-19 that a lot can be accomplished remotely,\u201d Mubenga said.\u00a0\u201cMy Electricity Regulatory Agency leadership activity is done through virtual meetings, emails and phone calls during the weekend with my team in the DRC and several stakeholders. I have not flown back and forth because of travel restrictions. After the pandemic, I plan to travel during my breaks and the summer when I am not teaching so I can manage the office in Kinshasa, the country\u2019s capital and largest city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mubenga\u2019s goal is to regulate the electricity market and get power to more people. With a population of 85 million, the DRC has one of the lowest rates of electrification in the world \u2013 20% of the people in the country don\u2019t have access to electricity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Congo is a beautiful country with many human, natural and mineral resources such as the Congo River, which is the second largest in the world by flow of water. That has a potential to generate 100,000 megawatts of clean hydropower,\u201d Mubenga said. \u201cA major goal is to regulate the electricity market so that operators, investors and consumers interact to increase the rate of electrification.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mubenga, founder of SMIN Power Group LLC, stepped down from her role as CEO in order to hold the public office. The company develops and installs solar power systems in communities throughout the DRC.<\/p>\n
Mubenga also is the founder of the STEM DRC Initiative, a nonprofit organization that has awarded scholarships since 2018 to pay all associated costs for more than 60 students in the Congo to attend college, including transportation and books. This year, STEM DRC has secured 100 scholarships and is in the process of selecting scholars.<\/p>\n
She started studying renewable energy at the UToledo College of Engineering in 2000 and earned a bachelor\u2019s degree, master\u2019s degree and Ph.D. in electrical engineering.<\/p>\n
As a child she nearly died waiting for surgery when the hospital in Kikwit had no power.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy near-death experience inspired in me the desire to become an electrical engineer so that one day I may\u00a0help provide electricity in places that need it the most,\u201d Mubenga said. \u201cIt seems that that day has come and I am fulfilling my purpose. I feel honored and grateful for this opportunity and excited by the challenges ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n