Nathan Williams
Assistant Professor
Nathan Williams
Assistant Professor
Bio
Dr. Nathan Williams is an Assistant Professor at the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at the Rochester Institute of Technology. His research focuses on African energy systems with a particular interest in the use of renewable and decentralized energy technologies to expand access to electricity. His work has applied various methods including techno-economic modeling, risk analysis and machine learning. More broadly, he is interested in how infrastructure systems in the Global South can be planned in an integrated and sustainable manner to support social and economic development in underserved communities.
Before coming to RIT, Dr. Williams was an Assistant Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and an instructor at the Carnegie Mellon University Africa campus in Kigali, Rwanda. He also spent several years developing large scale renewable energy projects in South Africa. His interest in energy and development was sparked while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in an unelectrified rural community in Burkina Faso. He has a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Whitworth University, a M.Sc. in Physics from Nelson Mandela University and a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University.
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In the News
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September 23, 2022
RIT sustainability professor’s research part of $5.5 million Rockefeller Foundation grant
Nathan Williams, an assistant professor in sustainability whose research focuses on African energy systems, will play a key role in a project made possible by a $5.5 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to accelerate development and promote climate resilient infrastructure investment across sub-Saharan Africa.
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May 4, 2020
Tackling climate change with machine learning: Covid-19 and the energy transition
PV Magazine talks to Nathan Williams, assistant professor, Golisano Institute for Sustainability, about his work at the Climate Change AI workshop.