IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC)
Technology for the Benefit of Humanity // Colorado Schools of Mines, USA / October 22-25, 2025

Workshops 2020

Choose from GHTC 2020 1/2 day Workshops,  included with Registration

Thursday, October 29, 9am-Noon PT

This session will focus on topics around the usage of machine learning (ML) methods in order to assist social good applications. We will discuss a framework centered around identifying the important societal challenges where problems can be defined for ML capabilities. We then describe the process to develop machine learning models and deploy them in the real world. See details below.

Thursday, October 29, 8am-Noon PT

The objective of this workshop is to offer a training on humanitarian technology (HT) project design and implementation, especially considering the during and after COVID-19 pandemic situations from local and global perspectives. The conventional project design and implementation approaches may need to be modified in an adaptive manner depending on various inter-link circumstances.

  • Fundamentals of Off-Grid Electrical Systems

Thursday, October 29, 9am-Noon PT

Instructor: Henry Louie, PhD  Associate Professor, Fr. Wood Research Chair, SEATTLE UNIVERSITY

This half-day tutorial covers the contextual, technical, and practical implementation aspects of off-grid electrical systems in developing countries. These off-grid systems include mini-grids, micro-grids, energy kiosks, solar home systems and solar lanterns. System architectures and components, including small-scale solar, wind, hydro, biomass and conventional generation sets, batteries and converters are covered. The mini/micro-grid design process is discussed. Pre-implementation best practices, including site assessment and considerations for business model development are discussed. The instructor draws upon his firsthand experience and contemporary research to provide attendees with the foundational knowledge needed to implement or study off-grid systems. The tutorial is based on the book “Off-Grid Electrical Systems in Developing Countries”.

Dr. Henry Louie received his B.S.E.E. degree from Kettering University in 2002, his M.S. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2004 and his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington in 2008. He is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Seattle University. In 2015 Dr. Louie was Fulbright Scholar to Copperbelt University in Kitwe, Zambia. He is the President and Co-founder of KiloWatts for Humanity, a non-profit organization providing off-grid electricity access and business opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Louie is an Associate Editor for Energy for Sustainable Development and is a founding member of the IEEE PES Working Group on Sustainable Energy Systems for Developing Communities. Dr. Louie is recognized as an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for his expertise on energy poverty. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and was a registered professional engineer in Zambia.   He previously served as Vice President of Membership & Image of the IEEE Power & Energy Society.