For Joshua Nti M’25, engineering has always been about solving real problems. Growing up in a community where power outages were a regular occurrence, Nti saw how unreliable electricity could disrupt daily life. As he prepared for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), repeated blackouts interfered with the study timetable he had carefully developed.
“That was when I asked myself, is this a normal thing in every country? Or could there be a solution to such a problem?”
That question sparked an interest in energy systems and set him on a path that eventually led the Master’s in Mechatronic Engineering program at Ashesi University, delivered in partnership with ETH Zurich.
“The Master’s in Mechatronic Engineering program appealed to me because of its industry-driven curriculum and strong emphasis on practical problem-solving,” Nti shared.
Nti counts his master’s thesis research at ETH Zurich’s Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory under Professor Marcus Bambach among the most meaningful experiences of the program. His research focused on making additive manufacturing more sustainable.
“Our work achieved roughly a 60% reduction in material waste and cut production time for additively manufactured parts by nearly 50%.” The opportunity to work with ETH Zurich faculty, for Nti, was “a very big blessing.”
Throughout his studies, Nti immersed himself in projects that connected classroom learning to practical applications. His passion for energy innovation led him and his teammates to win first place in the Solar and Mechatronics Innovation Award, organized by the Ashesi Center for Entrepreneurship. Their project, NexEnergy, sought to address inefficient energy management, one of the barriers to solar energy adoption in Africa.
“We realized that many households with solar systems relied on manual switching between solar panels, batteries, and grid power.” Nti shared. “This prevented users from realizing the full financial benefits of their solar systems. So, we came up with NexEnergy, which is a low-cost energy optimizer that intelligently selects the most efficient energy source at any given time to reduce users’ spending on electricity.”
This project won $2,000 in seed funding, which the team used to build a prototype. Currently, the team is designing a custom inverter to unlock the system’s full functionality.
Nti also completed an internship with Tetra Pak West Africa in Nigeria, where he served as a Process Engineering Intern. There, he had the opportunity to apply concepts from fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and systems design to industrial beverage and dairy processing.
“Among other things, it was an opportunity for me to sharpen my skills in the development of process and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs) as well as the design of processing plants in 3D,” he shared.
Beyond academics and research, Nti served as President of the Arm Ashesi Students’ Club, supported by Arm Holdings. During his tenure, he developed a resource management portal to help students access learning materials, hardware, and certification opportunities. The platform made it easier for new members to navigate the club’s offerings and build skills in embedded systems and hardware design.
Currently a Research Assistant at Ashesi University, Nti continues to explore ways to make energy systems and advanced manufacturing more efficient and accessible.
