The t-shaped learner

Ndze'dzenyuy Lemfon Karl (MSIT '24) was attracted to Carnegie Mellon University Africa's master's in information technology program due to its flexible courses and the opportunity to be taught by experts in the engineering field. After completing his undergraduate degree at Ashesi University in Ghana, he decided to come to CMU-Africa to expand upon his growing interest in systems technology and technology policy.

For his final semester, as part of CMU-Africa's student exchange program, Lemfon is studying in Pittsburgh where he is excited to be taking business classes through CMU's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy. While he has yet to decide exactly what his career path looks like, he is confident that his breadth of education at CMU-Africa will prepare him to achieve his end goal of improving the lives of people.

"Whether it's making sure that we have good regulation for technologies or helping develop technologies themselves, I see myself bridging the gap between technology and business. And that's what my classes at Heinz College are all about," Lemfon says.

With his coursework mainly being hands-on projects with companies from around the Pittsburgh area, Lemfon has not only enhanced his teamwork skills but has also built connections with like-minded and passionate learners. In one of his classes, he and a team of peers have partnered with Duquesne Light Company, consulting on how to make strict building codes more friendly for the adoption of safe electric vehicle charging stations.

"This is where the overlap between technology and business often happens: in aligning goals and thinking correctly across boundaries. It's not uncommon to see people in the technology field who know very little about business and vice versa. We need people that can bridge that barrier, which is what I hope to do in the future," he says.

I see myself bridging the gap between technology and business.

Ndze'dzenyuy Lemfon Karl, (MSIT '24)

Although Lemfon is an avid learner and spends much of his time in the classroom, he is still involved in extracurricular activities including serving as last year's president of CMU-Africa's Research Club in Kigali. With the goal of empowering students and showing them the numerous opportunities in research, the club brought in experienced researchers to talk about their work and held seminars to teach the basics of research like how to read and write a paper.

Whether in Kigali or Pittsburgh, Lemfon hopes that future students interested in the exchange program plan their experience carefully to really get the most out of it. "It's all about perspective. Because you only get one semester, you have to plan around what you don't know to get a new perspective and see the things you already know in a different light," he says.