Story by Stephanie Milot
Photo by Marco Calderon
Mixing business with chemical engineering.
Grace Ingabire Kuzwa ’23 plans on using her dual major to fight climate change.
Grace Ingabire Kuzwa ’23 is motivated to preserve the earth’s climate through the chemical engineering industry.
Growing up in Rwanda‚ Ingabire Kuzwa developed a liking for the sciences and learned about Lehigh University’s chemical engineering program. With her future in mind‚ she decided that having business experience would benefit her professionally. During her sophomore year at Lehigh‚ Ingabire Kuzwa was accepted into the Integrated Business & Engineering Honors Program.
As Ingabire Kuzwa’s interests in finance and business grew‚ she desired to combine those elements with her African heritage. In 2020‚ she and Michael Tahiru ’22 founded what Ingabire Kuzwa calls one of her proudest accomplishments: Lehigh Africa Business Club.
“I wanted to learn business and diverse opportunities on the continent‚” she says.
Ingabire Kuzwa describes the club as a platform for Lehigh community members to learn from one another‚ weaving together business conversations and African culture.
During the summer of 2022‚ Ingabire Kuzwa interned at PPL‚ an electric utilities company. She worked with the distribution portfolio management team‚ participating in projects about objectives and operations‚ from business and engineering perspectives.
Striving to become a chemical development consultant or engineer‚ Ingabire Kuzwa plans to apply “groundbreaking technologies to impact people’s lives‚ specifically through the renewable energy sector.” She says‚ “I’m really passionate about sustainability and working on processes that can mitigate climate change.”