The Ph.D. candidate was honored for his work as the Instructor of Record for ECE 3072: Electric Energy Systems and CETL 8000: GTA Preparation Class.
Ph.D. candidate Richard Asiamah receives the 2026 Graduate Student Instructor Award. He is pictured holding the plaque with, from left to right, Tammy M. McCoy, assistant director of TA Development and Future Faculty Initiatives; Daniela Staiculescu, ECE senior academic professional; and Bethany Harris, communications program manager for the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Ph.D. candidate Richard Asiamah was one of three students to receive the 2026 Graduate Student Instructor Award from the Center for Teaching and Learning during this year’s TA and Future Faculty Awards Day.
This was the first time an ECE student has won the Graduate Student Instructor of the Year award in the nine-year history of the award ceremony. Asiamah was recognized for his contributions as the instructor of record for ECE 3072: Electric Energy Systems and CETL 8000: GTA Preparation Class, both within ECE.
ECE 3072 is one of several power and energy systems–focused courses in ECE and serves as an entry point to advanced, senior‑level coursework, making it a foundational part of the curriculum. As part of efforts to spark his students' interest in the class materials, Asiamah employed several innovative techniques to sustain their engagement throughout the semester. The innovations have been documented and accepted for publication as a Work-In-Progress paper in this year’s American Society of Engineering Education Conference in Charlotte, N.C., this summer.
In addition to his work in ECE 3072, Asiamah was also involved in the School's training course for new Graduate Teaching Assistants, CETL 8000. After a comprehensive redesign of the course over the summer of 2024, Asiamah taught the class in Fall 2024 and again in Fall 2025. The Fall 2024 offering led to a research paper which was presented at the IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference in London in April 2025. Incorporating feedback from the conference, Asiamah implemented significant updates to the course for the Fall 2025 semester.
Asiamah at this year’s TA and Future Faculty Awards Day with his research advisor Dan Molzahn and Daniela Staiculescu, who nominated him for the award.
Asiamah and the 2023-2024 ECE Graduate Student Organization leadership team, where he served as president.
“The past year was incredibly rewarding, especially watching students grow in confidence and understanding over time,” Asiamah said. “I learned just as much from the experience as they did, and it strengthened my passion for teaching. I’m honored to receive this award, and I see it as motivation to keep improving. There is always more to learn and new ways to grow as an educator.”
Asiamah has dedicated much of his time at Georgia Tech to serving his fellow students. He’s previously been a teaching assistant for several undergraduate classes, as well as served as president of the ECE Graduate Student Organization from 2024 to 2025.
He’s gained industry experience through internships with the National Laboratory of the Rockies and 1898 & Co., part of Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company.
“Teaching and mentorship have always been central to my educational journey,” Asiamah said. “At every stage so far, I’ve supported my peers and mentored younger students in both formal and informal settings. Those experiences ultimately led to my role as graduate instructor for ECE 3072.”
Prior to coming to Georgia Tech, Asiamah earned his Bachelor of Science in electrical and electronic engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana in 2021. He earned his master’s degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech in 2024.
His research and teaching interests focus on power systems optimization, particularly methods for efficiently integrating renewable energy resources into the electric grid. Since 2023, Asiamah has been a graduate research assistant in the Grid Optimization and Algorithms Laboratory, working with Associate Professor Dan Molzahn and mentoring undergraduate students in research.
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