People / Students

Samuel Miles

Samuel Miles is a Ph.D. student in the Energy and Resources Group at the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia, Berkeley.

Sam studies electrical and political power systems. He pairs frameworks from environmental justice to methods from electrical engineering and information studies.

His projects focus on community-level electrification interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, he investigates the relationship between power quality and quality of care in health facilities in North Kivu, an eastern province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with other fieldwork experiences involving the development and direct deployment of sensors and surveys at the community-scale in Rwanda and Uganda.

Sam’s work is supported by the National Science Foundation Development Engineering traineeships, the Link Foundation, the CITRIS/Banatau Institute and the Chancellor’s Fellowship for Graduate Study.

Before Berkeley, Sam worked in research, writing, and advisory between Senegal, Mauritius and South Africa on work thematically concentrated around access to technology, education and finance. He holds an MA in Inter­na­tional Energy from Sci­ences Po—Paris and a BA in Ethics, Pol­i­tics, and Eco­nom­ics from Yale. He is French-Caribbean-Ashkenaze-American and is an ambidextrous footballer.

Publications / Blog Posts:

2019 in Review: Customer Insights for African Mini Grid Developers

How data-driven research partnerships deepen energy access across supply chains

Productive uses of electricity at the energy-health nexus: Financial, technical and social insights from a containerized power system in Rwanda

Planning for Productive Uses: Remote Monitoring & Evaluation for Off-Grid Power Projects in Rwanda

Beyond Access: measuring Power quality Issues at 27 Healthcare Facilities in the DRC

Beyond customer acquisition: A comprehensive review of community participation in mini grid projects

Digitalising Innovative Finance: Emerging instruments for early-stage innovators in low- and middle-income countries

    Other Links:

    Curriculum Vitae

    Awards:

    Link Fellowship, 2023

    Research Group:

    RAEL (Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab – Kammen)

    Contacts:
    samuel.b.miles@berkeley.edu

    LinkedIn