Karma Tshewang is consumed with power ... that is, this 32-year-old NYIT graduate student is fascinated by electrical energy. And after graduation, when the Bhutan native returns to his homeland, nestled in the Himalayas between India and China, he plans to put his NYIT education to work. With a master’s degree in energy management, Karma will become an integral part of his country’s plan to provide all of its citizens with electrical power by 2020.
It won’t be easy—Bhutan is one of the most isolated regions on earth. Electricity has only been available in limited areas since 1966, and just a little more than half the current population is wired to receive power. But as an electrical engineer in Bhutan’s Department of Energy, Karma is in a perfect position to bring a big piece of the modern world to this small corner of the Earth.
Karma’s trek to NYIT began when he was looking for an institute of higher learning that would help him serve his homeland’s energy needs. He discovered NYIT through the National Energy Foundation (NEF), a U.S. educational provider that promotes awareness of energy issues, natural resources, and environmental concerns. Through the NEF, he made contact with Associate Professor Robert Amundsen, Ph.D., director of NYIT’s energy management program.
“When I first met Karma, I was impressed by the extent of his know-ledge of energy issues,” says Amundsen. “Even though he was from a distant land, he was at ease with his classmates almost immediately. I know he will have a big impact at home, because he always played a leading role here at NYIT.”
Bhutan’s Department of Energy is so fascinated by Karma’s education that it provided him with a scholarship for his NYIT studies, which he began in spring 2006 and is scheduled to complete this fall.
Interestingly, despite the low saturation of electricity among Bhutan’s population, the majority of the country’s energy is produced through hydropower—exactly the type of ecologically sound energy education that NYIT has long been emphasizing. The college has been promoting green energy initiatives since the 1970s and recently unveiled its Center for Metropolitan Sustainability, which will bring together faculty and staff members across several academic disciplines to offer a certification and master’s degree program in sustainability.
As a father of two boys, ages 5 and 2, Karma looks forward to returning home, where he lives and works in Bhutan’s capital city of Thimphu. But in his isolated home village of Ney Pema Choeling, Lhuentse (with a population of around 500), Karma is quite the story. “My entire village is very proud,” he says. “I’m happy that NYIT is helping me improve my home.”
His education has given him celebrity status among his former neighbors. In fact, Karma is the only member of his home village who has received any sort of formal education. Selected for this honor in 1980 when he was 5 years old by monk Lopan Tshering Samdrup, a national language teacher, he considers himself fortunate.
“I plan to stay in touch with NYIT and encourage more Bhutanese to study here,” Karma says. After graduating, he will return to his home village and thank the teacher who started his educational journey years ago. Karma also hopes to work with communities and monasteries back home as a way to give back the gift he is so proud to have received.
As part of staying in touch with his alma mater, the proud Bhutan native also looks forward to serving as a goodwill ambassador for the Far East. His ultimate dream for Bhutan is to see the country incorporate Western business models, competitive enterprises, and an influx of new technologies.
But for now, he’s ready to do his part and change a piece of the world.
Now that’s power. |
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NYIT energy management student Karma Tshewang with his father, Karma Dhendup, near a monastery outside the city of Thimphu, Bhutan, which is the only national capital in the world with no traffic lights.
Karma (second from right) with senior and learned monks in Bhutan. It was one such monk who selected Karma when he was a child to receive a formal education.
To get to NYIT, Karma takes a five-hour flight to Bangkok from Bhutan’s only airport in Paro. Then he hops on an 18-hour flight to New York. “At least New York has better roads,” he says.
Karma’s hometown of Ney Pema Choeling, Lhuentse, has about 55 households and no electricity. Bhutan’s Department of Energy hopes to provide all citizens with power by 2020. |
