Some Audi cars in Las Vegas are using the technology from FNET/GridEye research to tell their drivers how many seconds remain until a traffic light turns green. CURENT students developed the time correction algorithm for this technology. 

Read the article. 

EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) has published a report of hardware testbed findings. The report is titled “Demonstration of Oscillation Damping Control Using Measurement-Based Transfer Function Model on the CURENT Hardware Testbed.” The hardware testbed and the research team are located at CURENT, the Center for Ultra-Wide-Area Transmission Networks, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN.  

Read the report here. 

Dr. Yilu Liu has been named as a 2016 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Liu serves as deputy director of CURENT, is the UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Power Electronics and is also a professor at UTK. We’d like to congratulate Dr. Liu on her newest honor and recognition.

Read the TN Today article here. 

Dr. Robert Broadwater from Virginia Tech will present a seminar on Friday, December 2nd at 12:20 PM to 1:10 PM in MHK Room 404. All CURENT students are encouraged to attend. The lecture will be viewable on WebEx. 

Presenter: Dr. Robert Broadwater, Virginia Tech

Title: In Pursuit of Realistic, Reusable, Collaborative, Electric Grid Models

Time: Friday, December 2nd, 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM EST

Location: Min Kao Building, Room 404

Abstract
Results from a recently sponsored DOE survey on the benefits and challenges of using holistic power system models (i.e.,  Transmission/Substation/Primary Distribution/Secondary Distribution) will be presented.  A number of models that represent realistic power system construction, but which collectively pose challenges to current power flow technology, will be reviewed.  Fundamental concepts of a new approach to system analysis, Graph Trace Analysis (GTA), will be presented.  The application of GTA to holistic power system analysis will be discussed. 

Biography
Robert Broadwater is a professor at Virginia Tech and serves as CTO for EDD.  He designed the Distribution Engineering Workstation for the Electric Power Research Institute.  He developed real-time, power plant simulations for Babcock & Wilcox and the Tennessee Valley Authority.  He holds software patents related to electric power plant controls, and has experience working on nuclear, fossil, and hydro plants.  A reconfiguration for restoration algorithm conceived by him was used to prevent a large power outage in St. Louis. He developed the Discrete Ascent Optimal Programming algorithm for solving large, constrained systems. He has developed an approach to system analysis, based on the Computer Science generic programming paradigm, referred to as Graph Trace Analysis. GTA based power flow algorithms can solve large T&D problems without using matrices.   GTA has been used by his PhD graduate students to solve power flow problems on models containing several million objects, and to solve multi-domain engineering problems.  GTA algorithms naturally distribute to multiple processors. He has published chapters in several engineering handbooks and has directed over 40 PhD students. Software that he has helped develop is used by electric utilities, universities, and national labs in the United States, South America, the Middle East, and Asia.

Congratulations to CURENT and to Erin Wills! The CURENT Engineering Research Center tied for 1^st place in the Class III Exhibits for Engineers Day under the guidance of Erin Wills. As an aside, last year CURENT won 3rd place. 

Dr. Kai Sun, UTK PhD candidate Bin Wang and ISO New England team (Dr. Slava Maslennikov, Mr. Qiang Zhang and Dr. Xiaochuan Luo) were recognized with a CRSTT (Control Room Solution Task Team) Most Valuable Player award at the NASPI meeting held in Seattle on Oct 19-20, 2016. The Task Team Most Valuable Player award is given to individuals who make significant contributions to the accomplishment of Task Team goals and work products.

The NASPI Awards are a way for the NASPI community to recognize individuals and organizations who devote extraordinary levels of time, effort and creativity to the NASPI mission. 

Congratulations to Dr. Sun, Mr Wang and the ISO New England Team. 

Friday, November 4, 2016 – Dr. John Lesko, Virginia Tech

Dr. John Lesko will present a seminar on Friday, November 4, 2016 at Min H. Kao, Room 124 from 12:20pm to 1:10pm EST.  

Broadcast Link: Click here

Topic: Dr. Lesko will describe the NSF Innovation-Corp process and how it can effectively be integrated into Engineering Research Center Technology transfer programs.

Title: Integrating I-Corps Lean LaunchPad Principles into ERC Technology Transfer Opportunities

Abstract: The National Science Foundation has invested in the development of training and a network supporting the promotion of Lean LaunchPad thinking for the academic community.  Nearly 900 teams have now gone through the National training as I-Corps teams in nearly the last 5 years.  The process engages faculty, graduate students and postdocs in a 7 week process where they use customer discovery principles seeking to identify product-market fit for a minimum viable product that can position a repeatable and scalable business model for a technology developed out of their laboratories.  The DC I-Corps Regional Node (one of 7 teaching nodes across the US) has experimented with other versions of the training to address various business model and potential product generation opportunities with good success.  Thus, this talk will provide a perspective on how an ERC might integrate the core principles of Lean LaunchPad into the innovation ecosystem with an aim to help with the translation of the center discoveries to the market place. 

Biography: Dr. John “Jack” Lesko is a Professor of Engineering Mechanics at Virginia Tech and currently serving at the Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Studies.  Jack has 25+ years of design and analytical experience as a mechanical engineer, with background in physics, mechanics and system analysis. His work has resulted in the implementation of in-service structures/systems using new multifunctional composite technologies and systems, and the creation of standards for their design in industrial and international codes. 

Jack is the co-founder of PowerHub Systems, a start up in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. PowerHub Systems develops, designs, and manufactures stationary battery electric storage and power processing systems for electric utility distribution systems. Through this startup experience, Jack has initiated problem based learning pilot programs enabled through interdisciplinary experiences in engineering education and entrepreneurial training.  Jack is a Co-PI for the NSF I-Corps Mid Atlantic Regional Node (DC I-Corps) and is an instructor for both the National and Regional training programs guiding technical professionals through the Lean LaunchPad approach. Additionally, Jack serves on the Executive Committee of the GEM National Consortium, and on the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Center Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM).  

Go to seminar page.

CURENT will host an Open House on Fri., Oct. 28th for EECS undergraduates and other students who are interested in Power Engineering.

CURENT Open House

Interested in Undergraduate Research or Obtaining Graduate School Funding?

Come and meet the faculty and students of CURENT as they discuss graduate school, research opportunities, and show their labs. Pizza and Drinks will be provided.

Feel Free to Come and Go as You Need, but Arrive Early so You Can Enjoy the Food.

When:  Friday, October 28th
Time:  12:00 – 2:00pm
Location:  Min Kao Building Room 124

Click Here to RSVP
(Will be used only get an estimate for pizza and to send any updates about this open house)  

Contact us if you have questions: 

CURENT Engineering Research Center
555 Min Kao Building | 1520 Middle Drive | Knoxville, TN 37996-0184
E-mail: info@curent.utk.edu
Phone: 865.974.9720 | Fax: 865.974.9723

Several CURENT Students have been awarded 2016-17 IEEE PES Scholarships. Since the program launched in 2011, 1,172 scholarships have been awarded to 723 students at more than 160 universities across the USA, Canada & Puerto Rico. This year, for the first time ever, 25% of the recipients were female. CURENT students from the University fo Tennessee, Northeastern University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute were awarded scholarships. Additionally, Northeastern Univerisity placed in the top ten of schools with the highest number of PES scholars. Below are our scholarship recipents. Congratulations to these students!

Jessica Bardio

Jared Baxter

Summer Church

Drew HasBrouk

Dayna Hering

Gianna Scioletti

Gregory Tolj

Andrew Whitaker

Additionally, we’d like to send an extra accolade to Drew HasBrouk who, as a 3rd year student, has won the PES scholarship for a third time. 

Link to IEEE PES scholarship page. 

Link to list of scholars. 

Systers Welcome Back Celebration
Systers: Women in EECS@UTK will host a “Welcome Back” event for all students 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 17, in the Min H. Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building. The event will feature:

• Employer and student organization booth fairs for networking and recruiting
• Lab tours showcasing the research conducted by Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) students and faculty
• Demonstrations of student and industry projects 
• An informal luncheon for all entering freshmen in engineering (for recruiting purposes)
• Information sessions on student involvement opportunities in EECS
• Raffle to encourage student engagement with the organizations and booths.

Read more about Systers

Dr. Fran Li, CURENT UTK Campus Director and EECS professor, received three honors at the 2016 IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) General Meeting. The meeting was held in Boston, MA from July 17 to 21. Dr. Li received the IEEE PES Technical Committee Distinguished Service Award for 2015 and two of his conference papers were selected by the conference’s technical program committee as the Best Conference Papers (Top 5%). The two conference papers, “Mitigating Overestimation of Voltage Stability Margin by Coupled Single-Port Circuit Models” and “Volt-VAR Interaction Evaluation in Bulk Power Systems,” are first-authored by Dr. Li’s doctoral student Haoyu Yuan and his formal visitor Tao Jiang, respectively. IEEE PES General Meeting is the leading annual conference within IEEE PES 

and attracts around 3000 to 5000 attendees from around the world each year. (R, Dr. Li)

Professor Joe Chow attended the NERC Synchrophasor Measurement Subcommittee in Seattle, WA on June 28-30, 2016. While there, he gave a presentation entitled “Control System Performance Evaluation using PMU Disturbance Data.” On the same trip, he visited Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland and GE Grid Solution in Redmond, WA with Ms. Lisa Beard (UTK).  These trips are part of an outreach initiation to the CURENT Industry members.  

During the week of July 11-15, 2016, CURENT Engineering Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) hosted approximately 20 high school students from across the country to learn about how the electric grid is being adapted to incorporate renewable sources such as solar arrays and wind turbine farms. The students were part of a one week summer enrichment program called Smart Grid Summer. They worked with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute faculty, graduate students and visiting undergraduate researchers doing hands-on activities. A few of the programs taught were Introduction to Circuits, Solar Irradiance Measuement Project and the Power Grid Game. RPI also provided tours to industry partners such as GE Energy to see first-hand their Wind Turbine Control Center and the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) that operates competitive wholesale markets to manage the flow of electricity across New York. Dr. Joe Chow, RPI campus director, says” It is important for future students to see and gain appreciation for the complexities of a stable and secure electrical system, such as America has, that continues to grow and move into an independent infrastructure made up of alternative energies.”     

Above: Jason Paisley of Tuskeegee University teaches the Smart Grid Summer Program at RPI

Frederick Dowuona-Hammond (Tuskeegee University), Joseph Garcia-Diaz (University of Puerto Rico) and Jason Pasley (Tuskeegee University) taught two modules during the week long Smart Gird program: Introduction to Circuits and the Solar Irradiance Measurement Project. 

Above: Joseph Garcia-Diaz (University of Puerto Rico) instructs students during the Smart Grid program.

Above: RPI Camp Tour – high school students, graduate students and REUs visit NYISO.    

Can Huang, an electrical engineering doctoral candidate under Dr. Fran Li, was recently honored with the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad. Mr. Huang also recently recieved notice that he was chosen for a postdoc position at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Congratulations!!

Read the article here. 

Chongwen Zhao, a Master’s student in Power Electronics under Dr. Costinett, received the Extraordinary Professional Promise Award at the Chancellor’s Honors Banquet held on April 19 at the Knoxville Convention Center. The Chancellor’s Honors Banquet is held each spring to recognize students, faculty, staff and friends of the University of Tennessee for their extraordinary achievements. Congratulations to Chongwen on his award. 

Ailin Asadinejad, a 5th year PhD student in Power Systems under Dr. Tomsovic, recieved 1st Place in the IEEE PES T&D Graduate Student Poster Contest on May 5th. Her prize was a $500 American express gift card. Over 50 students competed for the honor. We are very proud of Ailin and her accomplishment. Congratulations!!

Maeve Lawniczak, a Master’s student in Power Electronics under Dr. Costinett, received the Extraordinary Academic Achievement Award at the Chancellor’s Honors Banquet held on April 19 at the Knoxville Convention Center. The Chancellor’s Honors Banquet is held each spring to recognize students, faculty, staff and friends of the University of Tennessee for their extraordinary achievements. We’d like to congratulate Maeve on her wonderful achievement!

Graduate students Chongwen Zhao and Saeed Anwar both won “Best Presentation” awards within their respective sessions at the IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference (APEC) in March 2016. Saeed’s presentation was titled “Integrated DC-DC Converter Design for Electric Vehicle Powertrains” and Chongwen’s poster was titled “A Single-Phase Dual Frequency Inverter Based on Multi-Frequency Selective Harmonic Elimination.”

EPRI’s Grid Operations and Planning group is offering a summer internship position in EPRI’s Palo Alto, CA office to support R&D projects related to grid integration of renewable resources, by conducting power system studies and modeling using electromagnetic transients simulation tools and electromechanical dynamics simulation tools.

Strong experience with electromagnetic transients simulation tools (preferably EMTP-RV and PSCAD) and electromechanical dynamics simulation tools (preferably PSS/E and PSLF) is required. Familiarity with Synchrophasor Technology is also desired.

More details can be found here:

Link to job posting: http://chp.tbe.taleo.net/chp02/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=EPRI&cws=1&rid=2217

The DOE and the EECS Department and CURENT at the University of Tennessee help a Joint Kickoff Meeting for the NGEM Projects and Power Electronics Traineeship Programs on April 1, 2016 at the downtown Hilton in Knoxville, TN.

A pre-event mixer and optional CURENT lab tour was held on Thursday evening, March 31 from 5:00pm – 9:00pm for kickoff attendees. 

Friday, April 1, was an extremely full day. The meeting began with a welcome and opening remarks from Dr. Mark Johnson, DOE Director of Advanced Manufacturing Office. Dr. Anant Agarwal, DOE Technology Manager, followed with the vision for U.S. wide bandgap technology and manufacturing. An overview of two university power electronics traineeship programs was then given by Dr. Leon Tolbert of the University of Tennessee and Dr. Roland Burgos from Virginia Tech. The second half of the morning was dedicated to next generation electric machine programs. Dr. Pawel Gradski opened this segment with an overview presentation. Presenters included Dr. Geraldo Nojima, Eaton Corporation; Dr. Longya Xu, The Ohio State University; Dr. Curtiss Fox and Dr. Paulo Gudies-Pinto, Clemson University and TECO Westinghouse; Dr. Ravi Raju, GE Global Research; and Dr. Pana Shenoy, Celnetix Technologies.

After lunch, the subject turned to PowerAmerica. Executive Director General Nick Justice gave an overview of the program. Afterwards, several heavily involved entities gave presentations on their research and progress. These included Dr. Andy Wilson, XFAB; Dr. Kevin Matocha, Monolith Semiconductor; Dr. John Hostetler, USCi; Dr. Ranbir Singh, GeneSiC Semiconductor; Dr. David Grider, Wolfspeed; Mr. Peter Sandvik, General Electric and PEMC; Dr. Brij Singh, John Deere Electronic Solutions; Dr. Helen Li, Florida State University; Dr. Fred Lee, Virginia Tech; Dr. Srdjan Ludic, NC State University; and Dr. Subhashish Bhattacharya, NC State University. Closing remarks were given by the DOE Andvanced Manufacturing Office and the meeting was adjourned. A second CURENT lab tour was optional from 4:15pm to 6:00pm for participants who were interested.

During February 29 – March 2, 2016, Research staff Drs. Aleksandar Dimitrovski and Zhi Li from  Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and research associates Drs. Jingxin Wang and Sheng Zheng from CURENT traveled to National Harbor, MD for the 7^th annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit. They showcased the Continuously Variable Series Reactor (CVSR) technology sponsored by ARPA-E. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and ARPA-E Director Ellen Williams both visited our booth.

The CVSR is intended for power flow control in a grid by controlling the reactance values. The varying reactance is achieved through changing the saturation level of the CVSR by injecting a DC current in a small separate winding on the same magnetic core with the main AC winding. The DC current is supplied by DC Controller (DCC) – a power electronics converter which is isolated from the power grid voltage and current. Compared with other power electronics based power flow controllers, CVSR can potentially have lower cost and higher reliability. CURENT’s responsibility on this project is DCC development and CVSR system impact study led by Drs. Fred Wang and Kevin Tomsovic, respectively. Drs. Daniel Costinett and Leon Tolbert are also on the team.

Here is a must read article about an extraordinary attack on a country’s power grid. 

http://www.wired.com/2016/03/inside-cunning-unprecedented-hack-ukraines-power-grid/

CURENT congratulates Dr. Kai Sun who has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his work on ”Integrated Research and Education in Nonlinear Modal Decoupling and Control for Resilient Interconnected Power Systems.” CAREER awards are given by the NSF to help nurture the careers and research of young faculty whom they feel hold promise in their given fields.

Read the press release.

Dominion Technical Solutions, Inc. has generously put together a relay training panel and donated it to Northeastern University (NEU) CURENT/ERC lab.

The panel was shipped to NEU a couple of weeks ago and a team of Dominion engineers and technicians – Matt Gardner, Kyle Thomas, Tania Mutmainna and Jason Weaver – visited NEU on Feb. 17th to give a full day of training to NEU graduate students on the use of the panel.

The panel is housed in the CURENT/ERC lab of NEU and includes SEL-3373 Phasor Data Concentrator, SEL 421-5 relay, and SEL 735 relay. It will be used to investigate operation of PMUs, visualization of synchrophasors and various harmonics.

Dan Toland, Scholarship Plus Program Director at IEEE, wrote a Pulse article on LinkedIn about “Recognizing Female Students as PES Scholars.” His article featured a photo of Dr. Ali Abur and a few students.  

Read the article.

Dr. Yilu Liu and Dr. Yong Liu  are leading a team of researchers at ORNL in Solar Energy Research. 

http://tntoday.utk.edu/2016//02/03/research-shot-improving-solar-energy

Dr. Yilu Liu, the joint UT–Oak Ridge National Laboratory Governor’s Chair for Electric Power Grids, received some impressive news Monday morning as she was named a newly elected member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Liu, who serves as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, becomes the fifth member of the College of Engineering so honored.

She joins John Fisher Distinguished Professor Mark Dean and University Distinguished Professor Jack Dongarra, both of computer science; Chancellor’s Professor and McKamey Professor of Engineering George Pharr of materials science and engineering; and Governor’s Chair for Nuclear Materials Steven Zinkle of nuclear engineering as UT’s active members.

Liu is also a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and deputy director of CURENT (Center for Ultra-Wide-Area-Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks) Engineering Research Center at UT.

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer.

According to NAE President C. D. Mote Jr., academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education … the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”

Warren Oliver, president of Nanomechanics Inc. of Oak Ridge, was also elected. He is a 1976 materials science graduate of UT. 

Read the UT article. 

************* 

(In the photo above, Dr. Liu is conversing with a visitor at CURENT’s 2015 NSF site visit.)

The research center ACROSS (Advanced Collaborative Research Organization for Smart Society) at Waseda University, under the support of JST (Japan Science Technology), invited Dr. Chen and Dr. Tomsovic  to present research at a workshop on Distributed Energy Management Systems in Tokyo from Dec. 5^th-10^th. Drs. Chen and Tomsovic were keynote speakers for this workshop attended by university researchers, government sponsors and utility engineers. Dr. Tomsovic gave a talk entitled “New Control Architectures for the Future Power System,” and Dr. Chen presented on the human and social perspectives on demand response behaviors entitled, “Social Psychological Approaches to Analyze Demand Response and Promote Energy Efficiency.” In addition, Dr. Chen introduced CURENT’s university education and outreach programs to the audience. Participants included researchers and faculty from Keio University, Nagoya University, The University of Tokyo, Tokaj University, Hokkaido University, Waseda University, JST, Tokyo Electric Power Company, and other industry participants.

One of the important tasks during this trip is the discussion on the future collaboration between CURENT and ACROSS on the area of power systems and smart home management systems, which include exchange graduate students regularly, involving with Japanese and American students in this joint projects, publications and faculty exchanges.  

Dr. Chen and Dr. Tomsovic along with faculty and graduate students from Waseda University also visited the Federation of Electric Power Companies, Tokyo Electric Power Company to see their facilities and understand their power system issues. Dr. Tomsovic gave a talk about CURENT center and power systems theories to Tokyo Electric Power Company engineers. They also made a short trip to Kumamoto University in the Kyushu prefecture to discuss their recently established faculty exchange program.

In February 2016, a group of 7 faculty and graduate students from Japan will visit CURENT as a follow-up research collaboration activity.