Dr. Wang Selected for Induction as National Academy of Inventors Fellow

Dr. Fred Wang, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Condra Chair of Excellence in Power Electronics, has been selected for induction as a National Academy of Inventors Fellow for 2017.
Being named an NAI Fellow is one of the highest honors a researcher can receive, with the 912 NAI Fellows—including 29 Nobel laureates—accounting for more than 32,000 issued US patents and $140 billion in revenue.  
Read the article on Tennessee Today. 

SLC Study Day

What: Coffee and tea all day with an AM and PM Social Hour

Time: Wednesday, December 6th, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM EST

Location: Min Kao Building, Room 124

Join us for SLC Study Day in Min Kao 124.  Coffee and tea will be available all day and there will be a morning Social Hour from 10-11am and an afternoon Social Hour from 2:30 to 3:30pm. Come and grab a cup of coffee and a snack and commiserate/socialize with your fellow students.

Contact Paige Williford for further info.

Dr. Tao Xia will give the SLC Industry Seminar on Friday, December 15, 2017. His seminar will be on successful entrepreneurship. 

Date:  Friday, December 15, 2017

Time:  12:20 – 1:10pm EST

Location: Room 124 Min H. Kao Building, Knoxville, TN

Title: Entrepreneurship – How to be a Sucessful Entrepreneur

Presenter: Dr. Tao Xia, Integrated Power Engineering

Abstract: Dr. Tao Xia is the founder of Integrated Power Engineering, Inc. (IPE), a technology firm that provides products and services in system modeling/simulations, engineering support, grid visualization and data analytics to the electric power industry and other related business spaces. IPE’s flagship product GridPortal is a big data visualization, management and analysis tool and a grid information presentation framework for electric utilities and other connected industries in across the United States and around the Globe.

In this seminar, Dr. Xia will start with sharing his perspectives on the status of the electric power industry and the major players in the power system technology space as well as his understanding on the innovations that have driven the power system development in the past a few decades and the potential technologies that may impact the electric power industry in the coming decades. He then will pivot to discussing some specific challenges to the power industry and how they can open up great opportunities for entrepreneurship. He will conclude the seminar with his point of view on entrepreneurship and how the graduate student at University of Tennessee get prepared for becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Bio: Tao Xia received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2009. He is the founder of Integrated Power Engineering, Inc. (IPE) and is currently also a consulting engineer at Dominion Energy in Virginia. His professional career has covered a wide spectrum of technical activities, including electric network modeling, system simulations, equipment design and monitoring, asset health assessment, 3D electromagnetic simulations, synchrophasor technology development, protective relay designs, electric utility enterprise level artificial intelligence, grid visualization, data analytics, etc. Dr. Tao Xia is also a professional engineer licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia, an IEEE senior member and actively involved in CIGRE.

Dr. Dorian McCoy presents SLC Industry Seminar

Dr. Dorian McCoy will present the SLC Industry seminar on Friday, December 1, 2017 in MHK Room 404 from 12:20 pm to 1:10 pm.

Presenter: Dr. Dorian McCoy, University of Tennessee

Title: Inclusivity in a Global Higher Education Community

Where: MHK 404 (plus WebEx and Live Recording)

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

Abstract: Diversity and inclusion are key concepts in United States higher education. These institutions value diversity among their students, faculty, and staff because of the varied identities and experiences these individuals bring to the campus community. This presentation explores why these concepts are critical as colleges and universities prepare students to engage in a global community. 

Bio: Dorian L. McCoy is an Associate Professor of Higher Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  He serves as coordinator for the College Student Personnel program and co-directs the UTK-Project GRAD Summer Institute.

Dorian teaches Introduction to Student Affairs Administration, Multiculturalism in Higher Education, Introduction to Qualitative Research, and coordinates the practicum experience.  He received his PhD in Educational Leadership and Research from Louisiana State University, has a Master’s of Education (Higher Education – College Student Personnel) from the University of Arkansas and a Bachelor of Business Administration – Management from Henderson State University.  Dorian has 10 years of administrative experience, having worked in student life/affairs and human resource management at the University of Florida and Louisiana State University.  Prior to joining the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, he was a G. W. Henderson Post-Doctoral Fellow and Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont.

Dorian’s research focuses on People’s of Color experiences in higher education. More specifically, his research explores the socialization and transitional experiences of faculty, administrators, and graduate students from historically underrepresented groups and issues of access to higher education.  His research is typically framed in critical race theory or social reproduction theory.  He is currently collaborating on a study that explores how students acquire/develop aspirational capital and their pursuit of graduate/professional degrees. 

Dorian has authored more than 20 publications and book chapters, including a monograph on critical race theory, Critical Race Theory in Higher Education: 20 Years of Theoretical and Research Innovations.  He has published in the Journal of College Student Development, Journal of Higher Education, and Journal of Diversity in Higher Education.  He serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice and the College Student Affairs Journal.  Dorian is active in the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, and the Southern Association of College Student Affairs (SACSA).  He is currently the NASPA Region III Faculty Representative. 

Dr. Hairong Qi has been elevated to IEEE Fellow. She was recognized for her research and “for contributions to collaborative signal processing in sensor networks”.  Congratulations to Dr. Qi on this noteable and deserved achievement. 

Congratulations to CURENT’s 2017-2018 PES Scholar Recipients

Eleven students from CURENT partner universities recieved PES Scholarships for the 2017-18 year. A total of 210 PES Scholarship recipients were selected from the 548 individuals who applied for the scholarship. These undergraduate students are majoring in electrical engineering, are high achievers with strong GPAs with distinctive extracurricular commitments and are committed to exploring the power and energy field. We are proud of our students for their dedication and accomplishments. Below are the students listed by school. 

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

• Youssef Elasser, 2018
• Dayna Herling, 2018
• Meaghan Podlask, 2019

Northeastern University

• Jessica  Bardio, 2020
• Gregory Jeffrey, 2018
• Gianna  Scioletti, 2018
• Gregory  Tolj, 2020
• Andrew Whitaker, 2020 

University of Tennessee

• Sean Indelicato, 2020
• Kellen Oleksak, 2020
• Phuc Pham, 2018

The SLC Seminar on Friday, October 27th will be given by Dr. Daryl Armentrout, retired Senior Advisor for TVA. 

Presenters: Dr. Daryl Armentrout

Time: Friday, October 27th, 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM EST

Location: Min Kao Building, Room 404

Remote viewers may watch with Zoom. Zoom instructions follow the seminar abstract and bio

Title: Volkswagen Scandal: An Engineering Ethics Review

Abstract: Volkswagen (VW) had an ambitious plan to improve their global market share.  Crucial to their plan was the growth in the U.S. market.  VW’s expertise is in small diesel automobiles.  However, they were unable to meet the U.S. tougher standards on nitrous oxide emissions.  In 2006 VW charged their engineers to design an engine that would meet the U.S. emission standards.  From the outset, the engineers recognized that it was impossible to meet the U.S. standards, along with obtaining the desired fuel efficiency, performance, and price.  Instead of acknowledging this fact, and influencing the adjustment of corporate expectations, the engineers decided to design and implement software that would circumvent U.S. emission testing.

The presentation will address the following five questions:

• What is the VW fraud all about?
• What drove the engineers to act unethically/illegally?
• What was the culture like at VW?
• What did VW do?
• Why is this case important for you?

 Finally, the presentation will examine how the VW engineers violated the IEEE and ACM Codes of Ethics.

Bio: Daryl Armentrout, Ph.D., P.E., retired as a Senior Advisor from the Tennessee Valley Authority, where he served 45 years in engineering design and construction of power generating facilities, nuclear power operations, and in environmental engineering and compliance.  He began his engineering career with Humble Oil and Refining Company (now named ExxonMobil) designing plans for deep well drilling and oil and gas recovery.  He taught courses in professional practice to civil and environmental engineering undergraduates at The University of Tennessee.

He received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering from The University of Tennessee and a M.S. degree in Structural Engineering from Virginia Tech. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Tennessee.

He is a Fellow and Life Member, American Society of Civil Engineers; a Life Member, National Society of Professional Engineers; a Member, United States Society on Dams; an ASCE appointed Senior Program Evaluator for ABET, Inc.; and a Member of the Board of Advisors for the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at The University of Tennessee. 

The SLC Seminar on Friday, October 20th will be given by Dr. Xiaojing Xu, a Postdoctoral Research Associate with CURENT at the University of Tennessee, and Ms. Kirsten Dawes, a Ph.D. Candidate in Computer Science also at the University of Tennessee.

Presenters: Dr. Xiaojing Xu and Ms. Kirsten Dawes

Time: Friday, October 20th, 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM EST

Location: Min Kao Building, Room 404

Remote viewers may watch with Zoom. Zoom instructions follow the seminar abstracts and bios.

Presenter: Dr. Xiaojing Xu, Postdoctoral Research Associate, CURENT, University of Tennessee

Title: On second thought about promoting demand response with financial incentives: Insights from a socio-psychological approach

Abstract: Despite the popularity of price-based and incentive-based demand (DR) programs, the effectiveness of financial incentives still remains in question. This presentation will go over the major findings of a national survey conducted by CURENT, which investigated 1) people’s willingness to participate in DR with and without financial or other incentives, 2) is financial incentives the most effective? 3) how the preference changes across different demographic sectors? and 4) what are the socio-psychological drivers of or barriers to adopting DR? This presentation will go on to discuss about the psychological and behavioral theories and studies that address the effectiveness of financial rewards/appeals, as well as their insights for power engineers.  

Bio: Dr. Xiaojing Xu, Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, is a postdoctoral research associate at NSF-DOE Engineering Research Center for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electrical Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT), Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research focuses on social psychological analysis on energy behavior and pro-environmental decision making.

Presenter: Ms. Kirsten Dawes, Computer Science, Ph.D. Candidate

Title: Large Scale Test Bed Visualization

Abstract: The power grid system is highly complex and interacting with the system can bebeneficial to understand and managing events. Interacting with power grid systems takes a couple different forms. Reading tables of data to explore and inspect specific elements or group elements is one way to interact with the data. However, this is particularly difficult when you are dealing with multiple variables as well as multiple devices as the data grows larger. This is where interactive visualizations with power grid systems becomes important. To see the data in a way that is readable to engineers and scientists alike there needs to be a system where data can be inputted. As the world becomes more and more web-based, so do our programs. Interacting with multiple engineers across the country to see a real-time simulation of power grid system is beneficial to productivity. One of the most convenient ways to interact with multiple users across the country is through the web. A web-based application will allow better communication between users. We are looking at what type of visualizations are the best and how best to interact with this type of power grid system.

Bio: Ms. Kirsten Dawes, a second-year computer science Ph.D. student in SeeLab group at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville is currently working on spatial-temporal visualization. She did her undergraduate at the University of Oregon working with CDUX research group focusing on VisIt and Intel Xeon Phi interaction

SLC Industry Seminar with Dr. Kevin Jones of Grid Widget Labs on Friday, October 13, 2017

Dr. Kevin Jones will present the SLC Industry Seminar on Friday, October 13, 2017 in MHK Room 124 from 12:20 pm to 1:10 pm.

Presenter: Dr. Kevin Jones, Grid Widget Labs

Title: My Transition to Entrepreneurship: A Different Way to Perceive Work and Risk

Where: MHK 124 (and WebEx and OIT Recording)

Time: Friday, October 13, 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM EST

Click Here to go to seminar page.

Webex info is near the bottom of this page.

Watch the seminar (during or after).

Abstract: In January 2017, Kevin Jones started a company called Grid Widget Laboratories with the goal of using technology to promote software craftsmanship in the electric power industry. In this seminar, he will share some of the driving forces behind the direction of this initiative> He will discuss what it means to be a power systems engineer in 2017, a brief segment on the company he is building, and the changes in perspective that led him to believe that entrepreneurship and other non-standard career trajectories would be inevitable. As part of this, Dr. Jones discusses how our perception of our work and the risks we take in our career evolve as we mature. He concludes with some blanket advice for the budding entrepreneur and some perspective on the entrepreneurial opportunity as a graduate student in CURENT.

Bio: Dr. Kevin Jones received his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in 2013 as a Harry Lynde Bradley Fellow. His research and technology contributions have centered around synchrophasor data analytics. Most notably, he developed a 3-phase and a positive sequence linear state estimator and maintains these projects in the open source domain. He has worked with vendors to adopt this technology and continues to build on it through personal contributions and DOE sponsored initiatives. Dr. Jones is currently a Consulting Engineer with Dominion Energy Virginia and also has his own company Grid Widget Laboratories that is working to promote software craftsmanship in the electric utility industry.

SLC Industry Seminar  – Mr. Bob Cummings, NERC

Mr. Bob Cummings will present the SLC Industry Seminar on Thursday, October 5, 2017 in MHK Room 124 from 12:20 pm to 1:10 pm.

Presenter: Mr. Bob Cummings, NERC

Title: Engineering the Changing Resource Mix – Keeping the Grid Together

Where: MHK 124 and WebEx

Time: Thursday, October 5, 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM EST

Click here to go to seminar page.

Webex info is near the bottom of this page.

Watch the seminar (during or after). 

Click to add to calendar.

Download slides.

Abstract:

Mr. Cummings will discuss the following subjects,

• The changing resources and changing loads
• Inverter-Based Disturbances
• Changing Inertia and Frequency Response
• Potential Roles for Energy Storage
• Other Frequency Developments

Bio: Mr. Cummings joined NERC in 1996 and has extensive experience in the industry in system planning, operations engineering, and wide-area planning. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Power System Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and is an IEEE Senior Member.

He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of CURENT (Center for Ultra-wide Area Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks), a National Science Foundation and Department of Energy Engineering Research Center.

His geographically diverse experience includes Central Vermont Public Service Corporation in System Planning (generation and transmission), Public Service Company of New Mexico in Operations Engineering and Wide-area Planning, and the East Central Area Reliability Coordination Agreement (ECAR) regional office of NERC as the Manager of Transmission Services.

He was a principal investigator of the 2003 Northeast Blackout and the more recent Arizona-Southern California Outage of September 8, 2011, leading multiple event analysis teams in the sequence of events development, modeling and studies (powerflow and dynamics analysis), and transmission/generation performance areas. He directed the NERC Event Analysis program for five years, leading or working on 12 major system disturbance analyses.

Mr. Cummings is the “father” of power interchange transaction “tagging” and the Interchange Distribution Calculator for the Eastern Interconnection, which is known as the Enhanced Curtailment Calculator in the Western Electricity Coordination Council.

Phuc “Peter” Pham and Larry Marshall, and Chongwen Zhao will present at the SLC Seminar on Friday, September 29th.

Presenters: Phuc Pham and Larry Marshall, and Chongwen Zhao

Time: Friday, September 29th, 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM EST

Location: Min Kao Building, Room 404

This meeting will be available through ZOOM for factulty, industry and partner school students. ZOOM info follows the speaker info. 

Presenters: Phuc Pham, UTK, and Larry Marshall, UTK

Title: Smart Home Testbed for Demand Response Implementation

Abstract: Smart grid has been one of the hottest topics in the past few years. Responsive load or controllable load, as one of the major activities in smart grid, has attracted much interest from the electric power industry. Traditionally, the price-based demand response programs have been well researched to mitigate the long-term unbalance between generation and demand power. However, the high penetration of renewable power may create short-term power unbalance, which results in frequency fluctuation. Therefore, it is a promising area to explore the potential of residential loads for mitigating such frequency fluctuations. The purpose of dynamic demand control is to reduce the need of generator spinning reserve while maintaining the flexible frequency regulation. In this project, a smart home testbed is developed for both the price-based and frequency-based load control.

Bio: Phuc Pham is a senior Electrical Engineering student at UT. He will graduate and get my B.S. degree in May 2018. He is currently enrolled in the 5-year B.S./M.S. program so he will come back to UT to pursue the master’s degree. He has been working for CURENT since last summer under Dr. Fran Li. His interest areas are Power Systems and Power Electronics. 

Larry Marshall is a senior in Electrical Engineering, arriving at UTK in Fall ’15, planning on pursuing his master’s degree directly after graduation. His background includes 8 years of service in the USAF, undergraduate research under Dr. Fran Li, and membership in the SLC’s lab committee. Larry has also participated in and supervised various outreach events designed to bring more people to the STEM subjects for study after high school. Larry’s areas of interest include power systems and power electronics. His current research topics include mitigation of frequency fluctuations as a result of penetration of renewables by effective monitoring and control of residential loads based on real-time frequency data.

Presenter: Chongwen Zhao, UTK

Title: A Phase-Shift Dual-Frequency Selective Harmonic Elimination for Multiple AC Loads

Abstract: Concurrent dual-frequency ac outputs from a single-inverter configuration potentially benefit many industrial applications, such as induction heating and wireless power transfer. In this talk, a phase-shift dual-frequency selective harmonic elimination (DFSHE) method is proposed to simultaneously generate and regulate two ac outputs at different frequencies from a single full-bridge inverter, which expands the family of DFSHEs. With the phase shift operation, all triplen harmonics of the fundamental are inherently suppressed in the inverter output spectrum, which improves the output THD, and may ease filter design. In addition, an evaluation of the unipolar, bipolar and phase-shift DFSHE techniques is presented, which analyzes design tradeoffs for multi-frequency applications. Finally, experimental results from a 50 W dual-output inverter validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, which agree with theoretical predictions and simulation results.

Bio: Chongwen Zhao received the B.Sc. degree from the School of Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi’an, China, in 2011, and received the M.Sc. degree from the College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2014. Currently, he is working toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.

Kamal Sabi is the winner of the CURENT Perfect Pitch Contest help on Sept. 15, 2017 Maeve Lawniczak came in second and Chongwen Zhao came in third. During the contest, the contestants had one slide and 90 seconds to “pitch” thier idea to the audience and judges. Kamal will be representing CURENT at the National Science Foundation ERC-wide Perfect Pitch Competition in Washington, D.C.  

Kamal Sabi’s pitch was “Vols Residential Inverter (VRI).“  

Maeve Lawniczak pitched “Saving the World One Data Center at a Time.“ 

Chongwen Zhao pitched “iDrive System for Next Generation of Electric Vehicles.”

CURENT 2017 PERFECT PITCH COMPETITION   

Time: Friday, September 15th, 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM EST

Location: Min Kao Building, Room 124 (there will be PIZZA for those in attendance)

Please note the room change above. This event will be webcast and WebEx.

The SLC is inviting all of you to take part in the perfect pitch competition on Friday September 15th at 12:20PM in MK 404. The perfect pitch competition is a contest where you have 90 seconds to pitch in a clear and persuasive manner how your ongoing research or topic of interest is connected with the strategic mission of CURENT: “…high efficiency, high reliability, low cost, better accommodation of renewable energy sources, full utilization of energy storage, and accommodation of responsive load.”

You are required to use one PowerPoint slide to assist with your pitch and you must address three key points: problem/opportunity, solution and impact.

Students from our partner schools are also encouraged to participate and will be able to pitch remotely through WebEx. The WebEx link will be sent next week.

Prizes: The winner will get a Google Chromecast and a Trip to Washington, D.C. to represent CURENT at the Perfect Pitch Finals with the opportunity to win $5000.

How Do I Participate? Email your one slide PowerPoint to Jordan Sangid at  jsangid@utk.vols.edu by midnight on Thursday September 14th.

Further details of the overall competition rules are posted at:  http://perfectpitchinfo.net/

Please email Kamal Sabi at ksabi@vols.utk.edu if you have any questions.

Mary Kate McGowan, Associate News Editor of ASHRAE, interviews Dr. Chien-fei Chen about her research in this months e-newsletter. The interview is titled “Who Is More Likely To Conserve Energy? Understand Social Psychology To Increase Energy Efficiency.”

Read the article here. 

CURENT 2017 PERFECT PITCH COMPETITION and a chance to win $5000  

Time: Friday, September 15th, 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM EST

Location: Min Kao Building, Room 404 (there will be PIZZA for those in attendance)

The SLC is inviting all of you to take part in the perfect pitch competition on Friday September 15th at 12:20PM in MK 404. The perfect pitch competition is a contest where you have 90 seconds to pitch in a clear and persuasive manner how your ongoing research or topic of interest is connected with the strategic mission of CURENT: “…high efficiency, high reliability, low cost, better accommodation of renewable energy sources, full utilization of energy storage, and accommodation of responsive load.”

You are required to use one PowerPoint slide to assist with your pitch and you must address three key points: problem/opportunity, solution and impact.

Students from our partner schools are also encouraged to participate and will be able to pitch remotely through WebEx. The WebEx link will be sent next week.

Prizes: The winner will get a Google Chromecast and a Trip to Washington, D.C. to represent CURENT at the Perfect Pitch Finals with the opportunity to win $5000.

How Do I Participate? Email your one slide PowerPoint to Jordan Sangid at  jsangid@utk.vols.edu by midnight on Thursday September 14th.

The PowerPoint template can be found at:  http://bit.ly/2wgDavy

Further details of the overall competition rules are posted at:  http://perfectpitchinfo.net/

Please email Kamal Sabi at ksabi@vols.utk.edu if you have any questions.

Good luck!

Dr. Charles Sims and Dr. Chien-fei Chen Present Seminar on Friday, September 8th

Dr. Charles Sims and Dr. Chien-fei Chen will present the SLC seminar on Friday, September 8th. The SLC Seminar happens every Friday from 12:20 pm to 1:10 pm unless otherwise noted. There will be pizza at the Friday seminars.

Presenters: Dr. Charles Sims and Dr. Chien-fei Chen

Time: Friday, September 8th, 12:20 PM – 1:10 PM EST

Location: Min Kao Building, Room 404

Dr. Charles Sims, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Tennessee

Title: Using Agent-based Computational Economics to understand the Evolution of the Electric Grid in response to Increased Penetration of Distributed Solar Generation

Abstract: This presentation summarizes recent research using agent-based computational economic modeling (ACE) in the electricity industry and illustrates how ACE can be used to investigate the dynamic response of a traditional electric grid in response to increased penetration of distributed solar generation. Using a hypothetical electric grid, the ACE model describes the dynamic behavior of four different economic agents. Submodules account for the wholesale electricity market and the decision to invest in a rooftop solar system by end-use electricity customers. These submodules are coupled in that retail electricity prices determine the costs associated with forgoing an investment in distributed solar generation while the decision to invest in distributed solar generation determines the load demand in the wholesale electricity market. While the results presented in this report are illustrative and not prescriptive, they do highlight a number of interesting trends. First, increased penetration of DG will have large impacts on dispatch at traditional generating units and locational marginal prices on the grid. The 55-66 percent reduction in retail customers we observe in our simulations will likely exacerbate recent coal plant retirements. Second, decreased load demand due to adoption of DG technologies will have a large impact on high-cost generating units in the system but may have little impact on nuclear plants that generate electricity at a relatively low cost. Third, transmission line constraints matter. Transmission line constraints imply that the marginal cost of serving customers will vary across the utility’s service area. This suggests that certain generating units and demand in certain LPCs will have a disproportional influence on the impacts of DG and the utility’s ability to respond to increased penetration of PV systems.

Bio: Dr. Sims is a Faculty Fellow at the Howard H. baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the Univeristy of Tennessee, Knoxville.  He has a Bachelor’s and MS in Forestry from the University of Tennessee and a doctoral degree in Economics at the University of Wyoming.  His research interests center on environmental and natural resource economics with a specific emphasis on the role of risk and uncertainty in natural resource, environmental, and energy policy.  His past research has investigated issues related to invasive and endangered species, forest management, water, and green energy.

Dr. Chien-fei Chen, Research Professor and Director of Education and Diversity, CURENT, University of Tennessee

Title: Insights on Social Psychological and Contextual Factors Affecting Energy Behaviors and Conservations Intentions in Residential and Commercial Buildings

Abstract: The issues of energy consumption and occupant behaviors should not be an individualistic focus, assuming that people will control their behaviors and make rational choices. These complex issues extend to organizations and other social contexts as well. Beyond individuals’ demographic factors, social-psychological and contextual factors have been gradually considered as important variables in influencing occupants’ energy saving behaviors and public acceptance of renewable energy technologies (e.g., electrical vehicles, solar penal). However, what are the important social-psychological factors OB researchers should pay attention to? How can we measure some of the latent social variables in an appropriate way? This presentation will present the empirical findings regarding the social-psychological and demographic variables affecting energy saving behaviors in both commercial and residential settings. In addition, the influence of social-psychological factors on the U.S. residents’ public acceptance of smart meters and demand response programs will be presented. Importantly, this presentation will discuss several important social science theories in measuring energy saving behaviors and intentions.  

Bio: Dr. Chien-fei Chen, Ph.D. in Sociology, is a Research Professor and Director of Education & Diversity at NSF-DOE Engineering Research Center for Ultra-wide-area Resilient Electrical Energy Transmission Networks (CURENT), Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, the University of Tennessee. Her research focuses on social psychological analysis and interdisciplinary OB research (both at the individual, and group levels), occupant energy conservation behaviors, demand response and public acceptance of renewable energy technology.

Jalonda N. Thompson, Assistant Director for Tickle College of Engineering Office of Diversity Programs has been selected for the 2017 NAMEPA Outreach Program Award. Her program is entitled “Engineering VOLunteers for Ninth Graders (eVOL9).” The NAMEPA Outreach Program Award was established to honor outreach programs that have actively increased the participation of students from historically underrepresented minority (URM) populations in engineering.

Ms. Thompson and her program will be recognized at the 38th Annual NAMEPA National Conference in Blacksburg, VA at Virginia Tech (September 10th – 13th, 2017) during the NAMEPA Awards Celebration Banquet, 6 – 10pm, Tuesday, September 12th. 

The University of Tennessee College of Communication and Information announces CCI Diversity and Inclusion Week 2017. This year’s theme is “Diversity and Inclusion: R-E-S-P-E-C-T”. A keynote speech, an open forum, eight panels and a diversity festival will provide our students, faculty, staff and the UT Knoxville community with an inspirational and informative week designed to advance their understanding of and appreciation for diversity and inclusion.  The week features 4 days of workshops on various topics and concludes with the festival Thursday evening, September 28th.  

All faculty, staff, students and the public are invited and encouraged to attend. Visit the webpage for a schedule of workshops. 

What: CCI Diversity and Inclusion Week 2017

When; September 25 – 28

Where: University of Tennessee Communications Building

Dr. Luigi Vanfretti of RPI and Dr. Philip Top of LLNL will give the monthly CURENT Industry Seminar on Tuesday, August 22nd in MHK 124 from 12:20 pm to 1:10 pm. Their talk is titled “Modeling and Simulation of Electrical Power Systems using OpenIPSL.org and GridDyn”

All CURENT students are required to attend in person. There will be pizza. Additionally, the seminar will be WebEx’d and Webcast for partner schools and industry members. 

Date:  Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Time:  12:20 – 1:10pm EST

Location: Room 124 Min H. Kao Building, Knoxville, TN

Title: Modeling and Simulation of Electrical Power Systems using OpenIPSL.org and GridDyn

Presenter:  Dr. Luigi Vanfretti, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and Dr. Philip Top, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)

Abstract: The Modelica language, being standardized and equation-based, has proven valuable for the for model exchange, simulation and even for model validation applications in actual power systems. These important features have been now recognized by the European Network of Transmission System Operators, which have adopted the Modelica language for dynamic model exchange in the Common Grid Model Exchange Standard (v2.5, Annex F).

Following previous FP7 project results, within the ITEA 3 openCPS project, the presenters have continued the efforts of using the Modelica language for power system modeling and simulation, by developing and maintaining the OpenIPSL library: https://github.com/SmarTS-Lab/OpenIPSL

This seminar first gives an overview of the origins of the OpenIPSL and it’s models, it contrasts it against typical power system tools, and gives an introduction the OpenIPSL library. The new project features that help in the OpenIPSL maintenance (use of continuous integration, regression testing, documentation, etc.) are also described.

Finally, the seminar will present current work at LNLL that exploits OpenIPSL in coordination with other tools including ongoing work integrating openIPSL models into GridDyn an open-source power system simulation tool, as well as a demos of the use of openIPSL libraries in GridDyn.

Bios: Dr. Luigi Vanfretti (SMIEEE’14) obtained the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electric power engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA, in 2007 and 2009, respectively.

He was with KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, as Assistant 2010-2013), and Associate Professor (Tenured) and Docent (2013-2017/August); where he lead the SmarTS Lab and research group. He also worked at Statnett SF, the Norwegian electric power transmission system operator, as consultant (2011 – 2012), and Special Advisor in R&D (2013 – 2016).

He joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in August 2017, to continue to develop his research at ALSETLab: http://alsetlab.com. His research interests are in the area of synchrophasor technology applications; and cyber-physical power system modeling, simulation, stability and control.

Dr. Philip Top is currently a Research Engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, CA.  Philip has been involved in several projects connected with the DOE effort on Grid Modernization including projects on modeling and simulation, co-simulation and smart grid data analytics.  He is the principle developer on the open source power system simulation tool GridDyn, and a key contributor to the HELICS open source co-simulation framework. Mr. Top got his PhD from Purdue University in 2007.  

Robert Cummings of NERC has been named to CURENT’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB is comprised of outside experts who are selected by, and serve collectively as a board to advise, the ERC Leadership Team. The SAB meets as a group with the CURENT at least once a year and once each year with the NSF SVT at the annual site visit. The baord provides general advice to CURENT Leadership team and provides feedback on information and ideas presented at their meetings by CURENT senior staff.  

Mr. Cummings joined NERC in 1996 and has extensive experience in the industry in system planning, operations engineering, and wide-area planning. He is the senior staff technical advisor for the NERC System Analysis and Modeling Subcommittee and the System Protection and Controls Subcommittee, and is a technical advisor to the North American Synchro-Phasor Initiative. He is also the technical director of the NERC System Protection Improvement Initiative, the Modeling Improvements Initiative, and the Frequency Response Initiative. 

Read the rest of Robert Cummings’ bio and meet the other members of the SAB. 

Read the article in the The Daily Energy Insider.  

CURENT students spent the summer is variety of ways. Here is what four CURENT students have been up to.

Alex Bolinsky (UTK) has been working with eVOL (a summer camp about engineering for about 160 ninth and tenth graders). Alex says, “Mostly, I’m helping the kids, showing off UT, teaching math, and leading downtime. The highlight of the event: nerf wars in the dorm.”

Christopher Lackner (RPI) is on an internship with Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, NM. He is working on a number of their research projects related to PMU communication and Wide area control issues.  In his downtime, Christopher enjoys hiking in the beautiful Sandia Mountains.

Sean Indelicato (UTK) has been interning in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania as an electrical engineer for ABB High Voltage Products. Below is a photo of Sean using a multimeter to measure voltages of an isolated switching regulator of 3.3V.

Natalie Bogda (UTK) has been doing an internship as a software developer with OSIsoft in Johnson City. In her words, “This is my second time interning with them. Johnson City has some really great hiking trails nearby and the scenery is beautiful.” Below is a photo Natalie at her desk. 

After four years of commendable work, CURENT Education Coordinator Erin Wills is leaving Knoxville for the bright lights and better pizza of Chicago. Erin has been a invaluable resource for students, faculty and other staff members. He will be missed.

Congratulations to Erin on his new adventure!

Keio University, a prestigious private university in Japan has recently signed a non-disclosure agreement to use the research results produced by a CURENT research group in demand response, led by Dr. Fran Li with contributions from Dr. Chien-fei Chen as well. The result is a set of demand response (DR) data representing the probabilistic distributions of the reduced power consumption ratio with respect to various factors in typical DR programs.

Dr. Fran Li visited Keio University in early June 2017 for one week. He gave an invited seminar at Keio and held a number of research discussions with Professor Ohmori, Associate Professor Takahashi and their graduate students. He was invited to serve as a Guest Professor and a committee member for doctoral candidate Mr. Ryusuke Konishi. During his visit, he also gave a couple of invited presentations at Waseda University and University of Tokyo to their professors and graduate students interested in demand response.

Lisa Beard, Industry Outreach Director for CURENT, has been recognized as an IEEE Senior member. This recognition requires extensive experience and reflects professional maturity and documented achievements of significance. Only ten percent of IEEE Power & Energy Society members and only eight percent of IEEE members have the distinction of being a Senior member.

Congratulations to Lisa!

Prof. Dong Jiang from Huazhong University of Science and Technology will give the SLC Industry Seminar on May 26. 

Friday, May 26th, 2017

12:20 to 1:10pm in MHK405 with pizza

Common-mode Noise Reduction for AC Motor Drives

by Dr. Dong Jiang
Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST)

Abstract: Common-mode (CM) noise caused by three-phase PWM converters is a serious threat for AC motors, not only by adding EMI problem, but also causing failure of motor insulation and bearing. CM filter is usually needed for CM noise reduction, but significantly increasing the system complexity and weight. This presentation shows series of work for CM noise reduction for AC motor drives through the modulation methods. First, modification of PWM methods can reduce the CM voltage for regular three-phase VSI based motor drive, and reduce the CM noise together with the CM loop impedance. Then, modulation with more complex topologies can further reduce the CM noise for motor drives. All the introduced methods are supported by experimental results, and with published journal and conference papers and published patents/patent applications.

Bio: Dr. Dong Jiang received his B.S and M.S degrees in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in 2005 and 2007. He began his PhD study in Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) in Virginia Tech in 2007 and was transferred to University of Tennessee with his advisor in 2010. He received his PhD degree in University of Tennessee in Dec. 2011. He was with United Technologies Research Center (UTRC) in Connecticut as a Senior Research Scientist/Engineer from Jan 2012 to July 2015. He joined Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in China as a professor in July 2015. Dong Jiang’s major research area is power electronics and motion control, with more than 50 published journal and conference papers and 18 patents/patent applications in this area. He is a senior member of IEEE and associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications.

The 2018 International Conference on Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems (PMAPS 2018) organized by the IEEE Power and Energy Society, Idaho Power, Boise State University, and University of Idaho will be held in Boise, Idaho (USA) on June 24 – 28, 2018. 

The theme of PMAPS 2018 is Probabilistic Methods: Practical Approaches for Managing Risk and Uncertainty in the Electric Power Industry. The preliminary call for paper is now available and interested members are encouraged to start thinking about submitting a paper or participating in the conference’s panels and tutorial sessions. Papers are invited on all topics related to probabilistic methods applied to power and energy systems. The list of topics and other information about the conference, including a tentative schedule, can be found on the conference website.

The conference organizers would also like to highlight the PMAPS Roy Billinton Student Paper Award featuring prize awards for best student papers. Students are encouraged to submit their work and participate in this prestigious prize paper competition.  

The submission deadline for papers is December 31, 2017.

More information is available at http://pmaps2018.org/pmaps/

The dates have been confirmed.

CURENT’s 6th Annual Industry Day and NSF/DOE Site Visit will be on Nov. 14–16, 2017. Tuesday, Nov. 14th, will be  Industry Day and the NSF / DOE Site Visit will be on Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 15th-16th.  

For more information, go here.

Several CURENT students were awarded Honors at the Chancellors Honors Banquet on April 19th. 

Richard Austin McEver as awarded the 2017 Top Collegiate Scholar Award. The Top Collegiate Scholar Awards honor undergraduates who exhibit extraordinary scholarship.  Link to page. 

The 2017 Extraordinary Professional Promise was awarded to Linquan Bai, Hantao Cui, Liu Liu, Yiwei Ma, Alireza Rahimpour, Yang Song, Micah Joel Till, Bin Wang, Wenxuan Yao and Jiecheng “Jeff” Zhao. Extraordinary Professional Promise honors are awarded to undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate professional promise in teaching, research or other contributions. Link to page. 

Congratulations to all our extraordinary students!!

Dr. Fran Li, UTK Campus Director of CURENT, was recently named an IEEE Fellow, effective January 1, 2017. He was recognized for his work in power system markets, specifically for “contributions to locational marginal price calculation.” 

Dr. Li received his B.S.E.E. and M.S.E.E. degrees from Southeast University, Nanjing, China, in 1994 and 1997, respectively, and his Ph.D. degree from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, in 2001. From 2001 to 2005, he worked at ABB Electric Systems Consulting in Raleigh, NC, USA, as a senior engineer and then a principal engineer, prior to joining University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK) in 2005. Within IEEE, he is serving or has served as the Vice Chair of IEEE PES PSPI Committee, the Co-Vice Chair of PES PSOPE Committee, an Editor of IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, an Editor of IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, an Editor of IEEE PES Letters, a Guest Editor of IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, and a Guest Editor of IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics. He is a registered Professional Engineer (P.E.) in the state of North Carolina.

Congratulations to Dr. Li!

Dr. Hairong Qi and Dr. Benjamin Blalock revieved awards at the 2017 Chancellor’s Honors Banquet on April 19th. Dr. Qi received the 2017 Research and Creative Achievement award and Dr. Blalock recieved the 2017 Alexander Prize. CURENT congratulates Dr. Qi and Dr. Blalock.

Dr. Qi, professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Gonzalez Family Professor in Image Processing, studies advanced imaging and collaborative processing. She pioneered the application of mobile-agent-based paradigms for supporting collaborative processing in distributed environments. Qi’s instincts, leadership, and knowledge have allowed her to identify and lead highly sought-after opportunities in interdisciplinary studies. Her recent work in fast rock sample selection for NASA’s Mars rover and in nuclear source identification and tracking shows her aptitude for transferring her knowledge in image processing to tackle key issues in demanding environments. She is a productive teacher and researcher who in the past five years alone has attracted over $3 million in external funding, graduated eight PhD students, and published 23 refereed journal papers with the high h-index score of 38. She has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, best paper awards at two international conferences, and the Highest Impact Paper award from the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society.

UT alumnus Benjamin Blalock, the Blalock-Kennedy-Pierce Professor of Analog Electronics, has been on the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science since August 2001 and directs the Integrated Circuits and Systems Laboratory. Much of his work focuses on analog circuitry for extreme environments. He and his research students, in partnership with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, have designed a microchip that controls robotic movement in the Mars rover Curiosity. Blalock does similar work with the Exploration Technology Development Program, a NASA-funded team of universities and companies working to develop circuitry that can operate reliably on the moon. Blalock and his research team are now developing space-based avionic systems for exploring the ocean worlds in the outer solar system. He also collaborates with power electronics colleagues in his department to improve power modules used in hybrid and electric vehicles. Since 2012, Blalock has served as his department’s electrical engineering advising coordinator, for which he received the Tickle College of Engineering Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award in 2015. He is a supporter of student scholarship programs and of UT’s first Big Orange STEM Symposium to promote the Tickle College of Engineering to high school students. Blalock received the 2015 Tickle College of Engineering Research Achievement Award and was named a 2011 Tickle College of Engineering Teaching Fellow.

Read about all the 2017 Chancellor’s Honors awards and recipients.

Summer Fabus, formerly Summer Church, has been named as one of the new recipients of the Bodenheimer Fellowship named in honor of Prof. Robert Doenheimer who taught ECE for 40 years prior to his retirement. The fellowships are awarded to superior or deserving EECS graduates from UT to encourage them to stay on for graduate school at UT. Summer will work for Dr. Liu and will be doing a joint MS in EE and MBA program.  

Jessica Boles, another CURENT student, is a previously announced recipient of the Bodenheimer Fellowship.

Dr. Yilu Liu was featured in Tennessee Today, the onlinie magazine for news and events for the UT community. Read 

Here is the article.

Liu, the joint UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Governor’s Chair for Power Electronics, serves as deputy director of CURENT, the Center for Ultra-Wide-Area-Resilient Electric Energy Transmission Networks.

Housed in the Tickle College of Engineering, CURENT is a $38 million, National Science Foundation-funded center devoted to making the nation’s power grid more secure, reliable, and efficient.

When many people think of a widespread power failure, they imagine a massive storm. In reality, the threat to our modern, interconnected power system can come from just about anywhere. Power-related engineering has to take into account problems from weather, overuse, animals, and human action—accidental or otherwise.

“The power grid failing can be due to any number of reasons,” said Liu. “In CURENT, we aim to address the problem from a wide-area point of view and try to intercept the problem before it reaches the point of no return.”

Liu has played a critical role in developing technology that helps the center achieve those goals.

Perhaps no breakthroughs have been more important than a pair of ideas known as FNET/GridEye.

Along with other researchers at ORNL and UT, Liu developed the FNET/GridEye system to help monitor the power grid in real time. It detects power grid “events” and their locations through GPS time synchronization technology, taking measurements at more than 1,400 times per second. Those computations enable power operators to make split-second decisions about failures, increased loads, and other problems.

FNET/GridEye is user friendly and cost effective, while also capable of high-speed readings and calculations.

Liu has been involved with a number of other patented ideas that have helped shape CURENT into a cutting-edge laboratory.

A look inside the power grid operation visualization room in the Min H. Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building bears out the level of innovation she and her CURENT team have undertaken.

“We use state-of-the-art technology to make it as real as possible,” said Liu. “We want our students and our research to be as applicable as can be.”

The main room features a cinema-size screen with a computerized look at a power grid, complete with control stations.

The setup allows faculty and students to run simulated problems on the grid, developing responses to problems before they occur in the real world.

In recognition of her accomplishments, Liu was inducted as a 2016 fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. The academy cited her “spirit of innovation” and the impact her efforts have made on everyday life.

CURENT attended the 2017 NSBE National Conference (National Society of Black Engineers) on March 30-31 in Kansas City, MO. The conference was held at the Kansas City Convention Center. Dr. Kevin Tomsovic, Stephen Fatokun and Erin Wills manned the booth and met with around 100 students, recruiting for 2018 summer undergrad research positions and 2017/2018 Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA).

Date:  Friday, March 31, 2017

Time:  12:25 – 1:10pm EST (WebEx presentation)

Location: Room 124 Min H. Kao Building, Knoxville, TN

Title:  Carbon Capture Utilization Technologies for Carbon Dioxide

Presenter:  Dale Bradshaw, CEO, Electrivation, LLC

Abstract: Mr. Bradshaw’s presentation will give an overview of the latest Carbon Capture Utilization Technologies for capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and economically using the CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR), conversion to liquid fuels, biofertilizers, etc.

Biography: Mr. Bradshaw has over 40 years of experience in all aspects of the electric utility business. His current activities are: Consultant for National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Cooperative Research Network’s (CRN) Generation Environment and Carbon Membership Advisory Group working on advances in energy storage technologies (batteries, thermal, etc.) improvements in fossil efficiency, reliability, and environmental controls; capture and conversion of CO2 into useful products since 2009. He was the Senior Program Manager and consultant for the Transmission Substation and Asset area. He has been a consultant on energy storage since 2006 for NRECA CRN, consulted with, a major flywheel manufacturer in the US to provide frequency regulation service and an advanced battery manufacturer. He retired from TVA in 2004 after 29 years as a senior manager of R&D for generation and transmission projects and also worked in central planning and nuclear.

From February 26 through March 1, two faculty members and two graduate students from CURENT participated in and had a booth at the ARPA-E Summit held at National Harbor in Harbor, MD. The CURENT participants were Dr. Wang, Dr. Liu, Mike (Yu) Su, and Yiwei Ma.

The ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit is an annual conference and technology showcase that brings together experts from different technical disciplines and professional communities to think about America’s energy challenges in new and innovative ways. Now in its eighth year, the Summit offers a unique, three-day program aimed at moving transformational energy technologies out of the lab and into the market.

For more info: http://www.arpae-summit.com/About/About-the-Summit

CURENT Education Outreach has held three Engineering Nights since the first of the year with plans for a fourth one on March 29th.

The dates of the Engineering Nights and their attendence numbers are:

• Gresham Middle School – Feb. 21st, 6-7:30pm, 30 students
• Spring Hill Elementary School – Feb. 23rd, 5-7pm, 60 students + parents
• Vine Middle School – Mar. 7th, 5-7pm, 40 students + parents

Over 25 students from UTK helped with the events by leading activities and donating approximately 3 hours of their time. Activities were selected from a broad range of engineering disciplines but all were hands-on and multiple activities were related to electricity at each event.  One of the most popular activities was solar car racing. A gift of a mini-quadcopter was provided as a gift at the middle school events.  

The next Engineering Night will be at Whittle Springs Middle School – Mar 29th, 5-7pm.

Date:  Friday, February 24, 2017

Time:  12:25 – 1:10pm EST (WebEx presentation)

Location: Room 124 Min H. Kao Building, Knoxville, TN

Title:  Status and Value Proposition of Energy Storage Technologies

Presenter:  Dale Bradshaw, CEO, Electrivation, LLC

Abstract: Mr. Bradshaw’s presentation will give an overview of the energy storage industry as a whole: the status of energy storage today; the prospects for cost reductions and improvements in the future; and the key applications for energy storage, such as managing the intermittency of solar PV and shifting the solar PV output from the middle of the day to the late afternoon peaks in the load.

Biography: Mr. Bradshaw has over 40 years of experience in all aspects of the electric utility business. His current activities are: Consultant for National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Cooperative Research Network’s (CRN) Generation Environment and Carbon Membership Advisory Group working on advances in energy storage technologies (batteries, thermal, etc.) improvements in fossil efficiency, reliability, and environmental controls; capture and conversion of CO2 into useful products since 2009. He was the Senior Program Manager and consultant for the Transmission Substation and Asset area. He has been a consultant on energy storage since 2006 for NRECA CRN, consulted with, a major flywheel manufacturer in the US to provide frequency regulation service and an advanced battery manufacturer. He retired from TVA in 2004 after 29 years as a senior manager of R&D for generation and transmission projects and also worked in central planning and nuclear.

Dr. Joe Chow was elected to the National Academy of Engineering on February 8, 2017. Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Dr. Chow and the newly elected class will be formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAE’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 8, 2017.

Congratulations to Dr. Chow. 

Read the RPI Press Release. 

Read NAE article. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded five new grants to teach entrepreneurship and to support research and innovation at regional hubs across the United States under its Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) program.

Ranging between $3.4 million and $4.2 million, this year’s awards will establish one new node and further fund four existing nodes over a five-year period. These include:

• New York area node with Cornell University; Rochester Institute of Technology; and the University of Rochester. [NEW]
• Bay Area node with University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, San Francisco; and Stanford University.
• DC-area node with University of Maryland, College Park; George Washington University; Virginia Tech; and Johns Hopkins University.
• Midwest node with University of Michigan; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Purdue University.
• South node with Georgia Institute of Technology; the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa; the University of Alabama at Birmingham; and the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

Go to I-Corps page.

Mr. Brent Shumaker of AMS Corporation will give the SLC Industry Seminar on Friday, January 27th

Date:  Friday, January 27th, 2017

Time:  12:20 – 1:10pm EST

Location: Room 124 Min H. Kao Building, Knoxville, TN

Title:  Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Their Role in Future Power Generation

Presenter:  Brent Shumaker, Senior Systems Engineer, AMS Corporation

Abstract:  Mr. Shumaker will be discussing the topic of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and their role in future power generation portfolio in the U.S. and around the world.  SMRs represent a significant change in how nuclear power plants are constructed, operated, and how they affect the power grid, as compared to the existing base-load nuclear reactors.  I will also include in my presentation information about the work AMS performs to support the nuclear industry and recommendations for professional skills for engineers seeking to enter the power and other industries.

Biography:  Mr. Shumaker is a Senior Systems Engineering Manager at AMS and has over 15 years of software application development and instrumentation and control (I&C) system testing experience in nuclear power plants. He is AMS’ expert in Online Monitoring especially regarding statistical methods, and has presented papers in a number of national and international conferences on the subject of instrument performance monitoring. Mr. Shumaker has served as the principal investigator (PI) for a number of Phase II and Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects including the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Phase II project entitled “Prognostic Methods for Predicting Remaining Useful Life of Nuclear Plant Equipment and Components” and the DOE Phase III project entitled “Online Monitoring Implementation in Boiling Water Reactors”.

Currently, he is serving as the chief engineer for the DOE Phase II SBIR entitled “Quantitative Methods for Reliability and Fault Tolerance Testing of Digital Instrumentation and Control”. Through this project, AMS will develop commercial software qualification technology for the nuclear industry. Presently, Mr. Shumaker is serving as the chairman of a standard committee of the Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation (ISA) updating the 67.06 standard entitled, “Performance Monitoring for Nuclear Safety-Related Instrument Channels in Nuclear Power Plants.” Mr. Shumaker also serves as a voting member of the ISA 67.04 standard committee on “Setpoints for Nuclear Safety-Related Instrumentation”. Furthermore, Mr. Shumaker served as a lead author of a report series number no. NP-T-1.2 of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) entitled, “On-line Monitoring for Improving Performance of Nuclear Power Plants Part 2: Process and Component Condition Monitoring and Diagnostics”, and served as a Chief Scientific Investigator (CSI) on an IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) entitled “Advanced Surveillance, Diagnostics, and Prognostics Techniques Used for Health Monitoring of Systems, Structures and Components in Nuclear Power Plants”, published in September 2013. Mr. Shumaker is also serving as a consultant for the IAEA project entitled, “Dependability Assessment of Software for Safety Instrumentation and Control Systems at Nuclear Power Plants”, which will be published in 2017. Mr. Shumaker is a member of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) where he serves as the Secretary and Chair of the Honors and Awards Committee of the Human Factors and I&C Division (HFICD).

A Smart Grid Workshop will be held on the theme of “Smart Grids Big Data: The Next Steps” at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX, on April 18th, 2017.  The workshop will be hands on and should result in many practical outcomes. It is open to faculty, graduate students and industry members of CURENT.

More information on the workshop can be viewed at http://smartgridcenter.tamu.edu/sgc/web/?page_id=5350.

If you would like to attend the workshop, please register using the following website: https://teespce.eventsair.com/smart-grid-workshop/register/Site/Register.  Please sign up for the breakout sessions.

If you are interested in planning the Working Groups, including the Global Network for Synchrophasor Solutions consortium effort, please, contact Dr. Mladen Kezunovic (979-845-7509) and plan on staying the morning of April 19th as well.

Hesen Liu as accepted a position as Engineer III with Dominion Virginia Power in Richmond, VA. As such, his duties will include OSIsoft PI development and implementation and development of power system applications with real measurement data.

Dao Zhou is joining Amazon as a software development engineer. He will be based in Seattle, WA.

Jason Guo has accepted a postion at Google.

We wish these CURENT Alumni the best in their new careers.

Derek Kou has accepted a position at Dominion Virgina Power. After a brief working experience at Dominion Voltage Inc. and Quanta Technology, Derek Kou joined Dominion Virginia Power in Richmond, VA, as a senior system protection engineer. He and his team are responsible for the design and maintenance of system protection schemes that protect electrical equipment in the Dominion territory. As a CURENT alumnus, he is grateful for his educational experience at UTK, where he feels he got a solid education and the chance to expand his professional skills.  

Congratulations, Derek. We wish you well in your new career.  

Dr. Yilu Liu, Deputy Director for CURENT, has been inducted into the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The academy recognized Liu for her “spirit of innovation” and for the impact of her work on everyday life. She and the other NAI inductees will be recognized at the academy’s annual conference on April 6, 2017, in Boston, MA.

ORNL Today

Dominion Virginia Power has again generously offered to sponsor the University of Tennessee and CURENT for a CIGRE collective membership for 2017. Dominion also sponsored a CIGRE membership for UTK and CURENT in 2015 and 2016. A CIGRE collective membership allows all students and faculty to electronically receive CIGRE documents for free and allows faculty plus student involvement in CIGRE activities.

Dominion Virginia Power hopes that by extending CIGRE membership, future engineering professionals will be able to take advantage of this professional power organization as well as the professional benefits of IEEE while they are students at UTK. 

Additional details about CIGRE can be found at http://www.cigre.org.

Students can access the CIGRE community membership through Confluence.