Center for Power Systems Studies – Fall Meeting
COORDINATOR'S REPORT
Oct. 8, 2019
To: Members of Center for Power Systems Studies Associate Members of Power Systems Studies Guests in attendance
The Center for Power Systems Studies is starting its 52nd year of operation. We enjoyed celebrating our 50th Anniversary last fall and now have completed 51 years! Below is a summary of some of the past years’ power-related activities and events, since the spring meeting.
Summer – Fall 2019: Faculty and Student Summer Projects/Research Update
Hietpas
- Worked with CPSS Awards Committee on selection of the 2019 WEK Excellence in Power Awardee.
- Worked on planning for fall CPSS Awards Banquet.
- Worked with conference committee planning for 2020 CPSS SoDaRP Conference.
- Supported Acting Department Head George Hamer on New Student Orientation, EE Assessment.
- EE Scholarship Program Committee Chair.
- Took 16 undergraduate students on North Central States Power Technology Tour in late August.
- Guided one graduate students towards completion of his MSEE degree.
- Served on one EE Ph.D. committee.
- Served as EE Internship coordinator for several EE students.
- Serve as liaison to the Tau Beta Pi, Engineering Honors group.
- Faculty advisor to two senior design groups (CPSS and Raven teams).
- Faculty advisor for two honors students’ projects.
Tonkoski and Hansen Co-Achievements
Research Grants and Contracts
- Principal Investigator – Reinaldo Tonkoski, Co-Principal Investigator – Tim Hansen: “Development and Validation of Models to Assess Dynamic Response of Converter- Dominated Power Systems across Multiple Spatiotemporal Scales,” from United States Department of Energy Office of Science, Grant No. DE-SC0020281, Sep. 15, 2019 to Sep. 14, 2021, Award: $592,899, Ƶ sub-contract of a $3,000,000 award with University of Alaska Fairbanks (lead) and University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez.
- Principal Investigator – Tim Hansen, Co- Principal Investigator – Reinaldo Tonkoski: “Battery Energy Storage System-based Virtual Inertia for a Resilient Power Grid,” from Ƶ Office of Academic Affairs and Office of Research and Economic Development: Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity (RSCA) Challenge Fund, Aug. 19, 2019 to Aug. 18, 2020, Award: $32,105.
Current Co-advised Students (under DOE project):
- Two Ph.D. students
- Two M.S. EE graduate students
- One post-doctoral researcher (to be hired to start Jan. 2020)
Tonkoski
Other Research Grants and Contracts
- Ni, Z. (PI), Tonkoski, R. (Co-PI), "Collaborative Research: CyberTraining: Implementation: Small: Multi-disciplinary Training of Learning, Optimization and Communications for Next Generation Power Engineers," Sponsored by NSF, Federal, $ 299,876. (Sept. 15, 2019 - Aug. 31, 2023).
- Tonkoski, R. (PI), "DCL Supplement: MRI: Acquisition of a Microgrid Cyber- Physical Testbed for Advanced Energy Management Systems, (Supplement)" Sponsored by NSF, Federal, $24,973. (September 15, 2019 - August 31, 2020).
Graduated students
- M.S.: Abhilasha, “Intra-Day Solar Irradiance Forecasting for Remote Microgrids using Hidden Markov Model”, First position: Engineer, OATI Inc.
Current Students:
- Two Ph.D. students
- Coordination of Virtual Inertia in Microgrids
- Developing dynamic models for converter dominated power systems
- Two M.S. EE graduate students
- Multi-timescale model predictive control
- Raven Boom Height Control Systems
- One UG students
- 1. Virtual Inertia
Service
- EE UG Curriculum Committee
- EECS Department Head Search Committee
- Ƶ Faculty Senate
- IEEE Student Branch Advisor
- IEEE Siouxland Section Vice-Chair
- Ƶ Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability Share Governance University Committee
- Dean Advisory Council
- F. O. Butler Foundation Board of Trustees
- Associate Editor for IEEE Access,
- Editor IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy and
- Editor IEEE Latin American Transactions
- IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative Committee member
Hansen
Graduated students
- Ph.D.: Dr. Venkat Durvasulu, “Data-Driven Test Cases for Sustainability Assessment of Smart Grid Initiatives in Organized Electricity Markets,” First position: Research and Development Engineering Fellow, Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO).
- M.S.: Prateek Munankarmi, “Coordinated Smart Home Thermal and Energy Management System using a Co-Simulation Framework” (Co-advisor: Robert Fourney), First position: Researcher-II, Residential Buildings Research Group, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
- M.S.: Kapil Duwadi, “Techno-Economic and Sustainability Study of PV Inverter Controllers in Distribution Networks for Voltage Regulation” (Co-advisor: Robert Fourney), First position: Researcher-II, Electrical Power Distribution Systems Group, NREL.
Current students (solo advisor)
- Supervising two Ph.D. EE graduate students.
- Applied High-performance-computing for sustainable power systems (had a 9-month internship at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in the Electricity Infrastructure Group).
- Grid integration of batteries and market opportunities.
- Supervising 1 M.S. EE graduate students (solo advisor).
- Fast frequency response of low-inertia grids using battery energy storage and power electronic converters.
- Supervised 3 EE undergraduate student researchers.
- One student working on parallel optimal power flow (NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates – one conference paper that won best paper award).
- One student working on active-reactive voltage droop control of rooftop solar photovoltaic inverters (won Best EECS Poster, Ƶ Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Day 2019).
- One student working on solar irradiance modeling using machine learning.
Papers and Research Outcomes
- Six accepted/published journal articles in power systems journals.
- 12 published conference papers in power systems, power electronics and computing conferences.
- Two invited lectures on electric power system markets.
Awards and Honors
- Best paper award, IEEE 9th Annual Computing and Communication Workshop and Conference (CCWC 2019), Jan. 2019.
- 2019 IEEE-HKN C. Holmes MacDonald Outstanding Teaching Award, received “for exceptional engagement of undergraduate students in electrical and computer engineering through pedagogical innovations, classroom technologies and curriculum development.”
Service
- IEEE HKN Faculty Advisor
- IEEE PES Power Engineering Education Committee (PEEC) Awards Subcommittee Co-Chair
- IEEE Siouxland Section Chair and Young Professionals Chair
- Track Chair, “Power System Operations, Planning, and Economics,” IEEE North American Power Symposium 2018 (NAPS18), Fargo, ND, September 2018.
- Conference Organizing Committee, 50th Anniversary South Dakota Regional Power (SoDaRP) Conference, Brookings, SD, October 2018.
- Organizer and Chair of Panel Session, “Advances in Data Center Energy Optimization,” 9th International Green and Sustainable Computing Conference, Pittsburgh, PA, October 2018.
- Program Co-Chair, 19th Annual IEEE International Conference on Electro/Information Technology (eit2019), Brookings, SD, May 2019.
- Organizer and Chair of Panel Session, “Market, Policy, and Operation Considerations to Enable a Sustainable and Resilient Grid,” 19th Annual IEEE International Conference on Electro/Information Technology (eit2019), Brookings, SD, May 2019.
- Technical Program Committee (TPC), 2019 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Physical and Social Computing (CPSCom 2019), Atlanta, GA, July 2019.
- National Science Foundation panelist (2 panels), 2019
Power-Faculty Course Update
Hietpas
Fall 2019:
- EE 218/L (three labs, four cr) Linear Circuits II, 26 students
- EE316 (three cr) Signals and Systems I, 25 students
- EE 420/L (one lab, four cr) Electronics III and Lab, six students
Spring 2020:
- EE 216/L (three labs, four cr) Linear Circuits I
- EE 222/L (three labs, four cr) Energy Conversion
- EE 315 (threecr) Linear Controls
Tonkoski
Fall 2019:
- EE731/L (one lab, five cr) Advanced Power Electronic and Lab
- EE434/L (one lab, four cr) Power Systems Analysis
- EE790 (one cr) Power and Energy Seminar
Spring 2020
- Sabbatical at Sandia National Laboratories
Hansen
Fall 2019:
- EE101L (two labs, one cr each) Introduction to EE, 24 students
- EE/CSC-492/592 (three cr) Fundamentals of High-Performance Computing
Spring 2020:
- EE245 (3+1 cr) Digital Systems
- EE-492/592 (three cr) Advanced Power Systems Analysis
Student Activities
Scholarship Activity – Power Company Sponsored Scholarships
The department awarded approximately $60Kin scholarships. Approximately 45% of these funds are a direct result of the power community. Unfortunately, the Foundation and Ƶ Scholarship Office has not given final approval, and as such we are unable to list our recipients at this time. A post-meeting report will be provided within the minutes, once final approval is given.
Review of CPSS Impact
- CPSS and IEEE-PES Scholarships – immediate attraction and attention getter.
- Internship opportunities -- have a positive impact – absolutely important to the sustainability of the Ƶ Power Program.
- Field Trips and the Power Technology Tour – great exposure to a variety of power-related industries.
- CPSS-Sponsored Design Projects – hands on challenging designs.
- Power Systems Analysis and Lab (EE434/434L) -- First course in power.
- Advanced Power Systems (EE 492) – Second course in power.
- Photovoltaics Applications and Lab (EE436/436L).
- Fall Awards Banquet – A glimpse into the future for our students and shows importance of remaining connected to academia.
- Biennial SoDaRP Conference – An excellent professional setting that introduces power students to the big picture.
Respectfully submitted,
Steven M. Hietpas, Ph.D., P.E.
Coordinator, Center for Power Systems Studies