student news
CURENT’s students were also able to engage in further cultural
exchange by spending significant time with the SEU professors
and their students.
During the group’s trek through China, Dr. Daniel Costinett, an
Assistant Professor in CURENT, gave a presentation to faculty
and students at each of the three universities. The seminars
covered the wide range of applications in power systems and
electronics that the center investigates. Dr. Costinett also
highlighted his research topics, including the design of electric
vehicle technologies and high-efficiency power supplies.
Besides the academic visits, the group also toured the largest utility provider in China, State Grid
Corporation in Beijing, and the Jiangsu Electric Power Company in Nanjing, which provides power to many
of the 78 million people in the Jiangsu Province. The CURENT group was able to visualize the real time
power grid operation and learn about current development of power grid projects in China. The group also
visited the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City in Beijing, and experienced the beautiful
Chinese Yu Garden and the Lujiazui District Skyline in Shanghai.
Overall, CURENT students were impressed by these universities’ facilities, research scopes, and the Chinese
government’s commitment to solving engineering challenges.
Student News
Interning at
Two students in Dr. Yilu Liu’s research group, Jerrel Cullis and Micah Till, recently interned at Dominion
Virginia Power’s RTDS Lab in Richmond, Va. While there, they created a real-time synchrophasor simulator to
act as a platform for operator training and PMU research.
“Dominion allowed us to fully own our project while providing the oversight necessary for the success of our
work there,” said Till. A paper over the project is currently under review for publication.
As part of their principal membership, Dominion identified a project that aligns with the Center vision
of wide-area monitoring, modeling and control of the grid while also providing value to their company.
Matthew Gardner from Dominion expressed his appreciation for the excellent work performed this past
summer.
“Micah and Jerel helped Dominion enhance our studies and simulation capabilities by building a novel RTDSbased real-time synchrophasor-driven operator training simulator. This project was completed in record
time and set the bar higher for Dominion and the industry. We look forward to working with these students
and others from CURENT in the future.”
C ongratulations to the recent graduates within the center. The following students completed their
studies at CURENT in Fall 2013:
•
Hao Huang, Ph.D; Intern, EnerNex Corporation
•
Brandon Johnson, M.S.; Post-Masters Research Associate, ORNL
•
Mert Korkali, Ph.D.; Post-Doctoral Research Associate, University of Vermont
•
Fan Xu, Ph.D.; R&D Engineer, ANSYS, Inc.
•
Zhuxian Xu, Ph.D.; Engineer, Ford Motor Company
newsletter Spring 2014
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