Two University of Wisconsin-Madison electrical and computer engineering undergraduates have been selected as IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) scholarship recipients for the 2020/2021 academic year. This is the second year in a row that both Fotios Emery and Thomas Nguyen have been selected for the award. Nguyen who is also the recipient of the 2020/2021 IEEE PES John W. Estey Outstanding Scholar Award for the Midwest. That award is given to the top PES Scholar in each of six geographical regions.
The scholarships are part of the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative. Over the next decade, the power grid in the United States is expected to undergo massive changes as aging equipment is replaced and new technologies are introduced to integrate more renewable power sources and smart grid technologies. It’s estimated, however, that there will not be enough highly-skilled, quality engineers to work on this major transformation.
IEEE PES started its scholarship program to help attract more undergraduates into the power and energy engineering career pathway. Scholarship recipients must be full-time students working on an electrical engineering degree and taking at least 9 credits of power engineering courses. Recipients must also maintain a high GPA.
Nguyen expects to graduate in May 2022 and will pursue graduate studies in power electronics and machines. Emery plans to graduate in May 2021 and will join international engineering and consulting firm ABB’s LEAD Early Career Program in R&D. Each semester for two years he will rotate to a new project in a new state, getting hands-on experience with power generation, smart grids, switch gear and other elements of the power system.