UA Power Group

Join us for a GRAPES webinar this Thursday, August 8th at 11:00am to hear Yue Zhao discuss the latest work on GR-24-05, "Design and Demonstration of 6.5kV SiC based Medium Voltage Shunt Active Power Filter (MV-SAPF)." 🙌

This meeting is for GRAPES members only. If you're interested in attending or in membership, please visit https://grapes.uapower.group/ or email [email protected] for more information.

Our latest is now out for your reading pleasure! 📬 Hear all about the latest ventures, including (but not limited to) new patents, the latest awarded grants, events we've hosted, and various spotlights. 🙌

If you haven't signed up for our newsletter yet, now is the perfect time to do so! Check out the full article below and make sure to subscribe to stay in the know. 😎

🔗 https://mailchi.mp/96d732c75049/uapg-newsletter-january-may-2024?e=285428aed5

Join us for the GRAPES Webinar tomorrow, August 1st, at 11 a.m., to hear Alan Mantooth discuss his most recent work on the project, "Three-Phase Grid-tied Inverter with Active Controlled Parallel SiC MOSFETS." 🤩

This meeting is for GRAPES members only. If you're interested in attending or in membership, please visit https://grapes.uapower.group/ or email [email protected] for more information.

We are still buzzing from our incredible Research Experience for Teachers (RET) workshop! 🤩

Hosted in collaboration with the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, this workshop brought together K-12 educators for an unforgettable experience. They toured our state-of-the-art facilities NCREPT and HiDEC, collaborated with fellow educators, and dove into hands-on experiments designed to inspire the next generation of innovators. 😎

A huge thank you to all the who participated and to everyone who helped make this workshop a success! Everyone left with new insights, fresh ideas, and a renewed excitement for bringing the wonders of electro-thermal systems into their classrooms. Here’s to more learning, collaboration, and innovation! 🙌

We are excited to welcome Jason Serin as our new Chief of Operations at the UA Power Group! 🎊 With extensive experience in leading research support teams and a strong background in organic chemistry, Jason is sure to elevate our efforts to advance next-generation electronics, renewable energy, and grid infrastructure. 🔥

Learn more about Jason's journey and his exciting new role in the full announcement here: https://news.uark.edu/articles/70798/ua-power-group-welcomes-chief-of-operations-jason-serin

Welcome aboard, Jason! 👏

GRAPES webinars are back! 🥳

Join us tomorrow, July 25th, at 11 a.m., to hear Roy McCann chat about his most recent work on the GRAPES project, "Phasor Measurement Unit Based Methods for Implementing Dynamic Line Rating Capabilities." 🙌

This meeting is for GRAPES members only. If you're interested in attending or in membership, please visit https://grapes.uapower.group/ or email [email protected] for more information.

Graduate students, time to level up your teaching assistant skills! 😎

Join the College of for a TA Training workshop from August 14-15! This event is open to all graduate students, and will cover topics on TA roles and responsibilities, techniques, as well as providing valuable hands-on experience and career guidance. 🙌

Register today to secure your seat! 🥳

Hogs? Hills covered in trees? Delicious food? Looks like Fayetteville and Scotland are basically the same thing when it comes down to it. 👀

these days? Between long flights and giving a keynote speech at the iMAPS High Temperature Electronics Network (HiTEN) Conference, Alan Mantooth is enjoying some hard-earned R&R in the lovely city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Who knows where he'll be off to next! 🌎

The 2024 SiC+X Workshop is in less than a month! 🤩 We are so excited about this year's lineup and thrilled to offer free registration thanks to our generous sponsors. Want to see more of what's coming up in this workshop? Read more here! ➡ https://sites.google.com/view/sic-workshop-2024/welcome

Register today, and don't forget to book a hotel room—the block rate drops THIS Sunday, the 21st! 🙌

Our Experience for Undergraduates (REU) students have been hard at work over the summer, and we are so excited to see what they've been up to. Join us in the BELL EECS Lounge THIS Thursday to learn something new about the research going on at the University of Arkansas. 😎

See you there! 🙌

It's with mixed emotions that we send off Rahul Biswash, a member of Alan Mantooth's Power Electronics Circuit Design group. 🥲 Along with his academic contributions to the team, Rahul has been a pillar of positivity and encouragement during his time with us. Whether through his dedication and innovative ideas, or his knack for lifting everyone's spirits (sometimes literally), he's made a lasting impact on the UA Power Group. 🥳

We're so proud of what you've brought to the team and can't wait to see what amazing things you accomplish next. You'll be missed, but we know you'll keep shining wherever you go! 🤩

Have a favorite memory with Rahul? Share it below and let's keep the celebration going! 🙌

We recently had the honor of hosting two brilliant minds, Sai Avuthu and Yash Veer Singh from Eaton! They not only toured our core facilities, but also gave an insightful presentation to our students about the cutting-edge work happening in their labs. It was great to see the room packed with eager faces, ready to learn and explore new opportunities. 🙌

A huge thank you to our guests and Eaton for their continued and support! It's collaborations like these that help our students bridge the gap between academia and industry, and we are thrilled to be working towards a better future together. 🥳

Eaton Corporation

We are proud to announce that one of our esteemed faculty members, Thi Hoang Ngan Le, has been selected for the first in program! 🥳

Chosen from a highly competitive pool, Ngan will be part of a groundbreaking initiative that emphasizes the importance of collaborative efforts in agricultural innovation. 🌾 As an interdisciplinary group, this program reflects particularly well the UA Power Group's high value of . Our team's expertise extends beyond just the power grid and renewable energy to areas like Jingxian Wu's work in medical advancements and Ngan's work in agriculture! We love the diverse skills that our team brings to the table! 🤩

Read more about this exciting development and join us in celebrating Thi Hoang Ngan Le's achievement! 👏

🔗 https://news.uark.edu/articles/70683/seed-funding-incubates-ideas-to-improve-agriculture-through-engineering

Seed Funding Incubates Ideas to Improve Agriculture Through Engineering A goal of the Engineering Applications in Agriculture program is for researchers to develop new collaborations with other colleges and to develop proof-of-concept outcomes to secure future external funding.

We're in the news (again)! Congratulations to Han Hu and Alan Mantooth for landing a $100k grant from NASA! 🤩 The UA Power Group is partnering with the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium to develop a diagnostic tool that detects and addresses the reliability concerns of electric aircraft and advanced air mobility vehicles. What an exciting new project! 👏

Read more about it here ➡ https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/education/arkansas-space-grant-consortium-awarded-100k-nasa-research/527-02995b3a-1a50-45c8-ae8b-226808372ea0

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Congratulations to Chris Farnell and all those in the IEEE Ozark Section! Excellent work! 👏👏

Read more about it in today's newswire ➡ https://news.uark.edu/articles/70673/electrical-engineering-group-named-outstanding-small-section-

The IEEE Ozark Section was selected as the recipient of the 2024 MGA Outstanding Small Section Award from IEEE! The IEEE Ozark Section includes the UA, UAF, and JBU student groups as well as the newly formed Computer Society and Young Professionals Society. Congrats, y'all!

Congratulations to Morgan Ware on his award from ! He has just been awarded a $750,000 EPSCoR grant for the "III-Nitride Ultraviolet Laser Diodes for Harsh Environments, Space-Based Communications, and Remote Sensing" project. This groundbreaking initiative aims to improve high-data-rate communications between satellites and Earth, especially for deep space missions. 🪐

Read more about it here ➡https://news.uark.edu/articles/70647/nasa-awards-750-000-epscor-grant-for-project-using-ultraviolet-light-for-space-communications

We're looking forward to seeing how this new project changes the future of space communication! 👏

NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

We are so excited for the workshop THIS FRIDAY! 🤩 There's still time to sign up if you haven't yet, or if you know a teacher who would like to attend. This is a free event with 6 hours of PD credit, a goodie bag, lunch, lesson plans, and resources to help make science class a blast. 😎

See you Friday! 🥳

Last month, we had an exciting and productive meeting for the Center for GRid-Connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems (GRAPES) at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee! It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with industry experts, discuss progress on various projects, and chat about where GRAPES is heading in the future. 😎

Interested in being a part of advancements in this field? Membership might be right for you! 👀 By becoming a member, you'll gain access to cutting-edge research, innovative projects, and a vibrant community of professionals dedicated to pushing the boundaries of our industry. 🎉

Learn more about our membership opportunities here: https://grapes.uapower.group/membership. Join us and be a part of something extraordinary! 💡

A special thanks to Santanu Kapat for coming to visit all the way from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur! After hosting Alan Mantooth at IIT in March, we were thrilled to be able to return the courtesy and have Santanu here in Fayetteville. We especially appreciate him taking the time to present his talk "High-Performance Digital Control Architectures and Design in Switched-Mode Power," and to chat with curious students afterwards. 😎

We are grateful to have had you here, Santanu! Looking forward to further collaboration in the future. 👏

We are incredibly proud of our faculty and are thrilled to see them recognized for their contributions to the field of engineering! Keep up the good work! 👏👏

Five U of A researchers affiliated with the UA Power Group were honored in the recent Stanford University report as being among the top 2% of the world's scientists!!

Learn more about the ratings and scientists: https://engineering.uark.edu/news.php?id=70604

Pictured clockwise from top left: Yue Zhao, Alan Mantooth, Jingxian Wu, Juan Carlos Balda and Xiangbo Meng.

University of Arkansas Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of Arkansas Department of Mechanical Engineering

Calling all science ! 📣

This June 28th, the University of Arkansas Center for Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems (POETS) will host a free science workshop and teaching labs gathered from four years of working with local teachers and their students. These teachers have participated in our Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program. This program provides opportunities for middle and high school teachers to be immersed in the culture of engineering research at a POETS institution and develop curriculum based on POETS research through a paid fellowship that comprises both summer and year-long activities. RET teachers return to their classrooms filled with more confidence and enthusiasm and increased knowledge about the world of science and engineering research and its applications. 🤓

Our RET teachers represent 8th and 9th-grade Physical Science and 10th and 11th-grade Chemistry. Our POETS research topics and labs deal with thermodynamics, energy transfer, atomic structure, materials science, and engineering principles. Teachers’ lessons are crafted according to nationally recognized Next Generation Science standards, which encompass these topics.

Each teacher walks away with a goody bag filled with items to do their labs while at the workshop as well as a few more items to take home. Some lucky attendees will be sent home with kits for their classrooms! 🥳

Register now - seats are running out! ➡ https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd0VaX0K04ICNjtVVUVRpHiofZWGxZpuqK4nnp1ID6zesmvyw/viewform

The University of Arkansas, with several academic and industry partners, has made significant strides in enhancing the of solar inverters through the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) project. By revamping conventional inverters with advanced, custom-designed controls, we fortified their resilience against cyber threats and finally took it into the field to see how it held up in a real-world solar farm (hint: it was a success). 😎

Curious about the SETO project? Read more here ➡ https://news.uark.edu/articles/70566/university-of-arkansas-leads-collaborative-effort-to-enhance-cybersecurity-in-solar-inverters?utm_source=arkansas-news&utm_medium=email_2024-06-07&utm_campaign=news_headlines&utm_content=university-of-arkansas-leads-collaborative-effort-to-enhance-cybersecurity-in-solar-inverters

A huge thanks to our amazing collaborators: University of Georgia, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, University of Illinois Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, General Electric Research, Ozarks Electric Cooperative, and Today's Power, Inc. We couldn't do it without you! 👏

Mark your calendars! 📢 We are excited to be able to offer two professional sessions in June, open to any student, faculty, or staff in the UA Power Group! 📸

This is a great opportunity to refresh various professional profiles like LinkedIn and Google Scholar, but you are welcome to use your photo in any setting where you'd benefit from a high-quality headshot. Because these are intended for a professional setting, please dress for the occasion - think business casual or formal. 👔

See you at ENRC! 🥳

Woah! The walls are officially going up on the new Multi-User Silicon Carbide Research and Fabrication Facility! 🤩

As excited as we are to see the progress? 👀 Follow along with our weekly building updates on the MUSiC website! See a bulletpointed list of updates, as well as a live cam on the Phase 2 construction site. Check it out here ➡ https://music.uapower.group/building-updates/

? Clearly having way too much fun with Chanyeop Park and Lucy Lofstrand at the ARPA-E Summit in Dallas! 🤪

Special thanks to Lucy, our marketing and communications assistant, for jumping in during her summer internship to help run our booth and bring some extra energy to the Summit. We'll be glad to have her back in Fayetteville come August! 🥳

A big to our exceptional faculty! We're thrilled to announce that two of our faculty have been honored with the Dean's Excellence Awards. We are very proud of what they bring to the table in the field of engineering! 🎉

Dr. Ngan Le has received the Rising Star Faculty Research Award for her groundbreaking research and dedication. Her innovative work is paving the way for future discoveries! 🤓

Dr. David Huitink has been awarded the Collaborative Research Faculty Award for his exceptional teamwork and collaborative spirit. His effort in bringing brilliant minds together is creating a brighter future for us all! 🤝

Congratulations to both of you! 👏

Read the full article here ➡ https://news.uark.edu/articles/70499/seven-engineering-faculty-receive-dean-s-excellence-awards

Seven Engineering Faculty Receive Dean's Excellence Awards David Huitink, Ngan Le, Chris Nelson, Brajendra Panda, Matthew Patitz and Kyle Quinn were honored for their achievements in teaching, research and public service.

Better late than never! 🫣 A huge to Dr. Imam Al Razi, a recent PhD grad! 🎉 We’re so proud of his hard work as the lead developer of PowerSynth 2 and his contributions to the PowerSynth research project and the POETS team. 🎓

To all our graduates from this year, we’re celebrating YOU too! If you haven't already, tag us in your pics or send them our way. We'd love to keep the graduation cheer going. 🥳

MUSiC construction update! 🚧

Exciting progress continues at the Multi-User Silicon Carbide facility! We're thrilled to announce that we now have roof decking up, and over half of the exterior framing is already up. This vision is becoming a reality, one beam at a time. 🎉

As we keep moving forward, don't forget to stay in the loop with our weekly construction updates available on our website. Plus, for those who love a real-time view, our live cam is always streaming the action. Check it out here ➡ https://music.uapower.group/building-updates/