SPARK and PEIK New Generation of Research Students Present at the ICRERA International Conference

SPARK Laboratory and Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK) research students participated in the recent edition of the ICRERA Conference, which was held in Nagasaki, Japan. The annual series of conferences, which covers topics of renewable and alternative energy, is organized together with the IEEE and held previous editions in the US and internationally, including in Canada, United Kingdom, and France. Due to timing and distance, participation of SPARK and PEIK students in the most recent edition was only possible online.

The event provided an excellent venue for new and upcoming PhD students from University of Kentucky (UK) within the ECE Department of the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering to present and publish their first authored IEEE conference proceedings paper. The group included Kwabena A. Kyeremeh, a second year Ph.D. student who joined UK after completing his MS at Politecnico di Milano in Italy, and USP for Ph.D. students, currently completing their BS in EE at UK: Grant Fischer, Lucas Gastineau, and David Stewart. They have been mentored by co-authors and Ph.D. students: Rosemary Alden, Donovin Lewis, and Steven Poore, who too were previously USP for Ph.D. students and continued at UK with the highest national distinction of NSF Graduate Research Fellows, and Matin Vatani, who authored a manuscript that received a Best Paper Award at the previous ICRERA edition.

All students are advised by Dr. Dan M. Ionel, ECE Professor, SPARK Lab and PEIK Director, and the L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power. The line up of authors and co-authors for the papers is reflective of the continued academic operation and generational transition with faculty advising and more senior graduate students mentoring the newer students. The University Scholars Program (USP) at UK allows students to integrate their undergraduate and graduate studies.

The ICRERA conference proceedings papers are now available in the IEEEXplore online database. Authors’ approved for publication manuscripts may be accessed as PDFs directly from the SPARK Lab website:

• Kyeremeh, K. A., Alden, R. E., Patrick, A., and Ionel, D. M, "Spatiotemporal Wind Energy Assessment for Transmission Network Integration Considering the Location of Electrical Substations and Loads" pdf
• Fischer, G. M., Poore, S. B., Alden, R. E., Lewis, D. D., and Ionel, D. M., "Smart Systems for Employing IoT Devices for Monitoring and Control of Electric Vehicle Residential Charging" pdf
• Gastineau, L. A., Lewis, D. D., and Ionel, D. M., "Combined 3D FEA and Machine Learning Design of Inductive Polyphase Coils for Wireless EV Charging" pdf
• Stewart, D. R., Vatani, M., Alden, R. E., Lewis, D. D., Asef, P., and Ionel D. M., "Combined Machine Learning and Differential Evolution for Optimal Design of Electric Aircraft Propulsion Motors" pdf

The papers presented are based on advanced research sponsored by NSF, NASA, Kentucky Space Grant Consortium, PPL Corp., Tennessee Valley Authority, ANSYS, Inc., E.On Scholarship in Power and Energy, the L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power Endowment at UK, and the Lighthouse Beacon Foundation.