Avpreet Othee, Ph.D. Candidate Systems Engineering

Avpreet’s research is in modeling and simulating power-electronic devices, their nonlinear behavior and harmonic injection in electrical distribution systems. His primary research project focused on developing a new modeling toolkit for the Department of Energy for comparing AC, DC and hybrid AC/DC power distribution in modern buildings. Selected publications:

[1] Cale, J., C. Lute, Ross, G., and Othee, A., “Characterization procedure for unsymmetrical split-phase capacitor-start induction machines,” IEEE Open Access Journal on Power and Energy, vol. 8, Oct. 2020.

Cláudio Lima, Ph.D. Student Electrical & Computer Engineering

Cláudio’s research is in power-electronic drives, focusing on non-linear control strategies for aerospace applications. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at Federal Center for Technological Education of Minas Gerais (CEFET-MG), Brazil. Cláudio earned his BSEE from CEFET-MG (2012), and his MSEE from Federal University of São João del-Rei, Brazil (2015). Selected publications:

[1] M. M. Stopa, C. A. Lima, B. J. Cardoso Filho, L. S. Miranda, A. A. Luiz and C. B. Martinez, “Detection of Gaseous Nuclei in Centrifugal Motor Pumps by Analysis of Their Estimated Torque,” in IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, vol. 56, no. 2, pp. 2107-2116, March-April 2020.

[2] C. A. Lima, M. M. Stopa, B. J. Cardoso Filho, L. S. Miranda, A. A. Luiz and C. B. Martinez, “Cavitation detection in centrifugal pumps driven by frequency inverter fed motors,” 2017 IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH, USA, 2017.

Megan , Ph.D. Student Systems Engineering

Megan’s research is in renewable energy based microgrids and systems engineering approaches for optimizing reliability and asset management for hydroelectric power systems. She is currently employed by the US Army Corp’s of Engineers as an electrical engineer in the mechanical and electrical design branch. She earned her BSEE and MS in Engineering Management (thesis: Asset Management Framework for the United Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Lock and Dam Electrical Equipment), both from Marshall University.  Selected publications:

[1] J. Warner, T. Vernick, M. Bates, C. Richards, and T. Masaud, “Optimal Penetration of Combined Wind DG and VAR Compensation for Voltage Stability Improvement,” in 2018 IEEE Conference on Technologies for Sustainability (SusTech), Nov. 11-13, Long Beach, CA (USA).

Rasel Mahmud, Ph.D. Student Systems Engineering

Rasel’s research focuses on coupled distributed energy resources (DER) and their impact on the distribution grid, such as fault contribution and power quality.  He currently works at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He earned his BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (2008) and MSEE from University of North Dakota (2016). Selected publications:

[1] R. Mahmud, A. Hoke, and J. White, “Impact of aggregated PV on sub-synchronous torsional interaction,” IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), Calgary, AB, Canada, 2020.

[2] R. Mahmud, A. Hoke, and D. Narang, “Fault response of distributed energy resources considering the requirements of IEEE 1547-2018,” IEEE PES General Meeting, Montreal, QC, Canada, 2020.

Badruddin (Rudy) Pirani, Ph.D. Candidate Systems Engineering

Rudy’s research focus is in the use of machine learning algorithms to perform pattern recognition and classification for enhanced battery system performance and reliability. He has spent his career in the defense industry developing, testing, and supporting a wide range of power and energy systems for various applications. He currently works for the U.S. Navy.  He earned a BSEE from Purdue University (2000), a MSEM from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (2006), and MSCE from Purdue University (2014). Selected Publications:

[2] R. Pirani and J. Cale, “A comparison of pattern recognition approaches for improved battery system lifecycle maintainability” (in preparation).

Jarrett Wendell, Ph.D. Student Systems Engineering

Jarrett’s research is in deep reinforcement learning approaches for the control of microgrid systems. He has worked in several areas of electrical engineering for the defense industry including wireless communications, electronic warfare, additive manufacturing for electronics, power and energy management, and engineering management. He currently works for the Department of Energy-Western Area Power Administration (DOE/WAPA). He earned his BSEE from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (2009), and MSEE from Purdue University-Indianapolis campus (2016). Selected publications:

[1] J. Wendell and J. Cale, “Approximate dynamic programming approach for microgrid control optimization,” (in preparation).

Scott Baron, M.S. Student Systems Engineering

Scott’s research focuses on risk-constrained optimized control for microgrids with high penetration of renewables. He also performs research on statistical modeling and prediction of uncertain electrical resource and load characteristics.  He spent over 10 years as a systems engineer in the aerospace and defense industry, where he developed model-based design approaches for microgrid power systems. He currently works as an application engineer for MathWorks. He earned his BSEE from Lehigh University (2009). Selected publications:

[1] S. Baron and J. Cale, “A risk-constrained control optimization approach for wind-based microgrids,” (in preparation).

Ricardo Castillo, Ph.D. Student Systems Engineering

Ricardo’s research focuses on machine learning algorithms for the detection and classification of anomalies on the power grid. He currently works at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) where he supports distributed generation and interconnection studies. He earned his BSEE from John Brown University and MSEE from the University of Arkansas. Selected publications:

[1] R. Castillo and J. Cale, “An approach for real-time detection and classification of anomalous electrical behavior on the power grid,” (in preparation).

Arthur Santos, Ph.D. Candidate Systems Engineering (Advisor: D. Zimmerle)

Arthur’s research is in efficiency of AC vs. DC distribution systems, e.g., the DC Design Tool  funded by the Department of Energy. His focus is on characterization of office-based appliances, harmonic cancellation, and endpoint efficiency. He has also worked in the Cale Research Group designing and testing power-electronic devices. Arthur earned his BSEE from CEFET-MG/Brazil (2013) and his MSEE from CSU (2020). Selected publications:

[1] Santos, A., Cale, J., Othee, A., D. Gerber, S. Frank, D. Zimmerle, and G. Duggan, “Comparison of load models for estimating electrical efficiency in DC microgrids,” in Proceedings of the 3rd IEEE International Conf. on DC Microgrids, Matsue, Japan, 2019.

[2] Zimmerle, D., Santos, A. F. B., Gasore, G., & Ntaganda, J., “Learning from Failure: A Case Study of Repairing a Pico-hydropower System in Rwanda.” In 2020 IEEE PES/IAS PowerAfrica, pp. 1-5, 2020.”

Kori Eliaz, BSEE Student Electrical & Computer Engineering

Kori is an undergraduate researcher focusing on power-electronic drives and controls for aerospace applications. She has also developed software for artificial intelligence, numerical optimization and visualization for the extraction of properties of magnetic materials used in energy storage applications. She launched and currently presides over the CSU Students for the Exploration & Development of Space (SEDS) organization. Kori is currently pursuing a B.S. and accelerated M.S. in electrical engineering at CSU. Selected publications:

[1] K. Eliaz, G. Ross, D. Molinari, C. Lute, and J. Cale, “A testbed and numerical procedure for parameter identification of frequency-dependent ferrimagnetic material properties,” IEEE Transactions on Education, (in preparation).

Garrett Ross, BSEE Student Electrical & Computer Engineering

Garrett is an undergraduate researcher and has contributed to electrical machine characterization, mobile hybrid microgrid generators, and solar PV research projects. He has also contributed to a magnetic characterization testbed and developed software for control and data visualization. He is currently pursuing undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and mathematics at CSU. Selected publications:

[1] C. Lute, J. Cale, G. Ross, D. Moorman, and M. Dorflinger, “Evaluating power and environmental performance in mobile microgrid generator systems,” International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems, (accepted, in-press). Preprint.

[2] J. Cale, C. Lute, G. Ross, and A. Othee, “Characterization procedure for unsymmetrical split-phase capacitor-start induction machines,” IEEE Open Access Journal on Power and Energy, vol. 8, Oct. 2020.

Grant Gaub, BSEE Student Electrical & Computer Engineering

Grant is an undergraduate researcher and his summer 2021 internship focuses on the design and control of power-electronic converters for aerospace actuation systems, particularly embedded control of full-bridge electrical motor drives using industrial-grade TI microcontrollers. Grant also has experience with Arduino and Raspberry Pi microcontrollers. He is currently pursuing his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at CSU.