Grainger VIP Impact Report

GRAINGER POWER ENGINEERING AWARDS PROGRAM

The central goal of the Grainger Power Engineering Award program has been to attract students toward specializing in electrical power and energy systems, both at the undergraduate and graduate level. Since the inception of the program in the 1990s, the landscape of the electrical engineering discipline has evolved rapidly due to the growth of internet, wireless technologies, and more recently, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Concomitantly, the field of power and energy systems engineering is also transforming with the introduction and growth of electric transportation, solar and wind generation, and battery energy storage systems. The need for attracting students to power and energy systems has become even more pressing. In responding to this need, ECE faculty members who specialize in the field have changed the elective course sequences to improve the progression of students through the program. As a result, the faculty have concluded that it would be best to shift the identification of students in the spring semester of students' junior year and distribute the awards during the fall semester of students' senior year. The process of identifying awardees has been integrated with UW–Madison's online portal for scholarships. This will also enable a smooth payment process of the award amount through students' campus accounts. As part of this overhaul, ECE energy systems faculty are planning to hold the Grainger Awards Banquet in the fall semester. Awardees and records from the process will be reported during the coming year.

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