Highlights

Student Internships at Sandia National Labs

Summer time has come for the UVM IGERT program! In mid-May, four of our IGERT trainees began their ten-week summer internship at Sandia National Labs (SNL), located on the Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM. One additional trainee is conducting his internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory, located nearby in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The students will be spending the summer working at the lab with their national lab mentor, both furthering their dissertation research and broadening their knowledge of smart grids. During the summer internships, the students will have the opportunity to participate in the Energy Surety Program at Sandia, through which they will hear seminars by Sandia energy researchers and visit many unique energy research facilities. Students will also participate in a short course on cognitive sciences at Sandia experts in modeling human behavior and decision-making processes.

UVM IGERT presents at Board of Trustees Meeting

On May 17, 2013, the UVM IGERT program was invited to present at the UVM board of trustees meeting. Dr. Jeffrey Marshall presented an overview of the UVM Smart Grid IGERT program and of Smart Grids in general. Other IGERT faculty presenting included Dr. Paul Hines, Dr. Maggie Eppstein, Dr. Chris Danforth, and Dr. Asim Zia, who discussed examples of specific research that is occurring within the UVM IGERT program.

Algae for Biofuel Workshop

The UVM IGERT program hosted a workshop on Algae for Biofuel on April 24, 2013. This event was organized by the bioenergy program of the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) and included a series of talks and discussions from researchers at UVM and other parts of Vermont, who are working on algae biofuel research. Click here to find out more about the exciting bioenergy work taking place in Vermont, including from members of our IGERT program: https://www.youtube.com/user/VermontBioenergy.

Regional Test Center Meeting

On April 5, 2013, the UVM IGERT program hosted an informational workshop on thePhotovoltaic (PV), Regional Test Center (RTC) (http://pvrtc.org/test-centers/) that is currently being built at the IBM site in Williston, VT, with project oversight by Sandia National Laboratories. This testing site will be one of five photovoltaic test facilities in the United States that is funded by the US Department of Energy. The purpose of the regional testing centers is to study the reliability over time of different solar panel designs that are subjected to realistic environmental conditions. The focus of the Williston RTC is on the study of solar energy in cold and humid climates characteristics of Vermont and northern New England. Thirty representatives attended the meeting from 19 different schools and companies such as, VermontLawSchool, MiddleburyCollege, VELCO, Green Mountain Power, Dynapower, SNL, and IBM. Presentations were given on the RTC, the UVM Smart Grid IGERT program, and the ongoing PV work at Sandia National Laboratories. There were also discussions on how the research and development that will result from the RTC can be used, and on how students at universities across Vermont can become involved in this research and development. Two IGERT faculty serve on the RTC steering board, along with representatives from IBM and Sandia.

UVM IGERT trip to UMASS and ISO New England

At the end of February the UVM IGERT students and faculty took a trip to Massachusetts where they visited the UMass Amherst IGERT Offshore Wind Energy Program and ISO New England (http://www.iso-ne.com/). At UMass, students from the two IGERT programs were able to meet and discuss current research in their closely related fields. In addition to this, the UVM IGERT students toured the UMass IGERT facilities and got a close-up look at the offshore wind energy research on-going at the University of Massachusetts. Following the UMass visit, the UVM IGERT group traveled to ISO New England, which manages electricity generation and transmission thoroughoutNew England. The IGERT group met with ISO New England employees to learn about the work that they do, and then took a tour of the ISO New England power grid control room.

Hines quoted in Free Press article

A recent article in the Burlington Free Press about the frequency of electrical blackouts and the urgent need for updating of the nation's electrical infrastructure quoted UVM professor Paul Hines, among other national experts on cascading failures, calling for greater investment in blackout mitigation.

VM IGERT Recognized in NSF article on New IGERT Programs

The UVM IGERT program was recognized in an article on the IGERT web site describing the 18 new IGERT programs across the country initiating in 2012 - "Nobel laureate, first-time institutions among 18 new IGERT awards".

UVM Receives Coveted IGERT Grant from NSF

Jeffrey Marshall, a professor in the School of Engineering in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, spearheaded the coveted Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for which UVM will receive approximately $3 million over five years...

Hines Named Recipient of 2012 Milt Silveira Award

Dr. Paul Hines, assistant professor in the School of Engineering has been named the 2012 recipient of the Milt Silveira Award.