Renewable Energy Analysis Lab - Alumni

Hrvoje Pandzic was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Washington in period 2012-2014. He was working on the project Energy Positioning: Control and Economics. Hrvoje is now an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing University of Zagreb. His fields of interest include integration of renewable energy sources, unit commitment models, energy markets, power system planning and analysis, and integration of electric vehicles and storage systems. More info is available here.

Pierre Henneaux started his post doctoral research at the University of Washington in October 2013. Pierre received his Masters and PhD degrees with the Universite libre de Bruxelles in 2009 and 2013, respectively. His fields of interest include probabilistic risk analysis of power systems and blackout probabilistic risk analysis. He is a member of IEEE.

Ricardo Fernandez-Blanco received the Ingeniero Industrial and Ph.D. degree from the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain, in 2009 and 2014, respectively. Ricardo was a visting Ph.D. student at University of Washington with Prof. Miguel Ortega-Vazquez. His research interests are in the fields of power systems economics, bilevel programming, and electricity markets.

Tu A. Nguyen received his B.S degree in Power Systems from Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam in 2007. He worked as a Power Transformer Test Engineer in ABB High Voltage Test Department in Vietnam from 2008 to 2009. He received his PhD. degree from Missouri University of Science and Technology, Missouri, USA in December 2014. He took a position in Sandia National Lab starting Sep, 2016. His research interests include power system modeling/analysis, optimization in design and energy management for microgrids, and grid integration of distributed systems.

Remy Rigo-Mariani received his M.S in Electrical Engineering and Ph.D from the Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, France in 2009 and 2014. He was a postdoc working with Dr. Miguel Ortega-Vasquez. His research interests refer to power systems modeling/experiments, battery storage management, energy scheduling as well as design for smart microgrids using different types of optimization methods.

Yushi received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China and his doctoral degree with the REALab in 2018. He was a postdoc working with Prof. Kirschen from 2018-2019. His dissertation is related to power system resilience, including post-disaster restoration scheduling, pre-disaster hardening. He was an intern with EPRI in 2014 and a Research Aide with Argonne National Lab in 2015.

Chanaka joined the REALab as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in August, 2017. He is currently working on the Arlington Microgrid project with Professor Daniel Kirschen. He received the PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Center for Future Energy Networks, University of Sydney, Australia in 2017; and B.E. (First Class Hons) and M.E. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in 2011 and 2014, respectively. He has industrial work experience at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs (MERL) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA; and research and teaching experience at the University of Sydney, Australia and University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research interests include: microgrids, demand response, energy management in smart homes, wireless power transfer, self-scheduling of generation power plants, and applying optimization (mathematical programming and approximate dynamic programming) and machine learning techniques in power engineering applications.

Ahlmahz Negash is originally from Los Angeles and grew up in Adelanto, California. She first majored in chemistry and graduated from Victor Valley College in 1996. She joined the REALab in 2010 and graduated with a PhD in 2015 . Her dissertation was titled "Valuing Distributed Energy Resources" - a topic at the intersection of engineering, economics and energy policy. She is currently a Power Analyst at Tacoma Power in the long-term planning and analysis group. Ahlmahz loves traveling, volunteering in the community, petting cats, and singing out loud and off-key (when nobody is watching, of course).

Yury Dvorkin received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Moscow Power Engineering Institute (National Research University), Moscow, Russia, in 2010. Yury started his doctoral education at the University of Washington in 2010 and was with the Sensors, Energy, And Automation Lab until he joined Professor Kirschen in June 2011. Currently he is a Ph.D. Candidate and a Research Assistant at the REALab. Yury's research interests revolve around power system economics, operations, and planning. In his research Yury aims to optimize the use of available energy resources in order to improve overall power system performance, which is currently being challenged by constantly growing uncertainties. After graduation, Yury took upon an assitant professorship at New York University.

Mushfiqur received the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA, in 2012. He obtained the Ph.D. degree at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA in 2016 while advised under Prof. Miguel Ortega-Vazquez. He is currently a postdoctoral appointee in the Energy Systems Division at Argonne National Laboratory. His expertise are in the field of power system economics, with research interests in power system operations, renewable energy integration, electric vehicles, and demand-side management.

Yishen joined the REALab in Fall 2011 as a Ph.D. student. He received his B.Eng degree in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University. His undergraduate thesis focused on the analysis of different management modes of pumped storage units for the local grid and wind integration. His current research interests are power system economics, energy storage and renewable forecasting. Yishen likes to find nice restaurants in the local area, and introduce them to his friends. In his spare time, he loves to spend his time in the sport field. Soccer and basketball are his favorite. In addition, he also enjoys relaxing with novels and movies. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Global Energy Interconnection Research Institute (GEIRI) North America.

Zeyu joined the REALab in Fall 2012 as a Ph.D. candidate . He received his B.Eng degree in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington. His research focuses on Distributed Generation Resources(DERs) in distribution level, their integration to distribution networks and economic benefits that DERs will provide. Zeyu loves sports. His hobbies range from cycling, jogging, swimming to team sports like basketball and soccer. He was a power sytem engineer at Siemens and is now with Google..

Ting Qiu received the B.S. degree in Control Science and Technology from Xi'an University of Technology in 2008, a M.S. degree in System Engineering from Xi'an Jiaotong University in 2011 and a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at University of Washington, Seattle. Her research interests include optimization algorithms and their applications in electric power system and market operation. She is currently with ERCOT.

Jesus Elmer Contreras Ocana joined the REALab as a PhD student in the Fall of 2013. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a B.A. in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin. He is currently working with Dr. Miguel Ortega-Vazquez in the project: "Assessment and enhancement the smart building's flexibility and responsiveness". Jesus enjoys running, concerts, traveling, and trying new foods.

Bolun Xu joined REAL in fall 2014, and received his PhD degree in spring 2018. Prior to PhD he received his M.S. degree from Swiss Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ) in 2014 and his B.S. degrees from Shanghai Jiaotong University and University of Michigan in 2011, all in Electrical Engineering. He is currently a postdoctoral associate at the MIT Energy Initiative in Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Yushi received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China and his doctoral degree with the REALab in 2018. His work is related to scheduling theory and power system resilience, including post-disaster restoration scheduling, pre-disaster hardening. He was an intern with EPRI in 2014 and a Research Aide with Argonne National Lab in 2015.

Abeer Almaimouni is a PhD student from Kuwait. She obtained her BS degree from Kuwait University (KU) in 2007. She worked for Kuwait National Petroleum Company as an electrical maintenance engineer from 2008 to 2011. After that she was hired by KU, her current sponsor, as a scholar at EE department, KU. Her research interest revolves around power system expansion planning.

Ahmad Milyani received his B.S. (With Distinction) and M.S. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University in 2011 and 2013 respectively. He joined the REALab in 2014 and is currently working towards his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Kirschen. His research interests include electricity markets, environmental policies in the electricity sector, demand flexibility, and multilevel programming.

Daniel Olsen conducts research on mechanisms to decarbonize power systems, and currently works as a Research Scientist for Global Good (Intellectual Ventures). He has previously researched industrial demand response and energy management at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington ('19) and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Electric Power Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ('10).

Ryan Elliott received the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA, in 2020. He is currently a Senior Member of Technical Staff in the Electric Power Systems Research Department at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, USA. In 2017, he was the recipient of an R&D 100 Award for his contributions to the design of a real-time damping control system using synchrophasor feedback. His research interests include renewable energy integration, wide-area measurement systems, and power system operation and control. A current list of publications is available here.

Yao joined the REALab in fall 2016 as a Ph.D. student. She received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in 2014. She worked at the Smart Grid Operation and Control Lab in HUST as a research assistant from 2014 to 2016. Her previous research focuses on the small signal stability analysis of power system integrated with large scale wind power. Her current research interest is the application of submodularity in power system stability control. Yao enjoys reading and playing the guitar.

Mareldi joined the REALab as a PhD student in Fall 2017. She got her B.S. in Mechatronics Engineering from Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico City. Before joining UW, she worked for General Electric-Power as an Operability engineer and was part of the Edison Engineering Leadership Program. Her research interests include renewable energy integration and optimization. Mareldi is very passionate about sports (watching and playing) specially "futbol" aka soccer.

Tsz-Kin (Marco) Au received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington in 2010. He joined the Computational Intelligence Applications (CIA) Laboratory in his senior year as an undergraduate researcher, focused on wind energy integration. In 2010, Marco started his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington, focused on power system and renewable energy. His master thesis focused on the impact of plug-in electric vehicles to the distribution networks. Marco was one of the course developers for the Northwest Workforce Training on Smart Grid Program. In addition, Marco was a teaching assistant for some power system courses and was nominated to the Teaching Award of the College of Engineering (2010, 2011) and the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award of the Electrical Engineering Department (2012). Marco likes soccer, hiking, camping, photography and traveling. He also likes to work on fun project with K-12 students who are interested in science and engineering.

Drew LaQua received his B.A. degree in Mathematics and Chemistry from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN in the spring of 2013. In the autumn of 2013, he joined the REALab as a graduate student in pursuit of a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering. In his free time he enjoys reading, cooking, snowboarding, and cycling.

Thesis description: Introduced a method for the incorporation of capacity fade costs into the determination of the charge/discharge schedule via convex optimization for a lithium-ion battery providing energy and reserve services.

Rebecca Breiding graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 2004. Her research interests focus on decreasing the time spent repairing the electrical grid after a natural disaster. Enjoy swimming, the outdoors, and spending time with family.

Agustina Gonzalez joined the REALab in Fall 2013 as a Masters student. She is from Rosario, Argentina, and received her Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering with concentration on Power Systems from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina, in 2012. Her research interests are related to power systems, electrical market operations, dispatch and control. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, getting to know new places and meeting people.

James Miller joined the REALab in Fall 2014 as a Masters student. He is originally from Absarokee Montana, and received his Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO in 2009. His research interests are related to power systems involving electric vehicles and renewable energy integration. In his spare time, James enjoys hiking, camping, fishing, scuba diving and flying.

Kelly Kozdras received her BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 1999. Before returning to school, she worked for several years in electrical design and construction support of transportation and building infrastructure projects throughout the east and west coast and at South Pole Station, Antarctica. She joined the REALab in 2014 as a master's student and completed her thesis modeling and analyzing a small hydroelectric generation site and battery energy storage system connected as a microgrid. Kelly began work as a Senior Engineer in Plant Technical Services at Puget Sound Energy in 2016. Her group provides engineering support for all PSE owned generating facilities including hydro, wind, and natural gas. In her spare time, Kelly enjoys traveling, surfing and other sports, as well as spending time with family and friends.

Anna Edwards received her BS degree in Physics from Beloit College in 2010. Before returning to school, she worked for Intel as a manufacturing technician and calibration technician. She joined the REALab in 2014 as a master's student. Her Thesis is Modeling of Distributed generation under Next Generation Interconnection Requirements. In her spare time, Anna enjoys running you can see her most weekends running on the trails in Washington

Kevin graduated from Tufts University with a degree in electrical engineering in 2012 and subsequently worked in energy sector consulting in Washington, D.C. He joined the REALab at the University of Washington in the Fall of 2015 as a master's student. His research interests involve mitigation of short term generation imbalances for the introduction of renewable energy into the power grid. Kevin works with the DOE/PNNL-led connected buildings software initiative entitled VOLTTRON. Kevin enjoys travelling and rock climbing in his spare time.

Ryan received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2013. After this he worked for two years in the construction industry working with electrical distribution systems of engine test facilities for large industrial customers. Ryan began his Master's studies at the University of Washington in the Fall of 2015, with primary research interests in electricity markets, unit commitment, and energy storage technologies. In his free time, Ryan enjoys running, hiking, eating, and listening to music, often all at the same time.

Nam joined the REALab in Fall 2016 as a Master's student. He graduated from University of Toronto with a BASc in Engineering Science specializing in Energy Systems Engineering in 2016. His undergraduate thesis focused on optimizing economic dispatch for variable renewable energy sources. He also interned at Hydro One Networks as a Protection, Control, and Metering Engineer. His current research interests are in forecasting, electricity markets, and energy storage integration. During his spare time, he frequently attends local concerts, plays the bass guitar, and goes crate digging at various record stores in the Seattle metropolitan area

Linyue Qiao received his B.S. degree of Electrical Engineering and Automation from Shanghai Jiao Tong University(SJTU), China in 2017 and his master degree with the REALab in 2019. His thesis title is "Load Pickup and Feeder Reconfiguration of Distribution Networks", which is related with the restoration of distribution networks. He was an intern in the FTR group of Castleton Commodities International (CCI) in 2018.

Yujie Zhou, a.k.a. Auter, received B.S. degree of Electrical Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2017. He was an exchange student to the University of Hong Kong in 2015. Currently he's pursuing M.S. degree in UW and is working on disaster related outage data analysis. Auter is a huge Dallas Mavericks fan.

Jackie Baum joined the REALab as a M.S. student in the fall of 2018. She received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering - Energy Systems from the University of British Columbia in 2015. Before beginning her studies at UW, she worked for three years as a Power Systems Engineer at Spirae, a company which provides DER control and optimization for microgrids. Her research interests include analysis of renewable energy resource integration and microgrid control optimization. In her free time, Jackie enjoys snowboarding, mountain biking, and climbing.

Nina joined the REALab in Fall 2018 as a M.S. student. She received her BA in Physics from Scripps College in 2017 and worked in Strategic Energy Analysis Center of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for a year after, inspiring her to pursue power system research. She is especially interested in optimizing capacity expansion planning models.

Trisha Ray joined the REALab as a M.S. student in the fall of 2019. She received her B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University in May 2019. During her time at Cornell, she also received a minor in Sustainable Energy Systems. Her research interests include the integration of renewable energy resources and load forecasting methods.