As a signature program of the IEEE Foundation, the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative awards multi-year scholarships and provides opportunities to have career experience opportunities to qualifying U.S., Puerto Rico & Canadian electrical engineering undergraduate students. As long as the scholar continues to meet renewal standards, they are eligible to receive up to three years of funding interspersed with up to two years of valuable, hands-on career experience.

PES Scholars at the 2015 IEEE PES General Meeting – Denver, Colorado

The IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting brings together many of the top power engineers in the world, sharing their knowledge and insights through papers, posters, panels and informal networking. Included among the record 3,394 attendees at the 2015 PES event were 9 PES Scholars recipients.

PES scholars – Top Row (L-R) – Phillippe Phanivong (University of Washington), Thomas Navidi (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Alan Bartlett (University of Kentucky), Miroslav Begovic (PES President), John Hoffman (Washington State University) – Middle Row – Josh Monsoon (University of Washington) – Bottom Row – Logan Brecklin (University of Wisconsin), Summer Church (University of Tennessee – Knoxville) and Bridget Davis (Ohio Northern University)

Recipients Announced Later this Month

The PES Scholarship Plus Regional Committee members are currently reviewing more than 500 applications and an announcement of 2015 recipients is expected to be released by the end of September.

“Projections indicate that, by 2030, the energy sector overall, including the transmission, storage, and distribution segment, will employ an additional 1.5 million workers.” – April 2015 Quadrennial Energy Review

PES Scholar Profile

Summer Church – University of Tennessee –

1. Sc. Electrical Engineering, 2017 – University of Tennessee – Knoxville

What do you love about the power engineering field? What excites you about being involved in the PE field?

Power is unique because engineers are required to design solutions on both a local and international level. An example of this is when I was able to travel to Beijing, Nanjing, and Shanghai, China with CURENT center ambassadors from the University of Tennessee. We were able to discuss China’s national grid system with students from Tsinghua University, Southeast University, and North Electric Power University, along with executives from State Grid, the largest state-owned utility company in the world. It was interesting to compare the United States’s electric grid to China’s and to learn the approaches that both countries are taking to solve similar problems in energy.   This is an exciting time to enter into the power and energy field with the advancement of smart grid technology and the increase of renewable and alternative sources. I am looking forward to being a part a team that helps to design the electric grid of the future.

To view Summer’s complete profile and profiles of other PES Scholars – visit the PES Scholarship Plus website.

Join us and “pay it forward” by donating to the Initiative. Your contribution will help scholars like Summer. Your gift to the initiative could be double or triple if your employer has a Matching Gift Program. Make your gift online today to the IEEE Foundation or IEEE Canada Foundation.

New Corporate Financial Supporter

We are very pleased to announce that Sargent & Lundy had joined the list of distinguished organizations that have provided financial support to the program. Additionally, ShivKrupa has moved up to the Gold level while recent contributions from New York ISO and Ulteig have moved these organizations up to the Bronze Level of support.   This financial support is having an impact by allowing us to distribute more scholarships.

PES Scholars at the PES General Meeting

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