FIRST ERC IN UA HISTORY

Researchers at the University of Arkansas will help lead a new $18.5 million engineering research center to design and develop vehicle electrical systems that are

more powerful, efficient and heat-resistant. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Power Optimization for Electro-Thermal Systems center, or P.O.E.T.S., will focus on improving current thermal and electrical limits in vehicle designs to make cars more fuel efficient and extend the range of electric cars. Alan Mantooth, Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering at U of A, will serve as deputy director of the research center. Andrew Alleyne, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will serve as director. “P.O.E.T.S. has assembled a great team of engineers and scientists poised to have a substantial impact on power electronics technology, transportation systems, the workforce and the economy,” said Mantooth, who holds the Twenty-First Century Research Leadership Chair in the College of Engineering.

The center will integrate multiple disciplines and multiple institutions. In addition to the U of A, partners include Howard University, Stanford University, the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil, the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which will serve as the lead institution. U of A faculty members joining Mantooth on the center’s research team are: Simon Ang and Juan Carlos Balda, professors of electrical engineering and Greg Salamo, Distinguished Professor of physics in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

Partners from around the world will build new technologies such as three-dimensional thermal circuitry for cooling the next-generation power converters, and algorithms for coordinating the technologies automatically. They will look at those technologies from the microchip level all the way up to the entire vehicle. The U of A will contribute expertise and facilities in several areas, including the development of new electrical and thermal devices, integration of thermal and electrical technologies into high-density power modules, design and analysis methods and tools, and optimization and control methods for simultaneous electrical-thermal design. “We are extremely excited to have the opportunity to help drive the boundaries of high-power density technologies into systems for the next decade and beyond,” Mantooth said.

Alleyne said the goal is to increase the power density in vehicles by 10 to 100 times. “That would translate into billions of liters of fuel saved and nearly double an electric car’s range. Today’s technologies are at their thermal limit. A systems approach is the only way we’ll push beyond the current state of the art.”

NSF GRANT WILL HELP RESEARCHERS CHANGE POWER FOR DATA CENTERS FROM AC TO DC

Electrical engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas' Center for Grid-Connected Advanced Power Electronics Systems, or GRAPES, have received $300,000 – part of a $1.1 million grant to Binghamton University – from the National Science Foundation to help convert U.S. data centers from AC to DC power. Data centers are facilities that house computer systems and components.

“U.S. data centers consume an enormous amount of electricity,” said Juan Carlos Balda, University Professor and principal investigator for the grant. “And their demand for it will only increase. GRAPES is involved in this project because of its expertise in developing power electronics systems for both AC and DC electric power distribution centers.” Alan Mantooth, Distinguished Professor, is a Co-PI.

U.S. data centers, which consume about 91 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, primarily use AC, or alternating current, which, through multiple steps, is converted into different voltage levels within the data center. This process is inefficient, wasting 10 to 20 percent of the energy used in these conversions before delivering DC, or direct current, power to various components of the servers and cooling system.

Because of these inefficiencies, segments of the data-center industry have started to investigate the advantages of using DC within data centers. DC-powered centers would provide lower power conversion losses, higher reliability and smaller equipment footprints for power conversion. But the new system requires the development of high-efficiency DC-to-DC power converters, high-voltage switching devices, solid-state circuit breakers, and efficient power-distribution systems, as well as the ability to eventually integrate micro-grid power from renewable and/or locally generated power sources.

The GRAPES researchers will address these challenges. For this project, they will develop AC and DC electric power distribution systems for data centers, including device modeling for circuit design and simulation. Their contribution will eventually nclude prototyping and testing these systems. Researchers at GRAPES work on devices and systems to accelerate the adoption and insertion of power electronics into the electric power grid. Improvements in these devices will ultimately lead to lower costs for consumers and a substantial reduction in harmful carbon emissions.

Spring 2016

NEW RESEARCH CENTER WILL FOCUS ON CYBERSECURITY OF NATION'S POWER GRID

University of Arkansas engineering researchers, focused on solid-state solutions to upgrade the U.S. power grid, will lead a new national center devoted to cybersecurity for electric power utilities. The center is made possible by a $12.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, augmented by $3.3 million in matching funds from the research partners. “We’re proud to be recognized as a national leader in the area of power electronics research and security,” said Alan Mantooth, Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering. “The impact of this work is tremendous. All too frequently we are hearing of how foreign entities are hacking into U.S. computer systems. This center’s mission is directly focused on protecting America’s electric energy delivery system, and we are pleased to have a great team with which to approach these challenges.” As principal investigator and director of the new center, Mantooth will lead a team of researchers who will identify and develop solutions for vulnerabilities across the U.S. power grid. Their goal is to protect hardware assets, make systems less susceptible to cyberattack and provide reliable delivery of electricity if such an attack were to occur. Specific objectives include protecting core power grid controls and communications infrastructure, building security and privacy protection into components and services and providing security management capabilities and security testing and validation. Other UA individuals involved in the project include Dr. Juan Carlos Balda, University Professor and Department Head, Dr. Roy McCann, Professor, Dr. Jingxian Wu, Associate Professor, Dr. Jing Yang, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Shannon Davis, Managing Director. To achieve these objectives, researchers will develop algorithms for software modules that can be loaded onto systems and equipment such as fault-current limiters, breakers, measurement units, relays, wireless communications systems and power-line communications. “By providing more reliable delivery of power as a result of reducing outages caused by cyber-attacks, the electric power system remains up, and economic loss associated with downtime is eliminated,” Mantooth said. “This is what we are seeking. And, from a homeland security perspective, the electric power grid in general becomes less susceptible to attack.”

The digital controller board could be the target of cyber-attacks.

Attackers would attempt to take control of the digital controller

or trick it into thinking it needs to react to falsified signals

NEW FACES IN THE DEPARTMENT

In the past year, the Electrical Engineering Department has welcomed three new assistant professors and six new staff

members.

Zhong Chen Assistant Professor

Yue Zhao Assistant Professor

Morgan Ware Assistant Professor

Jarod Medart Scientific Res. Tech.

Tracey Long Admin. Spec. III

Shannon Davis SEEDS Managing Dir.

Beth Benham Admin. Spec. III

Karin Alvarado Project/Program Spec.

Dear alumni, students, friends of the department and colleagues,

Welcome to the spring 2016 issue of Sparks, sharing with you excellent news. First of all, members of the department facul-

ty received two large research awards. One was from the National Science Foundation for the Engineering Research Center

proposal entitled “Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Systems” (P.O.E.T.S.) as part of a multi-university effort led by the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Howard University and Stanford University completing the team; this was

the first NSF ERC in the UA history. POETS research work will involve the electrification of mobile systems. The second large

award was from the US Department of Energy for establishing the center “Secure, Evolvable Energy Delivery Systems

(SEEDS); UA is the lead campus, members from this department and the CSCE Department participated in the proposal together with Lehigh Uni-

versity, Florida International University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. SEEDS will mainly focus on cyber

security aspects of energy delivery systems. These large awards attest to the competitive caliber of our faculty and there is no doubt that under-

graduate students will benefit through new technical electives as well as research opportunities to gain valuable knowledge in these fields.

We are excited about initiating an educational effort towards an integrated design initiative aimed at providing our graduates with comprehen-

sive design skills to succeed in their professional careers. The goal is that the laboratory experiences in the sophomore and junior years be inte-

grated with the capstone design project of the senior year. The latter now consist of projects suggested by industry and in most cases multidisci-

plinary in nature. Students will not only learn about design but also about presenting their ideas, finances, and entrepreneurship.

You will also read that we have added three tenure-track assistant professors, and several staff members as a result of the increased research

activity. We are enthusiastic about their contributions to the department goals.

As in previous summers, the College of Engineering with support from the department will continue offering the 2016 summer camps for 6th to 12th graders. Your children or grandchildren will enjoy these camps which are becoming very popular; please, visit http://engineering-camps.uark.edu/. We appreciate all of our alumni donors. This past year, we were fortunate to receive contributions from Jim and Marsha Davis to support the

integrated design experience and from Hugh and Martha Brewer and Jeff and Sara Koenig to increase our scholarship endowment.

One last thought is that we would like to hear your feedback since it is part of our continuous improvement process to assure we are moving in the right direction. Please, contact Mrs. Connie Howard at cjhowar@uark.edu or send me an email at jbalda@uark.edu .

Kind regards and GO HOGS,

Juan Carlos Balda

MANTOOTH ELECTED PRESIDENT OF IEEE

POWER ELECTRONICS SOCIETY Alan Mantooth, Distinguished Professor of electrical engineering,

has been elected President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society

(PELS) (ieee-pels.org). He will serve in 2016 as President-Elect

while continuing in his present role of Vice-President of

Technical Operations. He will take office as President in January

2017 for a term of two years, then serve as Past-President for

two years. Prof. Mantooth has served PELS in a leadership role

since 2004. PELS is one of 39 societies within the Institute of

Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), which has more than

425,000 members in 160 countries worldwide making it the

world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing

technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of

humanity.

ELEG GRADS ARE PREPARED TO TACKLE ANY PROJECT -- INCLUDING BEING A REFEREE IN THE NFL

Jonah Monroe (BSEE 2002) and his wife moved to

Baltimore after being recruited by fellow UA alumni

Heath Bebout, Kelly Overman and Bill Sommers to

work for Northrop Grumman. He just completed his

13th year with the company working on many defense

programs as a modeling and simulation engineer.

Northrop Grumman has recognized his work

with numerous Good Engineering and

Innovation Awards. As he began his

engineering career he also began officiating

high school football in the Baltimore area.

Since then, Jonah has moved through the

levels of officiating from high school, small

college, major college and just completed

his rookie season as NFL Side Judge #120. He

credits his experience at the University of

Arkansas as being the root of his passion for

engineering and football. GO HOGS!

Show your pride as an Arkansas alumni, keep up with what’s happening, update your contact information

and stay in touch with other alumni through the Arkansas Alumni Association. www.arkansasalumni.org.

Non-Profit Organization

U. S. Postage Paid

Permit # 278

Fayetteville, Arkansas

Electrical Engineering Department

University of Arkansas

3217 Bell Engineering Center

1 University of Arkansas

Fayetteville, AR 72701

Tel. 479-575-3008

Fax. 479-575-7967

electrical-engineering.uark.edu

The Electrical Engineering Department is truly fortunate to have alumni who “give back” to the Department and support the education of current and future students. Recent gifts to the department include donations from Hugh and Martha Brewer, Jim and Marsha Davis, and Jeff and Sara Koenig.

Mr. and Mrs. Brewer have established the Hugh and Martha Brewer Endowed Scholarship in Electrical Engineering with a $100,000 gift. Undergraduate students who are majoring in electrical engineering and enrolled full-time will be eligible for the Hugh and Martha Brewer Endowed Scholarship in Electrical Engineering. Consideration will be based equally on merit and financial need

Mr. Brewer is a Fort Smith native who transferred to the University of Arkansas after attending Arkansas Tech University. He worked throughout his academic career to fund his degree, and graduated in 1959. He started his career as an engineer with the Southwestern Electric Power Company and McClelland Engineers before purchasing Upchurch Electrical Supply Company in 1970. In recognition of his successful career and dedication to his community, Brewer was given the Community Service Award from the Arkansas Alumni Association in 2014 and was inducted into the College of Engineering Hall of Fame in 2015. Mrs. Brewer graduated from Monticello College in Illinois and then enrolled as a history major at the University of Arkansas. After graduating with her Bachelor of Arts in 1958, she later went on to earn a Master of Arts in history as well, both from the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

Mr. and Mrs. Davis have established a graduate student fellowship in the Department of Electrical Engineering with a $150,000 gift. The Jim and Marsha Davis Endowed Graduate Fellowship in Electrical Engineering will be used to attract and recruit highly qualified individuals to pursue graduate education in electrical engineering and for the recipient of the fellowship to support the Department’s undergraduate students in learning electrical engineering design.

Davis was born and raised in Prescott, and met his future wife, Marsha, when they were both undergraduate students at Henderson State University. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant through the R.O.T.C. program. After serving two years as a commissioned officer on active duty in the U.S. Army, Davis received an honorable discharge. He then used the benefits of the G.I. Bill to attend the University of Arkansas. Davis graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1979, while Marsha finished her Bachelor of Science in Education. Jim Davis enjoyed a successful career and was the inventor or co-inventor for six patents related to his work in the cellular telephone system industry. He is now the retired co-founder and vice president of operations for Celcore Inc. He was named as a Distinguished Alumni of the College of Engineering in 2011.

Mr. and Mrs. Koenig have established an undergraduate scholarship in the Department of Electrical Engineering with a $50,000 gift. The Koenig Family Works Endowed Scholarship in Electrical Engineering will be awarded to a sophomore, junior or senior majoring in Electrical Engineering, and who is already holding at least a part-time job in order to finance his or her education.

Mr. Koenig was born in Denver, Colorado, and attended Mountain Home Public Schools. He received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Arkansas in 1974. While attending the University, he worked for the John Box construction Company of Fayetteville. Upon graduation, he worked with Black & Veach Consulting Engineers in Kansas City, Missouri. He returned to Fayetteville in the Fall of 1979, and joined Upchurch Electrical Supply. Mr. and Mrs. Koenig have three adult children, one son and two daughters. The entire family supports numerous charities and sponsored financial needs of underprivileged children and their families in Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas. Mr. Koenig was named as a Distinguished Alumni of the College of Engineering in 2013.

THANKS TO OUR ALUMNI

NEW INTEGRATED DESIGN EXPERIENCE

The Electrical Engineering faculty has the goal of preparing our students to meet any challenge they desire to undertake. From pursuing

advanced degrees, to undertaking research interests, developing products, or starting companies, our students must have the foundational skills

necessary to succeed. With the curriculum limited to 125 hours of course work, ways must be found to introduce topics like leadership,

entrepreneurship, and project management as well as product design topics. A method currently being considered is to develop a combined lab

experience to give the students the basis for each of the above mentioned topics.

Starting in 2014, professionals from Texas instruments, Black and Veatch, and other companies have partnered with the department to develop

short seminars that introduce seniors to product design and project management. The students are exposed to ideas about entrepreneurship

from Dr. Cynthia Sides who is a part of the UA IGNITE program (Industry Generating New Ideas and Technology through Education). IGNITE’s

mission is to pair students with Arkansas companies to solve industrial problems. Other industry personnel give presentations about succeeding

in the world after graduation. With these resources and the knowledge learned from their core electrical engineering courses, students are

prepared to engage in capstone design projects, which are formulated to demonstrate the students’ understanding of the fundamentals of

electrical engineering and engineering as a whole. The senior design projects are proposed as multi-disciplinary projects by industry personnel

that become the industry partner. For projects without an industry partner, students have team members in other engineering departments.

These projects will give the students invaluable experiences working with people from other disciplines and will lay a foundation that will only

enhance the students as they prepare for their professional career.

The labs that are part of the required courses are being restructured to make the senior design experience successful. These labs must be a

continuous design experience that culminates with the final senior design project. Currently, the undergraduate curriculum committee is

formulating some ideas on how to restructure the labs to attain this continuous design experience throughout the last three years of the ELEG

undergraduate curriculum. These changes, when completed, will give the students a foundation in project management, product design,

general electrical knowledge, and entrepreneurship that will allow them to compete with any student anywhere at anything.

Recently, the department started the Summer Design Experience (SDE) with undergraduates who are on campus and have the desire to know

more about the design process. The students are given a simple design to complete. They draft schematics, simulate, design a printed circuit

board (PCB), design a mechanical enclosure, build the PCB, as well as the enclosure and then assemble all the parts. During the first test of SDE

in the summer of 2015, two sophomores, six juniors and one senior participated. This SDE needs to be continued and extended to the regular

semesters where students can build and enhance their design foundation while becoming excited about electrical engineering. The SDE is

currently supported through volunteers since funding is not available for non-course related projects. For the program to be effective long term,

there must be funding for the projects as well as mentor and equipment support. This type of design experience will require lab/prototype space

to be manned 12-18 hours per day creating an open lab environment for the students to excel in the design experience.

If anyone is interested in learning more about these plans, please contact Robert Saunders, rsaunder@uark.edu.

MANTOOTH NAMED TO TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY RESEARCH

LEADERSHIP CHAIR

Alan Mantooth, Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering, has been

named to the Twenty-First Century Research Leadership Chair. Mantooth

has been a member of the electrical engineering faculty since 1998, and

he earned the highest level of research expenditures from grants on cam-

pus last year. He serves as the executive director of the National Science

Foundation (NSF) Industry/University Collaborative Research Center on

Grid-Connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems (GRAPES) and the Cybersecurity

Center on Secure, Evolvable Energy Delivery Systems (SEEDS). He is the director of the

National Center Reliable Electric Power Transmission (NCREPT) and the deputy director

of the NSF Engineering Research Center on Power Optimization of Electro-Thermal Sys-

tems (POETS). He also leads the campus wide effort to coordinate research in energy,

the environment and the economy, known as 3E.

2015 FACTS AND FIGURES

51 BSEE degrees awarded

20 MSEE degrees awarded

9 PhD degrees awarded

~150 Publications

55 Proposals submitted

52 Awards received totaling $14,341,915

NCREPT and MSCAD bid farewell to Johannes Voss, German exchange student from RWTH Aachen Univer-sity, Institute for Power Generation and Storage Systems, as he completes his PhD exchange project. (Interview submitted by T. A. Walton, NCREPT and GRAPES Managing Director)

Dr. Alan Mantooth, through his research partnership with Dr. Rik De Doncker, RWTH Aachen University, has sponsored Mr. Johannes Voss as a PhD exchange student. Johannes has worked for the last six months in NCREPT developing the hard-ware and control algorithms for a 2 MW DC power supply which can be used to test large solar inverters. Johannes has taken the project to more than 75% completion. This work will be continued by Chris Farnell, NCREPT Test Engineer and Yusi Liu, PhD student, also working for Dr. Mantooth. Johannes has been focused for the last six months in the electrical and mechanical design, layout, metal fabrication and construction of what will become NCREPT’s largest DC power supply. At an operating voltage of over 1,500 VDC, this power stage will be added into a modified 1,500+hp motor drive cabinet originally donated by ABB/ BALDOR of Fort Smith, AR.

Team Effort: Dr. Mantooth created the opportunity and developed the technical scope, along with Dr. Juan Carlos Balda, ELEG Department Head. Dr. Balda has coached and consulted Johannes on the initial design review phase. Chris Farnell,

NCREPT Test Engineer, has been instrumental in consulting on the control code as well as partnering with Johannes during the design, procure-ment, fabrication and construction stages of this project.

According to Dr. Mantooth: “As we transform GRAPES into a global research institute, a very good step is exchanging students with our partner universities. Their students learn a lot and our students do as well. This makes all programs better. Johannes has been an excellent first student! He is a great engineer and researcher and a very pleasant individual as well. I look forward to continuing this activity with additional students.”

According to Dr. Balda: “Having Johannes interning in our labs has been beneficial of our graduate students since they have been able to spend time with a graduate who has been brought in a slightly different educational system; definitely, Johannes has raised the bar in terms of technical achieve-ments and presentations”

Chris Farnell adds: “Johannes has been a great addition to our research team over the last 6 months. The exchange of information, technical and cultural, has been a tremendous benefit for all involved.”

Johannes shared the following concerning his experience at the University of Arkansas. “It was a very good experience from both technical and social aspects. I met a lot of nice people who helped me, especially in the beginning, to prepare me during my arrival and return. I learned a lot about embed-ded systems. I also experienced the American culture, given this was my first time living or visiting the USA. My time here has allowed me to focus exclusively on the technical challenge of the 2 MW power supply. I would highly recommend this experience for others who are self-directed, accounta-ble, and have clear research objectives.”

T.A. Walton, Managing Director of NCREPT, observed that “this has been a bi-directional enrichment experience for both Johannes and the students in the NCREPT/MSCAD group. Johannes has become part of our legacy of accomplishment and truly will be missed. We wish him well as he continues his journey to a productive and successful career.”

Standing, left to right: Chris Farnell, NCREPT Test

Engineer; Aaron Rogers and Dennis Rogers (former UA

RSO employee), copper bus and sheet metal fabricators

for 2MW power supply project. Foreground: Johannes

SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS HOSTS REGION C CONFERENCE

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at the University of Arkansas hosted the SWE Region C Conference February 5-7, 2016. It was the first time in approximately 10 years that the Region (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas) held the conference outside the state of Texas. This year’s conference themed “Inspiring People, Products, and Possibilities” brought in 190 collegiate members, 57 professional members, and 30 corporate representatives from 19 different companies. A team of 10 Uof A Engineering students planned the Region Conference, which featured a community outreach project with the American Heritage Girls, tours of Walmart’s distribution center and Baldor’s Fort Smith facility, as well as 23 different workshops to provide professional development and explore important engineering topics such as sustainability. In addition, there were 3 keynote speakers, including U of A Alumnus Ami Spivey who spoke on the topic of finding inspiration as engineers.

The conference team worked diligently for the last 8 months to provide a new and refreshing regional conference to the Women Engineers in the region. The team included students from Biological, Chemical, Industrial, Mechanical, and three from Electrical Engineering. Isabelle Pumford, a junior in EE was Outreach chair and coordinated the “Squishy Circuits” outreach project to teach young girls about electrical properties. Senior Erica Logal, Registration Chair, coordinated all conference registrations, meals, and check-in procedures to ensure that all region member needs were met. Senior Alexis LaMott was FY16 Executive Conference Chair and worked with the Region Government, Conference Team, and University of Arkansas College of Engineering to bring Regional Conference to NWA. Alexis credits the passion and dedication of the conference team to making the FY16 SWE Region C Conference, “Inspiring People, Products, and Possibilities,” an outstanding event and a great reflection on the University of Arkansas and SWE.

Jessica Montgomery (Jr ME), Rachel Sheppard (Grad SMU), Alexis LaMott (Sr EE), Adedoyin Abe (So ME), Erica Logal (Sr EE), Hailey Flatte (Jr BAEG), Marina Lee (Sr CHEG), Elizabeth Carter (Jr IE), Alexa Koenigseder (Sr IE), Isabelle Pumford (Jr EE), Victoria McDaniel (Sr IE)