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Undergraduate Research Fellowships Lead to Collaborative Partnerships with Faculty, Industry

March 18, 2019

In fall 2018, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering launched a new Undergraduate Research Fellowship program. Here are the projects and partnerships that emerged from those fellowships.

In fall 2018, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky launched a new Undergraduate Research Fellowship program. To apply, students needed to identify a faculty mentor, propose a specific research project and complete an application. After reviewing applications, the department awarded five students $5,000 fellowships. Whereas the department originally planned to make four awards, a fifth fellowship was made available thanks to Schneider Electric.

The students, research project title and faculty mentor are as follows:

  • Rosemary Alden’s project “Smart Plug and Smart Home Energy Management System” was sponsored by the ECE department, the TVA professorship endowment and the SPARK Laboratory. L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power Dan M. Ionel served as faculty mentor.
  • Evan Jones’ project “Renewable Energy-Based Microgrid in Rural Eastern Kentucky” was sponsored by Dr. Ionel with financial support from Schneider Electric.
  • Luke Wormald’s project “Studying Low-Cost Battery Management Systems” was sponsored by the ECE department, the Pigman Chair in Power endowment and the SPARK Laboratory. Ionel also served as faculty mentor.
  • Cole Terrell’s project is titled “Wirelessly Powered, Secure Adiabatic Logic for Low-Power Cryptographic Applications. His faculty mentor is assistant professor Himanshu Thapliyal.
  • Peyton Moore’s project “studying DNA Biological Circuitry” is being conducted with assistant professor Ahmad Salehi as faculty mentor.

 The awards can be used for research during the academic year or during a focused 10-week research experience over the summer. The department plans to accept applications for a new round of fellowships next fall.