Panel on The Texas Electric Power Crisis

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Wei-jen Lee received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C., and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Texas, Arlington, in 1978, 1980, and 1985, respectively, all in Electrical Engineering. In 1986, he joined the University of Texas at Arlington, where he is currently a professor of the Electrical Engineering Department and the director of the Energy Systems Research Center. He has been involved in the revision of IEEE Std. 141, 339, 551, 739, 1584, 3002.8, and 3002.9 development. He is the President of the IEEE Industry Application Society (IAS), a Prominent Lecturer (PL) of IEEE IAS (2019-2021), and an editor of IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications and IAS Magazine. He is the project manager of IEEE/NFPA Collaboration on Arc Flash Phenomena Research Project. Prof. Lee has been involved in research on Utility Deregulation, Renewable Energy, Arc Flash Hazards and Electrical Safety, Smart Grid, MicroGrid, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Virtual Power Plants (VPP), AI for Load, Price, and Wind Capacity Forecasting, Power Quality, Distribution Automation, Demand Response, Power Systems Analysis, Short Circuit Analysis and Relay Coordination, Distributed Energy Resources, Energy Storage System, PEV Charging Infrastructure Design, AMI and Big Data, On Line Real Time Equipment Diagnostic and Prognostic System, and Microcomputer Based Instrument for Power Systems Monitoring, Measurement, Control, and Protection. He has served as the primary investigator (PI) or Co-PI of over one hundred funded research projects. He has published more than one hundred and ninety journal papers and two hundred ninety conference proceedings. He has provided on-site training courses for power engineers in Panama, China, Taiwan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Singapore. He has refereed numerous technical papers for IEEE, IET, and other professional organizations. Prof. Lee is a Fellow of IEEE and registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.

Panayiotis (Panos) Moutis, PhD, is a Systems Scientist at the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), USA, since Aug. 2018, following his tenure as Postdoctoral Research Associate with the Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) since 2016. He served as a Marie Curie fellow with DEPsys SA, Switzerland, in 2018-2020. In 2014 he was awarded a fellowship by Arup, UK (through the University of Greenwich), on the “Research Challenge of Balancing Urban Microgrids in Future Planned Communities”. Between 2007 and 2015, as part of the research group SmartRUE, at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, he contributed to many R&D projects funded by the European Commission. Panos studied at the School of ECE at the NTUA, Greece (Dipl. 2007, PhD 2015). He has published more than 30 papers and contributed to 3 book chapters, while also has over 10 years of experience as a technical consultant on and developer of projects of Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Efficiency. He is the CTO of Proterima Energy Consultants, Greece, and technology advisor to Xeal (ex EVE Energy), USA, an electric vehicle charging platform start-up. He is a senior member of multiple IEEE societies, associate and regional editor of IEEE & IET journal publications, task- group chair in two IEEE standards working groups, Chair of the IEEE Smart Grid Publications Committee and Editor-in-Chief of the “IEEE Smart Grid Newsletter”.

Doug Houseman Grid Modernization Lead, Burns & McDonnell: Doug has extensive experience in the energy and utility industry and has been involved in projects in more than 70 countries. Doug is a leader in grid modernization thinking, he was asked to author significant portions of the IEEE’s GridVision 2050, DOE’s QER and to revise CEATI’s Distribution Utility Technology Roadmap. Doug is a NIST fellow and member of the GridWise Architecture Council (GWAC) where he had a hand in both the Smart Grid Interoperability Maturity Model and Transactive Energy. He has led the IEEE Power and Energy Society’s Intelligent Grid Coordinating Committee and Emerging Technology Committee for the last five years. He has presented more than 20 tutorials and webinars for grid modernization for IEEE.

Massoud Amin , IEEE and ASME Fellow, is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Amin is known as the Father of the Smart Grid and as a cyber-physical security leader who directed all security-related research and development post-9/11 for all North American utilities. His practice, teaching and research focus is in complex systems: 1) defense networks – C4I, combat & logistics (1982-1997); 2) modernization, efficiency, security & resilience of interdependent national critical infrastructures (1997-present); and 3) technology/business/policy foresight & strategy (1997-present). In summary, Dr. Amin has made transformative contributions in the areas of defense, critical infrastructures, technology, policy, and business. Dr. Amin holds B.S. (cum laude), and M.S. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and M.S. and D.Sc. degrees in systems science and mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. His passion is developing leaders and powering progress. For more information, please see https://massoud-amin.umn.edu/

Steve Collier, aka smart grid man, is VP, Business Development, at Conexon, a company that helps electric distribution utilities deploy and operate fiber to the home networks. He is an electric utility industry expert and thought leader who consults, writes, and speaks on the the issues, technologies, and applications related to the restructuring of the electric utility industry and the operation of smart electric grids. Beginning as an engineer at Houston Lighting & Power in the early 1970s, Steve has worked as a consultant, executive, and board member for energy, telecom, technology and consulting companies in the US and abroad. He has extensive experience working with rural electric distribution cooperatives, public power systems, and federal and state agencies. He has BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Houston and Purdue University respectively. He is an IEEE Smart Grid Technical Expert and is the past chair and current member of several IEEE Smart Grid Committees.

Moderator: Pete Wung has been the Chair of the IEEE Smart Grid Program since 2018. He is also concurrently serving as the Educator-In-Chief of the IEEE Smart Grid Academy. Prof. Wung is an adjunct professor at the University of Dayton, specializing in the fields of Electrical Energy, Renewable Energy, Power Systems, and Electric Machines and Drives. He has also served on the IEEE Smart Grid Program since 2014, serving as the Chair of the Research and Development Committee from 2015-2018. He was awarded his PhD in Electrical Engineering in 1993 from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Master’s in 1984 in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s in Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1983. Peter is a Senior member of IEEE.

For any questions, please contact Phyllis Caputo at p.caputo@ieee.org.

To view previous webinars on-demand, visit the IEEE Smart Grid Resource Center