Collaborative Research: Development of a New Power Electronics Curriculum Relevant to Tomorrow's Power Engineering Challenges

Iowa State University, Ames IA

Investigators

Abstract

Participating Institutions: Purdue University and Iowa State University Project Description This project involves a collaborative team that is developing a new power electronics curriculum. It is enhancing the relevance of the subject by identifying the role of power electronics in addressing tomorrow's grand challenge of developing sustainable energy resources. The effort is focusing on the increased demand for highly qualified personnel in the energy industry by creating a curriculum that helps entice and educate engineering students; addressing a severe workforce shortage in the power industry. There are three main objectives of the project: (1) to develop a new power electronics curriculum that educates the next generation of power engineers with the required knowledge and skills to tackle tomorrow's challenges; (2) to foster integration of research into the undergraduate curriculum and incorporate undergraduate students into research projects; and (3) to initiate a multi-faceted renewable energy, distributed generation, and electric vehicles curriculum. The effort is producing specifically tailored analytical/experimental tools to enhance active design/research-based learning practices by leveraging highly qualified personnel from two academic institutions with complementary expertise. The project's success in accomplishing these objectives is being assessed by an external evaluator. Broader Significance The educational materials produced by this effort are being broadly disseminated via a mix of active and passive methods, through participation in conferences, journal publications and the Web (using Purdue's HUBzeroTM technology to create a 'Power Electronics Hub'). In addition, the developed lecture notes will provide the foundation for a new textbook on power electronics focused on renewable energy integration and electric vehicles applications. The new laboratory is being showcased to local high-school students, who are invited to attend exciting demonstrations of energy conversion projects. The proposed problem solving-based learning practices and engaging laboratory environment are helping to attract underrepresented groups into pursuing careers in the power systems industry.