VANCOUVER, Wash. – Xuechen Zhang, assistant professor of computer science in the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Washington State University Vancouver, was named a Tier 2 Gold winner of the U.S. Department of Energy’s first Electricity Industry Technology and Practices Innovation Challenge.
The challenge was designed to tap into American ingenuity for ideas about how to make the nation’s electric grid stronger and more resilient. Through the challenge, DOE sought ideas from industry, academia and other innovators for concepts that include technologies or solutions that address existing or emerging vulnerabilities and threats to the electric sector or mitigate interdependencies between the electricity sector and other sectors.
The DOE awarded more than $300,000 to seven winning submissions in two tiers. Zhang and his research team were awarded $25,000 for “QoS-Aware Data-Driven Analytics for Next Generation Synchrophasor Workflows.”
“I am very proud of Xuechen for winning this award. It shows the significance and relevance of his research as recognized by the DOE in a nationwide challenge with only seven winners,” said Hakan Gurocak, professor and director for the School of Engineering and Computer Science.
Proposed technologies and solutions were reviewed on criterion including technical merit and viability, potential to mature and implement, innovation and transformation, and potential magnitude of impact.
