Two AGI researchers recognized with IEEE PES Awards

October 24, 2023

The IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) gives annual awards to engineers making big differences in their field.

Two members of the PNNL/WSU Advanced Grid Institute (AGI) team have received an IEEE PES award this year, Dr. Anamika Dubey and Dr. Mani Venkatasubramanian. Dr. Dubey won the “IEEE PES Outstanding Young Engineer Award,” while Dr. Venkatasubramanian won the “IEEE PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award.” Both faculty members are from the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at WSU and hold joint appointments at PNNL. Dr. Dubey is a Huie-Rogers Endowed Chair and an Associate Professor, and Dr. Venkatasubramanian is a Boeing Distinguished Professor and the Director of the Energy Systems Innovation Center.

Dr. Dubey started her education journey at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in India, receiving her undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. She then moved to the United States to earn her M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Texas Austin.

As a kid, Dubey was good at math and science, putting her on a track to be an engineer. After high school, her interest in machines and how things worked sparked her fascination with engineering.

“As I was studying physics in high school, I noticed that I had an interest towards electrical engineering and how things have evolved in that space… I made a conscious effort to move towards inertial power systems in undergrad,” Dubey said.

During her studies in electrical engineering, the societal shift towards clean energy was starting to happen, and she wanted to learn about what technologies could be worked on to help meet the future’s energy needs and requirements.

After her bachelor’s degree, Dubey wanted to learn more about electrical engineering and clean energy technologies. She was shopping around graduate schools, and UT Austin caught her eye when she saw her advisor’s profile. Dubey reached out to the professor and started to work with him.

After five years at UT Austin, Dubey had earned her M.S. and Ph.D. and wanted to lean towards academia.

“In my mind, as a professor, you learn more than you teach. That was what drew me toward academia, it gave me the opportunity to work on exciting new problems and to learn about this field and eventually influence the field in different directions,” Dubey said.

Dubey has been a member of IEEE since her time as a graduate student at UT Austin, and she is now a senior member of the society. When she was a student, her incentive to be a member was to learn about the field, attend conferences, and exchange ideas.

“What it really means is that you are able to contribute to this vast society of power and energy activities towards the field that you chose to really work on and your efforts are being recognized which is extremely amazing to have that kind of recognition,” Dubey said.

Venkatasubramanian works on power grid analysis and monitoring systems, starting his education in India at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani for his undergrad. He earned his degree in electrical and electronics engineering.

After completing his four years in undergrad, he worked in research and development as an engineer, but wanted a more research-oriented position, ending up at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri for his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees.

“When I took my undergraduate degree in Pilani, one of the elective classes I took was in electrical power systems. My professor at the time was an expert on this topic and gave a really nice lecture one time, he talked about the concept of stability and how it was important for understanding the operation of the power grid,” Venkatasubramanian said.

Venkatasubramanian wanted to learn more about power systems and was encouraged by his professor to do so. At Washington University, he continued his learning of non-linear systems and worked on the stability of power systems.

As a member of IEEE since his time in graduate school, Venkatasubramanian has been on several volunteer committees and has worked on some technical reports. In 2014, he was recognized as an IEEE Fellow for contributions to online detection of oscillatory behavior of electric power systems.

“I serve as a chair of one of the working groups, it’s on power system dynamic measurements. I have been associated with the IEEE PES for a long time,” Venkatasubramanian said.

Venkatasubramanian is the recipient of this year’s IEEE PES Prabha S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award, which is very meaningful to him.

“This award is named after Dr. Prabha Kundur, who is one of the pioneers in the area of power system dynamics and the award is given in recognition of long-standing contributions to power system dynamics and stability,” Venkatasubramanian said.

Kundur was Venkatasubramanian’s mentor for a number of years, always saying that the research being done should be strongly connected to the power industry.

“To be receiving an award in his name is really an amazing recognition that I am very grateful for,” Venkatasubramanian said.

To learn more about these awards, please see the below links: