Author: Prof. Zongjie Wang Awarded $4.5M DOE Grant to Benefit Grid Reliability for Transmission and Distribution Systems

On March 19, the Department of Energy awarded Lead Principal Investigator, Associate Director of the Eversource Energy Center and Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering Zongjie Wang with a $4.5 million grant ($3,340,168 DOE and $1,127,191 awardee costs share) to pursue this groundbreaking initiative, which focuses on developing a new “TRANSFORMATIVE” tool that will make significant improvements in power grid efficiency, reliability, and resilience to bounce back from disruptions, like severe weather events.

“In the United States, the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy sources to supply the electric grid is continuing to increase,” Wang says. “Simultaneously, more electric customers are installing rooftop solar and battery energy storage systems. The accelerating integration of these resources can present complex challenges, but also bring opportunities that TRANSFORMATIVE will harness for both managing and operating the electric grid.”

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Author: Prof. Zongjie Wang is Appointed as Associate Director of the Eversource Energy Center

Prof. Zongjie Wang will be joining the Eversource Energy Center’s leadership team as Associate Director for DEI and Workforce Training to lead diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as well as industry workforce training and development.

Dr. Zongjie Wang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and has a joint appointment as core faculty in the Eversource Energy Center. Dr. Wang is recognized for her innovation in optimizing hybrid T&D operations and for her impactful research on DER behaviors and market dynamic integration. She has been PI of multiple projects in the center funded by the DOE, NSF, Eversource Energy, national labs, ISO-NE, and MISO, with an overarching aim of enhancing the power grid’s reliability and resilience.

Dr. Wang is dedicated to enhancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and serves on the College of Engineering Vergnano Institute for Inclusion DEI Committee. Prior to UConn, Dr. Wang spent over six months with the Ministry of Energy in Accra, Ghana, focusing on enhancing power quality and reducing outages through improved grid infrastructure planning and market dispatch. This experience underscores her commitment to impacting underrepresented communities and addressing global renewable energy integration challenges. As General Chair of the 56th North American Power Symposium (NAPS) she will bring NAPS to UConn in 2025, giving it a focus on students, academic, and workforce educational & training. Since 2021, she has mentored many UConn undergraduates to publish research papers and secure long-term career positions in the industry. As a core contributor to our center’s Grid Modernization Graduate Certificate, she has developed and delivered courses for this program and received top evaluations (5/5) from students, including industry professionals, for their practical relevance.

Dr. Wang’s efforts in Electrical Engineering, a field where women are significantly underrepresented, have ensured wide representation and enhanced inclusive environment where diverse perspectives are recognized. Her approach sets a benchmark for incorporating DEI to promote a more inclusive engineering community.

Please join us together in welcoming Zongjie in the leadership of the Eversource Energy Center at University of Connecticut!