Fall 2015 National Academy of Engineering Seminar Series: Trends and innovations in electrical grid operations
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2015
MANHATTAN — With a reliable and efficient electrical grid operation critical to society, the electrical utility industry has undergone significant changes in the last decade due to technology trends, environmental drivers and weather patterns, changing public needs and regulatory requirements.
Damir Novosel, president of Quanta Technology, a subsidiary of Fortune 500 company Quanta Services, will present "Electrical Grid — Trends and Innovations" at the Kansas State University College of Engineering National Academy of Engineering Seminar Series. His address, at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, in Fiedler Hall Auditorium, is free and open to the public.
Novosel will highlight how the electrical grid has developed since the first electric power plant in New York in 1882, challenges and opportunities facing modern grids, and how industry trends and innovation will shape the future grid.
"The electrical power and energy industry in coming decades will be much different from what it is today in order to meet the demands of the society and address challenges," Novosel said. "We are at a crossroads in making business and technical decisions that will allow us to optimally and cost effectively manage the grid."
Topics covered will include assessment management; distributed energy sources, microgrids and the role of storage; integration of electric vehicles into the grid; wide-area monitoring protection and control; and education and workforce needs.
Before joining Quanta, Novosel was vice president of ABB Automation Products and president of KEMA Technology and Development U.S. He has led development and implementation of a number of pioneering concepts, methods and products that improved reliability and efficiency of power grids.
Elected to the National Academy of Engineers in 2014, he is currently president-elect of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Power and Energy Society. He has served the society as chair of the technical council, vice president of technology, and a member of the governing board.
A Fulbright scholar, Novosel has a doctorate from Mississippi State University, and a master's degree from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, both in electrical engineering. He was named a Mississippi State University distinguished engineering fellow in 2015. He holds 16 U.S. and international patents, and has published more than 100 articles in transactions, journals and proceedings, receiving the Power and Energy Society's Prize Paper Award in 2011 and 2013.
"For those interested in the future of the electrical power grid, it would be difficult to name a more esteemed expert in this field than Damir Novosel," said Noel Schulz, associate dean for research and graduate programs in the College of Engineering at Kansas State University. "I strongly encourage our university audience, as well as the surrounding community, to take advantage of the opportunity to hear from one of the very best in this important field of engineering."
The National Academy of Engineering Seminar Series, established in 2013, is sponsored and funded by the Kansas State University College of Engineering's Office of Research and Graduate Programs. Its goal is to bring academy members to campus to speak and meet with faculty and students.
The mission of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering is to advance the well-being of the nation by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and by marshaling the expertise and insights of eminent engineers to provide independent advice to the federal government on matters involving engineering and technology. Members are elected by their peers — current National Academy of Engineering members. Election to membership is one of the highest professional honors accorded an engineer, with only around 2,000 members and foreign associates across all the engineering disciplines.
