JOHN W. ESTEY OUTSTANDING PES SCHOLARS 2021-22
Region 1 – Joseph Villani – Stevens Institute of Technology
Joseph is a repeat PES Scholar and first time John W. Estey Outstanding PES Scholar, who is expected to graduate in May 2022 with a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and a concentration in Power Engineering. Joseph started working, part-time for the Consolidated Edison Company of New York, during his first semester at Stevens. Joseph is a part of the Electric Forecasting team at Con Edison. He credits his continued employment there for helping him grow more “enthralled by energy policy and the future of the smart grid”. Joseph indicated in his application for the scholarship that he has, “a strong desire to create and implement new methods and technologies that will contribute to the betterment of society.”
Region 2 – Eli Brock – University of Pittsburgh
Eli is a repeat PES Scholar and first time John W. Estey Outstanding PES Scholar, who is expected to graduate in April 2022 with a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineeering and a concentration in Electric Power. Eli has an ongoing internship at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with one of the building energy simulation teams in the Buildings and Connected Systems group. He cites his most impactful project thus far as, “designing a simulation infrastructure to run urban-scale building simulations in parallel.” Eli is passionate about power engineering and his ambitions is to become a career researcher, specifically in smart grid technologies and agent-based control.
Region 3 – Tan Tonge – Georgia Institute of Technology
Tan is a repeat PES Scholar and a first time John W. Estey Outstanding PES Scholar, who is expected to graduate in December of 2021 with a Bachelor’s in Electrical Eningeering. Tan has most recently held an internship with the Green Power EMC/Oglethorpe Power Corporation where he was an Emerging Technologies Intern. He credtis his passion for eningeering to his family, who are great problem solvers, and “are always fixing problems through creative solutions.” Tan hopes “to be involved in the modernization of the electric grid through the implementation of automated switching, distributed generation, and other smart grid technologies in the local community.”
Region 4 – Kade Griesse – South Dakota State University
Kade is a repeat PES Scholar and a first time John W. Estey Outstanding PES Scholar, who is expected to graduate in May 2023 with a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and a concentration in power engineering. Kade is working for DGR engineering where he has been able to “explore many different areas of power engineering.” Kade said he has been interested in engineering before he knew what the term meant. From playing with tinker toys, to engineering machine parts on the farm with his dad to wiring the house he lives in, he has always been up for the challenge. He felt “accomplished when the house I wired passed inspection.” His future goal, once working as an engineer is to elevate himslef along with his colleagues by “creating a positive culture that aims to leave the world a better place.”
Region 5 – Johanna Hein – Texas A&M University
Johanna is a first time PES Scholar and John W. Estey Outstanding PES Scholar, who is expected to graduate in May 2022 with a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering, specalizing in Power Systems and Electronics section with a focus on the power systems. She credits her internship at ERCOT for solidifying her interest and decision to pursue a career in this area. A competitive harpist and Texan who has spent long hours helping maintain a ranch, she is not shy of hard work and dedication. She knows how to work smart too, during her Grid Analysis internship at ERCOT, where she “created a program that transformed large amounts of power grid data into customizable sets of formatted files that could be uploaded to a Voltage Security Assessment Tool (VSAT) in order to simulate contingency plans and find the breaking points. Previously, individual pieces of data had to be located and manually input into VSAT making even a simple simulation take hours of tedious work.”
Region 6 – Kevin Russell – University of Idaho
Kevin is a first time PES Scholar and John W. Estey Outstanding PES Scholar, who is expected to graduate in May 2022 with a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and a concentration in power. Kevin is an intern with Avista Utilities in Spokane, WA with their Energy Efficiency group, where he analyzes “customer energy usage and determine ways that they can reduce their load on the system while also determining an appropriate incentive for the customer.” Kevin was also an intern for Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories where he worked on numerous investigations into the reliability of failed components. Kevin is also the Treasurer for the University of Idaho’s PES Chapter.
Region 7 – Marina Chamsi – McGill University
Marina is a first time PES Scholar and John W. Estey Outstanding PES Scholar, who is expected to graduate in May 2022 with a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and a concentration in power engineering. Marina looks forward to a career in Electrical Engineering that will “satisfy my ambition, my passion for discovery and my entrepreneurial drive, that will help me grow professionally.” Marina would like to someday be a “part of a team that will contribute to finding solutions, including new green energy vehicles, building the smart grid and working to develop sustainable energy alternatives.”