The Virginia Tech Consortium on Energy Restructuring consists of faculty members and graduate students in three colleges
College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
Representing the public policy cohort of the team, Richard Hirsh, professor in history and the Science and Technology in Society program, has worked on the utility system for more than two decades and has published two books on the subject. Irene Leech, associate professor in apparel, housing, and resource management (AHRM) and a consumer educator, is active in public policy and is president of the Consumer Federation of America and president of the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council. JoAnn Emmel, associate professor in AHRM, has worked on energy education grants and leads a statewide Energy Star education program. Pamplin College of Business Ralph Badinelli, professor of business information technology and leader of the business cohort, performs research in the area of analyzing and optimizing complex business decision models. College of Engineering Virgilio Centeno, assistant professor in electrical and computer engineering (ECE), helped develop the first prototype of the phasor measurement unit currently used by utilities and industry. Jaime De La Ree, associate professor of ECE, chairs the working group that deals with the effects of deregulation and the prevailing grid’s protection systems. Fei (Fred) Wang, associate professor in ECE, is a member of the Center for Power Electronics Systems, one of approximately 20 NSF Engineering Research Centers in the nation and the only one focused on research in power electronics. Michael Gregg, associate professor of engineering education, assists Virginia Tech’s green engineering program. Graduate students, such as Benjamin Sovacool in the Science and Technology in Society program, Dawei Fan and Tim Thacker in ECE, Boonyarit Intiyot in business, and Regina Goods in AHRM, have performed exemplary work with the group and have made several presentations to a variety of audiences. |
