Khaligh Leads NSF-Funded REU and IRES Summer Programs

The University of Maryland’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) is offering two exciting research opportunities this summer for graduate and undergraduate students both nationally and internationally, including the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program in Transportation Electrification and the International Research Experience for Graduate and Undergraduate Students (IRES) in Electrified and Autonomous Transportation. Professor Alireza Khaligh (ECE/ISR) is the Principal Investigator and the Director of both programs.

The REU Program in Transportation Electrification began on June 4 and combines cutting edge, team-based research with technical and educational seminars. Hosted at The University of Maryland, College Park (UMD), projects include:

Packaging and Reliability for Power Electronics for Transportation Electrification
Development of Packaging Materials for Wide Bandgap Power Electronics for Automotive Applications
Integrated Charger and Auxiliary Load DC-DC Converter for Electric Vehicles
A zero-voltage-switching DC-DC Converter for Hybrid Energy Storage Systems in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
High Energy Li-S Batteries
Solid State Li-Batteries for Electric Vehicles
Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Systems for Hybrid Propulsion Systems
Reliability of Galliuim Nitride FETs
Electrochemical Intercalation of 2D Materials for High Power Batteries
Intercalated Few Layer Graphene for New Ultracapacitors
Optimization and Power Management for Hybrid Battery and Ultracapacitor Energy Storage Systems in Electric Vehicles

The students are awarded a stipend of $5,000 and are given subsidized housing on campus as well as travel support outside the greater Washington/Baltimore metropolitan area. The program will conclude in a daylong program on August 10 where student teams will demonstrate their accomplishments and will be evaluated by a panel of experts.

The IRES in Electrified and Autonomous Transportation began on June 11 and is hosted at The Technical University of Madrid in Madrid, Spain. This program annually recruits five talented students (two graduate and three undergraduate students), trains them in basic research, and provides laboratory experience in challenging projects performed internationally with research mentors from The Technical University of Madrid and UMD.

The IRES Program provides exciting international opportunities for participants to present and publish their work with their mentors, involve them in diverse, team-based research, and help them define their career goals and prepare for graduate school. Projects include:

Propulsion Machine Integrated Onboard Charger for Electric Vehicles
Fuel Efficient Driving for Autonomous Electric Vehicles
Thermally Integrated Wide Band Gap Power Electronic Packaging for Electric Vehicles
Energy Management for Hybrid Energy Storage Systems in Electric Vehicles
Integrated Bidirectional Charger and Auxiliary Load DC/DC Converter for Electric Vehicles

The students are awarded a $4,000 stipend for this 8-week program, along with housing in Madrid, Spain and travel expenses (Round-trip to Madrid, Spain). The program will conclude on August 3.

Published July 20, 2018