panel session on
Innovative Electric Power Engineering Curriculum
orginized by Leonard J. Bohmann
moderated by Saifur Rahman
Panelists:
Jim McCalley - Iowa State University
Jaime De La Ree - Virginia Tech
Kevin Tomsovic - Washington State University
Mladen Kezunovic - Texas A&M
Sadrul Ula - University of Wyoming
Bruce Wollenberg - University of Minnesota
Leonard Bohmann - Michigan Technological University
1. INTRODUCTION
With recent rapid changes in the power industry, the
curriculum at universities have to adapt to many new
challenges. Recognizing this the National Science
Foundation and the Electric Power Research Institute
have awarded six grants to seven universities as part
of the Innovations in Electric Power Education
Initiative. These two agencies are spending over $1.1
million on the three year projects to revitalize power
engineering education. This panel will present the
results of these projects.
2. POWERLEARN
Jim McCalley - Iowa State University and
Jaime De La Ree - Virginia Tech
PowerLearn is a series of educational modules
covering a single topic related to power system
engineering. Each module is a self-contained unit.
Examples of module topics include per unit system,
induction motors, transmission line thermal limits,
transmission line pricing, distribution planning, and
power quality. The primary purpose of the modules
is instructional development at the undergraduate and
graduate level; however, they are also designed for
use as "minicourse" refresher and training material
for graduated engineers in industry. In addition, they
can be effectively used to introduce high school
students to the various aspects of electric power
system engineering.
Each module consists of three components:
presentation, library, and simulator. The presentation
contains two items: (1) notes, with examples and
problems, that describe and explain the essential
concepts related to the module, and (2) summary in
bulleted form that is appropriate for use by the
instructor in classroom lectures. Both may be viewed
on the WEB as HTML files or downloaded as a
WORD document (for the notes) and a PowerPoint
document (for the summary). The library is a
collection of miscellaneous elements pertaining to the
module. Some library elements are textual and others
are visual. In addition, one may identify portions of
the library related to a particular module by accessing
the library from the module page. The simulator is
an interactive, highly visual MATLAB program that
runs on the student version of MATLAB 5.0. Each
simulator provides a structured experience for
observing basic concepts related to the module; in
addition, the simulators may be run in an
experimental mode, which is more appropriate for the
advanced learner.
Within the modules you will find pictures, sounds
and movies that are important for the understanding
of power systems.
One of the reasons for using the web as a distribution
method is the ability to distribute most of these
resources in a platform independent format. We do
encounter problems when it comes to movies though.
The format for the movies will be MPEG. If you
don't have a viewer for that format check out our
PowerLearn utilities page where you can download
viewers for the most common platforms.
The URL for the web site is:
http://powerlearn.ee.iastate.edu/
3 MERIT 2000
Mladen Kezunovic - Texas A&M
Kevin Tomsovic - Washington State University
The Merit 2000 initiative is developing a whole new
curriculum for power engineering education. The
current power engineering education has been
influenced greatly by the difficulty of fully analyzing
the large and complex power system. The curriculum
has performed well in that it provides a solid
background of traditional power system problems
and classifies problems similar to the historical utility
organization. The curriculum performs less
satisfactory in that it: (1) is relatively inflexible in
terms of adopting new technology developments, for
example, advanced integrated control and protection
concepts are difficult to include since one needs to
have access to the equipment, or its models, and (2),
tends to force onto the student a utility perspective of
the power system as opposed to a manufacturing,
customer or other industry player perspective.
Software tools available to previous generations of
educators were relatively limited in computational
capabilities and many heuristic techniques were
introduced into the curriculum. As computer speeds
have improved dramatically in recent years, courses
have been updated, but these modernizations have
been ad hoc. New simulation tools have been added
to courses without an opportunity for the student to
understand fully the numerical techniques used.
Power faculty are faced with a difficult choice
between presenting small problems that students can
grasp versus larger problems based on simulations
which exhibit the true nature of the problem, but tend
to overwhelm the student. A primary objective of
our project is to introduce a simulation environment
concept that allows students to work at many levels
of problem size and detail in a familiar and userfriendly framework.
The main objectives of this project are to:
 Create an example of a new re-engineered
curriculum for undergraduate and graduate power
engineering education, as well as to suggest means
of attracting high school Involve various segments
of the utility and students and providing continuous
training of practicing engineers.
 Manufacturing industry, as well as the consulting
and engineering services in the process of defining
multi-disciplinary needs and practical examples for
the educational process.
 Exploit unique expertise of the university teams
and industry advisors to explore the simulation
technology and related benefits in implementing an
efficient methodology for classroom and laboratory
teaching.
The URL for the web site is:
http://ee.tamu.edu/~eppe/MERIT/proj01.htm
4. RESTRUCTURING POWER ENGINEERING EDUCATION
TO MEET NEW CHALLENGES
Sudrul Ula - University of Wyoming
Changes in the utility operating structure, increased
competition in a deregulated environment, lower
margins of stability and constrained expansion plans
are all trends that point to future developments that
should provide ample challenge for engineers
throughout the industry. On the other hand, advances
in power electronics, computer science and
microprocessor technology are opening doors for
power engineers to provide practical solutions to
problems. Expanded automation of transmission and
distribution systems will be an important key to
making the best use of utility resources in the future.
The development of semiconductor devices for high
voltage, high current applications, the so-called
second silicon revolution, is already bringing about
fundamental changes in industrial equipment and
utility networks. The intent of this project is to steer
the power engineering curriculum to meet these new
challenges. The overall objectives are to form a
coalition of industry practitioners and academic
personnel to examine long-term educational needs in
the power engineering discipline.
Our project includes (1) curriculum changes to
incorporate changing trends in the industry, (2) new
educational tools, such as simulators and innovative
software for computation and visualization, (3)
computer-aided laboratory exercises, (4) computerenhanced classroom lectures, (5) creating active
learning environment by introducing concepts of
learning-by-doing, (6) involving the community
colleges in distance courses, and (7) involving high
schools students in summer programs.
We firmly believe that there is need to teach more
breadth of topics and spread the topics in power
engineering over a number of courses outside of the
core power courses. Learning can be enhanced if the
application of a specific concept ties sub-disciplines
of electrical engineering together.
The URL for the web site is:
http://wwweng.uwyo.edu/electrical/nsfpower/
NSF_Intro.html
5. RESTRUCTURING ELECTRIC POWER ENGINEERING
RELATED COURSES
Bruce Wollenberg - University of MinnesotaMinneapolis
The University of Minnesota is developing new
senior and graduate level courses. Two workshops
have already been presented detailing two of the
courses. The first, presented in June of 1997,
described A First Course on Electric Drives. This is
a new approach to teaching motor drives in that it
does not require the students to take an earlier course
in electric machines.
The second workshop was presented in June of 1998
and described A First Course in Power Electronics.
Power Electronics is an enabling technology of vital
significance to industrial competitiveness. There is a
critical shortage of students graduating in this field to
fill industrial needs as well as to carry out graduate
research. Given the pressures from other courses in
the undergraduate curriculum, students can be
expected to take one course at best in this field.
Therefore, it is important that this senior-level course
(also for first-year graduate students) be designed
carefully to stress fundamentals in the context of realworld applications with dual objectives:
 prepare undergraduates for industrial assignments,
and
 provide continuity to advanced course(s) in this
field for a research-oriented career.
The URL for this web site is:
http://www.ee.umn.edu/groups/powerengineering/
6 A MULTIMEDIA INTRODUCTORY COURSE IN
ELECTRIC ENERGY
Leonard Bohmann - Michigan Tech University
We are creating an introductory course in electric
energy that is multimedia based and aimed at
sophomore and junior college students. We are
looking at all aspects of electric energy production,
transmission and distribution, and utilization. The
course introduces technical concepts as well as
explain business, economic, regulatory,
environmental, and historical issues. We attempt to
give the students the big picture, how electric energy
affects their lives and the world around them. The
idea is to have a course which all electrical engineers
will find relevant, and thus electrical engineering
departments throughout the country can be justified
in using all or part of the material we develop for a
required course in electric energy. At the same time,
the course will form a firm foundation, and a broad
perspective, for students interested in further study of
electrical energy engineering.
Over the past 20 years, many universities have
dropped required courses in electric power and
energy conversion. This is due to two factors: the
increase in the amount of material within electrical
engineering, and the perception that electric power is
a mature, static field. With the increase in material,
there is pressure to continually reevaluate the
curriculum and drop topics that are less relevant. The
electric power field is perceived as a traditional,
slow-moving field, with a diminished importance in
the minds of many electrical engineers. In reality, the
electric power industry has been going through many
advances and is becoming increasingly
interconnected to all aspects of electrical engineering.
Power electronics, power quality, and deregulation of
the power industry are just some of the developments
that should be of concern to more than just power
engineers. As an example, look at power electronics.
It has been estimated that by the year 2000 50% of
the electricity used will pass through a power
electronic device. What are the input and output
characteristics of these devices? If you are going to
design a product with a power supply in it, you
should have some idea. The control of motors has
become increasingly easier as their power electronic
controllers have become more complex and
sophisticated. This has changed the way many
processes are controlled. There are many other
examples of how power electronics affects all of
electrical engineering.
Our course addresses these changes and highlights
the importance of power engineering within electrical
engineering. By addressing state-of-the-art topics
that affect all electrical engineers and by delivering
them in a multimedia environment, it will be easier to
excite students about the power engineering field. By
concentrating on an introductory course, one which
many universities will require their students to take,
we will be able to draw more students to the field and
raise awareness of the issues facing the power
industry among all electrical engineers.
The URL for this web site is:
http://www.ee.mtu.edu/faculty/
ljbohman/MMIC/MMIC_home.htm