IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2020 - 8

leader's corner

VOLUNTEERING FOR THE IEEE
Power & Energy Society (PES) in any
capacity provides wonderful learning
experiences, occasions for meeting
knowledgeable colleagues, and the
opportunity to truly enrich our lives.
On a bittersweet personal note, 2020
is my final year as the PES vice president of Education after serving the
typical five-year term, which is approved annually by the PES president.
PES Education provides a wide variety of training venues for our members.
Academics and industry professionals
collaborate and generate educational
materials in the form of webinars and
tutorials, fund and disseminate scholarships for PES students, invite students to attend PES conferences and
cover their expenses, and participate
in many other activities that keep our
membership informed of the latest
technical developments. The following
sections provide information on several
committees within PES Education.

Power and Energy
Education Committee
The Power and Energy Education
Committee (PECC) promotes power
engineering and technology education and professional development in
schools and industry by providing educational programs and advocating for
research opportunities. Several subcommittees fall under the PEEC, but
I would like to emphasize the importance of the Student Meeting Activities
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPE.2020.2972666
Date of current version: 17 April 2020

ieee power & energy magazine

Edvina Uzunovic

a focus on learning
PES University & Resource Center

Subcommittee, which facilitates and
helps organize programs for students.
The subcommittee helps many graduate and undergraduate power engineering students attend the PES General
Meeting, the North American Power
Symposium, and the T&D Conference
and Exposition. For many students,
these events are their first exposure
to PES and the power industry, offering them the chance to promote their
technical interests, meet and collaborate with other students, and even find
their first job. Students greatly benefit
from meeting lifelong PES members,
who eagerly share information with
upcoming generations of professionals
and each other.

PES Scholarships
PES now offers several scholarships to
its student members, who are encouraged to visit the PES website for details
and eligibility criteria. The programs
include the following:
✔ ✔ IEEE PES Scholarship Plus:
This program defrays educational expenses for qualified undergraduates who are interested
in power and energy engineering
careers. These undergraduates
will, ultimately, replace the retiring workforces in the United
States and Canada (throughout
IEEE Regions 1-6). PES provides seed money, and scholarships are then supported by
the energy and power industry.
Since the first year of the program in 2011, 997 students have

earned 1,691 scholarships, and
more than 500 PES scholarship
recipients are working full time.
Similar initiatives have been expanded to Canada, India, Italy,
and Puerto Rico.
✔✔ The IEEE PES Erich Gunther
Future Power Innovator Scholarship: This fund was established
in memory of Erich Gunther to
recognize a student in power engineering who pushes the bounds
of current thought to improve the
power and energy industry.
✔✔ IEEE PES Outstanding Student
Scholarships: These new awards
recognize PES student members
worldwide who are pursuing
master's degrees and have chosen an academic path leading to
an electric power and energy engineering career. The criteria for
selecting recipients include their
academic achievements, contributions to meeting community
and humanitarian needs, and
leadership in advancing student
engagement within PES. In 2020,
PES will begin administering
this prestigious scholarship and
plans to award up to 20 student
recipients with a plaque and prize
of US$10,000, which will be distributed directly to the student.

IEEE PES High School
Initiative
The first PES High School Initiative
was held at the PES T&D Exposition
in 2018 in Denver, Colorado. This
may/june 2020

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - May/June 2020

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