Meeting Theme: “Meeting the Needs of the Modern Utility Industry”
Andrew Clarke – Duke Energy / CAPER Chair & Facilitator
Drew Clarke works as a Lead Integrated Planning Coordinator in the Integrated System and Operations Planning (ISOP) organization for Duke Energy, based in Charlotte, NC. His primary responsibilities include supporting the development of Duke Energy’s integrated planning processes and coordination between the ISOP and transmission organizations. Prior to joining the ISOP organization, Drew worked as a Technology Development Manager in the Emerging Technology Organization, aligning Duke Energy’s internal R&D priorities and managing external R&D partnerships, and as a System Operations Engineer, providing real time operations support, system operator training simulator support, blackstart restoration studies, and leading Duke Energy’s internal Distributed Energy Resources Operational Working Group. Drew received his PhD and Bachelor of Science, both in Electrical Engineering, from Clemson in 2014 and 2010, respectively. Drew is a Professional Engineer in the state of North Carolina and a NERC certified Reliability Coordinator.
Dr. Badrul Chowdhury – UNC Charlotte / CAPER Co-Director
Dr. Badrul Chowdhury is currently serving as Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering with a joint appointment in Systems Engineering & Engineering Management at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. Dr. Chowdhury’s research interests are in power system modeling, analysis, control and economics; system vulnerability and resiliency assessment; integration of renewable and distributed energy resources in the power grid. He currently serves as the site co-director of CAPER at UNC Charlotte.
Dr. Dingrui Li – Clemson University
Dr. Dingrui Li received the Ph.D. degree from the University Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2023, in electrical engineering. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA. Before joining Clemson University, he was a Power Electronics Research Scientist at ABB US Research Center, Raleigh, NC, USA. His current research interests include modeling and control of power electronics converters in grid applications, inverter-based resources, renewable energy integration, and AC/DC microgrids.
James Stoupis – ABB
Mr. James Stoupis is the Electrical Systems Department Manager at ABB US Corporate Research Center and has more than 30 years of industry experience in the utility field. He currently leads the distribution grid/microgrid protection, control, and automation research at USCRC. James has over 40 granted US patents.
Dr. Johan Enslin – (PhD, LFIEEE)
Johan Enslin is currently serving as a Program Director for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) at the US Department of Energy (DOE) and is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University. He was the Duke Energy Endowed Chair in Smart Grid Technology at Clemson University leading the large Energy Innovation Center in Charleston SC. Johan is currently the President (2025-2026) for PELS. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE.
John Hart – Duke Energy
John Hart earned a BSEE from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2013 and MEE from North Carolina State University in 2020. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of North Carolina and works as a Lead Engineer on the Distribution Protection, Automation, and Control Enterprise Standards team where he is the lead overhead protection subject matter expert.
Kat Sico – Duke Energy / CAPER IAB Vice-Chair
Kat Sico is an Engineer for Duke Energy. She has worked full-time in System Operations Engineering since January 2015 supporting the Energy Control Center responsible for operating the Power System for the Eastern portion of the Carolinas as well as a smaller area surrounding Asheville, NC. She has an MSEE from North Carolina State University with a focus in Power Systems and research efforts in PMU Data Analysis and Voltage Stability Assessment in collaboration with Duke Energy and SAS. In her current role she focuses on assessing stability over the operational time frame, is responsible for maintaining compliance as a Subject Matter Expert for several NERC Standards and supports other projects and tasks such as IBR Integration and Event Analysis. Kat is a Professional Engineer in the State of North Carolina.
Manan Pandya – Siemens Energy
Manan Pandya is presently heading the engineering department at Siemens Energy Inc.’s power transformers factory at Charlotte, USA. He has established and ramped up a Global Engineering Centre in past. Manan has experience of 20 years in power transformer engineering, R&D, manufacturing and innovation at Siemens and ABB. He has experience in Transformer mechanical design, High voltage and Electromagnetics field simulation, process optimization, productivity enhancement and cost reduction.
Dr. Mesut Baran – NC State University
Mesut E. Baran received his Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988. He is currently a Professor with NC State University, Raleigh. His research interests include distribution and transmission system analysis and control, integration of renewable energy resources, and utility applications of power electronics based devices. Currently, he is a member of the FREEDM Systems Center at NC State focusing on both research and education aspects of renewable electric energy systems and their integration into the electric power distribution systems.
Micah Till – Dominion Energy
Micah J. Till, PhD is the Manger of System Protection Engineering (SPE) at Dominion Energy Virginia in Richmond. SPE is responsible for relay settings and data communications across the commonwealth. He also acts as the program administrator for Dominion Energy’s Engineering Enrichment sessions and Electric Transmission’s FE/PE preparation classes.
Dr. Ning Lu – NC State University / CAPER Co-Director
Dr. Ning Lu is a Professor at the ECE Department of North Carolina State University and has over 20 years of experience in electric power engineering. She received bachelor’s degree from Harbin Institute of Technology in 1993 and Ph.D. degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2002. From1993 to1998, she was a power system design engineer with Shenyang Electric Power Bureau. From 2003 to 2012, Dr. Ning Lu was a senior research engineer with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Dr Lu’s research interests include modeling and analysis of power system load behaviors, energy management systems development, renewable integration, microgrid modeling and control, and AMI data analysis. Dr. Lu is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. She has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications, including journal articles, conference proceedings, and technical reports.
Dr. Ramtin Hadidi – Clemson University / CAPER Co-Director
Ramtin Hadidi received the Ph.D. degree from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada, in 2012, in electrical engineering. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University. Prior to that, He was a research scientist at the Duke Energy eGRID Center at CURI in Charleston. His current research interests include modeling and simulation of power conversion systems, Power system stability studies, combined heat and power units, microgrid control, building energy management and building to grid studies and co-simulation environments. He is an active member of IEEE and IEEE Power & Energy Society.
Dr. Robert Cox – UNC Charlotte / EPIC Executive Director / CAPER Director
Professor Robert Cox is the Executive Director of EPIC and The Duke Energy Distinguished Scholar in Power Engineering Systems. Previously he served as an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UNC Charlotte, as the Assistant Director for the Energy Management Research Vertical, and Associate Director within the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC).
Dr. Cox focuses on advancing EPIC’s research in the areas of grid resiliency and energy utilization. His team is part of the National Science Foundation’s Industry / University Cooperative Research Center for Sustainably Integrated Buildings and Sites. This work focuses on the use of data to improve energy utilization in buildings. His team works closely with many industry partners, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Ingersoll Rand, Duke Energy and Atrium Health.
He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Taylor Raffield – Duke Energy
Taylor I. Raffield received his BSEE from Clemson University in 2010 and MEE in 2014 from the University of Idaho. He is a member of the IEEE and IEEE-PES. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of North Carolina. Presently, a Lead Engineer in the Transmission System Standards group, he has held positions in the protection and control engineering departments in two of the regions of Duke Energy. His responsibilities include developing enterprise-wide protection and control engineering standards.
Dr. Valentina Cecchi – UNC Charlotte / EPIC Associate Director
Dr. Valentina Cecchi is an Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her research focus is on electric power systems modeling and analysis, optimization of transmission and distribution system planning and operation, grid enhancing technologies, transmission line modeling and dynamic line ratings, and grid integration of renewables and distributed energy resources. Originally from Rome, Italy, Dr. Cecchi joined UNC Charlotte in 2010, after receiving her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. She served as Graduate Program Director and Associate Chair in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department from 2019 to 2024 and was the recipient of the William States Lee College of Engineering Graduate Teaching Excellence Award in 2022.
Dr. Zhangxin Zhou – Dominion Energy
Zhangxin Zhou is a Staff Engineer at Dominion Energy, specializing in transmission planning studies and the application of advanced technologies. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University, where his research focused on power system stability and control, inverter-based resource modeling, and simulation.
