The undergraduate and graduate power programs at the individual universities are well known in their respective fields of study. UNC Charlotte specializes in power generation including solar and storage and brings unique resources through EPIC for research and testing. NC State at its FREEDM Center specializes in power electronics and green energy grid infrastructure. Clemson University is well known for power system analysis and has many new capabilities at the new CURI facility in Charleston, SC. While each one of the Universities has a long history of research and education, together through CAPER they bring together opportunities unsurpassed in academia. Not only does each university bring unique facilities and research opportunities, the researchers themselves come from many backgrounds with a wide range of expertise. Specialties include power systems, applied mathematics, complex systems, computing, control theory, power electronics, operations research, non-linear systems, economics, IT, Security, industrial organizations and public policy.

These three CAPER universities now collaborative with each other and industry in a number of research projects and together they offer engineering students an enhanced level of education making them capable of substantive contributions in today’s complex power industry. By taking innovative research findings to the classroom and involving students in the research, CAPER faculty introduce students to the cutting edge of power system technologies, analytical techniques and industry practices. Not only does CAPER help students become technically prepared for their careers, it also assures that they will be knowledgeable about the challenges and trends transforming the industry.

CAPER’s efforts and research into new areas will allow universities to add to their curricula a number of courses that will focus on grid resiliency, grid disaster recovery, control and forecasting of an increasing penetration of distributed renewable resources and system protection.

The consortium aspires to have 60 to 100 graduate students annually among the various universities who will be able to complete their studies across the different facilities in the consortium depending on their interests and skill sets. This strategy will assure that the Southeast universities provide maximum value to the energy industry without wasteful replication at individual sites.

Visit each University to learn more about its faculty, programs and abundant resources.