A picture of Caryn Riley smiling
Official Job Title
Principal Research Engineer
Job Title(s)
Telephone
Office Room Number
NEETRAC
Biography

Dr. Riley is currently a senior research engineer at Georgia Tech's National Electric Energy Testing, Research, & Applications Center (NEETRAC), where she serves as the Electrical Systems section leader and New Technology/Research focus area projects manager. During her first four years at NEETRAC, she worked in the Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center at Georgia Tech. As a part of this effort, she supported Georgia Tech's FutureTruck teams and helped in the development of fast charge systems for electric buses. In July 2002, she transferred to NEETRAC's High Voltage Laboratory in Forest Park, Ga. As a high voltage engineer, she has tested various types of high voltage equipment, including underground cables, overhead line hardware, switchgear, insulators, and wildlife protective devices.

As section leader and projects manager, Dr. Riley manages the medium and high voltage laboratory facilities, including scheduling of equipment and personnel resources, equipment maintenance, and calibration. Current active projects include the testing of wildlife guards for the utility industry, evaluation of distribution insulators (post and suspension), distribution polymer cutout test program development, underground cable type testing, practical interpretation of infrared camera images, and high voltage testing for the utility industry.

She attended the Georgia Institute of Technology where she earned the B.S.E.E., M.S.E.E. and Ph.D. degrees in 1992, 1993, and 1998 respectively.

Research
  • High voltage switchgear testing
  • RIV & Corona testing for development of transmission and substation hardware
  • Extra High Voltage (EHV) power cables
  • Polymer insulator and cutout testing and analysis
  • Wildlife protective products
Distinctions & Awards
  • Chair of the IEEE Working Group for Wildlife Protective Devices (2009-present)
  • Member, IEEE (PES, IAS, PELS, and SA)
  • Member & Past President of Altrusa International, Inc. of Atlanta, GA
  • NSF Fellowship, Georgia Tech 1992-1995