The Georgia Tech student branch chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Power and Energy Society (IEEE PES) has been awarded the first place prize for IEEE Region 1-7 (U.S. and Canada) in the highly competitive 2021 PES High Performing Student Branch Chapter Program.

Chartered by both IEEE and IEEE PES, the IEEE PES @ Georgia Tech student branch encourages the development and dissemination of knowledge in the power and energy fields throughout the Tech community. Currently, there are more 250 members of Tech’s IEEE PES chapter, including undergraduate students, graduate students and alumni. Nearly 100 members have joined the Tech IEEE PES student branch chapter since the Fall 2020 semester, many of whom are also members and volunteers of the IEEE PES international society.

“In the past two years we have grown our social media presence significantly and have been able to increase and diversify our virtual event offerings,” said Priya Thekkumparambath Mana, chair of IEEE PES @ Georgia Tech and current ECE Ph.D. student. “Our mentorship program and the continued interest in renewable energy seems to also have been a factor in our recent growth, especially with undergraduates.”

In the 2020-21 academic year, the chapter hosted 21 events — the most of any IEEE PES student chapter in North America — including technical, social, and professional development events with engineers, professors and researchers. The student chapter has recently started mentorship program for students to get a perspective of working in the power and energy industry, and members receive a dedicated newsletter with information on related events and job and internship opportunities.

Some of the events in the past month, hosted by the chapter, include discussion and Q&A with Tesla Energy’s Power Systems Lead, and a career-development fireside chat with Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. Upcoming events include technical talk from Senior Engineer at NextEra Energy, and from the Director of Electric Design for electric power conversion at the EV manufacturing company Rivian Automotive Inc. The student chapter is also seeking volunteers for their ‘fundamentals of electrical energy’ demonstration event in the Science and Engineering Day at Georgia Tech in collaboration with the Atlanta Science Fair on March 19, 2022.

Founded in 1970, the IEEE Power and Energy Society is the oldest society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It is aimed to be the leading provider of scientific and engineering information on electric power and energy for the betterment of society and the preferred professional development source for its members. As of December 2016, IEEE PES had 244 professional chapters and 240 student branch chapters across the globe. The IEEE PES @ GT officers for the current academic year (2021-22) are – Priya T Mana (Chair), La’Darius Thomas (Communications Chair), Amrita Ghosh (Treasurer), and Kartavya Agarwal (Outreach Chair). The faculty advisor is Dr. Lukas Graber.

Photos are courtesy of Mana.