Amanda West, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), has been awarded a Georgia Tech UCEM (University Center of Exemplary Mentoring) Ph.D. Fellowship. West is a member of the Advanced Computational Electricity Systems (ACES) Laboratory directed by Prof. Santiago Grijalva.

The UCEM Fellowship has the goal of increasing the number of outstanding engineering, science, and computing Ph.D. students from under-served populations. The program seeks to support students from backgrounds that include African American/Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Pacific Islander. The Georgia Tech UCEM Ph.D. Fellowship provides three years of support for students who have recently completed the Ph.D. Qualifying/Preliminary exam.

West’s research seeks to develop a framework to design stable clustered community microgrids (CCM) to increase energy equity, economic development, and resilience within under-resourced communities. CCMs are two or more microgrids that can connect and share energy amongst themselves and with the larger power grid. CCMs powered by renewable energy in historically disinvested areas may be able to enhance community economic growth, resilience, and sustainability.  She received her B.S. in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech in 2016.