SEI and EPICenter Announce Two Student Awards

James G. Campbell Fellowship Award

The Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) is proud to announce that Sonja Brankovic is the 2021 recipient of the James G. Campbell Fellowship Award. The Fellowship is awarded annually to a graduate student researching renewable energy systems. Sonja is a Ph.D. student co-advised by Preet Singh and Devesh Ranjan in the School of Mechanical Engineering. Her research focuses on concentrating solar power (CSP) and understanding how various structural materials behave in high temperature conditions. Her work will provide material insights that may help system designers improve CSP reliability and longevity. Sonja, in order to gain a more wholistic view of the energy landscape, has participated in the Women of Renewable Industries and Sustainable Energy (WRISE) Leadership Forum, and taken energy policy classes to understand the technical and policy implications of addressing climate change. She has published four journal articles and conference papers from her sustainability related Ph.D. research. She has presented at four conferences related to energy sustainability. To find out more about Sonja’s research watch her presentation from August 2020: https://youtu.be/ZokGWbjqaWU

Spark Award

SEI and the Energy Policy Innovation Center (EPICenter) are proud to announce that the recipient of the inaugural Spark Award is Ph.D. student Samuel Talkington. The Spark Award was established to recognize a Georgia Tech graduate student who has distinguished themselves academically and has become a peer leader among the GT student energy community. Sam studies under the direction of Santiago Grijalva in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Samuel’s research focuses on detection, estimation, and optimization problems in electric power systems that employ renewable energy sources. Samuel has become a student leader in the GT energy community, in part, by serving as the graduate student advisor for Georgia Tech’s 2021 US Department of Energy Solar District Cup team, which took second place in the country. Samuel was also a key contributor toward the success of the Georgia Tech Energy Club’s “Southeastern Energy Conference,” held in February, 2021. Read more about Samuel’s research here: https://talkington.dev/