SPARK and PEIK researchers receive best poster award at IEEE ITEC 2025 for collaborative paper with PPL Corporation

SPARK Lab researchers within the Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK) and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering received the best poster award for a paper at the 2025 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) International Transportation Electrification Conference & Expo (ITEC) in Anaheim, California. 

The awarded poster was based on the paper titled “Cluster-based Volt/Var Optimization on a Utility Distribution Feeder with Forecasted EV Penetration.” Steven Poore, a Ph.D. candidate and National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) recipient, was the main author of the paper. Poore worked together with UK colleagues Grant Fischer, electrical engineering senior and Accelerated Master's Pathway student, and Rosemary Alden, Ph.D. candidate and NSF GRFP recipient. The team also included Evan Jones, a 2023 Ph.D. graduate and GAANN DoEd Fellow at UK, currently with Duke Energy. 

Authors also also included Senior Director of Research and Development for PPL Corporation Aron Patrick, utility technical advisor and collaborator, and Dan M. Ionel, Ph.D., professor, L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power and director of the SPARK Lab and the PEIK Institute, who was the faculty advisor for all of the students.

The reported research was supported by the NSF, PPL Corporation, The Lighthouse Beacon Foundation and L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power endowment at University of Kentucky.

A premier conference of IEEE, ITEC, focuses on transportation of electrification including components, systems, standards, and grid technologies for electric vehicles. The IEEE is headquartered in New York City and is the world's largest association of technical professionals with almost half a million members. 

The SPARK Lab researchers also participated as exhibitors (see photo) and presented papers that have been published in the conference proceedings. The papers are based on research sponsored, in addition to the aforementioned organizations, by NASA, the Leverhulme Trust, QM Power and Ansys Inc.

• Alden, R. E., Lowe II, S. H., and Ionel, D. M., "Aggregator Zone Selection for EV Smart Controls based-on ML Clustering of Grid Strength, Distance, and Charging Homogeneity,” Proceedings, IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference & Expo (ITEC), Anaheim, CA, doi: 10.1109/ITEC63604.2025.11098161, 5p (June 2025) pdf
• Badewa, O. A., and Ionel, D. M., "Hybrid FEA and Meta-modeling for DE Optimization of a PM Stator-excited Motor with a Reluctance Rotor,” Proceedings, IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference & Expo (ITEC), Anaheim, CA, doi: 10.1109/ITEC63604.2025.11098025, 6p (June 2025) pdf
• Lewis, D. D., Gastineau, L., Onar, O., and Ionel D. M., "Three and Two Phase Rotating Field Inductive Couplers for Wireless Power Transfer with One Phase per Layer Winding,” Proceedings, IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference & Expo (ITEC), Anaheim, CA, doi: 10.1109/ITEC63604.2025.11097962, 5p (June 2025) pdf
• Poore, S. B., Fischer, G. M., Alden, R. E., Jones, E. S., Patrick, A., and Ionel, D. M., "Cluster-based Volt/Var Optimization on a Utility Distribution Feeder with Forecasted EV Penetration,” Proceedings, IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference & Expo (ITEC), Anaheim, CA, doi: 10.1109/ITEC63604.2025.11097985, 5p (June 2025) pdf
• Vatani, M., Sailabada, C., Masson, P., Ordonez, J. C., Ionel, D. M., "Cryogenic Thermal System for Coreless Axial Flux PM Machine with Litz Wire Winding for Electric Aircraft Propulsion,” Proceedings, IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference & Expo (ITEC), Anaheim, CA, doi: 10.1109/ITEC63604.2025.11097925, 6p (June 2025) pdf
• Vatani, M., Lopez Guerrero, D., A., Eastham, J. F., and Ionel, D. M., "Mitigation of PM Eddy Current Losses Using Offset Windings in Coreless AFPM Machines,” Proceedings, IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference & Expo (ITEC), Anaheim, CA, doi: 10.1109/ITEC63604.2025.11098002, 6p (June 2025) pdf

Author’s manuscript versions are available directly from the above links on the SPARK Lab website and will also be available on the UKnowledge online database.