PITTSBURGH (PTTP) — University of Pittsburgh faculty Brandon Grainger and Paul Ohodnicki have been working with interdisciplinary practices to approach real-life concerns.
They have been working at the Energy Innovation Center (EIC), a multi-disciplinary institution in Pittsburgh, along with University of Pittsburgh students to use electrical engineering and materials science to create solutions to power grid problems and conduct research on things like electric vehicles and wind turbines.
In the EIC Grainger and Ohodnicki work in the Electric Power Technologies Laboratory and the Advanced Magnetics for Power & Energy Development (AMPED) spaces created with the help of company and government sponsors along with the Swanson School of Engineering. These are state-of-the-art facilities that allow researchers and students to do important work. They can test their projects with transformers that are comparable to those in a city grid.
Grainger and Ohodnicki emphasize that the research in these labs is driven by the students. They provide guidance and resources when needed, but the University of Pittsburgh students, whether they be Ph.D., masters, or even undergraduates, are the driving forces behind these projects. Their goal is to put together teams that have all the characteristics and attributes to solve real-world problems. Grainger touched upon the idea that these facilities and University programs are helping to train the next generations of engineers and scientists.
They both discuss how interdisciplinary collaboration is ingrained in their work. Many see engineering as a monolith however, the field is broad, and truly interesting projects require expertise across a broad spectrum. Grainger and Ohodnicki use the expertise of their colleagues to create larger and more in-depth projects.
Credit: Melanie Judd