Siemens has established a partnership with North Carolina State University that bolsters NC State’s power engineering research and education efforts.

The partnership includes a monetary gift from Siemens that will establish a power engineering term professorship and two graduate student fellowships in NC State’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Earlier this year, Siemens, a global supplier of products, services and solutions for the generation, transmission and distribution of energy, also committed to a full industrial partnership with the FREEDM Systems Center, a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center headquartered at NC State. The center is developing key power technologies to transform the nation’s power grid and speed renewable energy technologies into millions of homes and businesses.

“NC State continues to develop leading technologies and curricula that break new ground in power engineering research and education,” said Dr. Louis A. Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering. “This partnership with Siemens will boost our power engineering efforts and help bring some of the most talented people in the field to NC State.”

The Siemens Term Professorship in Power Engineering will be awarded to a faculty member who is a rising star in the field. The professorship funds will support lab and course development, equipment purchases and other teaching and research activities over three years.

The Siemens Graduate Student Fellowship in Electric Power Systems Engineering will be awarded to students enrolled in NC State’s professional master’s-degree program in electric power systems engineering. The award, to be received annually by two students for three years, covers in-state tuition and fees and provides a stipend for student living expenses. The professional master’s program is the first of its kind in the nation.

On Sept. 28, through a separate agreement, Siemens also joined the FREEDM Systems Center as a full industry partner. Partner benefits include access to not-yet-published FREEDM research, direct contact with the center’s faculty and students and other industrial partners, and early access to intellectual property developed at the center. Siemens will also be invited to serve on the FREEDM Industry Advisory Board, which guides the center’s strategic project selection process.

“We believe that our continued support for NC State’s efforts to cultivate cutting edge education for both professors and students will accelerate innovation in the field of power engineering,” said Dave Pacyna, senior vice president of Siemens Energy’s Transmission Division in North America.

Siemens AG is an electronics and electrical engineering company that operates in the industry, energy and healthcare sectors. Siemens employs 405,000 employees in 190 countries, including approximately 62,000 people throughout all 50 US states and Puerto Rico. More information on Siemens in the United States is available at www.usa.siemens.com.

View the original article – Nate DeGraff