(left to right): Mohammad Shahidehpour, Hasan Shanechi, Zuyi Li, James Lee, Geoffrey Williamson, Devon Summers, Alexander Flueck, Joel Plunkett, and Mahesh Krishnamurthy

Electrical and computer engineering undergraduates James Lee, Joel Plunkett, and Devon Summers have been awarded scholarships from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power and Energy Society (PES) through the society’s Scholarship Plus Initiative, which provides financial support along with industry internships or coop experience. Lee, Plunkett and Summers are among the first class of scholars through this new initiative, launched in 2011. The scholarships are awarded to “high-achieving undergraduate students in electrical engineering who have committed to exploring the power and energy fields through both coursework and career experiences.”

The students were selected by industry and academic representatives based primarily upon academic preparation; extra-curricular activities and leadership; interest in engineering in general, and power and energy engineering in particular; and overall assessment of student’s potential for a successful power and energy engineering career. The initiative is intended to bring together all stakeholders—government, industry, educators and students—to directly address the power and energy workforce shortage by attracting qualified engineering students to the field.

As seniors graduating this semester, Lee and Plunkett are already on their way to that successful power and energy engineering career. Lee has accepted a position with Sargent & Lundy’s power delivery service team, and Plunkett will be working in distribution engineering with ComEd. Summers will graduate in the spring 2012 semester.