Chris Farnell of National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission

The National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission (NCREPT) is a 6 MVA power electronics test facility located at the University of Arkansas. It was formed in 2005 as a result of the 2003 Northeast Blackout and began investigating advanced power electronic solutions, including wide bandgap devices such as SiC, for grid and transportation applications. Cybersecurity for Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), and other critical infrastructure, has also become an important area of interest for our research group. During this presentation we will discuss the lab capabilities along with examples of projects, research, and testing performed at the test facility along with our K-12 outreach efforts. Both physical power conversion demos and videos of our Wonder of Wattage (WoW) outreach projects will be shown during this meeting. To date, more than 10,000 K-12 students have either visited the NCREPT facility or have participated in our WoW outreach program.

Biography:

Chris Farnell is NCREPT Managing Director and Test Engineer. Dr. Farnell (IEEE GS’11; M’17; SM’21) received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arkansas in 2020. His research interests include Embedded System Design, Wireless Networks, DSPs, FPGAs, Cybersecurity, and Power Electronics. He is currently a Research Assistant Professor serving as the Managing Director and Test Engineer for the National Center for Reliable Electric Power Transmission (NCREPT) at the University of Arkansas. Chris remains active in K-12 outreach activities.