education
CURENT Students and Faculty Visit China
During the 2013 winter break, most University of Tennessee students were headed home for the holidays. A
handful of future electrical engineers had other plans, though. UT undergraduates Jessica Boles, Summer
Church, Lily Hoang, and Matt Lambert joined Ph.D. student Micah Till and faculty members Chien-fei Chen
and Daniel Costinett from CURENT to embark on a visit to three cities in China. The trip was organized
so that students could meet with Chinese universities focusing on the study of electric power. These
universities, Tsinghua University, North China Electric Power University (NCEPU) and South East University
(SEU), welcomed the CURENT students and faculty as the first such group from the United States to visit
their campuses.
The group set out on a 12-day trip following UT’s final exams and were soon immersed in power and energy
research laboratories, power utility companies and Chinese
culture. CURENT offered this trip as part of its mission to
expose students to global perspectives of engineering and
to provide students the opportunity for cultural exchange,
according to Dr. Chen, the center’s Co-Director of Education &
Diversity Programs.
The expedition began in China’s capital city, Beijing, with a
visit to Tsinghua University. While at Tsinghua, the CURENT
visitors were given a tour, led by local students and faculty,
of the laboratories for power electronics and power systems.
The group was also able to meet with the associate head
of electrical engineering, Dr. Xin Jie Yu and 10 graduate and
undergraduate students to discuss and compare the course
structure, student life and research philosophy to those of UT,
Knoxville. In addition, Dr. Zhengming Zhao’s research group
gave a presentation covering their research directions and
focus in power electronics, with particular emphasis on future
applications of photovoltaics and electric vehicles.
During the visit, CURENT student Summer Church was able to exchange research ideas with Tsinghua
students.
“I met a student at Tsinghua who was working on a ‘Smart Building’ project, the same type of research I have
assisted with at UT,” said Church, a freshman in electrical engineering. “It was exciting to see how universities
are aspiring to reach identical goals within engineering, even on the other side of the world.”
The group next visited NCEPU, an institution whose curriculum and research focuses heavily on the areas of
power systems, power electronics and renewable energy technologies, which align with CURENT’s research
focus. The CURENT group toured NCEPU’s State Key Laboratory of Alternative Electrical Power Systems
with Renewable Energy Sources. One of the highlights was the intercultural communication between
Chinese and U.S. students.
“Conversations with students about everyday subjects such as leisure activities, research, travel, re ligion,
and politics not only fostered intercultural friendships but also gave us a better insight into Chinese life both
inside and outside of the academic setting,” said Jessica Boles, a junior studying electrical engineering.
The last academic visit was to Southeast University in Nanjing. The visit was hosted by university vice
president Dr. Hu Minqian and associate head Dr. Xiaobou Dou of the Department of Electrical Engineering.
The CURENT group was introduced to a variety of power systems and power electronic research labs.
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