Meet our amazing team.
We’re a talented group of research-oriented individuals interested in plasma, cryogenic power electronics, switchgear contacts, heat pipe bushing, high current impulse generators, among others.

Lukas Graber
Associate Professor
Lukas Graber received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from ETH Zurich in 2002 and 2009 respectively. His Ph.D. research focused on SF6 leakage detection in gas-insulated switchgear and was awarded the ETG Innovation Prize. Before he joined Georgia Tech in 2015, he worked several years at the Center for Advanced Power System, Florida State University – initially as a post-doctoral research associate and later as a research faculty member. His focus was on superconducting power cables and fault current limiters, ultra-fast mechanical switchgear, short circuit forces in substations, and grounding aspects of power distribution on future all-electric Navy ships.

Zhiyang Jin
Research Engineer
Zhiyang (Yang) Jin received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Canterbury(UoC), New Zealand in 2018, and B.E., M.S. degrees from North China Electric Power University. His current research focuses on the ultra-fast mechanical switchgear and applications of superconductivity in high-voltage power apparatus. He likes outdoor activities during his free time, such as tramping/hiking and climbing mountains. His current record is Mount Tapuae-o-Uenuku (2,885m), which took him three days to finish.

Maryam Tousi
Postdoctoral Fellow
Maryam Tousi received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech University in 2020. She also has received a B.S. in Physics in 2010 and M.S. in Condensed-Matter physics from Sharif University of Technology and Amirkabir University (AUT) in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Currently, she is conducting research on the ultra-fast mechanical switchgear and applications of superconductivity in high-voltage power apparatus. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies, reading political articles, baking pastries, and spending time with her family.

Kevin Whitmore
Research Engineer
Kevin received his M.S and B.S ECE degrees from Georgia Tech in 2019 and 2018. His graduate research involved developing electric field sensors for applications in atmospheric electricity sensing and designing calibration methods for said sensors. Before joining Georgia Tech full time he had experience working in the oil and gas, substation field service, and defense industries. Current research for PDL includes closed-loop control algorithm implementation, circuit breaker arc characterization and detection, and more. He enjoys ice skating in his free time.
Ph.D. Students

Alfonso Cruz Feliciano
Fall 2019 – Present
I received my B.S in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University in 2017 and my M.S in ECE from Georgia Tech in 2019, focusing on Optics and Photonics. My research focuses on characterizing prespack IGBTs, capacitors, and coreless inductors at Cryogenic conditions. I am also researching supercritical fluid mixtures as new dielectrics to understand molecular clustering and its relationship to the electron mean free path. In my free time, I work on some DIY projects, take pictures, and read.

Amanda West
Fall 2020- Present
I received my BS in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2016. Afterward, I worked for the United States Air Force as an Electronics Engineer on a radar command modeling and simulation team from 2016-2019. When my contract ended, I joined NI as a Technical Support Engineer, which involved troubleshooting hardware and software problems related to NI products. I am currently a first-year Ph.D. student working on the dielectric properties of supercritical fluids. In my spare time, I enjoy dancing, listening to music, longboarding, and gardening.

Ning A Guo
Fall 2019 – Present
I received my B.E. in Electrical Engineering and Automation from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China. Currently, I am pursuing my PhD degree at Georgia Tech with a focus on Electrical Energy. My research focuses on magnetic emanation characteristics from different equipment in substations and the surface flashover on ungrounded shipboard middle voltage power system. I enjoy Japanese cartoons, and I like playing badminton. I am planning to become a YouTuber and upload great videos someday.

Yang Liu
Fall 2021-Present
I received my BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2009 and 2012. Afterward, I worked for the State Grid Corporation of China as a High Voltage Engineer in multiple departments and institutes, including the central office of the provincial power company in the dept. of maintenance and local research institutes. I was also enrolled in IEC as a partner member in the system committee of smart manufacturing and the system committee of smart cities. My wife and I are big fans of dogs, we have two in our home country, Tesla and Snowy, now raised by my parents.

Jeong Ho Choi
Fall 2019 – Present
I have worked as a senior engineer at Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) in South Korea since 2006. I am currently pursuing my Ph. D. degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology with core research on Electrical Energy. My research focuses on investigating high-temperature superconducting (HTS) power cable fault detection and analyzing the dielectric properties of electrical insulators in D.C. power systems. In my spare time, I enjoy playing soccer and board game with my kids, watching movies, and traveling with my family.

Ebrahim Karimi
Fall 2021-Present
I received my B.S. in Physics in 2004 from Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), Iran, and my M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2020 from Virginia Tech (VT). In my graduate research, I was involved in developing ion-implanted III-V photovoltaic devices. My current research focuses on creepage distance in MVDC shipboard insulation systems and piezoelectric-based fast mechanical switches. I enjoy planting, gardening, fishkeeping, listening to Persian classical music, daily news, and political analysis.
Master Students

Amrita Ghosh
Fall 2021 – Present
Project: Exotic Cryogenic Conductors
Undergraduate Students

Adam M Weaver
B.S. Electrical Engineering
PURPLE Summer 2022

Adele Payman
B.S. Aerospace Engineering
Project: Air-breathing Plasma-based Jet Engine

Raymond Murphy
B.S. Electrical Engineering
Project: Lightweight Conductor

Mehul Gupta
B.S. Electrical Engineering
PURPLE Summer 2022

Mark Nicoletti
B.S. Electrical Engineering
Projects: PAWS & ESCAPE

Selene Jordan
B.S. Electrical Engineering
Project: EDISON

Sebastian Calzolano
B.S. Electrical Engineering
PURPLE Summer 2022

Nickolas Lee
B.S. Electrical Engineering
Project: EDISON
Group Graduates

Jia Wei
Research Scientist at ABB
PhD Student (2017-2021)
Research focused on investigating the dielectric properties of supercritical fluids, and the characteristics of supercritical fluids as an arc quenching medium.

Chunmeng Xu
Research Scientist at ABB
Ph.D. Student (2016-2021)
Research focused on high-voltage equipment design and manufacture, dielectric property of electrical insulation materials, fabrication and characterization method of novel electrical materials.

Tushar Damle
Project Engineer at S&C Electric Company
Ph.D. Student (2016-2020)
Research focused on characterizing the behavior of electrical contacts in high speed, high current switchgear with respect to contact materials, geometry, and manufacturing processes.

Chanyeop Park
Assistant Professor at Mississippi State University – High Voltage Laboratory
Postdoctroral Fellow (2018-2019)
Ph.D Student (2013-2018)
Research focused on the investigation of the dielectric properties of cryogenic media for high-temperature superconducting (HTS) power devices.
Past Group Members
Special Problems
Project: EDISON

Cody Kaminsky
Fall 2021Project: Optimization of Coreless Cryogenic Inductors

Jackson Bush
ORS Scholar 2020 – 2021Project: Electromagnetic signature of power components

Minuk Lee
Fall 2020 – 2021Developed capacitor level sensor to measure the fill level of the cryogenic test bed.

Sebastian Tapias
Fall 2019 – Fall 2020Analyzed the performance of an IGBT stack under cryogenic temperature to reduce power loss

Jeongmin Huh
Fall 2018-Spring 2019Parameter shift of capacitors in an open bath of liquid nitrogen
Siddarth
Fall 2017Design of double pulse testbed for cryogenic power electronics

Tobias Niebur
Spring 2017Design of a plasma chamber for Langmuir probe experiments

Delgermaa Nergui
Spring 2016Project: Optimization of Coreless Cryogenic Inductors

Lara Gunesen
ORS Scholar 2020 – 2021Conductor critical heat flux analysis at cryogenic conditions.

William Cuthbertson
Fall 2019-Spring 2020Characterized the effects and performance of a Piezoelectric actuator as contacts in Ultrafast Disconnect Switches

Adrian Munoz
Fall 2018Properties of capacitors at 77 Kelvin

Sai Narra
Summer 2017Life expectancy of capacitor banks in the power distribution system
Augustine Wu
Summer 2016Evaluation of contact materials for high-speed disconnect switch applications

Alice Huynh
Fall 2015Project: Optimization of Coreless Cryogenic Inductors

Afsara Khan
ORS Scholar 2020 – 2021Microcontroller-Based Data Acquisition System for Solid-State Transformer
Shivani Adusumilli
Fall 2018Automation of a Langmuir probe experiment

Billbang Sayasean
Spring 2017Evaluation of contact geometries for high-speed disconnect switch applications
Gyu Cheol Lim
Fall 2016Opportunity Research Scholars (ORS)
- Modelling and development of a current impulse generator to characterize the fault behavior of electrical contact Students: Caitlin Choate (2017-2018), Jeffrey Q. Zhao (2017-2018), Baris Volkan Gürses (2016-2018), Sai A. Narra (2016-2017), Etitoghene O. Ovhori (2016-2017)
Past Visiting Scholars
Topic: Hybrid Circuit Breaker Topologies
PhD student from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Swatiben Savaliya
Feb 2018 – May 2018Topic: Cost-benefit analysis for the integration of solar powered electric vehicles into the city of Savannah
MS Student at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Wels, Austria

Dominik Pfaffenbichler
Mar 2016–Aug 2016Topic: Anode phenomena of vacuum arcs
PhD Student at Xi’an Jiaotong University, China

Yunbo Tian
Jan 2017 – Jan 2018Topic: Evaluation of available Landfill Gas at Dean Forest Road Landfill and its beneficial use
MS Student at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Wels, Austria
