Senior swimmer Doug Mackenzie (Silver Spring, Md.) received the IEEE PES Scholarship for his studies and work in power and energy.
This is the second year in a row that Mackenzie has been awarded the scholarship and he attributes much of his success in the power and energy field to Dr. Wenzhong Gao, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Denver.
“Dr. Gao has given me the guidance and encouragement to pursue a career in power and energy,” Mackenzie said. “The research experience he’s provided me has been a fundamental aspect of my meeting the requirements and expectations of the IEEE PES Scholarship Initiative.”
Over the last two summers, Mackenzie worked with Dr. Gao doing on-campus research through the university’s Partners in Scholarship (PinS) research grant. Both summers Mackenzie worked toward designing and then building a small scale vertical axis wind turbine. The turbine was designed to be used as a distributed source of generation for small electrical loads. Mackenzie also had the goal of making the turbine applicable in developing areas because of its simple design and cost effectiveness.
The IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Initiative provides multi-year scholarships and career experience opportunities to qualifying U.S. electrical engineering undergraduate students. As long as the scholar continues to meet renewal standards, he or she will receive up to three years of funding interspersed with up to two years of hands-on career experience. In 2013, 3,000 students started applications for the scholarship, 700 completed the process, and 228 were accepted.
Mackenzie, who will graduate in June 2014, is excited at the prospect of working in the power and energy industry.
“As this school year winds down and graduation approaches, I’ll look to join those in the industry working towards a sound and sustainable infrastructure for power generation and transmission throughout the world,” Mackenzie said.
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This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of DU Swimming and Diving.