Yang Cao, PhD
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Director, Electrical Insulation Research Center, Institute of Materials Science
Site Director, NSF Center on High Voltage/Temperature Materials & Structures
Email: yang dot cao at uconn dot edu
Tel: (860) 486-0915
http://www.ee.uconn.edu/yang-cao
Dr. Cao’s research has been focused on high voltage engineering and energy materials for power and medical devices. His main research interests include: (1) High electric field phenomena and devices; (2) Polymeric nanostructured materials with game changing characteristics for energy efficient power conversion and renewables integrations; (3) High voltage engineering in power and medical; (4) Grid asset management: diagnosis and prognosis of electrical degradation.
Wesley Zhong
Research Assistant, Lab Manager
B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology, Purdue University
Tel: (860)486-5594
Email: Wesley dot zhong at uconn dot edu
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jing Hao, PhD
Email: jing dot hao at uconn dot edu
Past Institute: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden; Southwest Jiaotong University, China
Jing Hao received her B.S. and M.S. degrees from Southwest Jiaotong University in 2014 and 2017 respectively, and Ph.D. degree from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in 2021 in electrical engineering. She was a visiting student at the Chalmers University of Technology in 2018. Her research interests focus on the alternative gas to SF6 and the characterization of dielectric materials.
Roger C. Walker II, PhD
Email: rogeer dot walker at uconn dot edu
Past Institute: Penn State
Roger C. Walker II received his B.S. from the University of Pittsburgh in 2014 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in 2017 and 2020, respectively. His main research areas of interest are the electrical characterization and dialectical analysis of polymeric and composite materials for power cable applications.
Ning Guo, PhD
Email: ning dot guo at uconn dot edu
Past Institute: Georgia Institute of Technology
Ning Guo received his B.S. from the Xi’an Jiaotong University in China in 2017 and his M.S. and Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2023 and 2024, respectively. His current research focus is high-field characterizations of nano-coated polymer films.
Graduate Students
Wenqiang Gao
Ph.D Candidate
E-mail: wenqiang dot gao at uconn dot edu
Past Institute: Tsinghua University/Sichuan University, China
Research Interest: Wenqiang Gao’s research interests mainly include SF6-alternatives, gas insulation, high voltage engineering, and gas dynamics.
Jierui Zhou
Ph.D. Candidate
Email: jierui dot zhou at uconn dot edu
Past Institute: Xi’an Jiaotong University, China
Research Interest: High electric field phenomena and devices.
Kerry Davis
Ph.D. Candidate
Email: kerry dot l dot davis at uconn dot edu
Past Institute: University of Connecticut
Kerry received her B.S. from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, in 2016. She has worked for Pratt & Whitney since 2016 and she has been pursuing her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Connecticut part-time. She primarily studies materials for aircraft electrification.
Antigoni Konstantinou
Ph.D. Student
Email: antigoni dot konstantinou at uconn dot edu
Past Institutes: University of Delaware, USA; University of Patras, Greece
Antigoni’s work was focused on polymer nanocomposite materials, as smart systems. Studying the dielectric and thermomechanical properties of low filler content polymer composites in her master and bachelor thesis. Her research in Epps research group involved synthesis and thermal characterization of bio-based polymers. Her research interest in EIRC is focused on the synthesis and the electrical characterization of nanostructured insulation materials for motors.
Vahid Shiravand
Ph.D. Student
Email: vahid dot shiravand at uconn dot edu
Past Institute: University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Vahid Shiravand received an A.S., B.S., and M.S. at Khorramabad Technical College, Mohajer Technical University of Isfahan (MTU), and the University of Tehran, Iran, in Electrical engineering major in 2012, 2015, and 2019, respectively. He worked at Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University from 2016 to 2022. Moreover, he worked part-time in the high-voltage lab of the University of Tehran to do industrial tests from 2016 to 2018.
Research Interest: High Voltage technology (SF6-alternatives, gas insulation, gas dynamics, transformer, spark discharge, thermal test, breakdown test, high-voltage gas circuit breaker, industrial control panel) and Power systems (Protection and transient)
Sandra George
Master’s Student
Email: sandra.george@uconn.edu
Past Institute: All Nations University College, Ghana [in collaboration with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana]
Visiting Scholars
Shuqi Liu
Ph.D. Student
Email: shuqi dot liu at uconn dot edu
Undergraduate Students
Jason Cressotti
Undergraduate Student (Mechanical Engineering)
Email: Jason dot cressotti at uconn dot edu
Josh Schulman
Undergraduate Student (Electrical Engineering)
Email: Josh dot schulman at uconn dot edu
Previous Members
36. Ashley Lam, Chem. Eng. Undergraduate Research Assistant Feb.-May 2023
35. Abraham Thomas, Math.Phys. with minor in Comput., Undergraduate Research Assistant Feb.-May 2023
34. Dr. Ningzhen Wang, Postdoctoral fellow, 2019-2022, currently with Beijing Forestry University, Assistant Professor.
33. Dr. Yifei Wang, Research Assistant Professor, 2018-2022, currently with Xi’an Jiaotong University, Associate Professor.
32. Dr. Chao Wu, Research Assistant Professor, 2018-2022, currently with Tsinghua University, Assistant Professor.
31. Dr. Mohamadreza Arab Baferani, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Graduated in 2022, currently with Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
30. Dr. Tohid Shahsavarian, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Graduated in 2022, currently with PG&E.
29. Charlotte Cabrera, Visiting graduate student/intern, Jul.-Sep., 2022, Paul Sabatier University – Toulouse, France.
28. Dr. Hiep Nguyen, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Graduated in 2022, currently with University of Memphis Teaching Assistant Professor.
27. Moritz Ploner, Visiting graduate student/intern, March-July, 2022, University of Bologna, Italy.
26. Dr. Chuanyang Li, Postdoctoral fellow, 2019 – 2021, currently with The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
25. Michael Sotzing, ME Undergraduate Research Assistant, 2018 – 2021, currently with Purdue University.
24. Liam Connelly, BME/EE Undergraduate Research Assistant, 2019-2021.
23. Dr. Jindog Huo, PhD in Material Science, graduated in 2020, currently with SLAC.
22. Dr. Zongze Li, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Graduated in 2020, currently with ASML.
21. Qian Wang, Visiting scholar, Sep 2019 – Oct 2020, currently with Tsinghua University.
20. Alex Rontey, EE Undergraduate Research Assistant, June 2018 – May 2020, currently with Eversource Energy.
19. Dr. Makoto Chiba, Visiting scholar, April 2018 – Sept. 2019, currently with Komatsu Ltd.
18. Dr. Mattewos Tefferi, PhD in Electrical Engineering, Graduated in 2019, currently with G&W Electric.
17. Dr. Shamima Nasreen, Postdoctoral fellow, Feb. 2018 – Jan. 2019, currently with Intel.
16. Prof. Dr. Reimund Gerhard: Visiting scholar, July 2018 – Sept. 2018, currently with Potsdam University, Professor.
15. Dr. Boya Zhang: Visiting scholar, Aug. 2016 – Sept. 2017, currently with Xi’an Jiaotong University, Associate Professor.
14. Zhengyu Li: Visiting scholar, Mar. 2016 – Sept. 2017, currently with Komatsu Ltd.
13. Justin Delarm, ME Undergraduate Research Assistant, 2017 – 2018, currently with Pratt Whitney.
12. Roberto Gambuti : Visiting scholar, Mar. 2017 – Aug. 2017, currently with University of Bologna.
11. Dr. Mona Ghassemi, Postdoctoral fellow, Nov. 2015 – Jul. 2017, currently with Virginia Tech (Assistant Professor).
10. Dan Wilbanks, EE Undergraduate Research Assistant, 2016 – 2018, currently with MITRE.
9. Dr. Shilei Ma: Postdoctoral fellow, Feb. 2012- Aug. 2016, currently with Dwyer Instruments.
8. Dr. Ming Ren: Visiting scholar, June 2015 – June. 2016, currently with Xi’an Jiaotong University (Associate Professor).
7. Dr. Huamao Zhan: Visiting scholar, May 2015 – May. 2016, currently with North China Electric Power University (Professor).
6. Dr. Jingfang Yu: Postdoctoral fellow, Sept. 2015 – May. 2016, currently with Oxford University.
5. Dr. Thinh H. Pham: Visiting scholar, Jan. 2014 – Dec. 2015, currently with USi.
4. Benjamin Barthier: Summer intern, Apr. 2015- June 2015, Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieurs de Recherche en Matériaux, France.
3. Qiuwei Yang: Summer intern, May 2015- July 2015, Cornell University/UMass Medical School (Med Dr. in 2022).
2. Dr. Hiroaki Uehara: Visiting scholar, Mar. 2014- April 2015, currently with Kanto Gakuin University, Japan (Professor).
1. Thomas Crollet: Summer intern, Apr. 2014- June 2014, Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieurs de Recherche en Matériaux, France.
