CPES Programs Provide Collaborative Research Opportunities for Undergraduate Students

As a five-university research center, the Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) has been challenged to develop innovative programs supporting a culture of exchange among faculty and students. In 2002, CPES established Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs at Virginia Tech (VT) and the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (UPRM). This program complemented an existing student-developed initiative to provide short-term exchange opportunities to undergraduate and graduate students interested in performing collaborative work in power electronics.

Through the existing short-term exchange program, CPES is able to invite graduate students for a parallel 8-week summer research experience. In 2003 and 2004, CPES has hosted REU and graduate exchange students from the same home campuses, providing undergraduate students who are new to CPES and power electronics with experienced mentors from both their home campus and the VT campus. The pairing of these two programs has also allowed the Center to maintain closer contact with program participants over time, and has provided opportunities to create a support system for participating students to continue their research after they return to their home campus.

In 2002, REU students from North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T) extended their REU experience into the following semester by completing their senior design project using VT laboratory facilities. The students in turn shared the benefits of their exchange experience with their senior design group. In Summer 2003, REU participants from Summer 2002 returned to VT as graduate student researchers and mentors for the 2003 REU students.