STV Director of Sustainable Design Lauren Alger, PE, ENV SP, received the prestigious Grainger Grant from the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for electric bus microgrid resilience research efforts with Ohio State University’s Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Qadeer Ahmed.
Only one of two Grainger grants awarded by NAE, the Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Grants provides $30,000 of seed funding to two separate projects led by attendees of the Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering 2023 Symposium. Alger and Ahmed’s project titled “Enhancing microgrid resilience using a fleet of electric buses” focuses on improving resilience measures for the largest form of mass transit in the United States.
Alger and Ahmed will use the seed funding from the Grainger Grant to support the collaboration between STV and the Ohio State University Sustainability Institute on managing battery loads for electric school buses, deployment challenges and energy infrastructure.
“Qadeer and I are so grateful for this support from the Grainger Foundation and NAE—this grant will drive greater collaboration between STV and the Ohio State University Sustainability Institute’s research to support the decarbonization of our transportation systems,” said Alger, who is part of STV’s multidisciplinary team leading the firm’s first Sustainability Action Plan.
“As electric buses replace diesel-powered fleets across the U.S., they’ll need a robust and resilient charging network,” said Michael Broe, STV’s senior engineering operations manager. “We’re identifying how electric bus fleets will need to operate and interact with microgrids, which are local grids that operate separately from the main grid.”
Alger is part of an influential group of emerging engineering leaders pioneering cutting-edge research and ideas that will advance the industry. As one of 81 participants selected to attend last year’s Grainger symposium, Alger exchanged ideas around four focus areas in health care systems, mining and mineral resource production, resilience and security in the information ecosystem and engineering quantum systems.
