Sandia National Labs Academic Programs Collaboration Report

Gaming for electric power grids sounds like fun, but it’s a serious focus for Sandia and Georgia Tech Gaming for electric power grid resilliency The U.S. energy system is under attack, and we have vulnerabilities as a nation. The seven-year Resilient Energy Systems (RES) Mission Campaign is a $40 million investment at Sandia focused on coordinated foundational research and development. The science and technologies that result from the coordinated work with academic institutions like Georgia Tech, regulatory agencies, industry, and public utilities will lead to an electric grid and energy infrastructure that is more resilient to man-made threats. RES is sponsoring a Vertically Integrated Project s (VIP), “Gaming for Electric Power Grids,” that will allow Sandia to engage students in a way that is aligned both with the topic and timescale of the Mission Campaign. The VIP model provides students with the ability to gain deeper insights into their field of study, learn about real-world applications and practice professional skills, engage with industry, and experience different roles on large, multidisciplinary teams. In April 2022, a visit by Sandia’s RES leadership to the GT campus connected RES to the Vertically Integrated Projects faculty sponsor, Dan Molzahn, and the Artificial Intelligence Institute for Advances in Optimization (AI4Opt) National Science Foundation Center, which RES is joining.

CONTRIBUTOR Spotlight

Georgia Tech’s Dan Molzahn, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, focuses on developing new optimization

and control algorithms to improve the reliability, resiliency, and efficiency of electric power systems.

Sandia’s Resilient Energy Systems Testbed Facilities provide a demonstrator system to prove out capabilities emerging from the Labs’ R&D portfolio, demonstrate success as an aggregator, platform and resource hub, and facilitate experimentation through partnerships.

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Academic Programs