Research summer school
Rays for excellence
Rays is a summer research school aimed at students who are in their second year of high school and who have a burning interest in science, technology and mathematics. EECS Doctoral student Priyanka Shinde mentored two students during these weeks.
Doctoral student Priyanka Shinde at the Department of Electrical Engineering, mentored two of the students, William and Johan. She designed their project to get them acquainted with the basics of electricity markets, optimization theory and power systems engineering.
At the end of the program, the students presented their work in a formal report and a public presentation at the Technical Museum in Stockholm, where all 21 students, their parents, summer school organizers and all mentors from different universities participated.
Hi Priyanka! Please tell us about research summer school and your participation in it.
"Every year, Rays for excellence summer research school selects 21 students, with a burning interest in science, technology and mathematics, who are in their second year of Gymnasium from all across Sweden. The idea of the summer school is to nurture the young talent by providing them the opportunity to reach their full potential as future leaders for research at an early stage. These students get to spend a couple of weeks with a researcher at a university to work on a research project."
"This year I was offered to be the mentor for two of these students, William and Johan, and I am very happy to have chosen to be one. I designed their project and helped them get acquainted with the basics of electricity markets, optimization theory, and power systems engineering. During the second week, I guided them to formulate and implement a Python code for bilevel optimization with strategic electric vehicles’ (EV) aggregator participating in the Day-ahead electricity market."
"After getting an introduction about the importance of planning the electricity generation, transmission, and consumption, Johan and William are fascinated by the potential of clean energy sources in combating the climate change."
Why is this important to you and to society?
"I believe that many more people need to join the movement towards effective energy transition to safeguard the future of our planet. By motivating and creating future leaders who can take the energy transition forward, we can ensure a sustainable growth towards the clean energy future. It is through this research school program that I got a platform to mentor Johan and William, who will further encourage many more people to help us combat the climate change issue through fostering collaborations in innovative projects in the field of energy."
"Besides these outcomes, the overall experience also improved my pedagogical skills and I feel more confident in explaining complicated topics in simple language through easy examples."
Please tell us about the students you mentored and their work during the summer.
"One of the two students whom I mentored includes Johan Alm who is studying at Polhemskolan in Lund. William Sonnerklev is another student whom I had the pleasure of mentoring. He is studying at ABB Industrigymnasium in Västerås. Both have a strong background in physics and mathematics and deep interest in coding and solving challenging problems. I have been amazed by their desire to explore the unanswered problems in the realm of science and beyond."
"As a part of their research project, they learnt about how the planning and operation of different types of electricity generation, transmission and consumption assets take place. They also learnt about the mathematical tools including optimization theory that are utilized for solving these problems. They were introduced to the concept of electricity trading through market setups and how it is instrumental in integrating clean energy sources. After acknowledging the need for demand side participation in providing flexibility in the power systems, they carried out their research project on trading of EV aggregator in day-ahead electricity market to optimize it's energy usage. At the end of their program, the students disseminated their work in the form of a formal report and a public presentation at the Tekniska Museet in Stockholm on 16 July which was attended by all the 21 students, the organizers of the summer school and their parents and all the mentors from various universities."
Do you think they will pursue with studies within the field?
"After getting an introduction about the importance of planning the electricity generation, transmission, and consumption, Johan and William are fascinated by the potential of clean energy sources in combating the climate change. This coupled with their passion to contribute towards the energy transition has made them curious about diving into the details of the subject by seeking a formal education in this field. They are also interested in building innovative solutions for energy usage by combining traditional methods like mathematical modeling with contemporary methods including machine learning."