News Article

            A current Gonzaga University electrical engineering student, a 2007 GU graduate in the same discipline and their faculty adviser captured second place for their entry in the Student Paper Competition at the 39th annual North American Power Symposium.
            The paper, titled “Electric Secondary Distribution System Design,” was authored by students Calib A. Burk and John Z. Gibson; engineering Professor Juan L. Bala, Jr. was their adviser. Burk presented the paper, and was awarded a certificate of merit at the conference held earlier this month in Las Cruces, N.M.
            In May (2007), Burk graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, and is employed by Schneider Electric Engineering Services in California. Gibson is an engineer with Avista Utilities, and is presently pursuing the same degree. Bala served as technical adviser to the design project. Their paper is based on a Senior Design Project the group had worked on for Avista Utilities and Gonzaga’s Center for Engineering Design. The project aimed to identify and evaluate alternatives to reduce energy losses in electric secondary distribution systems.
            The North American Power Symposium is held each year, and is sponsored by the IEEE Power Engineering Society and the National Science Foundation. (IEEE was originally an acronym for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Today, the organization’s scope of interest has expanded into so many related fields, that it is simply referred to by the letters IEEE.)
This year’s symposium was hosted by New Mexico State University. The purpose of the symposium is to stimulate advanced scholarly work and more research in the field of electric power engineering. It is a forum where advanced students, their academic advisers and practicing engineers can present the results of their work, discuss the activities of their colleagues and publish their technical accomplishments with minimum delay.
            More than 100 technical papers were presented at the symposium this year. With few exceptions, authors of papers were graduate students, together with faculty advisers. To qualify for the competition, student authors were required to present their papers at the symposium. There were papers from most of the major universities and colleges in the United States, and some from other countries, including Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, Egypt, Greece, Haiti, India, Iran, Japan, Korea and Mexico.
            For more information, contact Professor Bala at (509) 323-3537 or via e-mail at bala@gonzaga.edu.