Cuzner talks to public radio about using microgrids to meet rising power demands

A seated man in a gray polo shirt looks at the camera.

Rob Cuzner, professor, electrical engineering, spoke on the “Lee Rayburn Show” on Wisconsin Public Radio Rising about meeting the rising demand in Wisconsin for electricity and the future of the energy grid in the age of data centers.

The discussion centered on what it takes to add more microgrids to meet the consumer demand and augment existing national grid.

One strategy of the utilities is to diversify the number of energy sources. That is where the microgrid concept comes in, said Cuzner. Microgrids integrate the generation of electricity from various sources and combine it with stored energy, providing outage protection for small areas. 

“When you get these power outages,” Cuzner told Rayburn, “it reminds you how hard it is to function without [power]. … During weather events the microgrid can take over and keep a whole community operational.”

But, like energy distribution itself, microgrids are complex, he added, and involve many pieces of equipment that need to communicate with one another. Cuzner explained how AI is now being used to improve the efficiency of power distribution in microgrids.

“If you get a short in your toaster, you don’t want the power in your whole house to go down. So you have this coordination that has to happen (to manage the flow of electricity). You need AI to help it interact with the distribution, especially at the extreme conditions when something bad is happening. It also plays a huge role in designing these systems.”

Listen to the entire conversation.

PhD student earns a national award from the U.S. DOE

Two men are shaking hands while they look at the camera. They are both wearing black and are standing in front of an ITAC poster.

Omar Shaker, PhD candidate, mechanical engineering, has received the Significant Contribution Award from the Expansion Industrial Training and Assessment Center (ITAC), a program of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The award recognizes students with more than one year of experience who have demonstrated sustained leadership, exceptional initiative, and significant contributions to the success of their ITAC program.

This program consists of more than 50 centers around the U.S. that prepare the next generation of energy-efficiency professionals while providing no-cost energy assessments to small- and medium-sized manufacturers.

The DOE provided $5.7M in 2024 to enlist UWM’s ITAC, which is led by Ryo Amano, professor, mechanical engineering, to expand its instruction to nine community and technical colleges across Wisconsin.

Shaker currently serves as the lead student at the UWM ITAC, where he continues to support workforce development and energy-efficiency initiatives for industry clients.

During his four years with the UWM ITAC, Shaker, who is a Certified Energy Manager and a LEED Green Associate, participated in 34 industrial energy assessments, mentored 10 engineering students, and played a key role in developing the UWM Expansion ITAC Consortia. He coordinated activities such as developing training programs, standardized reporting systems, and operational tools to support new ITAC centers at partner community colleges.

The award was present in July at the ITAC Expansion Directors meeting in Salt Lake City.

Six researchers in the college score in this round of Catalyst Grants

A man standing in a white lab coat on the left assists a man in a blue shirt on the right, seated, as they work on equipment at a table

The UWM Research Foundation has awarded $250,000 in new Catalyst Grant funding to five research teams in or affiliated with the college that are advancing technologies in artificial intelligence, energy systems, cybersecurity, and advanced materials.

Catalyst Grants provide critical support for UWM research projects with commercial potential.

Supported by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and additional partners the Rockwell Automation Charitable Corporation, Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, GE HealthCare, Clarios, and Invenergy. The program has led to: 

  • 72 issued patents
  • 35 license and option agreements
  • More than $49 million in follow-on investment

The newly funded projects are:

An AI-enabled cooling strategy for powerful electronics
Ryoichi Amano, Professor, Mechanical Engineering

As electric vehicle motors and AI data centers become more powerful, they produce more heat than today’s cooling systems can efficiently remove. This new approach combines a specially designed titanium metal heat sink, filled with tiny pores that greatly increase the surface area for transferring heat. Amano and graduate student Tarif Raihan are using AI that monitors temperatures and adjusts coolant flow before overheating occurs. By predicting heat spikes, the system can keep electronics cooler while using 20% less energy to pump coolant.

Grid-edge controller for transmission resiliency
Rob Cuzner, Professor, Electrical Engineering

As renewable energy and distributed energy sources are added to the electric grid, maintaining reliability becomes increasingly complex. Cuzner’s project will develop smart technology, such as an intelligent controller that continuously monitors electrical systems and predicts failures, to help keep electricity flowing during outages. The technology could have applications across utilities, microgrids, data centers, and other critical infrastructure.

Building in security for AI for industrial devices
Zhen Zeng, Assistant Professor, Computer Science

As AI systems are increasingly deployed on industrial sensors, robotics platforms, and medical devices, they face growing cybersecurity threats. Zeng is developing a lightweight, on-device defense that spots and removes malicious data before it can fool AI systems in industrial equipment. The solution is designed to protect real-time AI systems without requiring cloud computing or model retraining.

Hemp-based anodes for lithium-ion batteries
Deyang Qu, Distinguished Professor, Mechanical Engineering
Xiaoxiao Zhang, Scientist, Environmental Engineering

What could replace the expensive graphite in Li-ion rechargeable batteries? Qu and Zhang are developing a process to convert industrial hemp into high-performance carbon materials for lithium-ion battery anodes. By creating a sustainable, domestically sourced alternative to graphite, the project could strengthen U.S. battery manufacturing while creating new value for agricultural producers.

Nanometer-precision focus control for optical microscopy
Valerica Raicu, Professor, Physics, (affiliated, Electrical Engineering)
with Ionel Popa, Professor, Physics

Researchers studying living cells often face challenges caused by microscopic shifts in focus. Raicu and Popa are advancing a technology that provides real-time, focal-plane control with nanometer precision. The system has potential applications in biological research, drug discovery, and advanced microscopy facilities.

Tackling one of computing’s most challenging matching problems

Head shots of two computer scientists - a woman with dark hair and glasses on the left and a man with dark hair and glasses on the right.

What happens when everyone has an opinion about whom they’d like to be paired with? Whether matching students to schools, residents to hospitals or roommates to one another, accommodating everyone’s preferences is a surprisingly difficult mathematical problem.

That challenge is at the heart of a paper by Christine Cheng, associate professor, computer science, who recently received a best paper award at an international algorithms conference, the MATCH-UP 2026 conference. In the paper, Cheng and coauthor William Rosenbaum of the University of Liverpool ask a deceptively simple question: How do you pair people or organizations so that everyone ends up with the best possible outcome? Their answer is a faster algorithm to solve complex matching problems.

When preferences compete

“Matching is a field that’s of interest primarily to economists, computer scientists, mathematicians, and industrial engineers,” Cheng said. “It’s really multidisciplinary.”

The same mathematical principles can help assign medical residents to hospitals, students to schools of choice, scarce vaccines to priority populations, and other complex problems where people or organizations have competing preferences.

But there are two versions of this problem: In the “Stable Marriage” version, a member from each of two distinct groups is being paired by preference. In the “Stable Roommates” version, anyone can be paired with anyone else.

Cheng and Rosenberg’s paper tackles the latter, more difficult version of the problem, which is more complex and not as well-studied.

A little background on matching

The foundation for modern matching theory dates back to a landmark 1962 paper by David Gale and Lloyd Shapley, who developed an algorithm to solve what became known as the “Stable Marriage” problem where you’re pairing up two sides – men and women in this case.  

Decades later, economist Alvin Roth showed that the same approach matched medical residents with hospitals in the United States, demonstrating a remarkable case where mathematical theory and real-world practice converged, said Cheng. Roth and Shapley shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for that work.

But neither of these examples describes the “Stable Roommate” problem.

In their paper, Cheng and Rosenbaum dig into the “Stable Roommate” case by first assuming that each person in one large pool assigns a cost, or weight, to every possible partner. The goal is not only to find a stable matching, but the optimal stable matching – the one with the lowest total cost across all pairs.

Generalizing math structure

They do this by looking at the underlying mathematical structure of the easier “Stable Marriage” case. By quantifying how similar a “Stable Roommates” instance is to a “Stable Marriage” instance, the authors designed an algorithm that performs well whenever that gap is small.

“The idea is, if your problem instance is very close to the bipartite, or the two-sided version of the problem, the algorithm will run fast,” Cheng said. “And as you get further and further away, it will be slower.”

The algorithm could influence far more than matching theory if it resolves the matching in a short time frame.

Cheng credits her sabbatical last year with allowing her to focus on this research.

“The sabbatical gives you that downtime where you can have much less interruption,” she said. “And you’re much more able to pursue problems that are more difficult because of that.”

Alum creates a hedge fund, that uses AI to improve investment decision-making

Divyanshu Verma (’25 MS computer science and finance) is founder and managing partner of Milwaukee-based hedge fund Verma Research Capital (VRC). The company recently closed a $4.3 million funding round aimed at helping its clients invest in short-term quantitative and high-frequency trading and buy long-term equities, said Verma.

VRC was featured in a story in BizTimes.com in April 2026.

head and sholders shot of a man with dark hair and glasses, wearing a purple shirt and dark jacket/tie.

Central to his company is an LLM (large language model) Verma developed called AEGIS, an AI-based proprietary research platform that enables investment and valuation research that traditionally takes months to be completed in minutes.

Story on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website features the college’s WEP

Professor Qian Liao was quoted in an article about the college’s Water Equipment and Policy Center (WEP), which he directs.The center was launched with funding from the National Science Foundation to encourage industry-university partnership on water-related research.

WEP has become a recognized model for collaboration across universities and industry, Liao said. And, through industry-guided research projects, UWM students get hands-on experience in the field.

When the WEP center was founded in 2010, it was the first time UWM had joined an NSF industry-university collaborative research center. Marquette is the other university partner, along with a growing list of corporate partners. Today, more than 80 such partnerships are now in operation across the country and the college is a member in three.

The NSF provides administration seed money to launch a shared program consisting of at least two universities and 10 companies, who jointly decide what problems they will set out to solve. Read more about the WEP in the article.

MMAC newsletter includes a story about UWM’s ITAC

Three man look at the camera with a banner behind them. All are wearing matching black button-down shirts and the ones on either end are wearing glasses.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce featured the college’s Industrial Training and Assessment Center (ITAC) in its current issue.

UWM’s ITAC is one of 37 nationwide and the only one in Wisconsin. ITACs were established to support small and medium-sized manufacturers through free energy efficiency and waste assessments. Participating companies have seen an annual average of $150,000 in recommended savings and the center has an average implementation rate of 40%.

UWM’s center also supports nine community colleges throughout the Midwest through its expansion program that was launched three years ago. By extending the training for such services, the aim is for each college to become an independent ITAC, while also teaching students to become certified to conduct this specialized work.  

McRoy explains the magic word behind modern tech on NPR

What do artificial intelligence, smartphone apps, GPS directions and online shopping recommendations all have in common?

Algorithms.

Recently, NPR’s “Word of the Week” feature explored the fascinating origin of the word “algorithm” in a story, “How ‘algorithm’ got its name from a 9th-century Persian mathematician.”

To help explain why algorithms matter so much today, NPR turned to UWM computer science professor Susan McRoy.

“The real idea of an algorithm is something that has enabled us to control really complex and wonderful technology,” McRoy told NPR.

It’s a fitting description for a concept that quietly powers much of modern life.

Algorithms are step-by-step instructions that help computers solve problems, make decisions and process information. They’re also the foundation of artificial intelligence.

In fact, it’s difficult to describe AI without talking about algorithms first. Every chatbot response, image generator and recommendation engine relies on algorithms working behind the scenes. Listen to the report.

College hosts international conference on industrial engineering

A large group of people wearing florescent yellow vest inside a warehouse with a giant construction vehicle in the background. One person is sitting on the wheel.

The Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering recently hosted an international conference of the Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Society (IEOM) on campus with Associate Professor Wilkistar Otieno serving as the Conference Chair. The June event drew hundreds of participants from 35 countries who gathered to provide insights into the latest advancements in these fields.

UWM faculty members presenting included Wilkistar Otieno (Women in Industry and Academia), Matthew Petering (Supply Chain Management), Iftekharuddin Khan (Continuous Improvement), and several students who gave research presentations.

Alumnus Ahad Ali (PhD ’03) launched the organization in 2009. Since then, the IEOM Society has become a global organization for academics, researchers, and industry scientists, to exchange ideas. IEOM has more than 49,000 members from 151 countries.

A woman speaking at a podium. She has brown hair and is wearing a dark suit jacket. A college banner is behind her.
Canan Bilen-Green, UWM Associate Provost, Academic Affairs, gives the opening remarks.
Two men in suits standing side by side looking at the camera. Man on the left has a gray beard. Man on the right is wearing a cream-colored jacket.
UWM teaching faculty Iftekharuddin Khan (left) poses with Ahad Ali (PhD ’03), who launched the IEOM Society in 2009. He also is associate professor at Lawrence Technological University.
A group shot of four - two women and two men displaying a plaque. One woman is wearing a red dress and the other has a headscarf. One man is dark-skinned and wearing a tan suit. The other is white in a dark suit jacket.
Graduate student Sajede Farahani (second from right) was one of the UWM students who made a research presentation at the event. Others pictured are (from left) UWM Associate Professor Wilkistar Otieno (conference chair and mentor to Farahani), Ahad Ali and Don Reimer, founder and CEO, respectively, of the IEOM Society.
A large crowd of people, all looking at the camera.
A portion of the conference attendees met at the new Chemistry building. Next year’s North American IEOM conference will be hosted by Northeastern University in Boston.
Three men and a woman (in the middle) display a plaque. The woman is wearing a red dress and black jacket. The man on the left is in a tan suit, the man next to him is in a gray suit and has glasses on. The man on the right is in a dark suit.
Associate Professor Wilkistar Otieno was given a teaching and curriculum development award by Paul Perkins (just left of Otieno) of Amatrol, a manufacturer or technical learning systems for her contributions to curriculum development in connected systems. Otieno also was named an IEOM Fellow at the event. Ahad Ali (far left) and Don Reimer, founder and CEO, respectively, of the IEOM Society were present.
A group of people gather around a trunk-like device in an industrial setting. Most are looking at one person wearing a light blue shirt who is describing the device.
Participants take a tour of the Milwaukee plant of Rockwell Automation.

Opening remarks or keynotes by UWM faculty over the four-day event included:

  • Canan Bilen-Green, UWM Associate Provost, Academic Affairs
  • Ethan Munson, UWM professor emerit, computer science
  • Chia Vang, UWM Vice Chancellor, Community Empowerment and Institutional Inclusivity
  • Associate Dean Prasenjit Guptasarma, Associate Dean, Engineering & Applied Science (keynote)
     

Three members of the IME department’s industry advisory members also presented:
Michael Cook (Rockwell Automation), Jeffrey Wood (Generac Power Systems), and Girish Gopalakrishnan (Case New Holland).

Many awards were presented, including some to UWM faculty, staff, and a student. Amatrol, a manufacturer or technical learning systems, recognized Otieno’s work with industry partners to develop the Connected Systems course which later led into the establishment of the UWM’s MS program in Connected Systems Engineering.

Others:

  • Iftekharuddin Khan – Lifetime Engineering Education Award
  • Matthew Petering – Outstanding Researcher Award
  • Satya Aditya Akundi – Outstanding teaching award in Project Management
  • Joe Hamman – Distinguished Industry Practitioner Award
  • UWM master’s student Faria H Bhuiya (Ilya Avdeev, advisor): first place in poster competition
  • Chia Youyee Vang: Distinguished Woman in Industry and Academia Award

Students from the college presenting their research included:

  • Sajede Farahani (Wilkistar Otieno, advisor)
  • Reza Jazemi (Jaejin Jang, advisor)
  • Faria Bhuyia (Ilya Avdeev, advisor)
  • Nayan Banik (Habib Rahman, advisor)

UWM showed its engineering strengths at statewide manufacturing summit

Two men in black shirts greet visitors to the UWM energy audit booth at an engineering summit.

Over 700 industry leaders, educators, researchers, and policymakers recently gathered for an inaugural manufacturing summit focused on strengthening Wisconsin’s position as a national manufacturing leader, leveraging rapidly evolving technologies like AI, digital twins, and smart automation, and autonomous manufacturing.

As a co-sponsor of the Wisconsin Drives Manufacturing Summit, UWM played a key role in bringing together stakeholders at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field to identify a statewide strategy for the transformation of manufacturing. UWM Chancellor Thomas Gibson opened the event, emphasizing the importance of collaboration as the next step for transforming the industry.

“Events like this are critical to driving economic growth, advancing technology adoption, and building the skilled workforce our state depends on,” Gibson told the crowd.

Two men, one in a dark suit speaking at a podium , and another in a light blue jacket sitting on the right.
UWM Chancellor Thomas Gibson addresses the crowd at the opening of the inaugural manufacturing summit, while Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich looks on.
Two men in gray suits face each other. The one on the left has a beard and the one on the right is bald.
Brett Peters, Dean of UWM’s College of Engineering & Applied Science, left, catches up with Devesh Ranjan, Grainger Dean of the College of Engineering at UW-Madison.
a man with glasses speaks at a podium branded "Lambeau Field." The stage background show pink gear shapes on a black background.
Ali Abedi, UWM Vice Chancellor for Research, was one of those giving the opening remarks at the event.
A large crowd faces the stage at the Lambeau Field indoor Atrium.
An estimated 700 visitors attended the two-day event at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.
A closeup of a poster illustrating the facets of a manufacturing ecosystem. Main colors are red and blue.
Brian Thompson, UWM’s Chief Innovation & Partnership Officer, created this graphic that provides a visual of the various members of the innovation ecosystem and their links to one another.
Two men pose for photos. The one on the left is bald and has glasses. The one on the right is wearing a light blue button-down shirt.
Joe Hamann, Executive Director of UWM’s Connected Systems Institute, left, poses for photos with Arturo Hernández, vice president, Zurn Elkay Water Solutions and a member of the Industrial Advisory Board for the event.
An older man at a table bends over to pour molton tin into a mold to show an onlooker in a brown jacket.
Regs Scheeler, Director of the American Foundry Society, Wisconsin Chapter, gives a demonstration with molten metal at the UWM booth in the “Innovation Showcase.”
Two women stand on either side of a bald man in glasses and a yellow tie, all looking at the camera with a UWM poster behind them.
UWM Chancellor Thomas Gibson visits with recently graduated bachelor’s students at the “Innovation Showcase.”

The opening-day “Innovation Showcase” featured UWM’s Connected Systems Institute (CSI), a nine-year-old hub created with Rockwell Automation, Microsoft, and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. The institute fosters collaboration between researchers, students, and industry partners to enable development and advancement of the future manufacturing workforce.

Getting everyone on the same page

The CSI increased its impact with last year’s opening of the Microsoft AI Co-Innovation Lab, a project supported through Microsoft’s $3.3 billion investment in southeast Wisconsin which also funded Titletown Tech. The lab is Microsoft’s first manufacturing-focused artificial intelligence lab designed to help manufacturers explore and implement AI solutions. So far, 50 companies have brought projects to the Co-Innovation Lab.

“We’re eager to continue to help lead this group, along with our other UW campuses and the CSI, not only to provide advanced talent, but also to examine how each of us fits into the bigger picture,” said Brett Peters, dean of the UWM College of Engineering & Applied Science. “Broadening and activating our network of allies will be essential if we hope to boost Wisconsin from its current second place ranking in U.S. manufacturing.”

Advanced technologies affecting manufacturing are the same ones that can reimagine the operations of companies in a vast array of fields, from biohealth and transportation to packaging and fusion energy, he added.

“What the Wisconsin Drives Manufacturing revealed is that most of us are fighting the same battles — we just hadn’t been in the same room,” said Arturo Hernandez, vice president and general manager of Zurn-Elkay and a member of the Industrial Advisory Board for the event. “No one is coming to rescue Wisconsin manufacturing — it’s on us. And partnerships like this show we’re more than capable of shaping what comes next.”

Next steps

Summit leadership team, including representatives from UWM, identified more than 20 follow-up actions to advance manufacturing competitiveness in Wisconsin, said Joseph Hamann, executive director of the CSI.

“Over the next 90 to 180 days, our focus will be translating these actions into tangible outcomes that enable strengthened workforce pipelines and accelerated adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies,” Hamann said. “In parallel, we will work with partners across the state to shape the next iteration of the summit in 2027, informed by progress and priorities emerging from this work.”

On the education side, UWM already has joined forces with six technical colleges to put in place more efficient pathways from the classroom to careers and designed a new engineering major that makes it possible for transfer students from technical colleges to complete an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree in less time.

Some of the college’s faculty and students highlighted their work at the summit, ranging from next-gen semiconductor chip research and advanced materials to AI-driven robotics and federally supported energy assessments for small and medium-sized manufacturers.