The research of GRAPES is helping Southeast Wisconsin emerge as a leader in the energy revolution

In May, members of a National Science Foundation-backed research center that focuses on energy solutions held their annual review meeting at UWM. One result was the addition of four Midwest members to this Industry/University Cooperative Research Center that aims to make electricity more dependable, greener and less expensive.

The meeting brought industry and university members of GRAPES (GRid-connected Advanced Power Electronic Systems) to campus, during which time the more than 60 attendees reviewed their ongoing research projects, toured UWM’s semi-anechoic chamber (used for electromagnetic interference, or EMI, testing) at Century City Tower, saw a demonstration of UWM’s microgrid, and got a glimpse of why southeast Wisconsin is emerging as a leader in the energy revolution.

The meeting also included hardware demonstrations by UWM engineering graduate students and presentations by GRAPES’s international affiliate members–RWTH Aachen University (Germany), Korea University (South Korea) and Yonsei University (South Korea).

“GRAPES’s research is affecting how Americans access and use renewable energy sources,” said Rob Cuzner, GRAPES site leader at UWM. “It’s also changing the future electrification of transportation systems, including ships, automobiles and aircraft.”

Cuzner—an expert in power conversion and distribution, with more than 30 years of experience in the field—is an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and director of UWM’s Center for Sustainable Electrical Energy Systems.

The two-day meeting, he said, was a perfect opportunity to highlight the region’s capabilities in this area. Southeast Wisconsin has everything needed to be the Silicon Valley of emerging technologies for storing, controlling and distributing energy,” Cuzner said. “UWM already is a leading research institution in both energy storage and electric grid technology.”


Founded in 2009, GRAPES is an NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) whose members include UWM, University of Arkansas, University of South Carolina, and 18 industrial and government members. Members vote on annual research projects during a separate meeting held at the University of Arkansas each November. 

4 new members joined GRAPES

In preparation for this meeting, Cuzner, along with Bill Weber, outreach program manager for UWM’s Center for Sustainable Electrical Energy Systems, and Mike Andrew, director of corporate relations for the college, visited industries throughout the greater Midwest to introduce them to UWM’s research into power, power conversion, generation, energy and distribution-based controls and protection, and energy-system solutions. 

This meeting saw the addition of four new Midwest GRAPES members:

  • Dynamic Ratings (Sussex, WI), which develops monitoring, controls and communications solutions for distribution, transmission and industrial assets
  • Kohler Power Systems (Sheboygan, WI), which develops generators, UPS systems and microgrid solutions
  • Electronic Concepts (Waukegan, IL) which manufactures film capacitors
  • Midwest Engineered Components (Burnsville, MN), a distributor and representative of electronic component vendors.

The new members join long-standing Wisconsin members that include Eaton, Leonardo DRS and We Energies.

Visiting companies in attendance included Badger Technology Group (Port Washington, WI), Generac (Waukesha, WI) Vitesco Technologies (Deer Park, Illinois) and Hitachi Energy (Raleigh, NC).

“There are benefits to being a member of GRAPES,” Cuzner said.

GRAPES provides an opportunity for industries to partner with UWM researchers and students to develop new technologies to store, control and distribute energy,” he said. “All GRAPES’s innovations are compatible with the existing grid and power and energy systems and are efficient, power dense, reliable and resilient.”

To learn more about membership in GRAPES, contact Cuzner at cuzner@uwm.edu.