A student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University recently had his paper accepted by a prestigious Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) conference.
Stephen McConnell’s paper titled "Evaluation Method for Arc Fault Detection Algorithms" was accepted for presentation at the IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference. The paper was based on a portion of his undergraduate thesis, and Dr. Robert Balog was his undergraduate thesis advisor. It details a method to gauge the effectiveness of techniques used to prevent electric arcs in photovoltaic arrays. The targeted benefit is a reduction in the risk of fire related to solar farms or residential solar panel installations.
McConnell was raised in Bryan and graduated from Bryan High School. After his freshman year at Texas A&M, he served as a two-year volunteer missionary in Thailand, where he learned to speak Thai. During completion of his undergraduate degree at Texas A&M, McConnell began working for Anuncio Digital Media and the Reynolds & Reynolds companies in College Station.
McConnell participated in the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates program in summer 2011 at Texas A&M studying solar power and its applications to the smart grid. After completing this first research experience, he found opportunities to pursue further research interning at Sandia National Laboratories in the summer of 2012 and Argonne National Laboratory in the summer of 2013. McConnell graduated in May 2014 as an Undergraduate Research Scholar having written a thesis entitled “Photovoltaic Arc-Fault Detection.” He also is three time awardee of the IEEE Power & Energy Society scholarship which demonstrates student commitment to power and energy related courses and internships.
Now pursuing a Master of Science degree at Texas A&M under the advisement of Balog in the Renewable Energy and Advanced Power Electronics Research (REAPER) Lab, McConnell’s research interests include applying signal-processing techniques to renewable energy power generation.
His hobbies include singing, playing the piano, tennis and gymnastics.