IGERT Story
Trainee interviewed on Shades of Green Radio Show about collaboration with the Pecan Street Smart Grid Demonstration Project
Description
“Growing up in Austin, my family and I would take trips to the Panhandle and I would see these huge wind turbines. I asked my dad when I grow up, can I work with those?" He said, “Yes, you’ll have to become an engineer.” And, the pathway was created for Erin Keys. Today, she is a graduate student in mechanical engineering and a member of the IGERT in Sustainable Grid Integration of Distributed and Renewable Energy Systems at the University of Texas at Austin.
Erin, Dr. Robert Hebner, Director of the UT Center for Electromechanics, and Colin Rowan, President of Rowan Communication, were interviewed on the Shades of Green segment on KOOP community radio about the smart grid and the dedication of the Pike Powers Lab located in the Mueller community. As a researcher with the Pecan Street Project (http://www.pecanstreet.org/), Erin is actively engaged in the Pecan Street Smart Grid Demonstration Project investigating power quality and the use of electricity in the Mueller community. When asked about her radio appearance, Erin stated, “Representing UT and the IGERT program is always an honor, but doing so on the radio was extra special because the message I relayed reached an even broader audience. I hope to continue spreading the word about the cool things happening at the Pecan Street Demonstration Project via media outlets like Shades of Green.”
