News
The SPARK Lab within PEIK Marks its 10th Anniversary
Apr 6th, 2026
Pictured: Current and graduated SPARK Lab members during the latest edition of the IEEE ECCE Conference in Philadelphia, PA. Since its establishment ten years ago, the lab has had more than thirty members, mostly PhD students.
This semester, the SPARK Lab, which is organized at University of Kentucky (UK) within the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, the ECE Department, and is affiliated with the Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK), marks its 10th anniversary. The group has been established by Dan M. Ionel, PhD, IEEE Fellow, shortly after starting at UK as ECE Professor and the inaugural L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power, and welcomed its first postdoctoral researcher and PhD student in early 2016.
Since then, more than 20 research lab members, mostly PhD students, together with UGRF, USP, and MS students, and post docs, have already completed and graduated, and moved on to successful careers. In this academic year, the lab has been operating with 8 PhD students, one UGRF, and 2 USP/AMP for PhD students. Over the years, the SPARK Lab had student members, visiting faculty, and close collaborators from many counties of Kentucky and from all the continents of the world, except Antarctica. The lab has included: 5 NSF Graduate Research Fellows, 2 NASA KY Fellows, and one Department of Education GAANN Fellows, 3 recipients of the Pigman College of Engineering Outstanding PhD Student Award, many recipients of Pigman scholarships and Lighthouse Beacon Foundation fellowships, IEEE PES scholarships and international paper awards.
The SPARK group members have been regularly attending the series of major IEEE national and international conferences: ECCE, IEMDC, PES GM, PES T&D, and ICRERA. were they have received over the years many paper, poster, and technical demonstration awards, as separately reported in previous news. In 2020, Dr. Ionel received the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) Veinott Award, the highest PES distinction for electromechanical energy conversion. In 2024, while on sabbatical in England, he was awarded a most prestigious Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at University of Bath, while also extending ongoing collaboration with University of Oxford, and was appointed Honorary Professor at University College London (UCL).
The SPARK Lab research projects have received multi-million-dollar funding from federal agencies, such as NSF, NASA, and DOE, and directly from industry and utilities. The development of advanced experimental and computational laboratory capabilities in the newly refurbished Grehan building greatly benefited from most generous donations by Stanley and Karen Pigman. The research on electric power components and systems includes topics, such as electric machines and power electronic drives, electric vehicles and aircraft, alternative energy systems, smart grid and buildings, integration of renewable energy systems, energy storage with batteries, and power system resilience, and has been documented in more than 200 peer reviewed journal and conference publications. Papers and dissertations are available from the UKnowledge online repository and from the Publications page of the SPARK website.
The photograph, which was taken during the latest edition of the IEEE ECCE Conference, the largest joint technical event of the Power Electronics and Industry Applications IEEE Societies, includes current and former members of the SPARK Lab, from left to right: Ali Mohammadi, former PhD student now with Nidec Aerospace; Matteo Deponti, visiting PhD student from Politecnico di Millano; Diego Lopez-Guerrero, PhD student; Matin Vatani, PhD student/candidate; Abdullah Al Hadi former postdoc now with Toyota Research Institute; Kwabena Kyeremeh, PhD student/candidate; Dan M. Ionel, PhD, FIEEE, ECE Professor and L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power, Director of the SPARK Lab; Donovin Lewis, former PhD student now with ABB; Rosemary Alden, former PhD student and now with ABB; Steven Poore, PhD student/candidate; Lucas Gastineau, PhD student; David Stewart, PhD student; and Huangjie Gong, former PhD student now with ABB. Not in the photo, and fulfilling commitments for IEEE and ECCE were Vandana Rallabandi, the inaugural SPARK postdoc, now with Oak Ridge National Lab and General Chair for an upcoming IEEE IEMDC conference, and Narges Taran, the inaugural SPARK Lab PhD student, now with Ford and Vice Chair of the IEEE IAS EM Committee.
The SPARK Lab continues its successful activity with three PhD students graduated in the last nine months and two expected to graduate with BS this May and to continue through the AMP program directly for PhD in the fall. The SPARK Lab looks forward to further contributions for supporting students and fulfilling the mission of the University of Kentucky, and of the L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power endowment.
SPARK and PEIK Recently Graduated and Ongoing NSF Graduate Research Fellows
Apr 2nd, 2026
Pictured: Following the most recent UK winter commencement ceremony, from left to right: David Stewart, PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow (GRF); Diego Lopez-Guerrero, PhD student; Steven Poore, PhD student and NSF GRF; Rosemary Alden, PhD graduate and NSF GRF; Donovin Lewis, PhD graduate and NSF GRF; Gaurav Yadav, PhD graduate; Matteo Deponti, PhD student visiting from Politecnico di Milano; and Kwabena Kyeremeh, PhD student.
This semester yet another generational transition of electrical engineering (EE) PhD students takes place in the SPARK Lab, which is affiliated with the Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK) at the University of Kentucky (UK) Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering. The photographs feature five National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research (GR) Fellows from the SPARK Lab: Rosemary Alden from Nicholasville, KY; Donovin Lewis from Paducah, KY; Steven Poore from Middlesboro, KY; Lucas Gastineau from Louisville, KY; and David Stewart from Flat Lick, KY.
All five students completed their BS in EE at UK and continued directly for PhD having received the highly competitive and prestigious NSF Graduate Research (GR) Fellowship. Since 1952, the NSF GR Fellowship program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing full-time research-based graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Rosemary and Donovin, who were awarded the NSF GR Fellowship in 2021, have recently graduated and joined different departments of the Raleigh, NC, based US corporate R&D center of ABB, a global industrial technology leader in electrification and automation and a Fortune 500 company. Steven, who was awarded the NSF GR Fellowship in 2023, as well as Lucas and David, who were awarded in 2025, continue their PhD studies at UK.
The two SPARK Lab newest NSF GR Fellows, Lucas and David, were among the only 33 who were selected from all US universities for Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 2025, when approximately 1,500 fellowships were awarded nationwide for all topics following a very highly selective review process. Each fellowship provides support over a five-year period, to include a stipend and cost of education allowance to cover all tuition and mandatory fees at the graduate degree-granting university. The fellowship is portable and can be transferred to a different institution of higher education, but all the SPARK Lab students decided to stay at UK, where they found an ideal academic home.
While at UK, the students have collaborated and contributed to advanced research projects sponsored by NSF, DOE, and NASA, and directly by industry and utilities on topics of electric power components and systems. Their research experience included summer visits and remote collaboration in the US with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and in England with University of Oxford, Bath University, and University College London (UCL).
The students have also regularly participated in very large IEEE conferences, and received paper and poster awards, as separately reported in different SPARK and PEIK news. Their main research is covered in the many journal and conference papers available online in authors’ manuscript versions accepted for publication from the UKnowledge repository or the Publications page of the SPARK website.
During their undergraduate and graduate studies, the students benefited of additional support, such as that provided through UK's President's and Provost's scholarships, Lighthouse Beacon Foundation fellowships, the Pigman Scholars Program, and the IEEE PES Scholarship Plus Program. The students' undergraduate research sponsorship included NSF and NASA REUs, UK Undergraduate Research Fellowships, support through the L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power endowment at UK, and research projects federally or industrially sponsored. Rosemary and Donovin received the Pigman College of Engineering Outstanding PhD Student award in 2023 and 2024, respectively. The five students were executive members of the IEEE PES and IAS student chapter at UK, and depending on their technical interests, participated in student teams such as the national champion UK Solar Car, the electric boat, and the IEEE robotics, for which they made significant contributions and held leadership positions.
The students started early the research in the SPARK Lab, as sophomore or juniors, and continued through the USP and more recently the AMP programs, that enable the integration of the BS and PhD program and accelerated completion of the coursework. The SPARK group typically includes around ten members, mostly PhD national and international students, who benefit of close faculty advising, as well as of friendly support and mentoring by more senior students. Often the students continue collaboration after graduation, as is the case with Rosemary and Donovin, who currently work on joint papers with UK colleagues on topics of AI applied to data centers and electric machines, special drives and wireless power transfer. In the SPARK Lab, the students are all directly advised by Dan M. Ionel, PhD, FIEEE, ECE Professor and L. Stanley Pigman Chair in Power.
Pictured: SPARK Lab NSF Graduate Research Fellows on UK campus in the fall with the new PhD students BS regalia. From left to right: Donovin Lewis, from Paducah, KY; David Stewart, from Flat Lick, KY; Lucas Gastineau, from Louisville, KY; Rosemary Alden, from Nicholasville, KY; and Steven Poore, from Middlesboro, KY.
For other and older SPARK Lab news, please visit the Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky (PEIK) website, which can be accessed here.