CAPS Undergraduate Research Fellow, James McAuley has been selected as a 2019 recipient of the Marshall Plan Scholarship. The Marshall Plan Scholarship aims to enhance academic research collaboration between Austrian and U.S. Universities. CAPS has hosted several Austrian students as part of the Marshall Plan Scholarship, and James will be the first CAPS student to undertake an exchange in Austria.

McAuley, a sophomore physics major, has been completing research at the Center for Advanced Power Systems since Fall 2017, originally as a participant of Florida State University’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and then as a CAPS’s Undergraduate Research Fellow under the supervision of Dr. Sastry Pamidi and Dr. Peter Cheetham. During this time James learned the fundamental principles of high voltage engineering while gaining practical experience in the CAPS high voltage laboratory. James will be completing his exchange at the University of Applied Sciences under the supervision of Prof. Peter Zeller during May-August 2019. His research topic consists of the “Investigation of breakdown behavior at medium voltage stand off and voltage steps” and aims to help in the development of creepage distance standards for medium voltage direct current applications. We congratulate James on his achievement and wish him the best as he prepares for his exchange!