Zhang Chosen for NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship

Zhi Jin (Justin) Zhang has been chosen for the prestigious Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship - Doctoral. This scholarship is awarded by the government of Canada and provides financial support to high-caliber scholars who are engaged in doctoral programs in the natural sciences or engineering.

Zhang graduated with his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Toronto in 2017 and 2019, respectively. A second year Ph.D. student in the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Zhang is advised by ECE Professor Maryam Saeedifard. He is conducting research in the field of electrical energy systems with a focus on the application of power electronics in power systems.

Zhang’s Ph.D. work is on “Cyber-Physical Protection of Multi-Terminal DC Grids." Multi-terminal dc (MTdc) grids are regarded as a key component for future electric power networks since they enable efficient, long-distance power transmission and resource sharing. Proper operation of an MTdc grid requires the protection against both dc-side faults in the physical-domain and cyber-attacks in the cyber-domain, but the conventional control and protection schemes can no longer provide satisfactory performance owing to the unique dynamics and characteristics of the MTdc grid compared to the traditional ac systems. In his Ph.D. research, Zhang aims to address these challenges by developing efficient intrusion detection and mitigation algorithms and fault interrupting devices. 

Zhang is the recipient of the 2020 IEEE Atlanta Section Outstanding Service Award, chair of the IEEE Power Electronics Society Atlanta Chapter, and a registered Engineer-in-Training (EIT) in the province of Ontario. He also interned at Alectra Utilities, located in Mississauga, Ontario, for one year, where he worked on power system reliability and distributed generation projects.

Outside of his work, Zhang is an amateur flutist, an avid soccer fan, and a history buff.