USTDA Wins India Smart Grid Forum’s President Award

USTDA’s South–Southeast Asia Regional Team receive the India Smart Grid Forum’s President Award for Promotion of Smart Grids in India

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency was awarded the India Smart Grid Forum’s President Award for Promotion of Smart Grids in India, in recognition of work to advance India’s grid modernization efforts.

The President Award is presented to an India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) member that has made the best contribution towards the growth of smart grids in India.  Since 2004, USTDA has sponsored ten smart grid activities addressing topics such as distributed energy resources (DER), the viability of solar powered microgrids for two rural villages, and utilizing automated demand side management solutions to manage peak demand.  On these activities, USTDA partnered with both public and private sector utilities, as well as U.S. companies, to pilot innovative solutions tailored to India’s unique electricity needs.

The award was presented during India Smart Grid Week in New Delhi. At the inaugural session, USTDA’s Regional Director, Henry Steingass, spoke on the importance of involving the regulator in smart grid development. Mr. Steingass noted, “What is needed is a greater philosophy on how regulatory decisions can be made, taking into account benefits that customers may see in terms of more reliable power and the electric services, what they are able to bring.”

ISGF, which bestowed the award and organized India Smart Grid Week, is a public-private partnership initiative under India’s Ministry of Power.  (Visit USTDA for more)

Elsevier Features a Peer-reviewed Article on ATPIO

Journal of Case Studies in Transportation Policy (an Elsevier Journal) published a peer-reviewed article highlighting the activities of ATPIO. The article is written Mr. Arun Shirole, who is a co-founder and the current president of ATPIO.

Mr. Shirolé is internationally well known for his engineering and management expertise. He has over 40 years of experience that covers planning, design, construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of bridges and highways. Previously he has served as a Senior Vice President of Arora and Associates, P.C. a consulting engineering firm and as the Executive Director of the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA), a semi-autonomous division of the American Institute of Steel Construction. He is now NSBA’s Executive Director Emeritus.

Abstract:

Established in 2004 as a non-profit organization, the Association of Transportation Professionals of Indian Origin (ATPIO) is focused on its strategic objective of facilitating bilateral collaborative activities and partnerships between diverse groups of transportation professionals in US and India. These activities include research, as well as knowledge and technology transfer. Over the past decade ATPIO has organized free webinars, technical presentations at its Annual Meetings, co-sponsored conferences and workshops; as well as collaborated with academics, research organizations and governmental agencies both in US and in India.

This paper summarizes these activities and discusses collaborative research between academics from US and India. The paper also discusses ATPIO’s current and proposed future initiatives aimed at bringing public and private sector counterparts from US and India together to facilitate current research based knowledge and technology transfer for betterment of transportation in the 21 st Century. The paper concludes with a brief summary of ATPIO’s accomplishments and identifies challenges it has encountered in the pursuit of its strategic objective.

Link to the article

Download (PDF, 347KB)

Member Profile: Kumares Sinha

ATPIO Founding President Dr. Kumares C. Sinha is no stranger to the community of transportation professionals around the world. Dr. Sinha is Edgar B. & Hedwig M. Olson Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering at Purdue University. He also serves as a Guest Lockheed Martin Professor of Engineering and Computer Science in University of Central Florida and an Eminent Scholar in Residence at Texas A&M University. He has been active in teaching, research and practice in transportation systems planning and engineering for about five decades. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Transportation Research Board and he is the Editor-in- Chief Emeritus of the Journal of Transportation Engineering. He has served on several Federal Advisory Committees in the US and has consulted for the World Bank on infrastructure and transportation issues. He is an Honorary Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering.

 

Member Profile: Arun Shirole, President, ATPIO

Mr. Shirolé is internationally well known for his engineering and management expertise. He has over 40 years of experience that covers planning, design, construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of bridges and highways. Previously he has served as a Senior Vice President of Arora and Associates, P.C. a consulting engineering firm and as the Executive Director of the National Steel Bridge Alliance (NSBA), a semi-autonomous division of the American Institute of Steel Construction. He is now NSBA’s Executive Director Emeritus. Mr. Shirole is current president of ATPIO and one of its four founding members.

Dr. Shashi Nambisan Catches the Tide

Crimson Tide that is!

Dr. Shashi Nambisan, a civil engineer and leading expert in transportation and infrastructure systems, has been selected to lead transportation research efforts at The University of Alabama. Dr. Nambisan is a past president and a long time active member of ATPIO . For more information, click here.  We at ATPIO congratulate Dr. Nambisan and UA on this new gig.