News by Faculty
Johanna Mathieu
Xavier Farrell earns NAPS 2024 presentation award for work to predict household savings on electricity bills
Farrell’s PhD work focuses on forecasting long-term financial outcomes for households switching electricity rate plans based on recommendation systems.Johanna Mathieu receives DOE C3E Award for achievements in clean energy research
Mathieu has devoted her career to reducing the environmental impact of the current power system, often in partnership with energy companies and local communities.Wired: August 13, 2024
Extreme Weather Poses a Challenge for Heat Pumps
Prof. Johanna Mathieu weighs in on the value of home heat pumps to help balance the electric load on the grid.Austin Lin awarded IEEE PES Prize Conference Paper for work quantifying HVAC load-shifting efficiency
PhD student Austin Lin presented his award-winning research at the 2024 IEEE Power & Energy Society General Meeting in Seattle.MLive.com: May 21, 2024
Nuclear is getting a reaction in Michigan. Is it reaching critical mass?
Johanna Mathieu, ECE associate professor and associate director of the Institute for Energy Solutions, discusses the nuances of nuclear energy use as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels in this story by MLive.May 1, 2024
Energy storage for grid reliability can increase carbon emissions
“Because electricity markets are complicated with multiple products being traded and changes in one market affecting the others, adding new technologies to the grid can have unintended consequences,” said Johanna Mathieu in this story by Utility Dive.Integrating battery storage into electrical grids can sometimes increase emissions due to market forces
An electricity market analysis found adding battery storage to enhance grid reliability may cause power generation markets to favor coal over natural gas.Large open dataset aims to improve understanding of building electricity demand response
Data collected from 14 commercial buildings can help inform efforts to balance electrical grids, maintaining reliability.Latitude Media: January 25, 2024
Can this city’s microgrid plan skirt the traditional utility model?
Ann Arbor has a goal of using 100% renewable energy by 2030. One way to do this may be through community microgrids that connect to existing utility infrastructure. It is a model that could be used across the nation. Prof. Johanna Mathieu supports this effort, and comments on how this could work.Living Labs: testing energy efficiency and flexibility in University buildings
Researchers advocate for pairing real-world data with model-based simulations to help the U.S. decarbonize and electrify commercial buildings.Congrats ECE alumni who joined academia
Congratulations to these ECE graduates who have recently joined academia as faculty members!Research seeking to improve integration of renewable energy into the grid wins R&D 100 award
Led by Prof. Johanna Mathieu, the project utilizes strategic control of air conditioners to improve the overall efficiency and reliability of the power grid.Equity in the energy technology transition is new Institute’s goal
Prof. Johanna Mathieu is the new Associate Director of the Institute for Energy Solutions, which will continue U-M’s 75-year legacy of leadership in energy research.Johanna Mathieu awarded 2023 IEEE PES Wanda Reder Pioneer in Power Award
Mathieu is a national leader on research to reduce the environmental impact, cost, and inefficiency of electric power systems.Team working to reduce energy burdens in Detroit recognized with Michigan Difference Student Leadership Award
PhD students Joshua Brooks, Xavier Farrell, and Madeline Miller are part of an NSF Smart and Connected Communities project that partners with local Detroit organizations to reduce household energy insecurity.University of Michigan: March 22, 2023
Developing anti-racist practices, protocols & interventions
Prof. Johanna Mathieu is featured on this panel hosted by the University of Michigan’s National Center for Institutional Diversity regarding the importance of anti-racist practices, protocols, and interventions.March 13, 2023
Interfacing renewable energy infrastructure and human behavior to pursue energy security | Forum
Prof. Johanna Mathieu was a featured speaker at the Cell Press Sustainability Forum regarding the feasibility and major roadblocks of renewable energy as a vehicle to pursue energy security in residential and commercial sectors.Detroit News: February 10, 2023
DTE to charge more for peak-time power in move to time-of-day rates
“It’s a commonly proposed tool to shift when they are consuming electricity to better manage the needs of the consumer. It’s making it your responsibility if you care about those prices and what you’re paying to the utility,” said Prof. Johanna Mathieu on the increasing use of time-of-day energy rates, which vary consumer costs during peak and off-peak hours.Streamlining home assessments for energy justice
In a partnership with Ecoworks, Pecan Street, and Jefferson East, Prof. Johanna Mathieu is helping create a better process for Detroit homes to benefit from decarbonization, electrification, and renewable energy integration.CNET: October 28, 2022
Our Ailing Power Grid Isn’t Cut Out for Climate Change
CNET interviews Prof. Johanna Mathieu about how we improve the power grid and integrate more renewable energy to mitigate the effects of climate change.Popular Science: August 23, 2022
Why hasn’t Henry Ford’s ideal power grid become a reality?
Johanna Mathieu sees a cooperative approach to energy usage as one of the solutions to a more sustainable approach to powering homes and businesses.May 23, 2022
Extreme heat, weather may lead to blackouts for millions this summer
Prof. Johanna Mathieu comments in this story by The National News Desk about the risks of energy shortfalls this summer and potential new technologies that could help in the future.May 2, 2022
The Global Shift to Clean Energy
In this article published in Connected World, Prof. Johanna Mathieu explains that the move to renewables may require new models for grid dynamics.Anna Stuhlmacher awarded Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship for her research that could help integrate renewable energy sources into the power grid
Stuhlmacher is working to optimize the interaction between the power distribution network and the drinking water distribution network to improve the sustainability, flexibility, and resiliency of both systems.Optimizing the interactions between critical infrastructure systems for better flexibility, sustainability, and resiliency
PhD student Anna Stuhlmacher researches how the water distribution network can better provide services to the power network, which can allow for greater integration of renewable energy sources into the grid, reduce costs, and improve system resiliency.New collaborative project for advancing energy justice in Detroit
In partnership with Detroit-based community organizations, Prof. Johanna Mathieu co-leads a team of researchers working to reduce disparities in household energy insecurity for low and moderate income households.August 11, 2021
VIDEO: Grid-interactive efficient buildings
Prof. Johanna Mathieu and Shunbo Lei organized and spoke on a panel examining how energy efficiency and demand response interplay with each other in grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs)July 13, 2021
Energy equity depends on data, and experts say there isn’t enough of it
Utility Dive interviews Prof. Johanna Mathieu about her work with energy testbed, Pecan Street, which is expanding its residential network into Detroit to gather more insights from communities of color regarding the clean energy transition.Four ECE graduate students recognized by NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Four ECE doctoral students were selected for their outstanding research work in a variety of disciplines.
U-M, community partners tackle energy insecurity in three Detroit neighborhoods
Johanna Mathieu is one of four principal investigators on a project to improve home energy efficiency and to lower monthly utility bills.
Johanna Mathieu receives 2020 Henry Russel Award
Mathieu is one of four U-M faculty members to receive this award, the university’s highest honor for early to mid-career facultyOptimizing energy
Postdoc Fellow Shunbo Lei, who works to improve the efficiency and function of the power grid, was honored by the IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.The National Academy of Engineering invites Prof. Johanna Mathieu to symposium to advance the engineering frontier
The symposium brings together 82 young engineers from different technical areas from around the country.
New research for the future of sustainable power and energy
Take a look at some of the exciting new projects that will help define the next evolution of sustainable power and energy.Battery economics could power the future of energy
Prof. Johanna Mathieu of EECS and Prof. Catherine Hausman of Public Policy are heading a new project to explore the social costs and benefits of battery energy storage on the electrical grid.
How air conditioners could advance a renewable power grid
In an approach that won’t disrupt consumers, researchers will tackle two of the biggest issues in the energy industry.
Johanna Mathieu receives NSF CAREER Award to help build a smarter, more sustainable grid
Mathieu will develop optimization and control methods to leverage the flexibility available from distributed energy resources.
Johanna Mathieu receives Ernest and Bettine Kuh Distinguished Faculty Award
The award recognizes Mathieu’s outstanding teaching, research, and service in the area of power and energy.
Mengqi Yao receives High Quality Paper Award at PowerTech Conference
In recognition of demand response research.
Stephanie Crocker Ross receives Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship
Dissertation recognized as unusually creative, ambitious and impactful.
Using University of Michigan buildings as batteries
How a building’s thermal energy can help the power grid accommodate more renewable energy sources.
Anna Stuhlmacher: Power to change the world
Anna Stuhlmacher, PhD in electrical engineering, is looking for ways to change the world through power and energy.
MICDE grant funds renewable power research
Prof. Mathieu is partnering with IOE faculty to improve the nation’s grid system
Stephanie Crocker earns NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to bring sustainable energy to the grid
Stephanie seeks to provide continuous energy balancing on the grid by automatically controlling loads.
ECE welcomes four new faculty for 2013-14 academic year
Welcome Profs Lee, Mathieu, Ozay, and Peterson!