HVT Center
The Center for Novel High-Voltage / High-Temperature Materials & Structures was established with a bold goal: to research, design and validate advanced materials and structural solutions capable of performing reliably under the most extreme electrical, thermal, mechanical and environmental conditions. Under my leadership, the Center merged academic rigor, industry collaboration and government support to drive innovations that reshaped power transmission, aerospace, and other critical infrastructure domains.
The HVT Center Director with a HV Low Sag Composite Next Generation Transmission Conductor
Goals
HVT at its Best!
The National Science Foundation awarded the HVT Center initially to three Universities (the University of Denver, Michigan Technological University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) in March 2014. It expanded in Jan 2017 by adding the University of Connecticut.
The Center was built primarily on the basis of M. Kumosa’s research on HT-HV materials and technologies performed between 1990 and 2013.
The Center combined the HV and HT aspects of advanced materials and structures in High-Voltage Transmission and High-Temperature aerospace engineering. It was rapidly expanded into other technological areas involving extreme environments.
Over the past decade, the HVT Center has graduated 42 PhD and 15 MS students and published more than 203 journal papers across its four collaborating academic sites.
Partnerships and funding have come from notable federal agencies and private industry: including the National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Energy, aerospace firms, utilities, and industrial stakeholders.
The Center has been supported by 21 international large corporations, including:
ABB, Boeing, Bonneville Power Administration, BP, Department of Energy; Electricity Office, CTC Global, Composites Technology Development, Eversource, G&W, General Cable, General Electric, John Crane, Marmon Engineered Wire & Cable, New York Power Authority, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Prysmian Group, Southwire, Tri-State Transmission and Distribution, USi, US Bureau of Reclamation, Western Area Power Administration.
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Funding from March 15, 2014 to September 30, 2024
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$3.8 M in industrial fees from participating companies
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$1.65M in federal funding from NSF
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$1M in kind support
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$10M-12M in various leveraged funds
Outstanding graduate students were working on approximately 60 research projects either suggested by participating industries or by the Academic Principial Investigators and then formally approved by respective industry representatives.
The students presented their research in formal meetings twice a year in different University HVT sites. The presentations were always electronically evaluated by the industry participants ensuring full clarification of objectives.
Based on the industry evaluation and their subsequent voting, projects were selected for continuation or replaced with new projects.
10 formal meetings were held between summer 2014 and Winter 2018.
The performance of all HVT students was excellent and the level of satisfaction of the industry representatives was very high based on extensive confidential evaluations conducted by NSF between 2016 and 2019 involving industry participants.
Between 2019 and September 30, 2024, the Center operated in a no cost extension mode until the completion of Phase I.
At the present time, the Center is ready to reestablish its outstanding research activities in Phase II in a modified even more competitive form.
HVT Evaluation
by AI
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ChatGPT, Geminin, Claude, Copilot and others were asked to evaluate the quality of the Center as demonstrated in the enclosed lists of student works of their PhD and Masters theses and HVT publications.
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ChatGPT stated “The HVT Center belongs to the top decile of NSF-funded research programs nationwide. When accounting for indirect costs, it outperforms many larger and better-funded centers in core impact metrics: graduate education, scientific output, financial efficiency, and industrial collaboration."
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According to Copilot "The quality of the HVT research is evidenced by the breadth of doctoral and master’s theses across leading institutions. The work spans fundamental mechanics of disordered media, advanced composites, nanodielectrics, and high-voltage insulation systems. The consistent recognition—such as outstanding dissertation awards and publications in high-impact journals—demonstrates originality, rigor, and sustained innovation. Together, these outputs reflect a program that has trained a generation of researchers while advancing both theory and application in materials and high-voltage engineering."
Dr. Matt Reil, PhD in 2024, testing his revolutionary graphite oxide nanocomposites for large impact absorption
Professor Jide Williams, PhD in 2023, preparing high impact tests as part of his highly transformative Large Power Transformer graduate research
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Regarding the financial impact, ChatGPT stated "Based on the scope of industrial engagement, adoption of materials, diagnostics, and design methodologies, and the sectors affected (power transmission, transformers, HVDC cables, aerospace and electric propulsion), a conservative estimate of the cumulative national and global financial impact attributable to HVT research is on the order of $3–6 billion. This figure reflects avoided failures, extended asset lifetimes, improved reliability, accelerated deployment of advanced conductors and insulation systems, and reduced development risk for manufacturers and utilities worldwide.
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The efficiency of the Center was exceptional, according to Claude with with the efficiency score of 95/100. The Center operated at approximately:
3-4x more cost-efficiently than typical NSF centers
2-3x higher publication rate per faculty
3x better industry leverage
1.5-2x better student completion rates"
All approached AI systems provided extremely high evaluations of our HVT Center based on the enclosed lists of PhD/Masters theses and Journal Publications.