Welcome to the website of the Power Equipment Simulation and Design Laboratory of Western Michigan University (a.k.a. WMU Power Lab).
Our main research and development interests lie at the interface between power system analysis, grid resiliency, and electromagnetic design.
Please scroll down for the latest lab news!
Our current research and development efforts are focused on the following main topics:
Modeling and simulation of power grid components and systems for electromagnetic transient studies
High voltage and insulation systems
Electromagnetic design optimization of power components
Grid integration of power electronic-based renewable energy resources
Fault analysis and location in transmission and distribution systems
Dynamic microgrid modeling and simulation
Cosimulation (FEM + dynamic grid simulators)
Wideband model reconstruction and parameter estimation of power components
Smart grid cybersecurity
Geomagnetically induced currents in power grids
Our lab is located in the Engineering Campus (Parkview) of Western Michigan University, Room A-207.
More information about our research can be found here.
See our lab's feature article in W magazine here
NEW JOURNAL PAPERS: The papers "Accurate Estimation of Passive Component Defect and Degradation in DC-DC Power Converters from Transient Terminal Responses", and "Cosimulation Approach for Transient Analysis and Transformer Design of Isolated DC-DC Converters" have been published in Elsevier's Electric Power System Research. More information about these papers can be found below. September 2025
LAB PRESENCE AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: Dr. Gomez participated in the International Conference on Power Systems Transients (IPST) 2025 in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he presented two papers:
"Accurate Estimation of Passive Component Defect and Degradation in DC-DC Power Converters from Transient Terminal Responses". coauthored by Trent Rosenthal of Valparaiso University, Joshua Rio of Community Colleges of Chicago, and Olapade Olagbemi of WMU, under the framework of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program of the NSF.
"Cosimulation Approach for Transient Analysis and Transformer Design of Isolated DC-DC Converters", coauthored by Faraj Alyami, former PhD student who is now a faculty member at Najran University, Saudi Arabia. This work was supported by the Engineering Research Initiation program of the NSF.
Both papers will be part of a special issue of Elsevier's Electric Power Systems Research journal. June 2025
LAB PRESENCE IN TECHNICAL CONFERENCE: Mark Booge participated in the RTDS North American Applications and Technology Conference 2025 in Chicago, USA. He delivered the presentation "DER Inverter Control Fault Ride Through Model in Accordance with IEEE 1547-2018 Std ". May 2025.
PhD PROPOSAL DEFENSE: Congratulations to Doctoral Candidate Saad Aljohani, who successfully defended his PhD proposal "FAULT ANALYSIS OF MICROGRIDS BASED ON MONTE CARLO SIMULATION AND ELECTROMAGNETIC TRANSIENT MODELING". February 2025
DISSERTATION DEFENSE: Faraj Alyami successfully defended his PhD dissertation "COSIMULATION APPROACH FOR HIGH-FREQUENCY MAGNETIC COMPONENT MODELING IN DC-DC CONVERTERS". Congratulations, Faraj! October 2024.
NEW IEEE CONFERENCE PAPER: Our paper "Inverter Model Reconstruction from Terminal Measurements for Electromagnetic Transient Studies" co-authored by Olapade Olagbemi and Dr. Gomez has been presented at the 2024 56th North American Power Symposium in El Paso, TX. October 2024.
NEW GRANT: Dr. Gomez is co-PI of a new $3.17M grant from the US Department of Energy on “Multi-Input Integrated Smart Charger-Inverter System with Galvanic Isolation". More can be found here: https://wmich.edu/engineer/news/2024/09/3-million-department-energy-grant-wmu-engineering. September 2024
2024 REU PARTICIPANTS: The Power Lab welcomes Trent Rosenthal (Valparaiso University, Indiana) and Joshua Rio (Wilbur Wright College, Chicago), who will participate in research activities for the next 10 weeks as part of the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. May 2024.
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "A comprehensive review of impedance source network DC circuit breaker topologies", coauthored by Dr. Gomez with Dr. Ghassan Bilal, former lab member and faculty member at the University of Technology, Iraq, has been published in Cogent Engineering (Taylor and Francis). The paper is available here. April 2024.
NEW GRANT: WMU Power Lab and WMU InterEnergy Center have started an exciting collaboration with FM Global for the project “Real-time cybersecurity evaluation of grid-tied inverters and battery management systems ". January 2024
PhD PROPOSAL DEFENSE: Congratulations to our new Doctoral Candidate Faraj Alyami, who successfully defended his PhD proposal "Cosimulation Approach for High-Frequency Magnetic Components Modeling in DC-DC converters", December 2023.
LAB PRESENCE IN IEEE CONFERENCE: Isaac Bagley and Noah Braasch participated in the 2023 Workshop on Communication Networks and Power Systems held online. They presented the paper "A Photovoltaic MPPT Charge Controller Real-Time Testbed for Cybersecurity Applications" coauthored by Dr. Gomez, as well as Dr. Shameek Bhattacharjee from the Computer Science Department of WMU. The paper is available here. December 2023.
LAB PRESENCE IN IEEE CONFERENCE: Adebola Oke, former lab member, participated in the 55th IEEE North American Power Symposium (NAPS) in Asheville, North Carolina. Adebola presented the paper "Synergistic Approach for Computational Analysis of Geomagnetically Induced Currents in Power Grids" coauthored by Dr. Gomez. The paper is available here. October 2023.
LAB PRESENCE IN IEEE CONFERENCE: Faraj Alyami participated in the 24th IEEE Workshop on Control and Modeling for Power Electronics in Ann Arbor, MI. Faraj presented the paper "Cosimulation Approach for Transient Analysis and Inductor Design of DC-DC Buck Converters" coauthored by Dr. Gomez and former lab member Cedric Gnamien. The paper is available here. June 2023.
LAB PRESENCE IN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: Dr. Gomez participated in the 16th International Conference on Power Systems Transients held in Thessaloniki, Greece. He presented the paper "Analytical and measurement-based wideband two-port modeling of DC-DC converters for electromagnetic transient studies" coauthored with former lab member Hussein Alameri. The paper is available here. June 2023.
2023 REU PARTICIPANTS: The Power Lab welcomes Sean Weissner (WMU) and Wenceslao Ruiz (University of Alaska Fairbanks), who will participate in research activities for the next 10 weeks as part of the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program. May 2023.
DISSERTATION DEFENSE: Fahad Alqahtani successfully defended his PhD dissertation "Wideband Parameter Estimation of Overhead Transmission Lines from Terminal Measurements". Congratulations, Fahad! May 2023.
2023 SPERIT PROGRAM: The second edition of the Summer of Power Engineering Research Initiation and Training (SPERIT) Program has started! Four undergraduate students: Isaac Bagley, Noah Braasch, Devon Crites, and Elliott Smith, have been selected to work throughout the summer in two different research topics: optimal design of high-frequency magnetic components in power electronic converters, and real-time digital simulation of power converters. This program is funded by the National Science Foundation. May 2023.
LAB MEMBERS GRADUATED: Congratulations to Adebola Oke and Cedric Gnamien for receiving their B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering degrees during the Spring 2023 commencement. April 2023.
NEW GRANT: Dr. Gomez will co-direct the NSF REU Site “Energy-Efficient Devices and Systems (R-SEEDS) " with Dr. Lina Sawalha. Our site will recruit 30 undergraduate students across the US over a period of three years to perform summer research in diverse topics related to energy efficiency. More information can be found in the following website: https://sites.google.com/wmich.edu/r-seeds/home. April 2023.
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Analytical and measurement-based wideband two-port modeling of DC-DC converters for electromagnetic transient studies", coauthored by Dr. Gomez with Dr. Hussein Al Ameri, former lab member and faculty member at the University of Baghdad, has been accepted for publication in Elsevier's Electric Power Systems Research. The paper is available here. March 2023.
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Optimal Dielectric Design of Medium Voltage Toroidal Transformer with Electrostatic Shield Under Fast Front Excitation", coauthored by Dr. Gomez with Dr. Mohammed K. Hussain, former lab member and faculty member at the University of Baghdad, has been accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery. The paper is available here. October 2022
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Full-Wave 3-D Transient Analysis with Method of Moments and Numerical Laplace Transform Including Non-Linear Elements", coauthored by Dr. Gomez with researchers from Canada and Japan, has been accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery. June 2022
MS THESIS DEFENSE: Shadi Alshagarin successfully defended his MS thesis "Physical implementation and testing of a transmission line fault location algorithm". June 23, 2022.
NEW FEATURE ARTICLE: The feature article "Akihiro Ametani: Paving the Way to Power Grid Expansion Through Innovation in Power System Transient Analysis", by Dr. Gomez is now available in IEEE Electrification Magazine. Please click here to read this paper. June 2022
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Optimal insulation design of form-wound stator winding with stress grading system under fast rise-time excitation", coauthored by Dr. Gomez and former lab member Dr. Mohammed K. Hussain, has been accepted for publication in Springer's Electrical Engineering. The paper is available online here. June 2022
2022 SPERIT PROGRAM: The first edition of the Summer of Power Engineering Research Initiation and Training (SPERIT) Program has started! Four undergraduate students (Cedric Gnamien, Sterling Johnson, Matthew Maletta and Adebola Oke) will be working throughout the summer in two different research topics: HF Transformer Design for Microgrids, and Computational Analysis of Geomagnetically Induced Currents in Power Grids. May 2022. This program is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Michigan Space Grant Consortium, and the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. If you're a 2nd of 3rd year engineering student interested in these or similar topics, please contact Dr. Gomez for the potential to participate in the 2023 SPERIT program, which includes hourly salary for up to 4 months.
LAB MEMBER GRADUATED: Hussein Al Ameri has officially received the Doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering during the Spring 2022 commencement. April 30, 2022.
DISSERTATION DEFENSE: Hussein Al Ameri successfully defended his PhD dissertation "Frequency Domain Modeling and Optimal Parameter Tuning of Power Converters for Dynamic Analysis of the Grid Integration of Photovoltaic Systems". Congratulations, Hussein! March 3, 2022.
NEW GRANT: Our proposal “Multiphysics cosimulation approach for optimal design of microgrid high frequency transformers" has been selected for funding by the National Science Foundation. An abstract of this award can be found here. This project will involve funded summer research for undergraduate students. Please contact Dr. Gomez is you're interested. February 2022
NEW GRANT: Our proposal “Towards a Synergistic Approach for Computational Analysis of Geomagnetically Induced Currents in Power Grids" has been selected for funding by the Michigan Space Grant Consortium. We are actively looking for a WMU student to get involved in this effort with a funded position starting in Summer I 2022. Please contact Dr. Gomez is you're interested. February 2022
LAB PRESENCE IN IEEE CONFERENCE: Fahad Alqahtani and Hussein Al Ameri participated in the 53th IEEE North American Power Symposium (NAPS) in College Station, Texas. Fahad presented the paper "Wideband Parameter Estimation of Single-Phase Frequency Dependent Transmission Lines" and Hussein presented the paper "Laplace Domain Modeling of Power Components for Transient Converter-Grid Interaction Studies". November 2021.
NEW COLLABORATION: WMU Power Lab will start a collaboration with the Western Aerospace Launch Initiative (WALI) in January 2022 thanks to the support of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. WALI is an organization dedicated to designing, creating, and testing a CubeSat to be launched into space. The WMU Power Lab will be supporting the design and implementation of electric power components for the WALI CubeSat. Please contact Dr. Gomez if you're a current Electrical Engineering undergraduate or graduate student interested in this project. November 2021
LAB PRESENCE IN IEEE/IET CONFERENCE: Olapade Olagbemi participated in the (virtual) 56th International Universities Power Engineering Conference (UPEC) presenting the paper "Transient Analysis of Vehicle-to-Grid Systems Incorporating Plug-in Electric Vehicles". September 2021.
PhD PROPOSAL DEFENSE: The Power Lab has a new Doctoral Candidate! Hussein Alameri successfully defended his PhD proposal "Frequency Domain Modeling of Power Converters for Dynamic Analysis of the Grid Integration of Photovoltaic Systems ", August 30, 2021.
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Linearization of Periodic Power Electronic-Based Power Systems for Small-Signal Analysis", coauthored by Dr. Gomez as part of an ongoing collaboration with the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (Mexico), has been accepted for publication in Elsevier's International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems. August 2021.
LAB MEMBER GRADUATED: Juan M. Villanueva has officially received the Doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering during the Summer 2021 commencement. June 2021.
DISSERTATION DEFENSE: Juan M. Villanueva successfully defended his PhD dissertation "Optimized Insulation Design of Power Transformer Windings under Fast Voltage Pulses". Congratulations, Juan! May 12, 2021.
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Laplace Transform Inversion through the Theta Algorithm for Power-System EMT Analysis", coauthored by Dr. Gomez and researchers from CINVESTAV (Mexico) and Universidad de Guadalajara (Mexico), has been accepted for publication in Elsevier's Electric Power Systems Research. The paper abstract can be found here. May 2021
WMU Power lab congratulates Carla Zorrilla, Johnny Pimentel and Olapade Olagbemi for the their recent graduation from the MS Program in Electrical Engineering. Congratulations! May 2021
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Frequency Domain Approach for Statistical Switching Studies: Computational Efficiency and Effect of Network Equivalents", coauthored by Dr. Gomez and Dr. Juan Segundo-Ramirez from the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (Mexico) has been accepted for publication in Elsevier's Electric Power Systems Research. The abstract of this paper can be found here. April 2021.
NEW GRANT: Our proposal “Technology for enhanced fault location in overhead and underground electric power grids" has been selected for funding by the MSU ADVANCE Program. This funding will further support our current work to develop a proof-of-concept of transmission line fault location technology. March 2021.
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Electromagnetic Transient Modeling of Form-Wound Stator Coils with Stress Grading System under PWM excitation", coauthored by Dr. Gomez and former lab member Dr. Mohammed K. Hussain has been accepted for publication in Elsevier's Electric Power Systems Research. The paper abstract can be found here. March 2021
NEW GRANT: Our proposal “Development of transmission line fault location technology for electric power systems" has been selected for funding by the Technology Development Fund program of WMU. This funding will support the implementation of a physical prototype based on Ahmad's doctoral project. January 2021.
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Optimized Dielectric Design of Transformer Windings under Fast-Front Voltage Pulses from Power Electronic Converters", coauthored by Juan Villanueva and Dr. Gomez, in collaboration with Dr. Richard Meyer from the Mechanical and Aerospace Department of WMU, has been accepted for publication in Elsevier's International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems. The paper abstract can be found here. January 2021.
WELCOME NEW LAB MEMBERS: The Power Lab welcomes 5 new lab members: PhD student Saad Aljohani, MS students Shadi Alshagarin, Johnny Pimentel and Carla Zorrilla, and EE student Bharat Goel. January 2021.
MS THESIS DEFENSE: Olapade Olagbemi successfully defended his MS thesis "Simulation of Transient Conditions in Vehicle-to-Grid Systems Fed from Plug-in Electric Vehicles". November 20, 2020.
DISSERTATION DEFENSE: Ahmad Alshawawreh successfully defended his PhD dissertation "Fault Location in Transmission Systems Based on Frequency Domain Modeling and the Two-Dimensional Numerical Laplace Transform". Ahmad will be starting a postdoctoral position in February 2021, thanks to an award from the T3N program of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and a new collaboration between our lab and Consumers Energy. October 9, 2020.
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Statistical Switching Overvoltage Studies of Optimized Unconventional High Surge Impedance Loading Lines via Numerical Laplace Transform", coauthored by Dr. Pablo Gomez, has been accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery. August 2020. This work was developed by members of the Task Force on Frequency Domain Methods for Electromagnetic Transients Studies and was the result of a collaboration between WMU, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (Mexico) and Virginia Tech (USA). The paper abstract can be found here. August 2020.
LAB PRESENCE IN IEEE CONFERENCE: Dr. Gomez participated in the (virtual) 2020 IEEE PES General Meeting presenting the paper "Electromagnetic Transient Performance of Optimally Designed High Surge Impedance Loading Lines". This paper was selected for the session "Best Conference Papers on Planning, Operations, and Energy Markets." It is the result of an ongoing collaboration between WMU, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi (Mexico) and Virginia Tech (USA). The paper abstract can be found here. August 2020.
Dr. Gomez has been appointed Associate Editor of the IEEE Latin America Transactions. May 2020.
NEW GRANT: Our proposal "Optimal Design of High-Voltage and High-Frequency Transformers for Renewable Energy Integration" has been approved for funding by the Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award (FRACAA) program of WMU. This project will allow extending our previous work on optimal design of transformers to the design of high frequency transformers for grid integration of renewable energy. May 2020.
NEW AWARD: Juan M. Villanueva-Ramirez has been awarded the 2020-2021 Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Graduate College of WMU. April 2020.
The paper "Frequency Domain Methods for Accuracy Assessment of Wideband Models in Electromagnetic Transient Stability Studies" coauthored by Dr. Gomez has been included in the list of most popular articles of the IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery for the months of January, February and March 2020.
Dr. Gomez has been appointed Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery February 2020.
LAB PRESENCE IN IEEE CONFERENCE: Faraj Alyami attended the 2020 IEEE Texas Power and Energy Conference in College Station, Texas. He successfully presented the paper "Semi-Seasonally Optimized Tilt Angles for Design of Utility-Scale Photovoltaic Generation Station". February 2020. The abstract of this paper can be found here.
PhD PROPOSAL DEFENSE: The Power Lab is proud to announce its most recent Doctoral Candidate of the year. Ahmad Alshawawreh successfully defended his PhD proposal "Fault Location in Transmission Systems Based on Frequency Domain Modeling and the Two-Dimensional Numerical Laplace Transform", November 25 2019.
RESEARCH AWARD: Dr. Gomez has been awarded "Outstanding New Researcher" by the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences of WMU. September 2019.
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Computation of transient profiles along non-uniform transmission lines including time-varying and non-linear elements using the numerical Laplace transform", coauthored by Dr. Pablo Gomez has been published in MDPI Energies. The full paper is available here. August 2019.
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "Frequency Domain Methods for Accuracy Assessment of Wideband Models in Electromagnetic Transient Stability Studies", coauthored by Dr. Pablo Gomez has been accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery. The paper abstract can be found here. June 2019.
LAB PRESENCE IN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: Juan Villanueva-Ramirez attended the 2019 International Conference in Power System Transients (IPST) in Perpignan, France. Juan presented the paper "Dielectric Design Optimization of Transformer Windings under Fast Front Excitation". June 2019.
PhD PROPOSAL DEFENSE: The Power Lab has a new Doctoral Candidate! Juan Villanueva-Ramirez successfully presented his PhD proposal "Optimized insulation design of power transformer windings under fast voltage pulses". May 23, 2019
NEW JOURNAL PAPER: The paper "On the computation of frequency-dependent core and proximity effects for transient analysis of transformer windings", coauthored by Yazid AlKraimeen and Dr. Pablo Gomez has been published in the June 2019 issue of IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery. The paper abstract can be found here. May 2019
Dr. Gomez has been named Associate Editor of Heliyon Engineering. May 2019.
LAB MEMBERS GRADUATED: Ghassan Bilal and Yazid AlKraimeen have officially received the Doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering during the Spring 2019 commencement ceremony. April 2019.