Good Energy
Hassan Bakhshi always aspired to study at an international university, but the New York Tech-Vancouver graduate student exceeded his expectations in October 2022 when he was invited to speak at the Insulator News and Market Report (INMR) World Congress, a skills-building and technical enrichment event for power transmission and distribution engineers, in Berlin, Germany.
Bakhshi is currently studying for his master’s degree in energy management from the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences. With his prior and current studies and passion for the field, Bakhshi felt he was well-equipped to submit an article to the Congress. His instincts were right, and the future electrical engineer was among more than 100 engineering professionals selected to present.
The three-day INMR World Congress is hosted between Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with the most recent Congress held from October 16 to 19. Bakhshi’s presentation topic, “Impact of Climate Change on Overhead Transmission Lines,” discussed the different impacts of climate change on the reliability and future design of overhead transmission lines—structures used to transmit electrical power across large distances—worldwide.
“As climate change and changing weather conditions are crucial [to the electrical engineering field], this topic is a common concern of all overhead transmission line experts,” Bakhshi says of his presentation. “I felt I could sound a wake-up call for experts to pay more attention to the future of overhead transmission lines.”
While the conference in Berlin was just three days, Bakhshi turned his trip into a week-long stay in the country. Among his activities in Germany was an invitation-only experience to tour the high-voltage testing laboratory and the production lines of insulators and lightning arresters at Siemens Energy, a Germany-based energy company serving more than 90 countries, including the United States and Canada.
Back on the Vancouver campus, Bakhshi is planning to start a project related to grid-scale batteries—batteries used to store energy on a large scale, like power plants or power grids—in transmission systems. He is also conducting more research into climate change impacts on overhead transmission lines. He hopes to use these endeavors as subject matter to present at the next INMR World Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, in November 2023 and at a Centre for Energy Advancement through Technological Innovation conference next year.
Bakhshi says he is grateful for “studying at such a university that helps broaden my horizons and connects me to a new academic world.” After graduating from New York Tech-Vancouver in spring 2023, he hopes to secure his dream job—working for a globally known company as an overhead transmission lines department manager. To better his chances for success, Bakhshi is working concurrently with his academic studies to obtain his Professional Engineer license from British Columbia and a Project Management Professional certification.
His advice to fellow international students is: “Follow your interests. Benefit from the best opportunities New York Tech provides for students who want to be successful globally.”
