Electrical and computer engineering’s Colton Pankhurst, has been selected to receive the IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) Outstanding Student Scholarship for 2021! Recipients of the award are chosen based on their significant academic achievements, contributions to meeting community and humanitarian needs, and leadership in advancing student engagement within PES.
Colton Pankhurst is a MASC student in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Waterloo. He has a wide range of experience in the power and energy industry through Waterloo’s renowned co-operative program. While working at Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) with a renewable energy project developer, Colton led ‘first-of-its-kind’ engineering consulting efforts for utility scale energy storage integration to reduce peak load demand. This work supported an ongoing shift to an increased focus on engineering consulting work for renewable system design. He is currently a technical advisor with Natural Resources Canada (since 2019), where he provides advice to senior government officials regarding policy and programs in areas of electrification, renewable integration, and grid modernization. His work contributes significantly to the federal government’s ongoing efforts to support increased renewable generation and grid modernization projects.
In recognition of his outstanding academic achievements in an academic term, the designation "Term Dean's Honours List" has been awarded to Colton for the last 6 consecutive academic terms. He was also recognized as the top student in his class in the Spring 2019 term.
Colton is the recipient of a University of Waterloo President’s Scholarship, the Savvas Chamberlain Scholarship, and the Power Engineering Undergraduate Scholarship. Colton was aslo awarded the prestigious Dean of Engineering’s Engineering Excellence Master's Fellowship.
Congratulations Colton!