The organizer of this webinar is the IEEE PES Columbus Chapter and IEEE PES Region 2. This webinar was broadcasted to all IEEE Columbus Section members and all PES Region 2 Chairs. There were over 40 participants actively engaged with the entire webinar on Aug. 13th, through the lecture, polling questions, and Q&A session. The participants consist of utility engineers, consultants, and university professors, and students across Region 2. Our speaker, Mr. John McDonald, gave a very insightful presentation by conveying an important message of building a Strong Grid (i.e., communication and IT infrastructure) before Smart Grid. During the Q&A session, John reiterated that utility IT experts should be brought into discussions of standardizing the utility data management and analysis, to bridge the gap between OT (Operation Technology) and IT. Besides, he emphasized that a successful Internet of Things (IoT) used by a utility will include data observation, integration, analytics, and dashboard. After the webinar, several good feedback was received from the participants. IEEE PES Columbus Chapter along with Region 2 will continue setting up these DL webinars through the end of this year to offer Professional Development Hours (PDHs) to our local professionals and communicating the latest trends and technologies from our industry.
