with major funding from the u.s. department of energy and the los angeles department of water and power, rajit gadh, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and his colleagues from the ucla henry samueli school of engineering and applied science are leading the charge to build and test innovative smart-grid technologies that could lead to major breakthroughs for power infrastructure and reliability.

as part of that effort, gadh’s team is using the ucla campus — in particular, boelter hall and the engineering iv and v buildings — as an experimental lab to observe how wireless sensing and control systems can help create the smart grid. they are retrofitting these structures with cutting-edge sensors and smart meters that can, for example, gauge and adjust the amount of power needed in a room at a particular time of day and control appliances, lights, and heating and air-conditioning systems depending on energy pricing or power availability on the grid.

learn more about professor gadh’s work in this video about the ucla smart grid energy research center.