When Julie McCree was applying to colleges, she knew she wanted to go to
school in a major city. Being from Limerick, Pennsylvania, located an hour
outside of Philadelphia, McCree felt connected to the City of Brotherly
Love in a special way. "I grew up nearby, and I knew the sports and the
rivers," she said. "I had visited Philly with my family every so often,
usually trips to Reading Terminal Market around Christmas and the Italian
Market on 9th Street on the 4th of July."
While the decision to go to college in the closest city to her hometown may
have seemed simple, McCree was drawn to more than
the proximity
alone. "I truly love this place because it's unique and has its own
character, which is a product of the people that live here," McCree stated.
"There's a real sense of community here, and that was probably the biggest
draw to me."
McCree's love for Philly has only grown over her past 5 years at Drexel, a
growth particularly nurtured by her involvement with student organizations
on campus. McCree's community-based activities, such as working in gardens
throughout West Philly, volunteering for Drexel's Sharing Excess (SE)
chapter, and assisting other SE chapters, has "given [her] connections to
communities outside of Drexel and academia, which has been really amazing."
An electrical engineering major with an interest in transportation
infrastructure, McCree also appreciated her proximity to the train yard,
which she walked to frequently during her first co-op with Amtrak. This
proximity, alongside additional hands-on opportunities at train yards in
New York City and Washington, D.C., gave McCree valuable exposure to her
desired industry. "I was like, 'Wow, these are the trains I see all the
time,' and I got to learn how they work and help maintain them," McCree
said.
McCree built on this experience with two co-ops at STV, a contractor that
works with Amtrak, SEPTA, and other major transportation agencies. Her
first co-op with STV focused on simulation work in an office environment,
while her second focused on inspection work, which gave her more
opportunities to travel.
McCree got to see what she learned in class in real world applications,
specifically citing her Electric Motor Control Principles course that she
took with Karen Miu, PhD, professor of electrical and computer engineering.
McCree "could see [herself] in the field" and "felt so much more confident"
while taking Miu's class. "She's a very smart woman, and I really respect
her," McCree concluded.
Miu has gone on to serve as McCree's senior design advisor. The project
addresses islanding, or the phenomenon of a power distribution system
continuing to supply power to a section of the main grid that has been
disconnected. McCree explained that, "in a power outage scenario, renewable
energy sources, like solar or wind, could be used to continue generating
power when the grid is blacked out." However, these resources aren't
currently being utilized in such a way due to the risk of power line
workers being exposed to unmapped sources of electricity.
The goal of the project was to design an algorithm that could maintain
power in a predetermined area of land, or 'island.' The algorithm is
intended to minimize the length of blackouts, which would minimize the
risks associated with using renewable energy to power blacked out islands.
This technology could be crucial for supplying areas with extreme weather
conditions, whose vulnerability to blackouts threatens to halt hospital
services and other critical operations and is therefore, according to
McCree, "life or death."
After graduation, McCree will return to STV as an electrical engineering
specialist in the vehicle department, where she'll continue building on the
growth she's experienced at Drexel.
"When I think back to who I was freshman year, I was so different then,"
McCree explained. "I feel so much more comfortable interviewing for a job,
and stress in general is more manageable. I've experienced a lot from being
in college and in the workforce, and those things have had a profound
impact on me."