Current Students
Ph.D.
Ali Nasr Esfahani
Jeff Laninga
Jeff Laninga, P.Eng., is a Ph.D. candidate researching the streamer-initiated breakdown of air and insulating tools under high-voltage DC and AC conditions. His research is focused on improving safety during live working for the maintenance of power systems, particularly where the effects of space charge under DC conditions are not yet fully understood or reflected in current industry standards.
He earned his M.Sc. in 2017 from the University of Manitoba, where he studied the behavior of space charge on insulating tools under DC conditions. He completed his B.Sc. in electrical engineering at the University of Manitoba in 1999.
Jeff is aslo the Section Head of Transmission Live Line & Electrical Effects at Manitoba Hydro, with 26 years of experience in the industry. He serves as the Canadian Chair of the mirror committee for IEC Technical Committee 78 on Live Working and is the Project Leader for IEC 62192, the international standard for insulating ropes used in live working.
M.Sc.
Anupa Ekanayaka
Anupa Ekanayaka received the B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 2020. He is currently a graduate student and research assistant in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Manitoba, Canada. His research focuses on high-voltage engineering, power system modeling and simulation, HVdc and HVac transmission, dielectric insulation systems, and partial discharge diagnostics.
Amir Ali Kaabi Nejadian
Amir Ali Kaabi Nejadian is currently a master’s student in Power Systems. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology (K. N. Toosi University) in 2022. His current research focuses on developing transient models of power transformer windings and accurately locating partial discharges within the winding structure.
Nahal Akbari
Nahal Akbari received the B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Iran, in 2022. She is currently a graduate student and research assistant in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Her research focuses on RFID-based embedded sensing systems, microcontroller-based data acquisition, HVdc electric field measurement, and low-power electric field sensors.
Dulja Bamunusinghe
Dulja Bamunusinghe received the B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, in 2023. She is currently pursuing the M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, under the supervision of Prof. Behzad Kordi. Her research interests include high voltage engineering, transient analysis of power systems, and the modeling and diagnostics of high voltage equipment.
Abimbola Akingba
Abimbola is an M.Sc. student in Electrical Engineering at the University of Manitoba, specializing in high-voltage diagnostics and the application of machine learning in power systems. He has experience in insulation testing, diagnostic assessment of electrical apparatus, and data-driven analysis of partial discharge phenomena in rotating machines.
His research focuses on the automatic classification of Phase-Resolved Partial Discharge (PRPD) patterns in hydrogenerator stator windings using deep learning techniques. The objective is to develop a robust CNN-based model capable of identifying insulation defects from field-acquired PRPD data. The approach combines clustering analysis, feature extraction through pre-trained autoencoders, and interpretability tools such as Grad-CAM to provide deeper insights into model decisions. Ultimately, this work aims to support more accurate condition-based maintenance strategies and improve the reliability of large rotating machines.
B.Sc.
Spencer Grahame
Spencer Grahame is an undergraduate student at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba with the focus in the area of Power and Energy. He is currently involved with research on modeling of air core reactors for EMT simulation as an Undergraduate Research Award recipient at McMath High Voltage Laboratory.
Outside of academics, Spencer is the captain of the Bison Men’s Volleyball Team and has represented Canada internationally. He has been the recipient of a number of awards and scholarships including Ernest and Margaret Scott Memorial Scholarship.