Judith Cardell specializes in the analysis and design of electric power systems and energy markets. She is interested in integrating wind power, small-scale distributed and renewable generation and greater demand response into the power system. She also works with microgrids and smart grid developments as important avenues for the integration of new technologies. She is interested in the engineering aspects of supplying energy to society and the broader social context of meeting society’s energy needs in a sustainable and reliable manner.

These small-scale and distributed technologies include wind turbines, small hydroelectric plants, solar energy systems, fuel cells and traditional gensets, and their interaction with the existing generation and transmission technologies. Cardell studies power system reliability and stability, as well as market behavior, in response to both these new technologies and new, emerging energy market participants.

She is also interested in Internet privacy issues, particularly as they overlap with the growth of the collection and archiving of individuals’ electricity usage data.

Before coming to Smith, Cardell worked for the federal government and as a consultant to the power industry. She was involved in writing federal electricity policy that addressed many aspects of the deregulation of the electric power industry. She provided expert testimony to the federal government analyzing the California energy crisis of 2000 and power system operations throughout the eastern United States. Prior to that, she worked as a signal integrity engineer in the computer industry.

Selected Publications

J. B. Cardell, C. L. Anderson, “Targeting Existing Power Plants: EPA Emission Reduction with Wind and Demand Response,” Energy Policy, Jan 24, 2015.

J. B. Cardell, C. L. Anderson, “A Flexible Dispatch Margin for Wind Integration,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, TPWRS-00365-2014, Aug. 14, 2014.

Chin Yen Tee and Judith Cardell, “Market Integration of Distributed Resources through Coordinated Frequency and Price Droop,” IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, Vol. 5, No. 4, July 2014, pp 1556-1565. (student co-author).

June Lukuyu and Judith Cardell, “Hybrid Power System Options for Off-Grid Rural Electrification in Northern Kenya,” Smart Grid and Renewable Energy, 2014, 5, 89-106. Published Online May 2014 in SciRes. (student co-author).

C.L. Anderson and J. B. Cardell, “A Decision Framework for Optimal Pairing of Wind and Demand Response Resources,” IEEE Systems Journal, JSYST.2014.2326898, June 12, 2014.

Selected Honors and Awards

Best Thesis on Technology and Policy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Alfred Keil Fellowship for the Wiser Uses of Science and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT Graduate Student Council Teaching Award, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Amicus Curiae of Electrical Engineers, Energy Economists and Physicists in Support of Respondents in No. 00-568 (co-author), submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States, 2001