David Wetz

David Wetz, Ph.D., is currently an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department of the University of Texas at Arlington. He is also the College of Engineering Director of Strategic Initiatives. He earned his B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Texas Tech University in 2003 and then went on to earn his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the same in 2004 and 2006 respectively. During his time at Texas Tech he worked as a graduate Research Assistant in the Center for Pulsed Power and Power Electronics where his research focused in the areas of pulsed power system design, pulsed dielectric breakdown of liquids, and ion thruster optimization. Following graduation from his Ph.D. program he worked as Postdoctoral Fellow, and later as a Research Associate, at the Institute for Advanced Technology at the University of Texas at Austin. He joined the faculty of the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Arlington in 2010 where his research currently focuses on the areas of pulsed power, MicroGrids, and understanding the limitations of using electrochemical energy storage devices in transient power systems. He is presently the Vice Chair of IEEE Pulsed Power Science and Technology Committee. He was recognized as the IEEE 2006 Pulsed Power Student of the Year. Additionally, in 2008 he was recognized as an Outstanding Young Researcher at the 2nd Euro Asian Pulsed Power Conference, received an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award in 2011, and has been employed as a Summer Research Fellow at the Naval Research Laboratories Ship Systems Engineering Station (NSWC-SSES) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the summers of 2014 through 2017, respectively.