Tech In the Power Industry: Leveling the Playing Field • Jessica Bian

(Vice President of Grid Services, Grid-X Partners LLC | President-Elect, IEEE Power & Energy Society (2020–2021) || NJ USA)

“When the power industry started more than 100 years ago, it involved lots of heavy machinery, heavy labor, and therefore men. It was a division of who did what. It’s not right or wrong — it’s just how we evolved. Now with technology, we use machines to lift and move things around. I think that gave a lot of equal opportunity to women — it helped create a level playing field in the last 50 years.

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I was born in the southern part of China, in Suzhou, 65 miles from Shanghai. I came to the States for my PhD and for curiosity. This is a great place — it gives people opportunities to try different things. Try something for two years — if you don’t like it, move on! That way you can find yourself, who you are. We’re all born with different genes — different family culture, peers, university, professors, mentors. Keep trying things until you find something you like to do. Put 10,000 hours into it and you’ll be one of the best in the world. Once you put in those hours, you don’t feel it’s labor — it’s just a thing you want to do because it makes you happy.

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I’ve been studying a lot of behavioral science. I want to bring that in when we design electrical substations and generators. Engineers tend to focus on the technical side, but if you look at natural behavior, there’s no ‘engineering’ discipline — everything comes together. The grid was interconnected gradually over the last 50–60 years — it did not anticipate the California wildfires. Fire isn’t considered in current reliability standards and routine practice — this is something new. It’s going to take all of us, not just commissions or local utilities. It will take technology, policy, economists, environmentalists, everybody together to think creatively on how we can adapt and have reliable electricity and affordable rates.”