November 03, 2025
Benjamin Peter’s work addresses challenges in applying reinforcement learning to assess power grid security.
Mizzou Engineering senior Benjamin Peter won the best undergraduate paper award at the 57th North American Power Symposium (NAPS 2025).
Hosted by the University of Connecticut Oct. 26-28, NAPS 2025 was attended by leading researchers in electric power systems engineering from across the United States.
Peter conducted his research under the mentorship of principal investigator Mert Korkali, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Prior research has proposed using reinforcement learning (RL) agents to help power grid operators navigate a vast number of possible actions or decisions — any one of which can lead to unpredictable or cascading effects. However, using RL agents to assess power grid security has proven difficult to scale.
To address this challenge, Peter and Korkali explore boosting the proficiency and computational efficiency of RL frameworks through the integration of quantum computing. As proof of concept, they propose a hybrid agent that runs on quantum hardware using IBM Quantum Platform.
Peter previously received an honorable mention from the Computing Research Association’s 2024-2025 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Awards program for his research on the reliability and security assessment of power grids.
Discover more research achievements by Mizzou Engineering undergrads.