CV
Download PDF (updated Aug 2025)
Education
- Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University — 2026 (expected)
- B.Tech., Electrical Engineering, University of Mumbai — 2018
Work experience
- Graduate Research Assistant, Texas A&M University — Aug 2021 to present
- Upgraded a 2016 synthetic grid to reflect 2030 load and renewable scenarios for ARPA-E GO.
- Quantified Area Sparsity and incorporated areas in synthetic-grid transmission planning.
- Performed transient studies on WECC, EI, and ERCOT synthetic cases to analyze inter-area modes.
- Power System Engineer, Intern, Electric Power Engineers, LLC — Summer 2023
- Built a study-area selection tool using PSS/E and TARA Python APIs.
- Consolidated ERCOT Generic Transmission Constraints for engineering use.
- Technical Professional, Siemens Ltd. India — Jul 2018 to May 2021
- Coordinated cross-functional switchboard manufacturing timelines.
- Specified and communicated technical requirements across teams and customers.
Publications (selected)
Conference papers
- C1 — Sanjana Kunkolienkar, Thomas J. Overbye, G. Cabrera, Hanyue Li. Study Area Selection Tool to Enhance System Impact Analysis of Generator Interconnections. 2025 IEEE Texas Power and Energy Conference (TPEC) (2025) [PDF]
- C2 — Sanjana Kunkolienkar, Jordan Cook, Thomas J. Overbye. Visualizing Volt-Var Distributions in Large-Scale Electric Grid Models. 2024 North American Power Symposium (NAPS) (2024) [PDF]
- C3 — Thomas J. Overbye, Sanjana Kunkolienkar, Farnaz Safdarian, Adam Birchfield. On the Existence of Dominant Inter-Area Oscillation Modes in the North American Eastern Interconnect Stability Simulations. 57th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) (2024) [PDF]
- C4 — Sanjana Kunkolienkar, Nikola Slavchev, Farnaz Safdarian, Thomas J. Overbye. Developing a Dashboard to Enhance Visualization of Similar Historical Weather Patterns and Renewable Energy Generation. 2024 IEEE Workshop on Energy Data Visualization (EnergyVis) (2024) [PDF]
- C5 — Sanjana Kunkolienkar, Farnaz Safdarian, Jonathan Snodgrass, Adam Birchfield, Thomas J. Overbye. A Description of the Texas A&M University Electric Grid Test Case Repository for Power System Studies. 2024 IEEE Texas Power and Energy Conference (TPEC) (2024) [PDF]
- C6 — Esu Ekeruche, Sanjana Kunkolienkar, Jonathan Snodgrass, Thomas J. Overbye. Undergraduate Research on Improving Power Grid Planning Models. 2023 North American Power Symposium (NAPS) (2023) [PDF]
- C7 — Sanjana Kunkolienkar, Farnaz Safdarian, Jonathan Snodgrass, Thomas J. Overbye. Quantification of Area Sparsity for Large-Scale Electric Grids. 2023 Kansas Power and Energy Conference (KPEC) (2023) [PDF]
- C8 — Felix Azenwi Fru, Sanjana Kunkolienkar, et al.. Pedagogical Application of Visualization and Eye Tracking for Electrical Grid Management. 2023 International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (2023) [PDF]
- C9 — Thomas J. Overbye, Sanjana Kunkolienkar. On the Existence of Distinct Inter-Area Electro-Mechanical Modes in North American Electric Grids. 2023 Kansas Power and Energy Conference (KPEC) (2023) [PDF]
- C10 — Sanjana Kunkolienkar, Farnaz Safdarian, Jonathan Snodgrass, Thomas J. Overbye. Creating Active and Reactive Power Reserve Zones for Large-Scale Electric Grids. 2023 Kansas Power and Energy Conference (KPEC) (2023) [PDF]
- C11 — Sanjana Kunkolienkar, W. Trinh. On the Sensitivity of Ring-Down Observed Inter-Area Modes in Large-Scale Electric Grids Using a Simulation Approach. 2022 IEEE Power and Energy Conference at Illinois (PECI) (2022) [PDF]
- C12 — Jonathan Snodgrass, Sanjana Kunkolienkar. Case Study of Enhancing the Matpower Polish Electric Grid. 2022 IEEE Texas Power and Energy Conference (TPEC) (2022) [PDF]
Journal papers
- J1 — Samantha Israel, Sanjana Kunkolienkar, Ana Goulart, Kate Davis, Thomas Overbye. A Scalable Automatic Model Generation Tool for Cyber-Physical Network Topologies and Data Flows for Large-Scale Synthetic Power Grid Models. ACM Transactions on Cyber-Physical Systems (2025) [PDF]
Full list: Publications
Talks (selected)
- “Conference Proceeding talk 3 on Relevant Topic in Your Field”, Testing Institute of America 2014 Annual Conference, Los Angeles, CA (2014)
- “Talk 2 on Relevant Topic in Your Field”, London School of Testing, London, UK (2014)
- “Tutorial 1 on Relevant Topic in Your Field”, UC-Berkeley Institute for Testing Science, Berkeley CA, USA (2013)
- “Talk 1 on Relevant Topic in Your Field”, UC San Francisco, Department of Testing, San Francisco, California (2012)
Teaching
- ECEN 615 – Elements of Power System Analysis — Texas A&M University, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Fall 2025 — Course page
- ECEN 667 – Power System Dynamics and Stability — Texas A&M University, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Fall 2023 — Course page
- ECEN 615 – Elements of Power System Analysis — Texas A&M University, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Fall 2022 — Course page
Honors and Awards
- Thomas W. Powell’62 and Powell Industries Inc. Fellowship, 2022–2025
- Best Intern Presentation on “Improving for Tomorrow” Scholarship, Electric Power Engineers, 2023
- Graduate Research Assistantship, ECE, Texas A&M University, 2021–present
- ECE Department Scholarship, Texas A&M University, 2021
Service and Leadership
- Chair, Women in IEEE, 2024–present
- Logistics Executive, Grad Camp, Graduate and Professional Student Government, 2024
- Co-director, Texas Power and Energy Conference, 2024
- Logistics Chair, Texas Power and Energy Conference, 2023
- Technical Chair, Texas Power and Energy Conference, 2022
- General Officer, IEEE PES-IAS-PELS TAMU Joint Student Chapter, 2022–present
- Vice President, Editorial team, Indian Graduate Student Association, 2021–2023
- Presenter, “Nurturing Intelligence in Curious Engineers,” IET, 2017
Professional Membership and Activities
- IEEE — Graduate Student Member, 2021–present
- IEEE Power and Energy Society — Graduate Student Member, 2021–present
- IEEE Young Professionals — Graduate Student Member, 2021–present
- IEEE Women in Engineering — Graduate Student Member, 2021–present