Nathaniel Tucker, PhD

About

I am currently employed as a Battery Algorithm Software Engineer for Apple as well as a part-time Adjunct Faculty in the Electrical & Computer Engineering Dept. at Santa Clara University.

I completed my PhD in the Center for Control, Dynamical Systems, and Computation (CCDC) at UCSB. I researched in the Smart Infrastructure Systems Lab (SISL) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. My lab is also a part of UCSB's Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE). My research advisor was Mahnoosh Alizadeh.

I received my Bachelor's degree from Santa Clara University in June 2016 with Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering majors. I received my Master's degree (with thesis) from Santa Clara University in June 2017 studying Electrical Engineering with emphasis in Communication and Systems. I received my PhD from UCSB in June 2022, in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.

Research Interests

• Battery Management Systems (BMS)
• Optimization
• Machine Learning
• Data Science
• Smart Grid Technologies
• Renewable Energy Integration
• Autonomous Vehicles
• Electric Transportation Systems
• Smart Cities and Urban Planning

Contact

• Email: nathaniel_tucker [AT] ucsb.edu
• LinkedIn

News

• Jul 2024: 2 year anniversary at Apple.
• Apr 2024: Started working as a part-time Adjunct Faculty for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. at Santa Clara University. For Spring 2024, I taught the course ECEN 287, Energy Storage Technologies and Applications for the Modern Power Grid.
• Jul 2023: 1 year anniversary at Apple.
• Oct 2022: Paper accepted and presented at IEEE SmartGridComm 2022 in Singapore! [Presentation] [Video (Conference Link)]
• Aug 2022: Working at Apple in San Diego as a Battery Algorithm Engineer!
• Jul 2022: Submitted a paper to IEEE SmartGridComm 2022! [Preprint]
• Jul 2022: Presented at IEEE's PESGM 2022 in Denver, Colorado! [Presentation] [Poster]
• June 27, 2022: I successfully defended my PhD! [Presentation]
• Mar 2022: I was awarded the UCSB Electrical and Computer Engineering Department's Spring 2022 Dissertation Fellowship ($10,000).
• Mar 2022: Our PESGM paper was accepted and will be presented at PESGM 2022 in Denver, Colorado, July 17-21!
• Nov 2021: In collaboration with GISMO at SLAC at Stanford, we submitted a paper to IEEE's PESGM 2022.
• Oct 2021: New preprint available: An Online Scheduling Algorithm for a Community Energy Storage System
• Jun 2021: Designed an undergraduate elective course and submitted a [proposal] to teach the course at UCSB via the [Crossroads 2.0] program.
• Jun 2021: Began mentoring 3 undergraduate engineering students for the UCSB/Navy program PIPELINES. Sebastian, Andre, and Bronson worked on a project to optimize an isolated microgrid on the Channel Islands off the coast of California.[Final Presentation]
• Jun 2021: Began mentoring Gil Sia, a UCSB EUREKA scholar. Together we are studying electricity cost savings from optimally scheduling electric vehicle charging subject to time-of-use electricity rates. Here is Gil's poster!
• Feb 2021: Invited to speak at Santa Clara University's IEEE Student Branch Successful Alumni & Industry Panel.
• Feb 2021: Invited to give a talk for UCSB's School for Scientific Thought (SST) weekly happy hour. [Flyer]
• Feb 2021: Invited to participate as a panelist for UCSB ECE’s PhD recruitment day.
• Jan 2021: Designed and taught a course to local high school students in collaboration with [UCSB’s School for Scientific Thought (SST)]. The course was titled The Global Energy Transition: From Fossil Fuels to Renewable Energy. Course overview: With the goal of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, societies across the entire world are shifting their energy usage away from traditional fossil fuels and increasing their usage of renewable energy resources. While this is a promising shift for the future of our planet, there are many obstacles to overcome during this transition. In this class, students will learn about the traditional methods for producing energy as well as the increasingly popular sustainable methods including solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, tidal, and biomass. We will discuss how these renewable generation methods work, how they affect our societies, and what challenges stand in the way.
• Nov 2020: Featured on the UCSB Electrical Engineering Department's homepage as a student spotlight. [Link]
• Nov 2020: Successfully passed my PhD candidacy exam! [Presentation]
• Nov 2020: My lab was featured in the Fall 2020 UCSB ECE Department's Current Magazine. [Article]
• Oct 2020: Invited to attend a UCSB Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE) workshop featuring research from Institute members.
• Jul 2020: Paper titled “Mobility-Aware Smart Charging of Electric Bus Fleets” accepted to PESGM 2020. [Slides] available.
• Jun 2020: Began mentoring Kelly Lin, a UCSB EUREKA scholar. Together we designed algorithms to predict electric vehicle’s charging session parameters from historical data.
• Mar 2020: Our paper [Mobility-Aware electric vehicle fast charging load models with geographical price variations] was accepted to IEEE’s Transactions on Transportation Electrification.
• Feb 2020: Invited to participate as a panelist for UCSB ECE’s PhD recruitment day.
• Nov 2019: Submitted a paper to Power Engineering Society (PES) General Meeting 2020. Preprint available: [Mobility-Aware Smart Charging of Electric Bus Fleets].
• Oct 2019: Attended and presented a paper at ITSC 2019 in Auckland, NZ. I was also a co-chair for the regular session on Electric Vehicles and Mobility.
• Aug 2019: The 2 undergraduate students that I mentor won the PIPELINES end-of-program Engineering Design Competition! Congratulations Juan and Emily! [Presentation].
• Aug 2019: New preprint is available: Constrained Thompson Sampling for Real-Time Electricity Pricing with Grid Reliability Constraints
• Aug 2019: Awarded the Institute for Energy Efficiency's 2019-2020 IEE Excellence in Research Fellowship. Here is a link to the award [webpage]. The award ($22,500) is given to 1 PhD student per year for cutting-edge research contributions in the field of sustainability and/or energy efficiency.
• Jul 2019: Our [abstract] was accepted and we were invited to submit a full paper to PSCC 2020.
• Jul 2019: Attended and presented a paper at ACC 2019 in Philadelphia, PA.
• Jul 2019: Attended the Control of Networked Transportation Systems (CNTS) Workshop, 2019 in Philadelphia, PA.
• Jun 2019: Began mentoring 2 undergraduate engineering students for The Problem-based Initiatives for the Powerful Engagement and Learning In Naval Engineering and Science (PIPELINES). PIPELINES is a collaborative project of University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) and the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Navy Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NAVFAC EXWC) at Port Hueneme.
• Jun 2019: Two papers accepted to ITSC 2019 in Auckland, NZ.
• May 2019: One paper accepted to IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.
• Apr 2019: Attended a workshop with UCSB's IEE 2.0: Energy Efficient Society.
• Mar 2019: Attended a workshop for security in cyber-physical systems at UC Riverside.
• Feb 2019: Featured on a panel at UCSB's ECE Graduate Recruitment Day
• Jan 2019: One paper accepted to ACC 2019 in Philadelphia, PA.
• Jan 2019: Featured as the CCDC Winter 2019 Student Spotlight. Here is a [link] to a short Q&A.