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Nick Erickson, a �ձ�av��Ƶ electrical engineering senior, opted to satisfy his engineering urge to understand how technology works by focusing on the electricity and power field because of how “integral they are to how the world functions,” the Pierce, Nebraska, native said.

It’s not surprising then that his senior design project is on the cutting edge of how the world increasingly functions.

He and classmate Nick Ankrum are doing a system impact study for a theoretical effort to place a 180-megawatt data center on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. While the project is strictly a learning exercise, the seniors aren’t taking that approach, and Erickson said it has been quite an educational experience.

They are looking at various contingencies — what happens if this line goes out, what happens if this transformer goes out — as well as finding a location on Honolulu’s island for a data center. 

“There are a lot of mountains, and there is a lot of urbanization, so it was a challenge to find a potential site. We looked for industrial areas with room for a data center,” Erickson said. 

Honored by Center for Power Systems Studies

The project has been designated as the Center for Power Systems Studies project for 2025-26. The Center for Power Systems Studies was formed in 1968 at �ձ�av��Ƶ as a partnership with the regional power industry to promote student education through direct industry involvement. There are opportunities for networking, collaboration and scholarships.

A half-dozen scholarships are awarded annually. Erickson is the recipient of the major scholarship — the Center for Power Systems Studies Outstanding Senior Scholarship — a $5,000 award. He received smaller awards in past years.

Describing the data center project, Erickson said, “There is a lot of learning that has to be done; learning how this process actually works and learning to make engineering decisions off of that.”

They are tasked with identifying potential problems and then developing a range of solutions. For example, if a power feed to the data center goes down, what is the potential for other devices to exceed their ratings and be knocked out? Then they must address actions to prevent further damage to the plant. Could reducing generation save the plant or would customers have to knocked offline?

Then the students have to calculate how the solutions would change if the outage occurred on the hottest day of the year or during a hurricane.

Proximity to transmission lines and the type of energy source (renewable or fossil fuel) all are factors that have to be calculated. “We’re learning a lot about system planning through this project,” Erickson said.

Headed for North Platte

His first professional position will be far from Oahu — North Platte, Nebraska — but Erickson does think he will be able to draw on the knowledge gained from his senior design project when working as an electrical engineer for Nebraska Public Power District. He will work with the water systems/renewable generation division, which supports three hydropower facilities and a wind facility.

“I definitely have more to learn, but I’m excited about the opportunity,” he said.

He already has a good feel for Nebraska Public Power District, a publicly owned utility serving 530,000 customers throughout most of Nebraska. His summer internship was with district, and he continues to work about five hours per week with the utility.

His internship work included updating schematics for relay replacements and updating every single file on the bus bars for a 345-kilovolt substation.

“All of this information was a brand-new process for me. I learned a bunch over the course of my internship with Nebraska Public Power District. In fact, I’m still learning. This morning, I was on a call to learn more information about functional trip checks to make sure breakers (on a substation??) would trip if they were overloaded.” 

Erickson also had a paid internship after his sophomore year. He worked with MidAmerican Energy in Sioux City, Iowa, in substation operations.

Appreciates small, challenging classes

The learning-by-doing aspect of internships can’t be beat, Erickson said. However, he also is highly complimentary of the academics at State.

“We have much smaller class sizes in our electrical engineering program than a lot of schools. (Erickson has three classmates in his power systems classes, and a there is a total of 12 electrical engineering students graduating in May.) It feels more personal between students and faculty. I definitely like that.”

He also likes taking classes with professor Steve Hietpas, who also directs the Center for Power Systems Studies.

“His classes are always very difficult, but you learn a ton. You can’t get through his classes without learning things inside and out,” said Erickson, who has been up for the challenge. He holds an overall GPA of 3.66 and serves as secretary for Gamma Rho, �ձ�av��Ƶ’s chapter of Eta Kappa Nu honor society, which is affiliated with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

The 2022 Pierce High School graduate also has been inducted into Pi Mu Epsilon, the mathematics honor society at �ձ�av��Ƶ.

He is a three-time recipient of the Power and Energy Society Scholar award presented by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 

Join the band, see the country

But Erickson’s years at �ձ�av��Ƶ haven’t been confined to the Power and Energy Lab at Daktronics Engineering Hall. For three years he played trombone in The Pride of the Dakotas Marching Band, which took him to Frisco, Texas, for two national football championships and to New York City for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In November 2022 the band flew to New York City, and in early January 2023 they bussed to Texas for �ձ�av��Ƶ’s first gridiron national title.

The Macy’s parade was “an unforgettable life experience. I’m always going to remember marching through the streets. They’re completely packed with people. We performed our music and did our dance. The crowd was so into it. I’m grateful for having that as a part of my experience,” Erickson said.