Jeff Smith is a Senior Program Manager, leading EPRI's Grid Operations and Planning Research area. This research area and team are focused on modernizing both T&D operations and planning through advancement of tools, methods, applications, and practices.

Over the course of Jeff's career he has focused primarily on power system planning, modeling and simulation of the bulk system all the way down to rooftop DER on the distribution system. These efforts have included bulk system interconnection of renewables, hosting capacity, non-wires assessments, generation procurement, transmission and distribution planning, as well as DER interconnection and integration studies and power quality studies.

Prior to working at EPRI, Jeff was a Senior Engineer at Electrotek Concepts, where he performed bulk renewable interconnection, DER planning, and power quality studies. Jeff earned his BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from Mississippi State University in 1996 and 1998, respectively.

Scott Corwin is Executive Director of the Northwest Public Power Association, which provides education, training, communications, government relations, and other value-added services to over 150 utility members in nine western states and British Columbia.  Previously, he was the Executive Director of the Public Power Council (PPC) for twelve years, representing utility customers of the Bonneville Power Administration. Scott has also worked for PNGC Power, Portland General Electric, the Speaker’s Office of the Oregon House of Representatives, and in various positions with the United States Senate in Washington, D.C., including Legal Counsel to U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield and staff to the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. He also worked for a law firm specializing in tax and pension legislation.

Scott graduated from Dartmouth College, has a law degree from the University of Washington and is a member of the Oregon Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar Association.  He has served on numerous industry task forces relating to power supply, has been an expert witness before Congress, and served on various charitable and community boards.  He has also served on national advisory committees to the American Public Power Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

LinkedIn: I have extensive GIS training through ESRI's online campus including: Geoprocessing with ArcGIS Desktop, Creating, Editing, and Managing Geodatabases with ArcGIS Desktop. I have completed the online BLM NEPA trainings: NEPA Concepts, Mods 1 (National Environmental
Policy Act) & 2 (CEQ Regulations) (1620-17), NEPA Analysis Process for BLM (1620-02). Through CEHMM, I have received training in Hydrogen Sulfide Safety Awareness, SafeLandUSA Basic Safety awareness, in addition to training on accurate identification of Dunes Sagebrush Lizards and their habitat, BLM conducted Open Trench Wildlife Removal workshop, and BLM protocols and standards for writing environmental assessments.

I am familiar with use of Trimble handheld GPS units using TerraSync and ArcPad software, and Garmin recreational GPS units. I collect data for vegetation plots, pipeline trench monitoring, raptor surveys, and conflict analysis. I have managed GIS data for numerous locations, integrating field collected data with office produced data. I have produced both paper and electronic/geo-PDF maps for publication and field use. I perform preliminary analysis of new well, tank battery, frac pond and pipeline locations through GIS to identify range improvement projects, sensitive vegetation, noxious weeds, wildlife management areas, and known hydrologic and cave/karst features.

As a BLM Open Trench Wildlife Monitor, I conducted surveys of numerous pipeline trenches as required by BLM open trench stipulations. I have participated in burrowing owl and raptor nest surveys as per BLM protocols for new pipeline construction as well as conduct ongoing conflict analysis for proposed oil field development. I work with oil and gas representatives to do onsite evaluations for proposed drill sites and tank battery locations, according to BLM protocols. I have written and reviewed over one hundred environmental assessments for applications to drill, rights of ways for roads, pipelines and powerlines.