Laura Ward (S’11–M’19) received her B.Eng. degree in electronics engineering summa cum laude from the University of Valle in Cali, Colombia, and her Master of Science in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University (TTU) in Lubbock, Texas, USA, in 2020. In 2023, she completed her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Texas Tech University. She has been actively involved in various DOE projects, including the Solar Energy Technology Office (SETO FY2019) project, from 2020 to 2023. Her research focus encompasses renewable energy, including environmental aspects, microgrid forming, integration, grid modernization, grid-forming inverters, and resilience and reliability studies for the United States national grid. Additionally, she specializes in the electrical design for onshore and offshore wind energy systems in the United States, the Pacific Ocean, and the Caribbean Sea, including countries in Central and South America. Laura has extensive experience in electrical engineering design, particularly in the field of offshore wind energy and solar energy systems, including energy storage systems such as Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). She was a researcher at the TTU GLEAMM microgrid research facility and served as the vice chair in the IEEE PES Student Branch at TTU. Laura also worked as a teaching assistant at the University of Puerto Rico and as a research assistant at Arizona State University. Additionally, she was a Ph.D. intern supporting the Distributed Systems Group