Distinguished Engineer
Hometown: Sioux Falls
Electrical Engineering ,
John Kappenman joined Minnesota Power (1977-1998) after graduating from South Dakota State University, holding a number of senior management and technical positions. In 1998 he joined Metatech Corporation and was the manager of their Applied Power Solutions Division, which primarily focuses on space weather impacts on electric power grids and other related technology systems. He was a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Power Engineering Society and was the past chairman of the Transmission and Distribution Committee (1994-1996). He was a member of the American Geophysics Union (AGU) and a member of the Editorial Advisory Committee to the AGU International Journal of Space Weather. He was one of the founders and chairperson of the Commercial Space Weather Interest Group.
He served as an adjunct Instructor at the University of Minnesota-Duluth Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He published over 50 papers in a variety of subject areas. He was a recipient of the IEEE Prize Paper Award, the Westinghouse Nikola Tesla Award and two ERPI Innovator Awards. In February 1997, Kappenman provided presentations to the U.S. Presidents’ Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection on the Potential Impact of Geomagnetic Storms on Electric Power System Reliability. Kappenman was one of the Principal Lecturers at the NATO Advanced Science Institute on Space Storms and Space Weather Hazards held in June 2000. He served on the Science Advisors Panel (July 2000) for the NOAA Space Environment Center. . Kappenman was a member of the Scientific Organizing Committee for the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on “Effects of Space Weather on Technology Infrastructure” in March 2003. Kappenman was one of the principle investigators under contract with the Commission to Access the Threat to the United States from the Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP Commission). Kappenman presented testimony before the U.S. House Science Committee in October 2003 on the importance of geomagnetic storm forecasting for the electric power industry.