Shankar V. Achanta received his M.S. in electrical engineering from Arizona State University in 2002. He joined Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL) in 2002 as a hardware engineer, developing hardware for power utility products. Shankar currently holds 13 SEL patents, and he is an inventor on several patents that are pending in the field of distribution sensors, precise timing, and wireless communications. He currently holds the position of engineering director for the distribution controls and sensors division at SEL.