Underground Electrical Distribution Systems

Registration Date/Time:
10/5/2026 08:00am Central Time

Event Dates/Times:

• 10/5/2026  8:30am - 5:00pm Central Time
• 10/6/2026  8:30am - 5:00pm Central Time
• 10/7/2026  8:30am - 3:30pm Central Time

This is a HyFlex (in-person and online) taught course. Your registration is for one teaching platform only. Please be prepared to attend all days either in-person or online. Contact us if you have any questions or if you need to make a change. 

This course uses the Canvas course management and Zoom platforms. A UW NetID is required to access Canvas and course materials. Please follow the instructions in your registration confirmation email to set up a NetID and access the Canvas course site. 

For in-person students: Physical course materials will be available on the first day of class.

For online students: Course materials are shipped to you. You will receive an email two weeks before the course starts with a link to an online address verification form. You will provide your shipping address in this form.                                     

Enrollments are allowed up to the first day of the course. However, the course materials may not arrive before the start of the course for enrollment within 5 business days of the course start date.

• Instructors

  Michael Smalley

  Principal Engineer

  Mike Smalley has 28 years of electric utility engineering experience. The last 20 years have been focused on underground electrical distribution materials and standards, with a primary responsibility of low and medium-voltage underground cable systems. He is a senior member of the IEEE insulated conductors committee and a past chair of the AEIC cable engineering committee. He received a B.S. in electrical engineering technology from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and a M.S. in engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Mike is a registered professional engineer in the state of Wisconsin.

  Thomas Callsen

  Principal Engineer/Consulting Engineer

  Thomas Callsen has over 30 years of related utility experience. During his 25 years at Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd), Thomas held numerous engineering roles, culminating as a principal engineer/consulting engineer in the distribution standards department where he was responsible for distribution transformers, capacitors, fuses, reclosers and distribution automation hardware. In 2006 Thomas received DistribuTECH’s prestigious “Project of the Year Award” for his “Distribution Center in a Box” substation. In 2009 he received the award again for industry’s first real-time overhead fault indicator communicating over a mesh network radio system. (Both products are now commercially available.) He received a US patent for the invention of the DC in a Box transformer design. Thomas is a senior member of the IEEE and an active member of the IEEE transformer committee that writes the industry standards for transformers in North America. Thomas holds a BSEE from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and is a licensed professional engineer.

  Kevin Rogers

  Program Director

  Kevin Rogers is an electrical engineer with a background in electrical power systems. He is a registered professional engineer, and his 18 years of industry experience spans across electric utility, government, commercial, and industrial applications. His technical responsibilities have included design and commissioning of mission-critical facilities, underground medium voltage distribution planning, design, and operations, high-voltage substation design, and relaying protection and control for complex interconnections.

• Program Director

  Kevin Rogers