Clarkson Professor Jiang Receives NSF CAREER Award for Power Grid Research

Yazhou “Leo” Jiang, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clarkson University, has been awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award for his research titled “Managing uncertainties in renewable powered grids.”

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CAREER is NSF’s most prestigious award in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. Along with the NSF CAREER Award, $500,000 in funding will support Jiang’s integrated research and education activities for five years and is good through 2029.

Jiang’s NSF CAREER project aims to develop algorithms to manage the inherent uncertainties of renewable generation to provide reliable and least-cost operations of electric power systems. The project will bring transformative change to utility control rooms by fully incorporating renewable uncertainties into online assessment of power grid instability risks and optimized resource dispatch for a reliable and economic grid operation. 

This will be achieved by developing a novel computational framework that combines physics-based power grid modeling, real-time sensor measurement, and pseudo measurement from numerical weather predictions with advanced machine learning and data analytics to achieve higher computation efficiency and accuracy required to manage renewable uncertainties for reliable and least cost power grid operations.

"Receiving an NSF CAREER Award is an honor and a recognition of my past work and contribution to the power community,” Jiang said. “More importantly, the NSF CAREER provides dedicated funding and resources for me to continue developing cutting-edge technologies and modernizing the power engineering curriculum for skilled workforce development, ensuring a smooth energy transition." 

Thomas Ortmeyer, Director of Clarkson's Center for Electric Power System Research, said "Professor Jiang is to be congratulated on receiving this prestigious NSF award. Prof. Jiang's research into the power grid impacts of the variable photovoltaic and wind energy sources is groundbreaking. This research will be an integral step forward as the world continues its move to clean renewable electrical energy."

Jiang joined Clarkson University in 2020 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE). Before Clarkson, Jiang was a Power System Engineer at the GE Global Research Center from 2016 to 2020. His research centers on the integration of renewable energy resources into power grids and grid decarbonization. 

Since joining Clarkson, Jiang has worked extensively with academic and industrial colleagues, including researchers from General Electric (GE), New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), New York Power Authority (NYPA), New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG), and others in research projects funded by the NSF, DOE, NYSERDA, NOWRDC, and private sectors.