I currently hold the position of a postdoctoral researcher within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to this role, I earned my Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, located in Lausanne, Switzerland, in the years 2023 and 2018, respectively.
My research revolves around the domain of “Control and Optimization of Active Distribution Networks in the Presence of Uncertainties.” My primary objective is to devise methodologies that enable distribution grids to operate safely in the face of stochastic renewable energy sources.
Research Interests
- Power System Optimization, Control and Planning of Distributed Energy Resources, Optimal Power Flow
- Distributed Optimization, ADMM
- Electric Vehicle Control and Planning
- Synthetic Networks, Hosting Capacity Analysis
- Data-driven Control, Model-less Control Schemes
Education
- Ph.D., Electrical EngineeringSwiss Federal Institute of Technology – EPFL, Switzerland (Jan 2023) Thesis link
- M.Sc., Electrical EngineeringSwiss Federal Institute of Technology – EPFL, Switzerland (July 2018)
- B.Tech., Electrical EngineeringNational Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India (July 2014)
Work Experience
SNSF Postdoctoral Fellow, ECE Dept., Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA (10/2023 – present)
(Supervisor: Prof. Daniel Molzahn)
- Developing algorithms for realistic synthetic networks for power distribution networks in the USA using publicly
available datasets (street maps, population density, primary substation locations, etc). - Photovoltaic and Electric Vehicle Charging Station (EVCS) hosting capacity analysis of power distribution
network using synthetic networks. Optimal planning of battery energy storage for increasing hosting capacity. - Fairness-aware planning and control strategies for distributed energy resources (such as EVCS) in power distribution and transmission systems while accounting for the regulatory frameworks.
- Use of power-flow’s conservative linear approximation (CLA) in developing control and planning strategies for
distributed energy resources in the power grids.
Postdoctoral Researcher, Distributed Electrical Systems Laboratory, EPFL, Switzerland (Feb 2023 – Sep 2023) (Supervisor: Prof. Mario Paolone)
- Real-time control and day-ahead scheduling of electric vehicle charging stations (EVCSs) for dispatching active distribution networks. Experimental validation of a dispatching scheme on the real-life medium voltage (MV) power grid of the EPFL.
- Optimal Power Flow (OPF)-based control and planning of multi-energy systems in a microgrid. Multi-energy systems include modeling and optimization of electrochemical, gas, and thermal storage systems.
Honors and Awards
- Awarded Swiss National Science Foundation Postdoc Mobility Grant for postdoctoral stay at Georgia Tech.
- Awarded EPFL PhD thesis Distinction in Electrical Engineering 2023 (awarded to the 8% best PhD theses of
each EPFL Doctoral Programme). - Finalist in the Grid Edge Technologies Dissertation Prize Challenge 2023 and nominated for the ABB Thesis
Award 2024, EPFL for my Ph.D. thesis. - Awarded Zanelli: technologie et développement durable prize 2018 for the best master project in the field of
sustainable development: environment, economy or society, EPFL, Switzerland. - J.N. Tata Endowment Award and K. C. Mahindra Scholarship for financing master studies at EPFL.
- Ashim Choudhury Memorial Gold Medal for overall academic topper among all the undergraduate Electrical
Engineering Students of 2014 batch, NIT Rourkela. - Institute Silver Medal for academic topper among Students of 2014 batch, NIT Rourkela, India.
- Sugat Kishore Mall Memorial Award for the best graduate in the electrical engineering batch of 2014, NIT
Rourkela, India. - DAAD WISE-2013 Scholarship (Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst), (German Academic Exchange
Service) for an internship at the University of Bremen, Germany.