I am the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute at Virginia Tech. I have served as the chair of the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering. I am the founder of BEM Controls, LLC, a software company which provides building energy efficiency solutions.
I have trained over forty doctoral/postdoctoral students. I am a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society, and have lectured in over 30 countries on Smart Grid, IoT and Sustainable Energy in six continents.
I was awarded the IEEE Millennium Medal in 2000 for outstanding achievements and contributions to IEEE. I am a 2014 Honoree of the IEEE Technical Activities Board Hall of Honor. I received the Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award from PES in 2013. I received the Meritorious Service Award in 2012, the highest award bestowed by PES. I received the IEEE-USA Professional Achievement Award in 2011.
During my presidency, I started the IEEE Power & Energy Society Corporate Engagement Program. This program allows employers to pay dues of their employees and engage the organization more closely with IEEE, resulting in robust IEEE membership growth. During the two years of my PES presidency, PES industry membership in China grew by over 100%.
In order to provide a direct link between our chapter leaders – who are our foot soldiers at the local level – and the PES governing board, I set up PES Chapters’ Councils in China, India, Africa and Latin America with budget to support local programs. These councils are empowering local PES leaders to initiate local programs for member development and offer a platform for industry engagement.
I led the efforts to set up the online PES University. This “university” is a leader in the field of power engineering, providing access to knowledge and educational products that have credit-earning potential for PES members and non-members. This “university” offers tutorials, webinars, plain-talk courses – some online, some face-to-face – in the field of interest of PES.