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Advanced Grid Institute (AGI) Director

The AGI is a joint institute between WSU and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) dedicated to modernizing the grid. (https://thewsu-pnnlinstitutes.labworks.org/advancedgrid/). It is envisioned to be the leader in modeling and simulation of the power grid to enable advanced controls and operations for the resilient sustainable power system of the future. The AGI Director is responsible for leading the WSU / PNNL team in representing the AGI mission, vision and values to the national power system stakeholder community. As the face of AGI, the Director assumes a high-profile role to publicly represent the internationally renowned academic and research programs at WSU and PNNL in electric power engineering. This is a unique opportunity for the qualified individual to guide AGI towards world leadership in modernizing the sustainable power grid of the future by combining and growing the strengths of the existing outstanding power system programs at WSU and PNNL.

Position Announcement

The School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Office of Research at Washington State University (WSU), Pullman, WA, are seeking applications for the Director of the newly formed Advanced Grid Institute (AGI).

The AGI is a joint institute between WSU and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) dedicated to modernizing the grid. It is envisioned to be the leader in modeling and simulation of the power grid to enable advanced controls and operations for the resilient sustainable power system of the future.

The AGI Director is responsible for leading the WSU / PNNL team in representing the AGI mission, vision and values to the national power system stakeholder community. As the face of AGI, the Director assumes a high-profile role to publicly represent the internationally renowned academic and research programs at WSU and PNNL in electric power engineering.

This is a unique opportunity for the qualified individual to guide AGI towards world leadership in modernizing the sustainable power grid of the future by combining and growing the strengths of the existing outstanding power system programs at WSU and PNNL.

The WSU power program has a long history of excellence in electrical power and energy systems, and is part of the School of EECS located in the WSU Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture (VCEA). The School of EECS provides students with first-rate preparation for careers in electrical engineering, computer science, software engineering, and computer engineering. The power systems engineering program is ranked among the top five in the nation in number of faculty, students, and research expenditure.

WSU’s power program consists of thirteen faculty members and four staff in EECS who specialize in teaching and research in electric power engineering including a member of the National Academy of Engineering and four fellows of IEEE. This core group is complemented by over 20 affiliated faculty members from other departments across the university together forming the multi-disciplinary research center, Energy Systems Innovation Center (ESIC). The power program’s annual research expenditures are about $5M, with approximately 60 graduate students and a dozen post-docs and visiting researchers. WSU power faculty collaborate closely with the power industry, many research institutions around the world, and various government organizations. WSU is also a member of Power System Engineering Research Center (PSERC) that is a consortium of 12 leading universities and 27 industry partners. Visit ESIC

PNNL is partnering closely with Department of Energy (DOE), other national labs, industry, WSU, and other academia to modernize the grid and achieve a more secure, robust, and vibrant energy infrastructure. Among DOE national labs, PNNL has the largest team of power engineering scientists working on approximately $70M annually in power grid related research for DOE, utilities and vendors. PNNL stewards the Electricity Infrastructure Operations Center which houses two research control room environments, hosts significant grid data sets and models for utility and DOE clients, and has hosted numerous pioneering efforts in high performance power systems modeling and analytics that are enabling new paradigems in grid operations and control. PNNL is a co-lead for the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) and is involved in 40 GMLC projects on grid architecture, control theory, standards for grid services and foundational analysis. Visit PNNL: Energy and Environment

The AGI Director is expected to have the qualifications to hold an appointment as a full professor in EECS and to maintain a joint appointment at PNNL.

For additional information and to apply, visit WSU Jobs.