Arash Asrari, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering

Introduction

Arash Asrari started working at PNW as an associate professor in Aug. 2023. His research/teaching focus is on modern power systems operation, smart grids cybersecurity and renewable energy systems.

Research Overview

Although he did many interesting projects in the power industry in Florida (2015-2017), he was also passionate about research. Hence, he started his research as an assistant professor in 2017 at Southern Illinois University. He joined PNW in 2023 as an associate professor. His research focus is on power systems resilience, smart grids and renewable energy. He has also published more than 70 papers in this field.

Teaching Focus

Before joining academia, he worked in the power industry. Hence, instead of overwhelming his students with complex equations and pure theory, he always ensures to primarily clarify the application of Power/Energy concepts in real world for his students. He defines the projects of his courses using academic version of the most commonly used software in the power industry (such as ETAP) to design realistic systems.

Previous Roles

• Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, 08/2017 – 07/2023
• Senior Consulting Engineer, Phasor Engineering, LLC, Winter Garden, FL, 09/2015 – 07/2017

Why I Chose to Leave the Industry and Join Academia…

“I am passionate about teaching, research and industrial projects. So, this is indeed my ideal job since it makes it possible for me to do three of them.”

Selected Publications

• Asrari, A., *E. Naderi, J. Khazaei, P. Fajri, and V. Cecchi. (2023). “Modern heat and electricity incorporated networks targeted by coordinated cyberattacks for congestion and cascading outages” in Coordinated Operation and Planning of the Modern Heat and Electricity Incorporated Networks, Wiley-IEEE, chapter 6, pp.115-155.
• *Naderi, E. and A. Asrari. (2024). “A deep learning framework to identify remedial action schemes against false data injection cyberattacks targeting smart power systems,” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics.
• *Naderi, E. and A. Asrari. (2023). “Experimental validation of a remedial action via hardware-in-the-loop system against cyberattacks targeting a lab-scale PV/wind microgrid,” IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, vol. 14, pp. 4060-4072.
• Asrari, A., *M. Ansari, and *E. Naderi. (2022). “A market framework for collaboration between distribution system operator and green bank agent,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 37, pp. 3669 – 3681.
• *Naderi, E., *S. Pazouki, and A. Asrari. (2022). “A remedial action scheme against false data injection cyberattacks in smart transmission systems: application of thyristor controlled series capacitor (TCSC),” IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 18, pp. 2297 – 2309.

*Asrari’s PhD/MS students