Biographical Information – SAIFUR RAHMAN

 

Professor Saifur Rahman is the Director of the Advanced Research Institute at Virginia Tech where he is the Joseph R. Loring professor of electrical and computer engineering. He is a Fellow of the IEEE. In 2006 he served as the vice president of the IEEE Publications Board, and as a member of the IEEE Board of Directors. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the IEEE.  He has served on the IEEE Power Engineering Society (PES)  Governing Board for five years as the Vice President for Technical Information Services and the VP for Education/Industry Relations. He serves on several PES committees and subcommittees including the Education Committee, Energy Development Subcommittee and Customer Products and Services Subcommittee.  He is also a member-at-large of the IEEE-USA Energy Policy Committee. He has been a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Power Engineering Society since 2000, and has lectured on renewable energy, demand side management, distributed generation and critical infrastructure protection in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Russia, Turkey, Greece, South Africa, India, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh.

 

Dr. Saifur Rahman joined Virginia Tech in 1979 as an assistant professor after serving on the faculty at Texas A&M University during 1978-79. In 1987 he became a full professor of electrical engineering. In 1992-93 he spent a year with the Tokyo Electric Power Company in Japan as a visiting research scientist in their Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. In 1994 he was named the Director of the Center for Energy and the Global Environment at Virginia Tech.  In 1996, he came to the US National Science Foundation as the Program Director in charge of the Energy Systems Program, a position he held till September 1999.  During his tenure he served as the NSF liaison with the Electric Power Research Institute, US Department of Energy, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and other federal agencies dealing with electric power systems, deregulation, critical infrastructure protection, and related issues.  His research interests include alternate energy systems, infrastructure studies, electric load forecasting and power system planning. He has authored over 300 technical papers in these areas.

 

Saifur Rahman holds the degree of Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, having graduated in 1973.  Additionally, he received an MS in electrical sciences from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1975.  He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech in 1978.  His other industry and government experience includes work at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Carolina Power and Light Company, consultancy for the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank.

 

 

 

 

Daniel J. Ward received the BE from Stevens Institute of Technology and the MSEE from Union College.  While at GE, he completed their advanced engineering program and worked on distribution equipment application studies.  He joined Virginia Power in 1988 and is a principal engineer involved in distribution studies aimed at system reliability improvements as well as R&D activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

President of S.R. Martin Associates (a small sustainable solutions firm), Sam Martin has experienced 30 + years as a practicing professional planner and engineer.  His experience includes creating solutions for government (Federal, State, and local), private, and institutional/nonprofit sectors.  He is experienced in applying and teaching geospatial analysis and modeling-simulation tools to create sustainable solutions for critical infrastructure, facilities, and environmental management.  He currently leads VA-Tech’s Advanced Research Institute (ARI) geospatial applications team investigating Virginia’s Hampton Roads Region Critical Infrastructure Resiliency project.  A long-term client, he directs development and implementation of Washington METRO’s geographic environmental information management system (GEIMS) and actively helps develop an enterprise approach.  He planned and developed the prototype U.S. Army Geographic Information System (GIS) worldwide facilities management repository.  Prior to beginning his consulting career, Mr. Martin was Director of Water Resources for Baltimore’s Regional Planning Council.  He has a Masters of Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina and a Bachelor’s of Civil Engineering from Auburn University.

 

 

Advanced Research Institute, Virginia Tech

4300 Wilson Blvd, Ste 750, Arlington, VA 22203

 

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Dominion Virginia Power

7500 West Broad St, Richmond, VA 23294

 

 

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S. R. Martin Associates