Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Vahid R. Disfani is a UC Foundation Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He received his Bachelor degree from Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran in 2006 and an M.S. degree from Sharif University of Technology, Iran in 2008, both in Electrical Engineering. After earning his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from University of South Florida in 2015, he joined UC San Diego as a postdoctoral scholar. Vahid has also contributed to several industry projects during his professional career at Iran Grid Management Company, his Ph.D. program and his two-year postdoctoral experience. He has developed numerous multi-agent algorithms for optimal power flow problem as well as several model predictive control techniques to control power electronic converters and to reduce the impacts of high penetrations of solar energy. His research fields of interest include Power system optimization and control, Grid integration of renewable energy resources, Distribution system optimal voltage regulation, Power markets and power system economics. His current research projects include comprehensive feeder-wide optimal voltage control, effective grid integration and optimal market participation of distributed energy resources, distributed and multi-agent optimal power flow for microgrids with high penetrations of renewable energy, reliability assessment of microgrids, and distributed algorithms for distribution systems state estimation.
Research Areas of Interest + Selected Publication: 🔋 Electric Vehicle Charging & Mobile Charging Infrastructure - EV Aggregation & Scheduling Platforms “A distributed electric vehicle charging scheduling platform considering aggregators coordination,” IEEE Access, 2021. - Mobile Charging Stations for EVs “Mobile charging stations for ev charging management in urban areas: A case study in Chattanooga,” Applied Energy, 2022. “Mobile charging stations for electric vehicles—a review,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2021. - Residential Energy Hub Planning with User Preferences “Optimal planning of residential energy hubs considering customer desire function,” Electric Power Components and Systems, 2022. ⚡ Power Systems Optimization & Voltage Regulation - Coordination of OLTC & Smart Inverters “Coordination of oltc and smart inverters for optimal voltage regulation of unbalanced distribution networks,” Electric Power Systems Research, 2020. - Aggregation of Voltage-Controlled Devices “Aggregation of voltage-controlled devices during distribution network reduction,” IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, 2020. 🧠 Microgrid Investment Planning & Reliability Modeling - Reliability and Cost Estimation for Microgrids “Improving estimates for reliability and cost in microgrid investment planning models,” Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, 2019. ☀️ Distributed Energy Resources & Solar PV Integration - Optimal OLTC Voltage Control for Solar Integration “Optimal oltc voltage control scheme to enable high solar penetrations,” Electric Power Systems Research, 2018. - Distribution Feeder Modeling & Inversion Reduction “Inversion reduction method for real and complex distribution feeder models,” IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 2018.
Academic Career - Assistant Professor (2017–2023), UC Foundation Associate Professor (2023–present) at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). - Taught and developed courses in power systems, optimization, energy analytics, and power electronics. - Supervised 10+ graduate theses and PhD dissertations; guided student research into EV charging, energy markets, and grid modeling. Research Leadership & Innovation - Leading $900k UTC Research Institute initiative on Sustainable and Smart Energy Systems (2025–2028). - Principal or Co-PI on >10 research grants ($14M) from agencies like DOE, DOT, CEC, THEC, and EPRI. - Created real-time testbed platforms for distributed optimization and control algorithm evaluation. Professional Service & Recognition - Editorial board and reviewer for IEEE and other journals since 2014. - Conference session chair, track chair, and committee member at >20 international conferences. - Recipient of UTC EE Department Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award (2021–2022). - Recipient of UTC EE Department Outstanding Faculty Research Award (2024–2025).
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Postdoctoral Research at UC San Diego - Led DOE ARPA-E NODES-funded research on control of distributed energy resources. - Contributed to California Energy Commission projects on solar forecasting, energy storage, and smart inverter technologies. - Co-authored technical reports and high-impact journal/conference papers on grid optimization and smart grid interoperability. - Collaborated on pioneering model predictive control strategies for utility voltage regulation. Scholarly Output - Published >10 journal and conference papers, including work on reliability modeling, smart inverters, and microgrid planning. - Co-inventor on U.S. patent related to shared power generation and grid reliability. Teaching - Delivered >30 graduate-level lectures on power systems, control, and energy systems at UC San Diego.
- Research & Teaching Assistant at University of South Florida: Focused on power electronics, electromechanical systems, and optimal control algorithms. - Co-developed SOC-based battery management system for microgrids; results published in peer-reviewed journals. - Led research on distributed multi-agent optimization algorithms for AC/DC power flow; published in IEEE. - Conducted big data analysis on PV-battery systems for Duke Energy; contributed technical reports. - Developed model predictive control strategies for modular multilevel converters.
Power Systems Analysis I Power Systems Analysis II
Power System I Power Systems II Power Electronics Electromechanical Systems Power System Teaching Lab (RT-LAB, dSPACE, PSCAD)
Research Topic: SDP-based State Estimation of Multi-phase Active Distribution Networks using micro-PMUs