Meet the Director

ARIF I. SARWAT Distinguished University Professor EC 3913 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Florida International University Email: asarwat@fiu.edu

Dr. Arif Sarwat has over 20 years of combined experience in industry (Siemens) and academia. He is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Director of Engineering for Industry and Research Collaborations, and the Director of the FPL-FIU Solar Research Facility and the Energy, Power, Sustainability & Intelligence (EPSi) group at Florida International University (FIU). He also serves as the Principal Investigator for the state-of-the-art grid-connected 3MW/9MWh AI-based Fuel Agnostic (AIR) Microgrid long-term project. His research interests include smart grids, electric vehicles, grid resiliency, data center design and reliability, quantum computing in energy systems, agentic AI for intelligent grid operation, fuel-agnostic microgrids and controls, energy storage and battery management systems, large language models (LLMs) for power systems, and cryptography for secure energy networks.

Dr. Sarwat has published more than 275 peer-reviewed articles and holds multiple patents. His research has been consistently funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE), and various industry partners, including the prestigious NSF CAREER Award. Prior to joining academia, he worked at Siemens for over nine years, earning three recognition awards for excellence.He is the author and co-author of several award-winning publications, including the Best Paper Award at Resilience Week 2017, the Best Paper and Most Cited Paper Awards (2016 and 2018, respectively) from Springer’s Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy (MPCE), the Second-Best Paper Award at the IEEE NAPS Conference in 2020, and the Best Paper Award at IAS IACC 2023. Dr. Sarwat has received multiple institutional honors, including the FIU Faculty Award for Excellence in Research & Creative Activities (2016), the College of Engineering & Computing Worlds Ahead Performance Award (2016), and the FIU Top Scholar Award in 2015, 2019, and 2023. He has also served as the Chair and Secretary of the IEEE Miami Section Vehicular Technology (VT) and Communications Society since 2012. For further information, please visit: http://www.eps.fiu.edu.

Prospective PhD Candidates: The Energy, Power & Sustainability (EPS) group is interested in hiring creative and innovative graduate students for Fall 2020 with focus on conducting high-end research in one or more of the following areas: (1) Research in renewable resource integration into the smart grid; (2) Data mining and analysis involving predictive modeling, including but not limited to knowledge (at least preliminary) of languages and tools such as R, Hadoop, Weka; and (3) Intuitive visualization model development using Java, Python, PHP and/or C++ and .NET based programming (additional knowledge in web programming of and beyond HTML, JQuery, JSP, JavaScript and XML is an advantage). Applicants must have a strong background in computer programming and analytical reasoning, and grit towards pursuing cutting-edge research culminating in effective engineering solutions and solid technical publications. Prospective candidates should send their CV to the Director, Dr. Arif Sarwat, at asarwat@fiu.edu, by including their key research interests and academic credentials. Please check the Department of ECE’s requirements and list Dr. Sarwat as the potential advisor in their admission application.