Meet the Director

ARIF I. SARWAT Eminent Scholar Chaired Professor EC 3913 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Florida International University Email: asarwat[at]fiu[dot]edu

Dr. Arif Sarwat is an Eminent Scholar Chaired Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Director of the FPL-FIU Solar Research Facility at FIU. He is also the principal investigator for the state-of-the-art grid-connected 3MW/9MWh AI-based Renewable (AIR) Microgrid project funded by FPL. His research interests include smart grids, electric vehicles, high penetration renewable systems, storage, and battery management systems, grid resiliency, large-scale data analysis, artificial intelligence, advanced metering infrastructure, smart city infrastructure, and cybersecurity. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and multiple patents. He currently has multiple funded projects; funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), industry, and the Department of Energy (DOE). This list includes the NSF CAREER Award. He is the co-lead on the Masters in Energy & Cybersecurity education program. Previously, Dr. Sarwat worked at Siemens for more than nine years, winning three recognition awards.

He is the author/co-author of a publication that won the best paper award at the Resilience Week in 2017 and a technical article that won both the best paper award in 2016 as well as the most cited paper award in 2018 from Springer’s Journal of Modern Power Systems and Clean Energy (MPCE). Dr. Sarwat received the Faculty Award for Excellence in Research & Creative Activities in 2016, College of Engineering & Computing Worlds Ahead Performance in 2016, and FIU TOP Scholar Award in 2015 and 2019. He has been the chair of the IEEE Miami Section VT and Communication since 2012. He is an associate editor of the journal ACM Computing Surveys. 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[at]fiu[dot]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.