Profile

Professor Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute at Virginia Tech, USA where he is the Joseph R. Loring professor of electrical and computer engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner.  He was the 2023 IEEE President & CEO. He was the president of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) for 2018 and 2019. He was the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. He has published over 160 journal papers and has made over seven hundred conference and invited presentations.  In 2006 he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the vice president for publications. He is a distinguished lecturer for the IEEE Power & Energy Society and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, energy internet, blockchain, IoT sensor integration, etc. in over 30 countries.  He is the founder of BEM Controls, LLC, a Virginia (USA)-based software company providing building energy management solutions.  He served as the chair of the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering from 2010 to 2013. He has conducted several energy efficiency, blockchain and sensor integration projects for Duke Energy, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the US National Science Foundation, the US Department of Defense, the US Department of Energy and the State of Virginia. He has a PhD in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech. 

Research Areas

Alternative Energy, Distributed Generation, Microgrids, Demand Response, Smartgrid, Smart Buildings, Electric Vehicles.

Appointments

• Virginia Governor’s Executive Committee on Energy Efficiency
• Board of Directors, Virginia Energy Efficiency Council
• President-elect, IEEE Power and Energy Society
• Chair, NSF Advisory Committee on International Science and Engineering
• Director, Center for Energy and the Global Environment
• Director, Advanced Research Institute
• Member, IEEE Board of Governors, 2006
• Member, Editorial Board, Proceedings of the IEEE, 2004-2009
• Vice President, IEEE Power Engineering Society, 1999-2003