Kumar Venayagamoorthy named Fellow of IEEE

One of electrical engineering’s highest honors is going to Ganesh Kumar Venayagamoorthy, the Duke Energy Distinguished Professor of Power Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Clemson University.

Venayagamoorthy was elevated to Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a professional society with 419,000 members and 7,614 Fellows. IEEE is recognizing him for contributions to the application of artificial intelligence to power systems.

“It’s an honor to be recognized among my peers and to be included in this group of distinguished individuals,” Venayagamoorthy said. “I offer my most sincere thanks to my nominator and all those who have supported me.”

Fellow is Venayagamoorthy’s latest honor from IEEE. He has received Young Engineer awards from the IEEE Power & Energy Society, the IEEE Industry Applications Society and IEEE Saint Louis Section.

He also received the IEEE Region 5 and IEEE Saint Louis Section Outstanding Member Awards and more than 10 best paper awards, including at IEEE’s International Joint Conference on Neural Networks in 1999 and 2001.

Venayagamoorthy has served as editor/associate editor for a number of journals including IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid. He was guest editor-in-chief for two special issues of IEEE Transactions with emphasis on artificial intelligence. One was a smart-grid issue of IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, and one was a computational-intelligence issue of IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid.

Venayagamoorthy’s research in the application of artificial intelligence technology to power systems helps address the challenge of real-time operation and management that utilities face as they incorporate more renewable energy and flexible load into the electrical grid.

The grid relies on a steady flow of power and what experts call “balance of energy” to run smoothly. Too much or too little could trigger rolling blackouts that leave thousands in the dark.

Utilities have well-established technologies and decades of experience in maintaining the flow of power when using coal, nuclear energy, natural gas or some other source under their control. But as they use more solar and wind power with flexible load, the flow is subject to nature’s whims and less predictable.

Venayagamoorthy’s research, including some inspired by neural networks in the brain, is aimed at developing new intelligent methods for managing supply and demand of the nation’s power supply.

Venayagamoorthy is also a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE).

Hai Xiao, chair of the Holcombe Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said that  Venayagamoorthy is highly deserving of being honored as IEEE Fellow.

“He has established himself as an international leader in development and application of artificial intelligence in smart grid technology, and has a strong record of service to IEEE,” Xiao said. “I offer Dr. Venayagamoorthy my heartfelt congratulations on his success.”