Prof. Vijay Vittal is the Ira A. Fulton Chair Professor (2005) and Arizona State University Foundation Professor in Electric Power Systems at Arizona State University. He also holds the Reagents Chair. His research interests are in the fields of Robust Control Methods Applied to Power Systems, Emergency Control to Prevent Catastrophic Failures in Power Systems, Direct Control of Loads to Enhance Reliability in Power Systems, Sensors and Sensor Systems for Large Scale Power Systems, Use of Phasor Measurement for On-line Transient Stability Analysis, Grid Integration of Renewable Resources, Hybrid Simulation.
Prof. Vittal received his bachelor's degree from BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore in 1977, M.Tech from IIT Kanpur in 1979 followed by a PhD in Electrical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA in 1982. He currently serves as a Faculty at Arizona State University University. Prior to ASU, Prof. Vittal was an Anson Marston Distinguished Professor at the Iowa State University, Electrical, and Computer Engineering Department. In addition, Prof. Vittal was a Murray and Ruth Harpole Professor and director of the university's Electric Power Research Center and site director of the National Science Foundation IUCRC Power System Engineering Research Center. He also served as the program director for power systems for the National Science Foundation Division of Electrical and Communication Systems in Washington, D.C. from 1993 to 1994. He was the editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems from 2005 to 2011.
During his prolific career in academia, Prof. Vittal has won many awards and honors. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2004. In 2018, he received the IEEE Power and Energy Society Prabha. S. Kundur Power System Dynamics and Control Award and the Utility Variable-Generation Integration Group Achievement Award. In 2013, he was awarded the IEEE Herman Halperin Transmission and Distribution Technical Field Award. He is also the recipient of the prestigious IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) Outstanding Power Engineering Educator Award, 2000. Prof. Vittal was elected an IEEE Fellow in 1997 and also was awarded the U.S. National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1985.
