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Trailblazer: Haibo He

The network of wires and poles that stitch together America’s power grid is getting old, and the government knows it. Rather than spend billions of dollars replacing the system, President Barack Obama wants technology that makes the existing grid smarter, secure and efficient.

University of Rhode Island engineering Professor Haibo He is already on the case. The 34-year-old researcher is advancing mathematical foundations and computer architectures that bring the power of the human brain to massive networks such as electric grids.

In 2011, he won a prestigious CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation for his work in the field. That same year he delivered a keynote speech in Paris at an international conference about computational intelligence. Also that year, he published a book and the Providence Business News named him “Rising Star Innovator of the Year.”

Not bad for a man who joined the University of Rhode Island just two years prior.

“I’ve just had a passion for it since I was a kid,” he says.

The son of a math teacher and an accountant grew up in China spending his childhood days in the back of his mother’s classroom.

Today, he spends his days discovering the endless potential of math while connecting his work to the disciplines of engineering, computer science and social science. He savors the opportunity to collaborate projects, dig deep into the human brain and create computer models.

“I’m very excited working with my colleagues and students to tackle such a grand challenge,” he says.