Haibo He is developing “smart grid” technology that is revolutionizing power systems.
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, more secure and more 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 April, he won a prestigious CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation for his work in the field. That same month he delivered a keynote speech in Paris at an international conference about computational intelligence. In August, he published a book. In September, he received a grant to study cybersecurity. Last month, 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 ago and sports not a single gray hair. “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 in the halls of URI 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 on such a project, dig deep into the human brain and leverage technology to create computer models.
“URI provides the kind of intellectual environment for my challenge,” he says. “I’m very excited working with my colleagues and students to tackle such a grand challenge.”
His intellect ticks 24 hours a day. Colleagues say the professor is known to respond to emails during the early hours of the morning, driven by a passion to solve the big challenges of today – and tomorrow.