Meet the Team!

About Us

DERConnect can only be possible with the combined effort and commitment to sustainability from our faculty affiliates, students, and industry partners. Our team members have a wide range of skills and specialties, drawing from various backgrounds including electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, robotics, and mathematics.

Senior Personnel

Jan Kleissl

Principal Investigator jkleissl@ucsd.edu | he/himUCSD Center for Energy Research, DirectorUCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Professor
Research Interests: Building Energy Efficiency, Solar Power Forecasting and Integration on Distribution Feeders, Microgrid Planning

Sonia Martinez Diaz

Co-Principal Investigator, Deputy Directorsoniamd@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, ProfessorUCSD Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Adjunct Professor

Jorge Cortes

Co-Principal Investigatorcortes@ucsd.edu | 858-822-7930UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Professor
Research Interests: Coordinated control of energy efficient and flexible load operations, network optimization, multi-agent coordination, distributed control

Raymond de Callafon

Co-Principal Investigator
callafon@ucsd.edu | 858-534-3166UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace EngineeringSynchrophasor Grid Monitoring and Automation (SyGMA) Laboratorium, Director
Research Interests: Signal Processing, Estimation, Microgrid Control, Power Systems Dynamic Modeling

Rajesh Gupta

Co-Principal Investigatorgupta@eng.ucsd.edu UCSD Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, Founding DirectorUCSD, Distinguished Professor
Research Interests: Embedded and cyber-physical systems with a focus on energy efficiency from algorithms, devices to systems that scale from IC chips, and data centers to built environments such as commercial buildings

Team Members

Keaton Chia

R&D Engineer and Project Managerkwchia@eng.ucsd.edu | 858-859-1440UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Adil Khurram

Project Scientistakhurram@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Kohei Murakami

Postdock1murakami@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Jesse Wolf

Programmerjtwolf@ucsd.eduUCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Hamed Valizadeh Haghi

Principal Consultant
valizadeh@ieee.org | he/him Southern California Edison, Research & Development Lead
Research Interests: Distributed Energy Resources, Power Grid, Power Systems, Data Science

Ryan Hanna

Researcher
rehanna@ucsd.edu UCSD Center for Energy Research, Assistant Research Scientist
Research Interests: decarbonization, energy systems analysis, microgrids, reliability evaluation

Mike Ferry

Research Director
mdferry@ucsd.edu | 510-305-2944 | he/himUCSD Center for Energy Research
Research Interests: Energy Storage

David Victor

Social Science Researchdavid.victor@ucsd.edu | he/himUCSD School of Global Policy and Strategy, Professor

Sayed Sadat

Postdocsasadat@ucsd.edu

Ilkay Altintas

Cybersecurity Researcherialtintas@ucsd.edu | 858-822-5453 | she/hersSan Diego Supercomputer Center, Chief Data Science OfficerHalicioglu Data Science Institute, Fellow
Research Interests: data science, big data, distributed computing, cyberinfrastructure

Anthony Cho

Staff Researcheranc081@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Shivangi Shakya

Staff Researchershshakya@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Chi Zhang

Graduate Research Assistantchz056@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Melek Ben-Ayed

Graduate Research Assistantmbenayed@ucsd.eduUCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Grace Yang

Undergraduate Business Development and Project Assistantgry001@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Economics

Neha Jacob

Undergraduate Research Assistantnejacob@ucsd.eduUCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Param Shah

Undergraduate Research Assistantpashah@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Rachel Hartanto

Undergraduate Research Assistantrhartanto@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Charlie Frank

Undergraduate Research Assistantcrfrank@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Peter Lee

Undergraduate Software Developerpcl004@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Eric Chen

Undergraduate Research Assistanteyc004@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Josue Martinez

Undergraduate Research Assistantjom015@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Carly Huen

Undergraduate Research Assistantcahuen@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Kai Patel

Undergraduate Research Assistantkap007@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Trenton Blom

Undergraduate Research Assistanttblom@ucsd.edu UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Industry Partners

Acknowledgements

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