Mohammad Shahidehpour Named as Highly Cited Researcher in Engineering

University Distinguished Professor Mohammad Shahidehpour, Bodine Chair Professor and director of the Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation at Illinois Institute of Technology, was recently recognized as a Clarivate Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher in Engineering for 2020. It is an honor given to individuals whose citations rank in the top 1 percent of citations demonstrating significant influence among their peers.

Shahidehpour does not simply credit himself for this accomplishment.

“I consider this achievement as a wonderful celebration that has culminated from many hours of hard work in my lab,” he says, noting that there are “only 170 engineering researchers in the world who are recognized” with this honor. “I would like to dedicate it to all of my 176 research scholars who have worked with me over the last 37 years in my research lab at IIT.”

Shahidehpour joined the university in 1983 and has been the principal investigator of $60 million in grants and contracts on power system operation and control, smart grid research and development, and large-scale integration of renewable energy. His United States Department of Energy Perfect Power System project, launched at Illinois Tech in 2009, converted Mies Campus into an “island-style” microgrid and the nation’s first functional microgrid. Shahidehpour also established the campus Center for Smart Grid Applications, Research, and Technology (CSMART) for promoting smart grid cybersecurity research and implementation as well as for enhancing the resilience of wireless networked communication and control systems in smart cities.

His latest campus endeavor is the SPIKE initiative—Spearheading Poverty Inhibition through Klean Energy—with Clinical Assistant Professor Ghazale Haddadian (Ph.D. MSC ’14), of Illinois Tech’s Stuart School of Business. At the project’s heart is an Affordable Microgrid program for facilitating the design and the implementation of affordable microgrids in impoverished locations.

In addition to being an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, Shahidehpour is a fellow of three organizations—the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the National Academy of Inventors. He is also a 2020 Khwarizmi International Award Laureate, as recognized by the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology.

A subscription-based analytics service that provides access to comprehensive citation data in various academic disciplines, Clarivate Web of Science gives researchers the opportunity to both learn and connect. Shahidehpour says that he hopes that his Highly Cited Researcher distinction will continue to reap recognition for Illinois Tech.       

“I am also honored to be affiliated with WISER [Wanger Institute for Sustainable Energy Research] and identified as the director of the Robert W. Galvin Center as people read more about my research credentials,” he says. “I hope this honor helps me serve my university better as a professor and enables me to be identified as a role model for my research scholars as we proceed to find new horizons and explore new discoveries in the wonderful field of engineering.”

Photo: University Distinguished Professor Mohammad Shahidehpour, Bodine Chair Professor and director of the Robert W. Galvin Center for Electricity Innovation